for an unspecified agent, like other Companions’ statements, “We were commanded” and “We were forbidden.” All of this is treated as attributed to the Prophet, as established in hadith methodology.

It also has a corroborating report from the hadith of Abu Hurayrah, who said: We were with the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, when he heard a loud crashing sound. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “Do you know what this is?” We said: “Allah and His Messenger know best.” He said: “This is a stone that was cast into Hell seventy years ago, and it has been falling through Hell until now, when it reached its bottom.”

Muslim recorded it (8/150), and recorded it elsewhere (1/130) in abridged form as a report attributed to the Companion. Ibn Abi al-Dunya also recorded it in The Description of Hell (folio 2/1), attributed to the Prophet with this wording; and al-Hakim recorded it (4/606), through another chain from him, attributed to the Prophet in abridged form. Al-Dhahabi said: “Its chain is sound.”

Al-Hakim then recorded it (4/597) through Abu Salamah ibn Abd al-Rahman and Saʿid ibn al-Musayyib, who both said that Abu Hurayrah reported it as attributed to the Prophet, with the wording: “By Him in Whose Hand is Muhammad’s soul, the distance between Hell’s rim and its bottom is such that a boulder weighing as much as seven she-camels, together with their fat, flesh, and young, would fall between Hell’s rim and its bottom for seventy years.” He said: “Its chain of transmission is authentic.”

Al-Dhahabi agreed with him. It also has two further corroborating reports from the hadiths of Abu Musa and Buraydah, attributed to the Prophet with similar wording. Al-Bazzar recorded them both in his Musnad (p. 315—its supplementary reports), and concerning the first of them he said: