Sahih al-Bukhari 4800

Al-Humaydi narrated to us: Sufyan narrated to us: ʿAmr narrated to us. He said: I heard ʿIkrima say: I heard Abu Hurayra say: The Prophet of Allah (Allah bless him and grant him peace) said, “When Allah decrees a matter in heaven, the angels beat their wings in humble submission to His word, as though it were a chain over a smooth rock. When the fear is lifted from their hearts, they say, ‘What did your Lord say?’ They reply, ‘He spoke the truth; He is the Most High, the Great.’ Then those who eavesdrop on the heavens hear it. They are stacked one above another”—and Sufyan demonstrated with his palm, tilting it and spreading his fingers—“so one hears a word and passes it to whoever is below him, then the next passes it to whoever is below him, until it reaches the tongue of a sorcerer or soothsayer. Sometimes the meteor catches him before he can pass it on, and sometimes he passes it on before the meteor catches him. He then mixes a hundred lies with it. People say, ‘Did he not tell us such-and-such on such-and-such a day?’ Thus he is believed because of that word he heard from heaven.”