Jami` at-Tirmidhi 3254

Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.

Masruq said: A man came to ‘Abdullah and said, ‘A storyteller says that smoke will emerge from the earth, seize the hearing of the disbelievers, and affect the believers like a cold.’ ‘Abdullah became angry. He had been reclining, but sat up and said, ‘When one of you is asked about something he knows, let him say what he knows.’ Mansur’s wording is: ‘Let him report it.’ ‘When he is asked about something he does not know, let him say, “Allah knows best.” It is part of a man’s knowledge, when asked about something he does not know, to say, “Allah knows best.” Allah Most High said to His Prophet: “Say, ‘I ask no reward of you for this, and I am not one of those who pretend’”’ (Qur’an 38:86). When the Messenger of Allah saw Quraysh persisting in opposition to him, he said, ‘O Allah, help me against them with seven years like the seven years of Joseph.’ A drought struck them and depleted everything, until they ate hides and carrion—one of the two transmitters said, ‘bones.’ A kind of smoke seemed to emerge from the earth. Abu Sufyan came to him and said, ‘Your people are perishing; pray to Allah for them.’ This is the meaning of Allah’s words: ‘On the day when the sky brings a visible smoke that envelops the people; this is a painful torment’ (Qur’an 44:10–11). Mansur’s version says: ‘This is the meaning of “Our Lord, remove the torment from us; indeed, we will believe”’ (44:12). ‘Will the torment of the Hereafter then be removed from them? The mighty onslaught, al-Lizam, and the smoke have already passed.’ One of the two transmitters said, ‘the moon’; the other said, ‘the Romans.’ Abu ‘Isa said: Al-Lizam means the day of Badr. This is a hasan sahih hadith.