Wires, wires, wires

Bismillah, alhamdulillah.

How to use all those big black clips lying in the office.

Filed under: Wisdom, do your wires keep falling down?, how to use a paper clip, keep your desk tidy

Who was the first man to say (أما بعد) amma ba’d?

Bismillah, alhamdulillah.

Came across this lovely speech which is attributed to Qis bin Saai’dah ( d. 600 CE) Al-Ayyaadee (قس بن ساعدة الإيادي), known as حكيم العرب (Wisest of the Arabs). He is also the first person to have used the now famous phrase أم بعد (amma ba’d and to proceed) when giving his speech. Hadith attributed to him seem to be weak hence I have avoided quoting this as a hadith. He made this speech in the market of Okaz in Makkah before the Prophet (S) became a prophet. He reportedly died when he fell of his camel on his way to see the Prophet (S) as a prophet. Allah knows best, but the speech reminds people of the inevitability of death and that there is clearly more to life than just being reduced to dust:

أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ : اسْمَعُوا وَعُوا ؛ إنَّهُ مَنْ عَاشَ مَات ، وَمَنْ مَاتَ فَات – وَكُلُّ مَا هُوَ آتٍ آت .

O people listen and understand! He who lived died, he who died lost his opportunity, and everything that death that is approaching will surely come.

لَيْلٌ دَاج ، وَنَهَارٌ سَاْج ، وَسَماءٌ ذَاتُ أبْرَاجٍ ، وَنُجُومٌ تَزْهَر ، وَبِحَارٌ تَزْخَر.

The night is dark, the day bright, the sky full of constellations, the stars twinkle, the seas swell.

إِنَّ فِي السَّمَاءِ لَخَبَرا ، وإِنَّ فِي الأرضِ لَعِبَرا . مَا بَاْلُ النَّاسِ يَذْهبُونَ وَلاَ يَرْجِعُون ؟! ‍ أرَضُوا بِالمُقَامِ فَأَقَامُوا * أمْ تُرِكُوا هُنَاك فَنَامُوا ؟!

Indeed in the sky is news and on the earth a lesson. Do people think they will go and never come back, are they pleased with their graves that they have decided to stay? Or they have been left there (forced to) stay?

يَا مَعْشَرَ إيَاد : أيْنَ الآبَاءُ والأجْدَادُ ؟ وأيْنَ الفَرَاعِنَةُ الشِّدَادُ ؟ أَلَمْ يَكُوْنُوا أكْثَرَ مِنْكُم مَالاً و أطولَ آجالاً .. ؟ طَحَنَهُم الدهْرُ بِكَلْكَلهِ ، ومزَّقَهم بتطاوُلِه .

O People! Where are your fathers? Where are the tyrant Pharoahs of the past? Were they not richer and lived longer than you? Time ground them in her embrace, as her eternity ground them to dust .

Filed under: Arabic, Dawah, History, Wisdom, Arab wisdom, life after death, Okaz market, Qus bin Saa'idah, the first man to say amma ba'd, قس بن ساعدة, اول من قال أم بعد, حكيم العرب

Knowledge v Experience

Bismillah, alhamdulillah

“Knowledge is knowing how things work, experience is knowing how things don’t work.”

Filed under: Wisdom, Experience, Knowledge, knowledge v experience