1923 – ʿAbd Allah narrated to us; my father narrated to us; Yahya ibn Saʿid al-Qattan narrated to us; from Sufyan, who said: my father narrated to me, from Yaʿla, from al-Rabiʿ ibn Khuthaym, from ʿAbd Allah ibn Masʿud, that the Prophet ﷺ drew a square, then drew a line through the middle of the square, then drew lines branching off from that middle line and reaching toward it, and finally drew another line outside the square. He asked, “Do you know what this is?” They replied, “Allah and His Messenger know best.” He said, “The line in the middle is the human being; the lines flanking it are the trials that pounce on him from every direction—if he escapes one, another strikes him. The square that encloses him is the all-embracing ajal (appointed term of death), and the line that extends beyond it is amal (his hope).”