(1) The hadith narrated by al-‘Abbās ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib—may Allah be pleased with him—is recorded in Sunan Abī Dāwūd, 4:319–320, Book of the Sunnah, chapter on the Jahmiyyah. Its wording is: “I was in al-Bathā’ with a group that included the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace. A cloud passed over them, and he looked at it and asked, ‘What do you call this?’ They replied, ‘Al-sahāb (clouds).’ He asked, ‘And al-muzn (clouds)?’ They replied, ‘And al-muzn.’ He asked, ‘And al-‘anān (clouds)?’ They replied, ‘And al-‘anān.’—Abū Dāwūd said: ‘I did not ascertain al-‘anān precisely.’—He asked, ‘Do you know the distance between heaven and earth?’ They replied, ‘We do not know.’ He said, ‘The distance between them is either seventy-one, seventy-two, or seventy-three years, and the heaven above it is likewise.’ He continued until he had counted seven heavens. ‘Then above the cloud is a sea whose depth is like the distance between one heaven and another. Above that are eight mountain goats, the distance between their hooves and knees being like the distance between one heaven and another. Upon their backs is the Throne, the distance between its bottom and top being like the distance between one heaven and another. Then Allah, Blessed and Exalted, is above that.’” The editor—may Allah have mercy on him—said: “Al-Tirmidhī and Ibn Mājah also recorded it. Al-Tirmidhī said: ‘Gharīb. Sharīk narrated part of this hadith from Simāk, but stopped its attribution at the Companion.’ Al-Walīd ibn Abī Thawr’s narrations cannot be relied upon as evidence. Abū Dāwūd also narrated the hadith through two other routes; see nos. 4723, 4724, and 4725.” The hadith appears in Sunan al-Tirmidhī, 5:96–97, Book of Quranic Commentary, Surah al-Hāqqah. Al-Tirmidhī said: “‘Abd ibn Humayd said: ‘I heard Yahyā ibn Ma‘īn say, “Will ‘Abd al-Rahmān ibn Sa‘d not perform the hajj so that this hadith may be heard from him?”’ This is a hasan gharīb hadith. Al-Walīd ibn Abī Thawr narrated something similar from Simāk and attributed it to the Prophet. Sharīk narrated part of this hadith from Simāk, but stopped its attribution at the Companion and did not attribute it to the Prophet. ‘Abd al-Rahmān is Ibn ‘Abd Allāh ibn Sa‘d al-Rāzī.” The hadith is also recorded in Sunan Ibn Mājah, 1:69, Introduction, chapter on what the Jahmiyyah denied; and in al-Musnad, al-Ma‘ārif edition, 3:202–203 and 204–205, nos. 1770–1771. Shaykh Ahmad Shākir provided extensive commentary, saying of the first hadith, “Its chain of transmission is very weak,” and of the second, “Its chain of transmission is also weak.” Nevertheless, he said on p. 204: “If the hadith had only this chain of transmission and the preceding one, it would not be authentic, because both are weak, as you can see. However, al-Walīd ibn Abī Thawr was not its sole transmitter. Abū Dāwūd also narrated it from Ahmad ibn Abī Surayj, from ‘Abd al-Rahmān ibn ‘Abd Allāh ibn Sa‘d and Muhammad ibn Sa‘īd, from ‘Amr ibn Abī Qays, from Simāk ibn Harb, with his chain of transmission and the same meaning. He also narrated it from Ahmad ibn Hafs, from his father, from Ibrāhīm ibn Tahmān, from Simāk. Al-Tirmidhī narrated it from ‘Abd ibn Humayd, from ‘Abd al-Rahmān ibn Sa‘d, from ‘Amr ibn Abī Qays, from Simāk… These are authentic chains of transmission.” He then discussed the narrators in these chains, affirming their reliability, and said: “Al-Bayhaqī also narrated it in al-Asmā’ wa-l-Sifāt (The Names and Attributes), pp. 286–287, through Abū Dāwūd, with the chains of al-Walīd ibn Abī Thawr and Ibrāhīm ibn Tahmān. Al-Hākim narrated an abridged version in al-Mustadrak, 2:500–501, through Sharīk, from Simāk ibn Harb, from ‘Abd Allāh ibn ‘Umayrah, from al-Ahnaf, from al-‘Abbās, stopping its attribution at the Companion. He said: ‘Authentic according to Muslim’s criteria, though neither of the two recorded it.’” Al-Hākim then mentioned another route attributing it to the Prophet. Al-Dhahabī agreed with him that the first chain, which stopped at the Companion, met Muslim’s criteria, but judged the route attributing it to the Prophet weak. The hadith also appears in Radd al-Imām al-Dārimī… ‘alā Bishr al-Marīs al-‘Anīd (Imam al-Dārimī’s… Refutation of Bishr al-Marīs, the Obstinate), p. 73, edited by al-Fiqī, as a narration from Ibn Mas‘ūd; and in Ibn Khuzaymah’s al-Tawhīd… (Divine Oneness…), pp. 107–108, edited by al-Harrās, likewise as a narration from Ibn Mas‘ūd. My brother, Dr. Muhammad ibn Lutfī al-Sabbāgh, informed me that Shaykh Muhammad Nāsir al-Dīn al-Albānī judged this hadith weak in his takhrīj (source tracing and grading) of Sunan Ibn Mājah, saying, “Weak,” and referring to his book al-Zilāl (Shadows), 577. Dr. al-Sabbāgh dictated this to me from the manuscript copy of al-Albānī’s takhrīj of Sunan Ibn Mājah, whose section containing authentic hadiths is now being printed by the Arab Bureau of Education for the Gulf States. This is corroborated by what Shaykh al-Albānī stated in the introduction to Mukhtasar al-‘Uluw li-l-‘Aliyy al-Ghaffār (Abridgment of The Exaltedness of the Most High, the All-Forgiving), by al-Dhahabī, pp. 12–13, first edition, al-Maktab al-Islāmī, Beirut, 1401/1981. He says: “I may omit reports whose authenticity the author explicitly affirmed, or whose authentication he quoted from others, because of a discrediting defect that became apparent to me, such as the hadith of Abū Hurayrah… and the hadith of the mountain goats narrated from al-‘Abbās, pp. 49–50. It is examined in the previously mentioned source, Silsilat al-Ahādīth al-Da‘īfah (Series of Weak Hadiths), no. 1247…” To my knowledge, the third volume of Silsilat al-Ahādīth al-Da‘īfah wa-l-Mawdū‘ah (Series of Weak and Fabricated Hadiths), in which Shaykh al-Albānī discusses the hadiths numbered above one thousand according to his numbering, has not yet been printed, or has not yet been distributed.