20. Ali ibn Ibrahim has narrated from Muhammad ibn ‘Isa from Yahya ibn ‘Aqaba al-Azdi from Abu ‘Abdillah who has said the following:

“Abu Ja’far has said, ‘The case of a person who is greedy in worldly matters is like the case of a silkworm. The more it wraps silk around itself the more difficult it becomes for it to get out until at last it dies therein in sorrow.’ The narrator has said that Abu ‘Abdillah then said, ‘Of the advice of Luqman to his son was this: ‘My son, people before you collected for their children but their collection never remained in place, nor were those for whom the collection was made. You are only a servant for hire. You are ordered to perform a deed and receive payment for it. Do your deed and receive payment. Do not be like the sheep who, finds a green farm and keeps eating until fatness kills it. Take the world as a bridge to cross a river and leave it when you are on the other side. Never return to it until the end of time. Destroy it and never repair it; you are not ordered to build it. “Bear in mind that tomorrow you will be questioned before Allah, the Most Majestic, the Most Holy, of four things. You will be asked about your youth, how you made it old, about your life span, how you finished it, and about your properties, how you earned them and how you spent them. Wake up for these questions and prepare the answers. Do not regret for what you have missed of worldly things. The little worldly things do not last very long and more of the worldly things are not without misfortune. Be cautious, work hard in your affairs, remove the curtain before you. Get involved in the lawful matters of your Lord, renew repentance in your heart, work hard when you are free and before you are targeted (by the angel of death) for dying and judgment is issued that separates you from your goal.’”