George Orwell was the author of 1984, a projection of ominous trends he perceived in the world of 1948. Within one year the book had sold 400,000 copies and was being hailed as one of the classics of modern literature. Sales have not dipped since. 1984 has achieved a mass popularity that few books can claim. The New American Library paperback edition alone totals 10 million copies in print. But Orwell was not satisfied with this, his final and most monumental effort. “I am not pleased with the book,” he wrote to his publisher. In the 16 years between 1932 and 1948, Orwell had written a dozen books and 700 essays and newspaper articles. During that time, he said, there was “not one day in which I did not feel like I was idling.”

Thoughts of the torments of the next world make one disinterested in everything

Abu Darda was a merchant before accepting Islam. He gave up his trade after becoming a Muslim. “By the One who possesses Abu Darda’s soul,” he once said, “I would not even like to have a shop at the gate of the mosque, not to be missing even one prayer, and to be giving the 40 dirhams that I earn every day to charity for God’s cause.” “What has made you feel this way?” he was asked, “The torment of the Day of Judgement,” he replied.