“And when they said, ‘O Allah, if this is indeed the truth from You, then rain stones down upon us from the sky or bring us a painful punishment.’”
[Surah al-Anfāl: 32]
Then Allah Most High said:
“But Allah would not punish them while you are among them, nor would Allah punish them while they seek forgiveness.”
[Surah al-Anfāl: 33]
Everyone agrees that stones did not descend from the sky upon the people of Mecca when they said this. Had such a sign occurred, it would have been akin to the sign involving the People of the Elephant. An event of this kind would give people every reason and incentive to transmit it, even if only a group of scholars had reported it.
Yet since this is narrated by none of the compilers of scholarly works—whether in a musnad, a sahih collection, a work on virtues, a tafsīr, a biography, or any similar genre—and is transmitted only through an objectionable chain like this one, it is known (1) to be a lie and a falsehood.
Moreover, it is stated (2) in this hadith that the man who made this statement was commanded to observe the five pillars of Islam. Accordingly, he must have been a Muslim, for he said:
“We accepted it (3) from you.”
It is necessarily known that no Muslim during the lifetime of the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—was afflicted by such a thing.
Furthermore, this man is not known among the Companions. Rather, his is the sort of name mentioned by itinerant storytellers, in reports of the kind found in the tales of Antar and Dalhama. Scholars have compiled many books on the names of the Companions mentioned in any hadith, even weak hadiths, such as the book al-Istīʿāb by Ibn