Sahih al-Bukhari 4774

We were with `Abdullah and he said, "When the Prophet (ﷺ) saw the refusal of the people to accept Islam he said, "O Allah! Send (famine) years on them for (seven years) like the seven years (of famine during the time) of (Prophet) Joseph." So famine overtook them for one year and destroyed every kind of life to such an extent that the people started eating hides, carcasses and rotten dead animals. Whenever one of them looked towards the sky, he would (imagine himself to) see smoke because of hunger. So Abu Sufyan went to the Prophet (ﷺ) and said, "O Muhammad! You order people to obey Allah and to keep good relations with kith and kin. No doubt the people of your tribe are dying, so please pray to Allah for them." So Allah revealed: "Then watch you For the day that The sky will bring forth a kind Of smoke Plainly visible ... Verily! You will return (to disbelief) On the day when We shall seize You with a mighty grasp. (44:10-16) Ibn Mas`ud added, "Al-Batsha (i.e. grasp) happened in the battle of Badr and no doubt smoke, Al-Batsha, Al-Lizam, and the verse of Surat Ar-Rum have all passed .

One day I went to Ibn Mas`ud who said, "When Quraish delayed in embracing Islam, the Prophet (ﷺ) I invoked Allah to curse them, so they were afflicted with a (famine) year because of which many of them died and they ate the carcasses and Abu Sufyan came to the Prophet (ﷺ) and said, 'O Muhammad! You came to order people to keep good relation with kith and kin and your nation is being destroyed, so invoke Allah I ? So the Prophet (ﷺ) I recited the Holy verses of Sirat-Ad-Dukhan: 'Then watch you For the day that The sky will Bring forth a kind Of smoke Plainly visible.' (44:10) When the famine was taken off, the people renegade once again as nonbelievers. The statement of Allah, (in Sura "Ad- Dukhan"-44) refers to that: 'On the day when We shall seize You with a mighty grasp.' (44:16) And that was what happened on the day of the battle of Badr." Asbath added on the authority of Mansur, "Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) prayed for them and it rained heavily for seven days. So the people complained of the excessive rain. The Prophet (ﷺ) said, 'O Allah! (Let it rain) around us and not on us.' So the clouds dispersed over his head and it rained over the surroundings."

We came upon `Abdullah bin Mas`ud and he said "O people! If somebody knows something, he can say it, but if he does not know it, he should say, "Allah knows better,' for it is a sign of having knowledge to say about something which one does not know, 'Allah knows better.' Allah said to His Prophet: 'Say (O Muhammad ! ) No wage do I ask of You for this (Qur'an) nor am I one of the pretenders (a person who pretends things which do not exist).' (38:86) Now I will tell you about Ad- Dukhan (the smoke), Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) invited the Quraish to embrace Islam, but they delayed their response. So he said, "O Allah! Help me against them by sending on them seven years of famine similar to the seven years of famine of Joseph." So the famine year overtook them and everything was destroyed till they ate dead animals and skins. People started imagining to see smoke between them and the sky because of severe hunger. Allah said: 'Then watch you for the Day that the sky will bring forth a kind of smoke plainly visible, covering the people. . . This is painful torment.' (44:10-11) (So they invoked Allah) "Our Lord! Remove the punishment from us really we are believers." How can there be an (effectual) reminder for them when an Messenger, explaining things clearly, has already come to them? Then they had turned away from him and said: 'One taught (by a human being), a madman?' 'We shall indeed remove punishment for a while, but truly, you will revert (to disbelief).' (44:12-15) Will the punishment be removed on the Day of Resurrection?" `Abdullah added, "The punishment was removed from them for a while but they reverted to disbelief, so Allah destroyed them on the Day of Badr. Allah said: 'The day We shall seize you with a mighty grasp. We will indeed (then) exact retribution." (44:16)

