1434. ‘Abd Allah narrated to us, my father narrated to us, Waki‘ narrated to us, Sufyan narrated to us, from ‘Asim ibn Kulayb, from Fudayl ibn Zayd al-Raqashi—who had fought alongside ‘Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, in seven campaigns—who said:

“Let not people divert your attention from your own soul, for in the end the matter will rest with you and not with them. Do not spend the day in idle talk of ‘this and that,’ for every word you utter is being kept in your record. You will never find anything better to pursue, nor swifter in overtaking you, than a recent good deed done for an old sin.”