The first view is that this Smoke was the hardship and hunger that befell Quraysh when the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—supplicated against them after they failed to respond to him. Consequently, they began to see something resembling smoke in the sky.

This was the view of Abdullah ibn Masūd—may Allah be pleased with him—and a group of the early Muslims followed him in it (1).

He—may Allah be pleased with him—said, “Five have already come to pass: the inescapable punishment (2), the Romans, the Seizure, the moon, and the Smoke” (3).

When a man from Kindah spoke about the Smoke and said that smoke would come on the Day of Resurrection and deprive the hypocrites of their hearing and sight, Ibn Masūd—may Allah be pleased with him—became angry and said, “Whoever knows should speak, and whoever does not know should say, ‘Allah knows best.’ Indeed, part of knowledge is to say concerning what one does not know, ‘I do not know.’ Allah said to His Prophet: ‘Say, “I ask no reward of you for this, nor am I one of the pretenders.”’ [Sād: 86] Quraysh held back from