Jumu'ah Live: "Living Life Fully In The Reality That Allah Has Created"

Sura 84: 6.   O  man!   Verily you are ever toiling on towards your Lord--painfully toiling,--but you shall meet Him.

Sura 47: 31. And We shall try you until We test those among you who strive their utmost and persevere in patience; and We shall try your reported (mettle).

Ibn Mas'ud relates that the Holy Prophet drew a rectangle and in the middle of it he drew a line lengthwise the upper end of which protruded beyond the rectangle.  Across this middle line he drew a number of short lines.  He indicated that the figure represented man, that the encircling rectangle was death, the middle line stood for his desires and the short lines across it were the trials and tribulations of life.  He said: "If one of these misses him he falls a victim to one of the others" (Bukhari) Riyadh As-Salihin #580 p. 123