55 – Al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, together with Abū Muḥammad al-Bazzār al-Qāsim ibn Hāshim, narrated to me, from Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Yamānī, from his father, that al-Ḥasan once wrote to Makḥūl when a death notice had reached him, and in his letter he said: ⦗37⦘

“Know—may Allah have mercy on us and on you, Abū ʿAbd Allāh—that today you are closer to death than you were on the day that loss was first announced to you. Night and day have never ceased to race along, shortening lifespans and drawing appointed terms ever nearer. Alas, alas! They kept company with Noah, ʿĀd, and Thamūd, ‘and many generations in between them’ (al-Furqān 25:38). Those peoples have already gone on to stand before their Lord and face the record of their deeds, while night and day arose fresh and new, untouched by all that has passed. They now stand ready to deal with those who remain just as they dealt with those who have gone. You, meanwhile, are no different from your brothers, your contemporaries, and your peers. Your case is like that of a body whose strength has been withdrawn, leaving only the faintest breath, awaiting the caller. So we seek refuge with Allah from His anger toward us over the very admonitions by which He warns us, and from our falling short of what they require.”