The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "The likeness of the believer is that of a fresh stalk of grain. The winds bend it about, knocking it down at one moment and setting it upright at another, until his appointed time comes. And the likeness of the hypocrite is that of a firm cedar tree that nothing affects until it is uprooted all at once."
قال رسول الله ﷺ: مثل المؤمن كمثل الخامة من الزرع، تفيئها الرياح، تصرعها مرة، وتعدلها حتى يأتيه أجله، ومثل المنافق مثل الأرزة المجذية التي لا يصيبها شيء حتى يكون انجعافها مرة واحدة.
Bukhari narrated it in the Book of the Sick (5643), and Muslim in the Book of the Attributes of the Hypocrites (2810), both from the hadith of Sufyan, from Saad bin Ibrahim, from Abdullah bin Kaab bin Malik, from his father, who related the hadith. The wording given is Muslim's, and Bukhari's wording is close to it.His saying "al-khamah" refers to the fresh, soft shoot. Khalil said, "Al-khamah is the crop when it first sprouts on a single stalk."His saying "tufeeuha" means it bends it.As for his saying "al-arzah," Khattabi said, "Al-arzah, with the ra pronounced with a fatha, is the singular of al-arz, which is said to be the pine tree." Others said it is a firm, upright tree that the blowing of the wind does not move.His saying "injiaafuha" means its being uprooted.The meaning of the hadith, as Muhallab said, is that "the believer, wherever the command of Allah comes, submits to it. If something good befalls him, he rejoices in it and gives thanks, and if something unpleasant befalls him, he bears it patiently and hopes for good and reward in it. So when it passes from him, he remains balanced and grateful. The disbeliever, on the other hand, is not tested by Allah according to his choosing, but rather is granted ease in this world, so that his situation becomes harder for him in the afterlife, until, when Allah wills to destroy him, He breaks him all at once, so that his death is a more severe punishment for him, and there is greater pain in the departure of his soul."Others said, "The meaning is that the believer meets the hardships that befall him with a weak share of this world, so he is like the early growth of the crop, greatly inclined because of the weakness of its stalk, while the disbeliever is the opposite of that. This is the case in general for the two of them." See Fath al-Bari (10/107).