A man came to Abdullah and said, "I have just left a man in the masjid who is interpreting the Quran by his own opinion. He was explaining this verse, 'the day the sky brings a visible smoke', saying that on the Day of Resurrection a smoke will come upon people and seize their breathing until it takes hold of them, affecting them like a head cold."Abdullah said, "Whoever has knowledge of something, let him speak about it, and whoever does not know, let him say, 'Allah knows best.' For part of a man's understanding is that he says, 'Allah knows best,' about what he has no knowledge of."What actually happened was this. When Quraysh defied the Prophet ﷺ, he prayed against them, asking for years of famine like the years of Yusuf. Drought and hardship struck them, so that a man would look up at the sky and see between himself and it something like smoke, from sheer exhaustion, and they even ate bones."A man came to the Prophet ﷺ and said, 'Messenger of Allah, ask Allah's forgiveness for Mudar, for they are perishing.'"The Prophet ﷺ said, 'For Mudar? You are bold indeed.'"Still, he prayed to Allah for them, and Allah revealed, 'We shall remove the punishment for a little while, but you will surely return' [Dukhan 44:15]. Rain then fell upon them. But when comfort returned to them, they went back to how they had been. So Allah, Mighty and Majestic, revealed, 'So watch for the day when the sky brings a visible smoke, enveloping the people. This is a painful punishment' [Dukhan 44:10–11], and 'the day We seize with the great seizure, We shall indeed take retribution' [Dukhan 44:16]."Abdullah explained that this last verse refers to the day of Badr.
جاء إلى عبد الله رجل، فقال: تركت المسجد رجلا يفسر القرآن برأيه، يفسر هذه الآية: (يوم تأتي السماء يدخان مبين) قال: يأتي الناس يوم القيامة دخان، فيأخذ بأنفاسهم حتى يأخذهم. منه كهيئة الزكام. فقال عبد الله: من علم علما فليقل به، ومن لم يعلم فليقل: الله أعلم. فإن من فقه الرجل أن يقول لما لا علم له به: الله أعلم. إنما كان هذا أن قريشا لما استعصت على النبي ﷺ دعا عليهم بسنين كسني يوسف، فأصابهم قحط وجهد حتى جعل الرجل ينظر إلى السماء فيرى بينه وبينها كهيئة الدخان من الجهد، وحتى أكلوا العظام، فأتى النبي ﷺ رجل فقال: يا رسول الله استغفر الله لمضر؛ فإنهم قد هلكوا فقال: لمضر؟ إنك لجريء قال: فدعا الله لهم، فأنزل الله عز وجل: {إنا كاشفوا العذاب قليلا إنكم عائدون} قال: فمطروا، فلما أصابتهم الرفاهية، قال: عادوا إلى ما كانوا عليه. قال: فأنزل الله عزوجل: {فارتقب يوم تأتي السماء بدخان مبين يغشى الناس هذا عذاب أليم} {يوم نبطش البطشة الكبرى إنا منتقمون} قال: يعني يوم بدر.
Bukhari narrated it in the tafsir (4821, 4822, and 4823), and Muslim narrated it in the chapter on the description of the Resurrection, Paradise, and the Fire (2798:40), both of them through Amash, from Muslim bin Sabih Abu Duha, from Masruq, who said, then he related it, and the wording given is Muslim's.Bukhari also narrated it in the tafsir (4824), and Muslim as well, both through Mansur, from Abu Duha with the same account, and in it, Abu Sufyan came to him and said, "Muhammad, you have come commanding obedience to Allah and the maintaining of family ties, yet your people have perished, so pray to Allah for them." Allah said , "So watch for the Day when the sky will bring a visible smoke, enveloping the people. This is a painful punishment" [Dukhan 44:10–11], up to His saying, "Indeed, you are worshippers" [Dukhan 44:15]. He said, "Will the punishment of the Hereafter then be lifted?" ... and the hadith continues.