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TRIALS OF LIFE

581

“The Prophet, praise and peace be upon him, drew a rectangular shape and in its middle he drew a line running through it lengthwise so that it protruded. He drew some smaller vertical lines in the middle of the lower line. Then he said, ‘This line is the human and this rectangle is his life span and that which protrudes is his hope and these small lines are trials, if this escapes him, that one tears him, and if this misses him that one tears him.’"

Bukhari with a chain up to Abdullah the son of Mas'ud who related this hadith.