Say: Rejoice not in the things ye possess; tonight
they are yours, tomorrow others will possess them.
Thus warneth you He Who is the All-Knowing, the
All-Informed. Say: Can ye claim that what ye own
is lasting or secure? Nay! By Myself, the All-Merciful.
The days of your life flee away as a breath of
wind, and all your pomp and glory shall be folded up
as were the pomp and glory of those gone before you.
Reflect, O people! What hath become of your bygone
days, your lost centuries? Happy the days that
have been consecrated to the remembrance of God,
and blessed the hours which have been spent in praise
of Him Who is the All-Wise. By My life! Neither
the pomp of the mighty, nor the wealth of the rich,
nor even the ascendancy of the ungodly will endure.
All will perish, at a word from Him. He, verily, is
the All-Powerful, the All-Compelling, the Almighty.
What advantage is there in the earthly things which
men possess? That which shall profit them, they have
utterly neglected. Erelong, they will awake from
their slumber, and find themselves unable to obtain
that which hath escaped them in the days of their
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Lord, the Almighty, the All-Praised. Did they but
know it, they would renounce their all, that their
names may be mentioned before His throne. They,
verily, are accounted among the dead.