The Book of Strangers
Mediaeval Arabic Graffiti,
on the Theme of Nostalgia

To God be praise that will be pleasing to Him and cause Him to increase His favors.

We ask Him to inspire us with thanks for the benefactions He bestows and the afflictions He deflects.

May His benediction and satisfaction be on our lord Muhammad and his family, free of any blemish, and may He bless them and give them peace.

The most painful thing that time inflicts on a man in the course of his life is the onset of worries and grief. We seek refuge with God from both.

They occur in circumstances of which the most harrowing and distressing are changes in the conditions of life: from ease to poverty, from increase to deficiency, and from an elevated position to decline.

God, praise be to Him, tells us that this is one of the punishments with which He threatens and induces fear.

He says, exalted is He, We will try you with something of fear and hunger, and diminution of goods, II lives and fruits; but give good tidings unto the patient (Quran 2:155).

All this is so familiar to people, and so openly acknowledged and recognized, that it is not necessary to prove how painful it is or to adduce further evidence of its nature.

Now idleness is apt to make people preoccupied with unimportant matters; loneliness tends to put an end to joy; and the need to earn a living induces people to risk their lives by perilous (journeys), for tribulations make it easier to do all sorts of things that one normally fears.

The conflict in my heart and the anguish in my breast cause me to behave in this fashion, and to react as described.