Masruq reported,

While a man was telling a story in the Grand Mosque, he said, "When the Day of Resurrection comes, smoke will descend from the sky and will take away the hearing and sight of the hypocrites, while it will affect the believers like a head cold."Masruq said, So I went to Abdullah and mentioned this to him. He had been reclining, but he sat up straight and began to speak. He said, "People, whoever among you is asked about something he knows, let him speak about it. But if he does not know, let him say, 'Allah knows best.' For it is part of knowledge that you say about what you do not know, 'Allah knows best.' Indeed, Allah said to His Prophet ﷺ, 'Say, I do not ask you for any payment for it, nor am I of those who pretend' [Sad 38:86].When Quraysh defied the Prophet ﷺ and persisted in their disobedience to him, he said, 'O Allah, help me against them with seven years of famine like the seven years of Yusuf.' So a year of drought seized them in which they ate bones and carrion out of sheer hardship, until one of them would look up and see what appeared to be smoke between himself and the sky from hunger. They said, 'Our Lord, remove this punishment from us, indeed we are believers' [Dukhan 44:12].It was said to him, 'If We remove it from them, they will return to their ways.' So he prayed to his Lord, and it was lifted from them, but they returned to their ways. So Allah took vengeance on them on the day of Badr. That is the meaning of His statement, 'So watch for the Day when the sky will bring a visible smoke,' up to His statement, 'On the Day We will strike with the greatest assault, indeed We will take retribution' [Dukhan 44:10–16]."Ibn Numayr said in his version of the hadith that Abdullah said, "If it were referring to the Day of Resurrection, it would not have been lifted from them."

حدثنا وكيع وابن نمير قالا حدثنا الأعمش عن أبي الضحى

عن مسروق قال

بينا رجل يحدث في المسجد الأعظم قال إذا كان يوم القيامة نزل دخان من السماء فأخذ بأسماع المنافقين وأبصارهم وأخذ المؤمنين منه كهيئة الزكام قال مسروق فدخلت على عبد الله فذكرت ذلك له وكان متكئا فاستوى جالسا فأنشأ يحدث فقال يا أيها الناس من سئل منكم عن علم هو عنده فليقل به فإن لم يكن عنده فليقل الله أعلم فإن من العلم أن تقول لما لا تعلم الله أعلم إن الله عز وجل قال لنبيه ﷺ {قل ما أسألكم عليه من أجر وما أنا من المتكلفين} إن قريشا لما غلبوا النبي ﷺ واستعصوا عليه قال اللهم أعني بسبع كسبع يوسف قال فأخذتهم سنة أكلوا فيها العظام والميتة من الجهد حتى جعل أحدهم يرى بينه وبين السماء كهيئة الدخان من الجوع فقالوا {ربنا اكشف عنا العذاب إنا مؤمنون} قال فقيل له إنا إن كشفنا عنهم عادوا فدعا ربه فكشف عنهم فعادوا فانتقم الله منهم يوم بدر فذلك قوله تعالى {فارتقب يوم تأتي السماء بدخان مبين} إلى قوله {يوم نبطش البطشة الكبرى إنا منتقمون} قال ابن نمير في حديثه فقال عبد الله فلو كان يوم القيامة ما كشف عنهم