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Al-Ghazzali - The Alchemy of Happiness - 24  Judgement

[on judgement after death]  a man will find all the hours of his life arranged like a long series of treasure-chests.

The door of one will be opened, and it will be seen to be full of light: it repre­sents an hour which he spent in doing good. His heart will be filled with such joy that even a fraction of it would make the inhabitants of hell forget the fire.

The door of a second will be opened; it is pitch-dark within, and from it issues such an evil odour as will cause every one to hold his nose: it represents an hour which he spent in ill-doing, and he will suffer such terror that a fraction of it would embitter Paradise for the blessed.

The door of a third treasure-chest will be opened; it will be seen to be empty and neither light nor dark within: this represents the hour in which he did neither good nor evil. Then he will feel remorse and confusion like that of a man who has been the possessor of a great treasure and wasted it or let it slip from his grasp.

Thus the whole series of the hours of his life will be displayed, one by one, to his gaze. Therefore a man should say to his soul every morning, “God has given thee twenty-four treasures; take heed lest thou lose any one of them, for thou wilt not be able to endure the regret that will follow such loss.”