Reclaiming a Life of Heedlessness

 بِسْمِ اللّهِ الرَّحْمـَنِ الرَّحِيمِ

 

Across the centuries, Muslim scholars often expressed moral reflection not only through sermons and prose but also through brief, powerful poems The poem beginning *“Tawallā al-ʿumru fī sahwin wa fī lahwin wa fī khusr”* (“My life has slipped away in heedlessness, diversion, and loss”) is one such piece of reflective poetry. It appears in the classical work *Lata'if al-Ma'arif fima li Mawasim al-Aam min al-Wadha'if* by the 8th/14th-century scholar Ibn Rajab al-Ḥanbalī, where it introduces a reflection on Ramadan and the search for Laylat al-Qadr.

The verses move from regret over wasted time to a reminder of the extraordinary opportunity that Ramadan offers. A life may pass in distraction, the poet warns, yet within the turning of the year God places a night capable of transforming a person’s destiny. In a few compact lines, the poem captures themes that are central to Islamic spirituality: awareness of time, gratitude to God, and the urgency of turning back before opportunities pass.

What follows is a brief reading of the poem—its meaning, its imagery, and the spiritual lessons it conveys about time, repentance, and the search for the Night of Power.

 

 There is a beautiful rendering online albeit with  a minor difference:

 

 

 

 تَوَلَّى العُمْرُ في سَهْوٍ وفي لَهْوٍ وفي خُسْرِ

 

فَيَا ضَيْعَةَ ما أَنْفَقْتُ في الأَيَّامِ مِنْ عُمْرِي

My life has slipped away in heedlessness, diversion, and loss;
what a waste of life I poured into one passing day after another. 

(Note: The sequence rises in force: from heedlessness, to idle diversion, to outright loss) 

وَما لِي في الَّذي ضَيَّعْتُ مِنْ عُمْرِي مِنْ عُذْرِ

 

فَما أغفلنا من واجباتِ الحمدِ والشكرِ

I have no excuse for the years of life I squandered;
how careless we are with the obligations of praise and gratitude.

(Note: The voice shifts from “I” to “we,” widening private remorse into a general human failing. “Praise and gratitude” are owed to God) 

أَمَا قدْ خَصَّنا اللهُ بِشَهْرٍ أَيَّما شَهْرِ

 

بِشَهْرٍ أَنْزَلَ الرَّحْمٰنُ فيه أَشْرَفَ الذِّكْرِ

Has God not favored us with a month—what a month it is—
a month in which the Most Merciful sent down the noblest revelation?

(Note: This is Ramadan. “The noblest revelation” refers to the Qur’an, described here through the Qur’anic term al-dhikr) 

 وَهَلْ يُشْبِهُ شَهْرٌ وفيه لَيْلَةُ القَدْرِ

 

فَكَمْ مِنْ خَبَرٍ صَحَّ بِما فيها مِنَ الخَيْرِ

What month could compare with one that holds the Night of Power?
So many sound reports speak of the blessings found within it.

(Note: “Sound reports” points to authenticated prophetic reports about its virtue) 

 
رَوَيْنا عَنْ ثِقاتٍ أَنَّها تُطْلَبُ في الوِتْرِ

 

فَطُوبى لامْرِئٍ يَطْلُبُها في هٰذِهِ العَشْرِ

We have received from trustworthy transmitters that it is sought on the odd nights;
blessed is the one who seeks it in these last ten.

(Note: The “odd nights” are the odd-numbered nights among the last ten nights of Ramadan. Ṭūbā carries the sense of blessedness and glad tidings.) 

فَفيها تَنْزِلُ الأَمْلاكُ بِالأَنْوارِ والبِرِّ

 

وَقَدْ قالَ: سَلامٌ هِيَ حتّى مَطْلَعِ الفَجْرِ

In it the angels descend with light and blessing,
and God has said, “Peace it is until the break of dawn.”

(Note: This couplet echoes Sūrat al-Qadr. The night is imagined as filled with radiance, mercy, and divine calm.) 

أَلا فادَّخِرْها إِنَّها مِنْ أَنْفَسِ الذُّخْرِ

 

فَكَمْ مِنْ مُعَلَّقٍ فيها مِنَ النّارِ وَلا يَدْرِي

So treasure that night, for it is among the most precious of all treasures;
how many a soul hangs in suspense over the Fire without even knowing it.

(Note: We can take the final image as a warning: a person’s fate may hang in the balance, though he remains unaware. This last line is terse and a bit difficult in this reading, so any English version here involves some interpretation.) 

 

 

The above version follows the reading preserved in the Ibn Ḥazm text on Shamela and the parallel Islam-DB transcription.

The main variants I found are these.
Line 4: من واجبات in the Ibn Ḥazm / Islam-DB line, but عن واجبات in the ʿAwwād Allah edition.
Line 7: وهل يشبه شهر versus وهل يشبهه شهر.
The closing couplet is the biggest split: ألا فادخرها … فكم من معلّق versus ألا فادّخروها … فكم من معتق