Sahih al-Bukhari 4701

Translation

The Prophet ﷺ said, "When Allah has ordained some affair in the Heaven, the angels beat with their wings in obedience to His statement, which sounds like a chain dragged over a rock." (ʿAli and other sub-narrators said, "The sound reaches them.") "Until when fear is banished from their (angels) hearts, they (angels) say, 'What was it that your Lord said? They say, 'The truth; And He is the Most High, the Most Great.' (34.23) Then those who gain a hearing by stealing (i.e. devils) will hear Allah's Statement:-- 'Those who gain a hearing by stealing, (stand one over the other like this). (Sufyan, to illustrate this, spread the fingers of his right hand and placed them one over the other horizontally.) A flame may overtake and burn the eavesdropper before conveying the news to the one below him; or it may not overtake him till he has conveyed it to the one below him, who in his turn, conveys it to the one below him, and so on till they convey the news to the earth. (Or probably Sufyan said, "Till the news reaches the earth.") Then the news is inspired to a sorcerer who would add a hundred lies to it. His prophecy will prove true (as far as the heavenly news is concerned). The people will say. 'Didn't he tell us that on such-and-such a day, such-and-such a thing will happen? We have found that is true because of the true news heard from heaven." The above hadith is also narrated by Abu Huraira, starting: 'When Allah has ordained some affair...') In this narration the word foreteller is added to the word wizard.

Notes

• قَالَ عَلِيٌّ وَقَالَ غَيْرُهُ صَفْوَانٍ ـ يَنْفُذُهُمْ ذَلِكَ فَإِذَا فُزِّعَ عَنْ قُلُوبِهِمْ قَالُوا مَاذَا قَالَ رَبُّكُمْ، قَالُوا لِلَّذِي قَالَ الْحَقَّ وَهْوَ الْعَلِيُّ الْكَبِيرُ، فَيَسْمَعُهَا مُسْتَرِقُو السَّمْعِ، وَمُسْتَرِقُو السَّمْعِ هَكَذَا وَاحِدٌ فَوْقَ آخَرَ ـ وَوَصَفَ سُفْيَانُ بِيَدِهِ، وَفَرَّجَ بَيْنَ أَصَابِعِ يَدِهِ الْيُمْنَى، نَصَبَهَا بَعْضَهَا فَوْقَ بَعْضٍ ـ فَرُبَّمَا أَدْرَكَ الشِّهَابُ الْمُسْتَمِعَ، قَبْلَ أَنْ يَرْمِيَ بِهَا إِلَى صَاحِبِهِ، فَيُحْرِقَهُ وَرُبَّمَا لَمْ يُدْرِكْهُ حَتَّى يَرْمِيَ بِهَا إِلَى الَّذِي يَلِيهِ إِلَى الَّذِي هُوَ أَسْفَلُ مِنْهُ حَتَّى يُلْقُوهَا إِلَى الأَرْضِ ـ وَرُبَّمَا قَالَ سُفْيَانُ حَتَّى تَنْتَهِيَ إِلَى الأَرْضِ ـ فَتُلْقَى عَلَى فَمِ السَّاحِرِ، فَيَكْذِبُ مَعَهَا مِائَةَ كَذْبَةٍ فَيَصْدُقُ، فَيَقُولُونَ أَلَمْ يُخْبِرْنَا يَوْمَ كَذَا وَكَذَا يَكُونُ كَذَا وَكَذَا، فَوَجَدْنَاهُ حَقًّا لِلْكَلِمَةِ الَّتِي سُمِعَتْ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ ". حَدَّثَنَا عَلِيُّ بْنُ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ، حَدَّثَنَا سُفْيَانُ، حَدَّثَنَا عَمْرٌو، عَنْ عِكْرِمَةَ، عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ، إِذَا قَضَى اللَّهُ الأَمْرَ. وَزَادَ الْكَاهِنِ. وَحَدَّثَنَا سُفْيَانُ فَقَالَ قَالَ عَمْرٌو سَمِعْتُ عِكْرِمَةَ حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو هُرَيْرَةَ قَالَ إِذَا قَضَى اللَّهُ الأَمْرَ وَقَالَ عَلَى فَمِ السَّاحِرِ. قُلْتُ لِسُفْيَانَ قَالَ سَمِعْتُ عِكْرِمَةَ قَالَ سَمِعْتُ أَبَا هُرَيْرَةَ. قَالَ نَعَمْ. قُلْتُ لِسُفْيَانَ إِنَّ إِنْسَانًا رَوَى عَنْكَ عَنْ عَمْرٍو عَنْ عِكْرِمَةَ عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ وَيَرْفَعُهُ أَنَّهُ قَرَأَ فُزِّعَ. قَالَ سُفْيَانُ هَكَذَا قَرَأَ عَمْرٌو. فَلاَ أَدْرِي سَمِعَهُ هَكَذَا أَمْ لاَ. قَالَ سُفْيَانُ وَهْىَ قِرَاءَتُنَا