Allah sent (the Prophet) Muhammad and said:-- 'Say, No wage do I ask of you for this (Qur'an) nor am I one of the pretenders (i.e. a person who pretends things which do not exist). (38:68) When Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) saw Quraish standing against him, he said, "O Allah! Help me against them by afflicting them with seven years of famine similar to the seven years (of famine) of Joseph. So they were afflicted with a year of drought that destroyed everything, and they ate bones and hides. (One of them said), "And they ate hides and dead animals, and (it seemed to them that) something like smoke was coming out of the earth. So Abu Sufyan came to the Prophet (ﷺ) and said, "O Muhammad! Your people are on the verge of destruction! Please invoke Allah to relieve them." So the Prophet (ﷺ) invoked Allah for them (and the famine disappeared). He said to them. "You will revert (to heathenism) after that." `Abdullah then recited: 'Then watch you for the Day that the sky will bring forth a kind of smoke plainly visible.......but truly you will revert (to disbelief).' He added, "Will the punishment be removed from them in the Hereafter? The smoke and the grasp and the Al-Lizam have all passed." One of the sub-narrater said, "The splitting of the moon." And another said, "The defeat of the Romans (has passed).

We were sitting in the company of Abdullah and he was lying on the bed that a person came and said: Abd Abd al-Rabmin, a story-teller at the gates of Kinda says that the verse (of the Qur'an) which deals with the" smoke" implies that which is about to come and it would hold the breath of the infidels and would inflict the believers with cold. Thereupon Abdullah got up and said in anger. O people, fear Allah and say only that which one knows amongst you and do not say which he does not know and he should simply say: Allah has the best knowledge for He has the best knowledge amongst all of you. It does not behove him to say that which he does not know. Allah has the best knowledge of it. Verily Allah, the Exalted and Glorious, said to His Prophet (ﷺ) to state:" I do not ask from you any remuneration and I am not the one to put you in trouble," and when Allah's Mesqenger (ﷺ) saw people turning back (from religion) he said: O Allah, afflict thern with seven famines as was done in the case of Yusuf, so they were afflicted with famine by which they were forced to eat everything until they were obliged to eat the hides and the dead bodies because of hunger, and every one of them looked towards the sky and he found a smoke. And Abu Sufyan came and he said: Muhammad, you have come to command us to obey Allah and cement the ties of blood- relation whereas your people are undone; supplicate Allah for tlicm. Thereupon Allah, the Exalted and Glorious, said:" Wait for the day when there would be clear smoke from the sky which would envelop people and that would be grievous torivent" up to the words:" you are going to return to (evil)." (if this verse implied the torment of the next life) could the chastisement of the next (life) be averted (as the Qur'an states): On the day when We seize (them) with the most violent seizing; surely We shall exact retribution" (xliv. 16)? The seizing (in the hadith) implies that of the Day of Badr. And so far as the sign of smoke, seizing, inevitability and signs of Rome are concern- ed, they have become things of the past now.

I have left behind in the mosque a man who explains the Qur'an according to his personal discretion and he explained this verse:" So wait for the day when the Heaven brings a clear smoke." He says that a smoke would come to the people on the Day of Resurrection anl it will withhold breath and they would be inflicted with cold. 'Abdullah said: He who has knowledge should say something and he who has no knowledge should simply say: Allah is best aware. This reflects the understanding of a person that he should say about that which he does not know that it is Allah who knows best. The fact is that when the Quraish disobeyed Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) he supplicated Allah that they should be afflicted with famine and starvation as was done in case of Yusuf. And they were so much hard pressed that a person would ace the sky and he would see between him and the sky something like smoke and they were so much hard pressed that they began to cat the bones, and a person came to Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) and said: Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) . seek forgiveness for the tribe of Mudar for (its people) have been undone. The Messenger (ﷺ) said: For Mudar? You are overbold, but he supplicated Allah for them. It was upon this that this verse was revealed:" We shall remove the chastisement a little, but they will surely return to evil" (xliv. 15). lie (the narrator) said: There was a downpoor of rain upon them. When there was some relief for them they returned to the same position as they had been before, and Allah, the Exalted and Glorious, revealed this verse:" So wait for the day when the heaven brings a clear smoke enveloping people. This is a grievous torment on the day when We seize them with the most violent seizing; surely, We shall exact retribution." And this (seizing) implied (Battle) of Badr.