that those before them were destroyed, so Allāh revealed: "And nothing has prevented Us from sending the signs except that the former peoples denied them, and We gave Thamūd the she-camel as a visible sign" (Sūrah al-Isrāʾ, verse 59). I said: In this context, there is something that contradicts the context of the ḥadīth of Wakīʿ and others, with additions and omissions, and it is among the errors of Muḥammad ibn Yazīd al-Rifāʿī; for he was weakened by a group, even though he was among the teachers of Muslim. But those who examined and followed his ḥadīths attributed to him errors, contradictions, and the theft of others' ḥadīths. See "al-Tahdhīb." This ḥadīth confirms that; for the ḥadīth of Wakīʿ differs from this with additions and omissions as you have seen. It is either that al-Rifāʿī stole it and attributed it to Wakīʿ, or he was mistaken in it, and contradicted Aḥmad and others in his narration of it with the wording mentioned above. The original ḥadīth of al-Rifāʿī is only known from the narration of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: The people of Makkah asked the Prophet (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) to make al-Ṣafā gold for them, and to remove the mountains so they could cultivate. It was said to him: If you wish, you may delay for them, or if you wish, you may give them what they asked for; but if they disbelieve, they will be destroyed as those before them were destroyed, [and if you wish, I may delay for them; perhaps we may spare them], he said: "No, rather I will delay for them." Then this verse was revealed... and he mentioned it. It was recorded by al-Nasāʾī in "al-Sunan al-Kubrā" (6/380/11290), al-Ḥākim (2/362), Ibn Jarīr in "al-Tafsīr" (15/74), al-Bayhaqī also, and Aḥmad (1/258) - and the context is his, with the addition from al-Ḥākim and others - and al-Bazzār also (2225), and al-Ḍiyāʾ al-Maqdisī in "al-Mukhtārah" (10/78-79-ṭ). And al-Ḥākim said: