the entire earth, as stated in "Lisān al-ʿArab": "And the soil of the earth" is its apparent meaning. This is what the context indicates, for the earth without soil is not suitable for the trees and animals mentioned in the ḥadīth, nor for the creation of Adam and his progeny who descended from him afterward. In summary: the details in the ḥadīth differ from the details in the Noble Quran, and its days are not the same as its days. In such cases, according to scholars, one should combine the two, not pit one against the other, as this ignorant man has done. I had begun to respond to him in detail in a series of articles, the first four of which were published in the Jordanian newspaper "al-Raʾy," the last dated (29/4/1983). Then we were surprised by their refusal to continue publishing, after they had promised to publish in writing in the newspaper as a general promise, and verbally as a specific promise from the person in charge to one of our esteemed brothers. Allāh has His ways in His creation. 16, p. 641, ḥadīth 1987. To be added to the last line: although he omitted the phrase: "from his father," the narration of Shuʿbah is more authentic. Al-Suyūṭī's statement: "Yazīd ibn Salamah" is inverted, and the correct version is: "Salamah ibn Yazīd" as in "al-Tārīkh" and "Kabīr al-Ṭabarānī," and in this, he followed al-Haythamī (5/220), and this matter deceived al-Manāwī! 17, p. 651, ḥadīth 1995. To be added after the seventh line: Then it occurred to me that it is possible that this Jaʿfar is not Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad al-Ṣādiq, because although they mentioned him among the narrators from ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Abī Rāfiʿ, they did not mention him among the teachers of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Jaʿfar, the narrator from Jaʿfar here, who is ʿAbd Allāh ibn Jaʿfar ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Miswar. Rather, they mentioned among his teachers his father Jaʿfar ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, and they did not mention Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq among them, so the matter is uncertain. Preferring one over the other in such cases is difficult, especially since I did not find a biography for Jaʿfar ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān. But that does not..