The Prophet ﷺ said, "When Allah decrees a matter in heaven, the angels beat their wings in submission to His word, like a chain striking upon a smooth rock."Ali said, "Someone other than Sufyan said, 'A smooth rock that terrifies them.'""When the terror is lifted from their hearts, they ask one another, 'What did your Lord say?' They reply, 'The truth, and He is the Most High, the Most Great.' Then those who eavesdrop overhear it. The eavesdroppers are arranged one above another."Sufyan demonstrated this with his hand, spreading the fingers of his right hand and placing them one above the other."Sometimes the shooting star strikes the listener before he can pass what he heard to the one beneath him, and he is burned up. Sometimes it does not strike him until he has already passed it to the one below him, who passes it to the one below that, until they cast it down to the earth."Sufyan sometimes said, "Until it reaches the earth.""Then it is dropped onto the lips of the sorcerer, who mixes a hundred lies with it, and yet he is believed. People say, 'Did he not tell us that on such and such a day, such and such would happen? And we found it to be true,' on account of that single word that was overheard from heaven."
عن النبي ﷺ قال: إذا قضى الله الأمر في السماء ضربت الملائكة بأجنحتها تضعانا لقوله كالسلسلة على صفوان- قال علي: وقال غيره: صفوان يفذهم ذلك- فإذا فزع عن قلوبهم، قالوا: ماذا قال ربكم؟ قالوا: للذي قال الحق وهو العلي الكبير، فيسمعها مسترق السمع ومسترق السمع هكذا واحد فوق آخر ووصف سفيان بيده وفرج بين أصابع يده اليمنى نصبها بعضها فوق بعض- فربما أدرك الشهاب المستمع قبل أن يرمي بها إلى صاحبه فيحترق، وربما لم يدركه حتى يرمي بها إلى الذي يليه إلى الذي هو أسفل منه، حتى يلقوها إلى الأرض- وربما قال سفيان: حتى تنتهي إلى الأرض- فتلقى على فم الساحر فيكذب معها مائة كذبة فيصدق فيقولون: ألم يخبرنا يوم كذا وكذا، يكون كذا وكذا فوجدناه حقا للكلمة التي سمعت من السماء.
Bukhari narrated it in the Tafsir (4701) from Ali bin Abdullah, "Sufyan narrated to us, from Amr, from Ikrima, from Abu Hurairah, from the Prophetﷺ," and he mentioned it.Bukhari said, "Ali bin Abdullah narrated to us, Sufyan narrated to us, Amr narrated to us, from Ikrima, from Abu Hurairah, 'When Allah decrees a matter.'" And he added, "and the soothsayer.""And Sufyan narrated to us and said, Amr said, I heard Ikrima say, Abu Hurairah narrated to us and said, 'When Allah decrees a matter.'" And he said, "on the mouth of the sorcerer."I said to Sufyan, "Did you yourself hear Amr say, 'I heard Ikrima say, I heard Abu Hurairah'?" He said, "Yes."I said to Sufyan, "A man narrated from you, from Amr, from Ikrima, from Abu Hurairah, attributing it to the Prophet, that he recited it as "was freed" [Saba 34:23]?" Sufyan said, "That is how Amr recited it, but I do not know whether he heard it this way or not." Sufyan said, "And that is our recitation."