126 – O heedless soul, take heed! He recited to me:
[al-Baḥr al-Wāfir]

Lo, O heedless one, every deed of yours—small or great—is being tallied against you.
A caller warns you day after day,
yet your heedlessness has made you forget your journey’s end.

Rouse yourself for the departure, for it is close at hand;
redeem what remains before you set out, O brother, O neighbour.

Still you sit at ease, deluded,
as though you had never committed even a minor sin.

How many a sin have you knowingly pursued
while your eye remained untroubled by what you were doing. ⦗106⦘

You fear that some human eye might see you there,
but the All-Seeing Eye of insight is upon you.

How many weighty ventures I set out to undertake,
as His mercy and wise choice held me back.

How many a place—had I died therein—
would have made me a reproach among my kin.

Yet you were shielded there from evil and harm,
and you departed wrapped in a hidden blessing.

And how many a favour from Allah greets you at night and by day,
while you fail to recognise how immense it is.