Grades by grader

Other narrations of this report

Sahih al-Bukhari 4800Sahih al-Bukhari 7481Sunan Abi Dawud 4738Jami' at-Tirmidhi 3223Sahih Ibn Hibban 37

Narrators

1. 1
   Abū Hurayrah al-Dawsī

   The illustrious Companion, the memorizer among the Companions (ḥāfiẓ al-ṣaḥābah)d. 57 AH, or: 58 AH, or: 59 AH
   أَبُو هُرَيْرَةَ الدَّوْسِيُّالصحابي الجليل ، حافظ الصحابة
   عن
2. 2
   ʿIkrimah mawlá Ibn ʿAbbās

   Trustworthy (thiqah), reliable (thabt), knowledgeable in Qurʾānic exegesis; the claim that Ibn ʿUmar called him a liar is not established, and no innovation is established from him.d. Ibn al-Madīnī said: 104 AH. Abū Saʿīd b. Yūnus and others said: 105 AH, and al-Haytham b. ʿAdī said, and Abū ʿUmar al-Ḍarīr: 106 AH. Abū Maʿshar al-Madanī and others said: 107 AH. Also reported from al-Haytham b. ʿAdī, and Abū al-Ḥasan al-Madāʾinī, and Yaḥyā b. Maʿīn: 115 AH. And that is a mistake
   عِكْرِمَةَثقة ثبت عالم بالتفسير ، لم يثبت تكذيبه عن ابن عمر ، ولا تثبت عنه بدعة
   عن
3. 3
   ʿAmr b. Dīnār al-Athram

   trustworthy, precise (thiqah thabt)d. 125 AH, or 126 AH, or 129 AH, also said: 116 AH
   عَمْرٍوثقة ثبت
   عن
4. 4
   Sufyān b. ʿUyaynah

   Trustworthy (thiqah), a memorizer (ḥāfiẓ), a jurist (faqīh), an imam and a proof (ḥujjah), except that his memory changed towards the end of his life; he sometimes practiced concealment (tadlīs), but only from trustworthy narrators.d. 197 AH or 198 AH
   سُفْيَانُثقة حافظ فقيه , إمام حجة إلا أنه تغير حفظه بأخرة , وكان ربما دلس لكن عن الثقات
   حدثنا
5. 5
   ʿAlī b. ʿAbdillāh

   trustworthy (thiqah), firmly reliable (thabt), an imāmd. 234 AH, or: 235 AH, also said: 233 AH
   عَلِيُّ بْنُ عَبْدِ اللهِثقة ثبت إمام
   حدثنا
6. 6
   al-Bukhārī

   a mountain of memorization and the leader of the world in the comprehension of hadith (jabal al-ḥifẓ wa-imām al-dunyā fī fiqh al-ḥadīth)d. 256 AH
   الْبُخَارِيُّجبل الحفظ وإمام الدنيا في فقه الحديث

Who each narrator was and how reliable, from hdith.com

Latin names and English verdicts with a dotted underline are machine translations, not reviewed.