Labīd ibn Rabīʿa was one of the most famous poets of Arabia before Islam. His long ode is one of the Muʿallaqāt, the 'Suspended Poems', which according to tradition were honoured by being hung at the Kaʿba. He later became a Muslim and is said to have lived to a great age.
One of his lines became famous in a different way. The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ (peace be upon him) said that the truest words ever spoken by a poet are the words of Labīd: “Is not everything except God perishing?” (Bukhari 3841; Bukhari 6489)
In Arabic the line is alā kullu shayʾin mā khalā llāha bāṭilu. The word bāṭil means empty, passing, without lasting reality. The Prophet did not praise every poet, and he did not praise every line of Labīd. He praised this one because it was simply true.
The Qur'an makes the same point in its own words: “And cry not unto any other god along with Allah. There is no God save Him. Everything will perish save His countenance. His is the command, and unto Him ye will be brought back.” (28:88, Pickthall). It also says “Everyone that is thereon will pass away; There remaineth but the Countenance of thy Lord of Might and Glory.” (55:26-27, Pickthall). Labīd, a man of the desert who had seen everything pass, had seen it before he became a Muslim.
Judaism
“The grass withereth, the flower fadeth; But the word of our God shall stand for ever.’”
Isaiah 40:8 · JPS 1917
Isaiah, comforting a people in exile, compares human beings to grass: “The grass withereth, the flower fadeth; but the word of our God shall stand for ever.” And Psalm 102 says the heavens and earth will wear out like old clothes, “but Thou art the selfsame, and Thy years shall have no end”.
The Kaddish, the mourner's prayer, praises God's name 'for ever and to all eternity' in the face of death.
At Sukkot each autumn, Jews eat and sometimes sleep in a sukkah, a flimsy hut open to the stars, and many read Ecclesiastes, with its refrain that everything passes. Only what is God's endures.
Christianity
“The grass withers, and its flower falls; but the Lord’s word endures forever.”
1 Peter 1:24-25 · WEB
The first letter of Peter quotes Isaiah directly: “All flesh is like grass... The grass withers, and its flower falls; but the Lord's word endures forever.”
Paul encouraged Christians to fix their eyes on what lasts: “the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:18). The letter of James says that in God there “can be no variation, nor turning shadow” (James 1:17).
Before every FA Cup Final since 1927, the crowd has sung Henry Francis Lyte's hymn “Abide with Me”, written as he was dying: “Change and decay in all around I see; O Thou who changest not, abide with me.”
Islam
“That which ye have wasteth away, and that which Allah hath remaineth. And verily We shall pay those who are steadfast a recompense in proportion to the best of what they used to do.”
Qur'an 16:96 · Pickthall (1930)
Al-Bāqī is in the traditional list; the Qur'an uses the verb: wa yabqā wajhu rabbik, “There remaineth but the Countenance of thy Lord of Might and Glory.” (55:27, Pickthall). Scholars interpret the 'Face' in different ways and agree it is not to be pictured.
Muslims are sometimes confused by the name of the Medina cemetery, al-Baqīʿ. It comes from a different root and means a plain with trees, not 'everlasting'.
Same and different
Isaiah's grass, Peter's quotation of it and Labīd's line all contrast what passes with what remains. All three faiths say only God is everlasting. Christians also speak of eternal life given through Christ; Jews and Muslims speak of the life to come in their own terms. Judaism even builds impermanence into a festival, living for a week in a hut at Sukkot.
schools / familiesTime capsuleMake a time capsule with a paper letter, a USB stick and a photo. Talk about which will still be readable in fifty years. Read Isaiah 40:8 and Qur'an 16:96.
faith groups / neighboursWhat lastsVisit an old church, synagogue, mosque or cemetery together and look at the oldest stones you can find. Share what each tradition says about what remains.
neighbours / faith groups / schoolsVisit a sukkahAt Sukkot, in September or October, many synagogues build a sukkah and welcome visitors. Sit in one together, look up through the leafy roof, and talk about what in your own life is solid and what is only a shelter for a season.
Episode 1
