for he could never take a full look at him out of sheer reverence for him, peace and blessings be upon him. ʿAmr, may Allah be pleased with him, used to say, “Had I died during the first stage of my life, I would have been among the people of Hellfire; and had I died while I was in the second stage, I would have hoped to be among the people of Paradise.”

Reflect on his scrupulous caution: he spoke with certainty that death in the first state would have consigned him to Hell, whereas about the second state—out of intense fear—he said only, “I would have hoped to be among the people of Paradise,” and did not declare, “I would have been in Paradise,” because testifying that someone is surely in Paradise is a weighty matter. We ask Allah to make me and all of you among its people.

Afterward he, may Allah be pleased with him, assumed various posts: governorships and military commands, and the happenings of the campaign with Muʿāwiyah and others took place. ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ was famed for being one of the most astute and intelligent Arabs, yet he would say, “I fear that what occurred after the middle stage may have enveloped my deeds.”

He also stipulated, may Allah be pleased with him, that when he died no nāʾiḥa (professional wailing woman) should accompany his funeral—a nāʾiḥa is a woman who laments the dead with cries resembling the cooing of doves. He further ordered that once they had buried him they should remain by his grave for the length of time it takes to slaughter a camel and distribute its meat, so that he might become accustomed to the messengers of his Lord—the angels who come to the deceased once he has been laid in the grave. When the dead person is buried, two angels come to him and make him sit up