And Do Not Let This Book Stop With You
The last thing I ask of you is not a prayer for me, nor praise for what I have written.
The last thing I ask is this: do not let this book stop with you.
For if you close it and put it down, you alone have gained by it — and that is the least that was hoped from it. But if you give it to a close friend, or to someone you love and want to see pass his examination as you want it for yourself, then you have opened for yourself a door that your death does not shut:
«إذا ماتَ الإنسانُ انقطعَ عنه عملُه إلا من ثلاثة: إلا من صدقةٍ جارية، أو علمٍ يُنتفَعُ به، أو ولدٍ صالحٍ يدعو له»
When a person dies, his deeds come to an end except for three: an ongoing charity, knowledge people benefit from, or an upright child who prays for him.
So look at the people around you: a brother putting it off, a friend who thinks the time is long, a son who does not yet know he is in a hall, and a father grown old who still reckons the bell is far away. Then choose one of them, and hand him this book and explain nothing to him — the book explains itself, and the hall he is sitting in is the hall you are sitting in.
إذا ما طَوَيْتَ الكِتابَ فَلا تَقِفْ
وَسَلِّمْهُ كَفًّا تُريدُ لَها الفَوْزا
When you fold this book shut, do not stop there: put it into a hand you want to see win.
فَخَيْرُ الهَدايا وَراءَكَ باقِيَةٌ
إذا غِبْتَ عَنْها وَجَدْتَ لَها كَنْزا
The best of gifts is the one that stays behind you; when you are gone from it, you will find it waiting as a treasure.
The verses are the author's own; the English below gives their sense in prose.
The book is finished, and praise belongs to God.
Bahaa Fathy Farahat