hadith that al-Mizzi attributed to it but which I could not find therein—this report being one of them—even after further searching for it in its likely locations and consulting the indexes prepared for it.

On this occasion, I say:

One of the confusions of the three annotators of al-Targhib is that, in documenting this hadith of Anas, they stated (4/141–142):

“Al-Nasa’i also recorded it in al-Kubra, as cited in Tuhfat al-Ashraf (7/25)!”

The reference cited actually points to the hadith of Abdullah ibn Masud mentioned in al-Targhib one hadith before this one. There too, it is attributed to Tuhfat al-Ashraf with the same cited reference, except that the digit 5 was misprinted by the typesetter as 1, making it 20. How grossly inattentive they were!

This hadith of Anas also has another chain, narrated by Ishaq ibn Abdullah ibn Abi Talhah from Anas with similar wording, but without the phrase concerning the fingertips and the ground.

It was recorded by al-Bukhari (6418), al-Bayhaqi in al-Sunan (3/368), and in al-Zuhd (189/453).

Among its supporting reports is the hadith of Abdullah ibn Masud, from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him:

He drew a square, then drew a line [through] the middle of the square, [small] lines beside the line running through the middle of the square, and a line extending beyond the square. He then said, “Do you know what this is?”

They said, “Allah and His Messenger know best.” He said:

“This is the human being—the central line. These lines beside it are the afflictions that gnaw at him”