Al-Adab Al-Mufrad #284

'Abdullah ibn Rabi'a said: "We used to sit with 'Abdullah and they mentioned a man together with aspects of his character. 'Abdullah said, 'What would you think if you cut off his head? Would you be able to put it back on again?' 'No,' they replied. He said, 'And his hand?' 'No,' they said. 'And his foot?' they said. 'No,' he said. He said, 'You cannot change his character until you change his physical form. The drop remains in the womb for forty nights and then the blood congeals and then it becomes a blood clot and then a lump of flesh and then Allah sends an angel and he records his provision, his character, and whether he will be happy or miserable (in the Next World).'"