Mishkat al-Masabih
Mishkat al-Masabih 1613
عَنْ جَابِرٍ قَالَ: قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ: «لَا تَمَنَّوُا الْمَوْتَ فَإِنَّ هَوْلَ الْمُطَّلَعِ شَدِيدٌ وَإِنَّ مِنَ السَّعَادَةِ أَنْ يَطُولَ عُمْرُ الْعَبْدِ وَيَرْزُقَهُ اللَّهُ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ الْإِنَابَة» . رَوَاهُ أَحْمد
Jabir reported that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, "Do not wish for death, for the terror of what lies ahead is severe. Part of a servant’s good fortune is to live a long life and for Allah, Mighty and Majestic, to grant him repentance." Ahmad transmitted it.
Translation notes
هَوْلَ الْمُطَّلَعِ
Al-muttalaʿ literally evokes the place or point from which one looks out; in context it refers to what one faces after death, but the exact image is compact.
Should this image be retained more literally as the terror of the place of emergence, or rendered idiomatically as what lies ahead?