2283 — “The believer is like a tender stalk of grain: the wind bends it now this way and now that. The hypocrite, however, is like a cedar standing erect upon the ground, until it is uprooted all at once.” (1)

Al-Bukhārī (4/40), Muslim (8/136), al-Dārimī (2/310), Aḥmad (3/454), and Abū ʿUbayd in al-Gharīb (18/1) narrated it from Sufyān, from Saʿd ibn Ibrāhīm, who said: Ibn Kaʿb ibn Mālik narrated to me from his father, from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, with this wording.

Al-Ḥarbī (5/203/1) also narrated it in abridged form and said: “I heard Ibn al-Aʿrābī say: The jādhi is one standing on his feet, while the jāthī is one upon his knees. He knelt upon his knees; that is, he assumed an upright posture.”

Aḥmad (2/523) and the two Ṣaḥīḥ compilers also narrated, on the authority of Abū Hurayrah, a marfūʿ report conveying the same meaning. Aḥmad likewise narrated (3/349, 387, and 394–395), from Ibn Lahīʿah, who said: Abū al-Zubayr narrated to us from Jābir, attributing it to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, with the wording: “The believer is like an ear of grain: it stands upright at one time and falls over at another. The disbeliever is like a cedar: it remains upright until it falls, without realizing it.”

This chain is weak. However, Ibn ʿAsākir narrated it in al-Tārīkh (1/268, Majmaʿ edition) by way of Ibn Wahb, who said: Ibn Lahīʿah informed me of it. Ibn Wahb’s narration from Ibn Lahīʿah is authentic. Thus, the only remaining issue is Abū al-Zubayr’s unexplicit “from” link in the chain.