Remember your contemporaries who have passed away, and were of your age. Remember the honors and fame they earned, the high posts they held and the beautiful bodies they possessed, and today all of them are turned to dust. How they have left orphans and widows behind them. No sign of them is left today, and they lie in the dark holes underneath the earth. Picture their faces before your mind's eye and ponder. Do not fix hopes on your wealth and do not laugh away life. Remember how they walked and now all their joints lie separated and the tongue with which they talked lightly is eaten away by the worms and their teeth are corroded. They were foolishly providing for twenty years when even a day of their lives was not left. They never expected that death shall come to them thus at an unexpected hour.

(Ghazzali)