The Best of People
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Welcome. Every one of us is getting older. Every day, every hour, whether we notice it or not. This short book asks a simple question. What are the years for?
Ibn Abi al-Dunya of Baghdad, who died some eleven hundred years ago, gathered what the Prophet ﷺ and the early Muslims said about the length of life, about grey hair, and about growing old well.
He begins with a scene. Two Bedouin men came to the Prophet ﷺ. One of them asked, O Messenger of Allah, who is the best of people? He said, the one whose life is long, and whose deeds are good.
The other man said, the laws of Islam have become too many for me. Tell me one thing that I can hold on to. He said, let your tongue stay moist with the remembrance of Allah.
Notice what the first answer does not say. It does not say the best of people is the one who lives long. A long life on its own is not a blessing. It is a long life filled with good deeds. Every year we are given is either a gift we use, or a gift we waste. That is the theme of this whole book.
