We have already treated this subject earlier in our book, Tafsīr (1).

As for the report about the sun being returned after it had set: our teacher, the ḥadīth-scholar and traveller Bahāʾ al-Dīn al-Qāsim ibn al-Muẓaffar ibn Tāj al-Umānāʾ ibn ʿAsākir (2) granted me authorization and informed me, saying:

Al-Ḥāfiẓ Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿAsākir, known as “the genealogist,” related to us; he said: Abū al-Muẓaffar ibn al-Qushayrī and Abū al-Qāsim al-Mustamlī related to us; they said: Abū ʿUthmān al-Muḥabbir narrated to us; Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan al-Dandaqānī likewise, from Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Maḥbūb.

In the version of Ibn al-Qushayrī it states: “Abū al-ʿAbbās al-Maḥbūbī narrated to us; Saʿīd ibn Masʿūd narrated to us—ḥ—.”

Al-Ḥāfiẓ Abū al-Qāsim ibn ʿAsākir also said: Abū al-Fatḥ al-Māhānī related to us; Shujāʿ ibn ʿAlī related to us; Abū ʿAbd Allāh ibn Mandah related to us; ʿUthmān ibn Aḥmad al-Nansī related to us; Abū Umayyah Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm related to us. He said: ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Mūsā narrated to us; Fuḍayl ibn Marzūq narrated to us, from Ibrāhīm ibn al-Ḥasan—Abū Umayyah added: from Ibn al-Ḥasan—from Fāṭimah bint al-Ḥusayn, from Asmāʾ bint ʿUmays, who said:

“The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, was receiving revelation while his head was in ʿAlī’s lap, and he did not perform the ʿAṣr prayer until the sun had set. The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, asked, ‘Have you prayed the ʿAṣr prayer?’ (Abū Umayyah’s wording: ‘Have you prayed, O ʿAlī?’) He replied, ‘No.’ Thereupon the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, supplicated—and in Abū Umayyah’s version he said—‘O Allah, he was engaged in obedience to You and to Your Prophet (Abū Umayyah: Your Messenger); so return the sun for him.’ Asmāʾ said: ‘I saw it set, and then I saw it rise again after it had already set.’ ”

Shaykh Abū al-Faraj Ibn al-Jawzī recorded this narration in al-Mawḍūʿāt (4) through the chain of Abū ʿAbd Allāh ibn Mandah, as mentioned earlier, and also through Abū Jaʿfar al-ʿUqaylī: “Aḥmad ibn Dāwūd related to us; ʿAmmār ibn Maṭar related to us; Fuḍayl ibn Marzūq related to us,” and so forth.

He then remarked, “This ḥadīth is fabricated. The transmitters have differed concerning it.” Saʿīd ibn Masʿūd also related it from ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Mūsā, from Fuḍayl ibn Marzūq, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Dīnār, from ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥasan, from Fāṭimah bint ʿAlī, from Asmāʾ—an isnād he described as confused.

He further said: “Aḥmad ibn Dāwūd is worthless.” Al-Dāraquṭnī (5) declared, “He is discarded and a liar,” while Ibn Ḥibbān (6) said: “He used to …”