A nasheed…

What shall I say when my Lord asks me?

Imam Ahmad (ra)

A man once came to Imām Ahlus-Sunnah, Ahmad bin Hanbal and asked him, “O Imām, what is your opinion on poetry?”

He replied, “Which poetry is this?” to which the man responded by reciting the following couplets:

إذا ما قال لي ربي اما استحييت تعصيني
If my Lord asks me, “Have you shyness in disobeying me?

وتخفي الذنب عن خلقي وبالعصيان تأتيني
You conceal your sins from my creation – and with sins you come to me.”

Imām Ahmad took these lines and repeated them over and over again, and wept profusely to such an extent that one his students said that he almost perished due to him crying so much.

“If my Lord asks me…”

إذا ما قال لي ربي اما استحييت تعصيني
If my Lord asks me, “Have you shyness in disobeying me?

وتخفي…