Reference: Siyar A’laam an-Nubalaa – Volume 11, Page 177
al-Marwathee said, I said to Ahmad [ibn Hanbal]:
How are you this morning?
He replied:
How can one be in the morning when his Lord demands he fulfill [his] religious obligations, and his Prophet demands he uphold the Sunnah, and the two Angels [on each shoulder] demand he rectify his actions, and his soul demands he pursue his desires, and Iblees demands he pursue forbidden deeds, and his family demands he provide for them – [all while] the Angel of Death watches over, [waiting] to seize his soul,?!
