Perhaps the latter is correct: the retention of the negative particle, since all the sources mentioned agree upon it except al-Durr, from which it must have been omitted, either by a copyist or by the printer; and the reading “the trees” in place of “the earth.” As for the version in the Musannaf, “and the earth does not grow,” it is anomalous, because it contradicts the lengthy hadith of al-Nawwas: “Then he commands the sky and it rains, and the earth, and it grows ...” Muslim and others narrated it. A portion of it has previously been referenced (1/869 and 4/383), while it is recorded in full in Sahih al-Jamiʿ (4042).
A similar wording occurs in the lengthy hadith of Abu Umamah, narrated by Ibn Majah and others. Its documentation has previously been given under no. (2457), and it appears in Sahih al-Jamiʿ, no. (7752), with omitted material for which I found no supporting evidence. I then published it separately in a dedicated treatise entitled The Story of the False Messiah, the Descent of Jesus, Peace Be upon Him, and His Killing Him at the End of Time, to which I appended what has been authentically reported concerning it from other Companions.
As for the version, “and the trees do not grow,” it does not contradict the version, “and the earth grows,” since it is more specific. What is meant, then, is the herbage that the earth produces, not trees. This meaning is almost explicit in the remainder of the hadith of al-Nawwas: “Their grazing animals will return to them with their humps at their longest, their udders at their fullest, and their flanks at their broadest ...”
- Page 1113, under hadith (2957):
Al-Tabarani narrated it in al-Muʿjam al-Saghir (134 and 135/al-Rawd al-Nadir) through two chains of transmission. One is weak, and I have documented it in al-Daʿifah (5765) because of an addition in its text. The other—and this is its text—has trustworthy narrators who are narrators of al-Bukhari, apart from al-Tabarani’s shaykh, Kushadh ibn Shahrdan. I have not found any biographical notice for him. Abu Nuʿaym mentioned him in Akhbar Isfahan (2/167) for his narration of this hadith from his shaykh al-Tabarani, but did not mention anything else about him. He is therefore counted among the unknown narrators. Al-Haythami overlooked this chain of transmission, mentioning it in al-Majmaʿ only through the first chain.