837 • ʿAbd Allah narrated to us; my father narrated to me; Kathir ibn Hisham narrated to us; Jaʿfar reported: It has reached us that Salman al-Farisi—may Allah have mercy on him—used to say:

“Three things make me laugh and three things make me weep.

I laugh at a man who is absorbed in worldly hopes while death is hunting him down; at a heedless person who is never beyond Allah’s watch; and at someone who laughs with his mouth wide open, unaware whether his Lord is pleased with him or angry.

And three things make me weep: parting from my loved ones—Muhammad and his company; the terror of the first encounter at the throes of death; and standing before the Lord of all worlds when I do not know whether I will be sent to the Fire or admitted to the Garden.”