the entire earth. Thus, Lisān al-ʿArab states: “The turbah of the earth is its outer surface.” This is what the context indicates, for the earth without soil is not suitable for the trees and animals mentioned in the hadith, nor for the creation of Adam and his progeny that multiplied from him thereafter.
In sum, the detail given in the hadith differs from that given in the Noble Quran, and the days it mentions are not the days mentioned in the Quran. In such cases, it is the duty of scholars to reconcile the two, rather than set one against the other, as this pretentious pseudo-scholar has done.
I had in fact begun a detailed refutation of him in a series of articles, the first four of which were published in the Jordanian newspaper al-Raʾy, the last appearing on 29/4/1983. Then the newspaper surprised us by refusing to continue publication, after having made a public written commitment to publish it in the newspaper, as well as a private verbal promise from one of its officials to one of our esteemed brothers. Allah has His ways with His creation.
- p. 641, Hadith 1987.
Add to the last line:
Even though it omits the phrase “from his father,” Shuʿbah’s transmission is more authentic. Al-Suyūṭī’s wording, “Yazīd ibn Salamah,” has the names reversed; the correct form is “Salamah ibn Yazīd,” as found in al-Tārīkh and al-Ṭabarānī’s al-Kabīr. In this, he merely followed al-Haythamī (5/220), and al-Manāwī was deceived by it!
- p. 651, Hadith 1995.
Add after the seventh line:
It then occurred to me that it is possible that this Jaʿfar is not Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad al-Ṣādiq. For although they listed him among those who narrated from ʿUbayd Allah ibn Abī Rāfiʿ, they did not list him among the shaykhs of ʿAbd Allah ibn Jaʿfar, who narrates from Jaʿfar here—namely, ʿAbd Allah ibn Jaʿfar ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Miswar. Rather, they listed among his shaykhs his father, Jaʿfar ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, but did not include Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq. Thus, either possibility remains open.
Determining which is more likely in such a case is difficult, especially since I have found no biographical notice for Jaʿfar ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān. But that does not