Mukhtasar Muslim

Masruq says: We were sitting with Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) and he was lying down among us, when a man came and said, “O Abu Abdur Rahman! There is a storyteller at the gates of Kindah who says that the verse about smoke in the Qur’an refers to smoke that will come and suffocate the disbelievers, while the Muslims will only experience a cold-like sensation from it.” Upon hearing this, Sayyiduna Abdullah ibn Mas’ud (may Allah be pleased with him) sat up angrily and said, “O people! Fear Allah. Whoever among you knows something should say it, and whoever does not know should say, ‘Allah knows best.’ For this is the essence of knowledge: that if one of you does not know something, he should say, ‘Allah knows best.’ Allah, Glorified and Exalted, said to His Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): ‘Say, O Muhammad (peace be upon him), I do not ask you for any reward, nor am I one of those who pretend’ (__QUR_N__). When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) saw the state of the people, that they would not accept through explanation, he said, ‘O Allah! Send upon them a seven-year famine like the seven years of famine during the time of Yusuf (peace be upon him).’ So a famine struck the Quraysh that consumed everything, until they ate skins and carrion out of hunger, and when one of them looked at the sky, it appeared to him like smoke. Then Abu Sufyan (may Allah be pleased with him) came to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and said, ‘O Muhammad (peace be upon him)! You command obedience to Allah and maintaining family ties, but your people have been destroyed. Pray to Allah for them.’ Allah the Exalted said, ‘So watch for the Day when the sky will bring a visible smoke, covering the people; this is a painful punishment...’ (__QUR_N__) until He said, ‘We will remove the punishment a little, but you will surely revert’ (__QUR_N__). If this verse referred to the punishment of the Hereafter, would it ever be removed? Then Allah the Exalted says, ‘On the Day We will strike with the greatest assault, We will surely take retribution’ (__QUR_N__). This ‘assault’ refers to the punishment at Badr, and these signs—smoke, the assault, the ‘lizam’, and the signs of Rome—have already passed.”

`Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) says that` five signs have already passed, and they are Dukhan, Lizam, Rome, Batshah, and Qamar (that is, the splitting of the moon).