Abu Zurʿah also transmitted the report—from Musa ibn Ismaʿil, from Hammad ibn Salamah, from ʿAtaʾ—with similar wording, and al-Bayhaqi recorded it through several chains, likewise from Hammad ibn Salamah on the authority of ʿAtaʾ. From this it becomes evident that when the time of the Prophet’s commissioning arrived, the heavens were filled with stern sentries and flaming missiles, whereas before that the watch was not so strict and the sky had not been crowded with guards and meteors as it is now—although a stone would occasionally be flung. In those earlier days they would take up stations to eavesdrop—that is, one of them would snatch whatever he heard, just as a person covertly listens to someone else’s conversation. Thus the devils used to filch—meaning, to listen to—what the angels were saying. But once Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was sent, whenever any one of them tried to listen he would find a shooting star already lying in wait for him, and he could no longer sit and eavesdrop as he had done before.