“O son of Adam, you are but a collection of days; whenever a day passes, part of you passes away.”

Abu Nu‘aym gives this as al-Hasan al-Basri’s in Hilyat al-Awliya’, and so does Ahmad ibn Hanbal in his al-Zuhd. Ibn Abi al-Dunya records the same words from the Companion Abu ad-Darda’, who goes on: “Son of Adam, you have been tearing down your own life since the day your mother bore you.” Either way it is the early generations’ way of counting a life: not in years, but in days that leave and take part of you with them.