those before them. Then Allah, Most High, revealed:

“And nothing has prevented Us from sending signs except that the former peoples denied them; and We gave Thamud the she-camel as a clear sign.”

I say: This wording differs from the narration of Wakiʿ and those with him, both through additions and omissions. This is one of the errors of Muhammad ibn Yazid al-Rifaʿi. A number of scholars deemed him weak, although he was one of Muslim’s teachers. However, those who thoroughly examined and traced his hadiths attributed errors and contradictions to him, as well as the theft of others’ hadiths. See al-Tahdhib.

This hadith is among the reports that confirm this, for Wakiʿ’s hadith differs from this one through additions and omissions, as you have seen. Thus, either it was among the reports al-Rifaʿi stole and ascribed to Wakiʿ, or he was mistaken concerning it and contradicted Ahmad and others in his narration from him, with the wording mentioned above.

The original version of al-Rifaʿi’s hadith is known only through the narration of Saʿid ibn Jubayr from Ibn ʿAbbas, who said:

“The people of Mecca asked the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, to turn al-Safa into gold for them and to remove the mountains from around them so that they could cultivate the land. It was then said to him: ‘If You wish, You may grant them respite; and if You wish, You may give them what they have asked for. But if they disbelieve, they will be destroyed just as those before them were destroyed. [And if You wish, I may grant them respite; perhaps We may spare them.]’ He said: ‘No; rather, grant them respite.’

“So this verse was revealed...” and he then cited it.

Al-Nasaʾi narrated it in al-Sunan al-Kubra (6/380/11290), as did al-Hakim (2/362), Ibn Jarir in al-Tafsir (15/74), al-Bayhaqi, Ahmad (1/258)—whose wording it is, while the addition is from al-Hakim and others—al-Bazzar as well (2225), and al-Diya al-Maqdisi in al-Mukhtarah (10/78–79, Ṭ.). Al-Hakim said: