Hadith #57

Arabic Text

English Translation

It was narrated from 'Abdullah (رضي الله عنه) — via Waki' and Ibn Numayr, from al-A'mash, from Abi al-Duha, from Masruq — that he said: 'While a man was narrating in the Grand Mosque [of Kufa] — saying: On the Day of Resurrection, smoke will descend from the sky and seize the hearing and sight of the hypocrites, while affecting the believers only like a head cold — Masruq went to 'Abdullah and mentioned it to him. He had been reclining but sat upright and said: O people, whoever among you is asked about knowledge he has, let him speak it; and if he does not have it, let him say: Allah knows best — for part of knowledge is to say about what you do not know: Allah knows best. Allah (عز وجل) said to His Prophet (ﷺ): 'Say: I ask of you for this no reward, and I am not of those who pretend' [38:86]. Indeed, when Quraysh overpowered the Prophet ﷺ and defied him, he said: O Allah, aid me with seven like the seven of Yusuf. So a famine struck them for a year, during which they ate bones and carrion from hardship, until one of them would see between himself and the sky what resembled smoke from hunger. They said: 'Our Lord, remove from us the punishment; indeed we are believers' [44:12]. He was told: If We remove it from them, they will return [to disbelief]. He supplicated to his Lord and He removed it from them, but they returned. So Allah took vengeance on them on the day of Badr. That is the meaning of His Most High's words: 'Then watch for the day when the sky brings a visible smoke' [44:10] to His words: 'On the day We deliver the greatest blow, indeed We will take retribution' [44:16]. Ibn Numayr adds in his narration: 'Abdullah said: If it had been on the Day of Resurrection, He would not have removed it from them.'