from Masruq, from 'Abd Allah ibn Mas'ud, that it was said to him: "There is a man here who claims that a smoke will appear before the Day of Resurrection, which will seize the hearing and sight of the hypocrites, while affecting the believers like a cold." He (Ibn Mas'ud) had been reclining, but he became angry, sat up, and said: "O people, whoever knows knowledge, let him speak with it, and whoever does not know, let him say: 'Allah knows best,' for it is part of knowledge that a servant says regarding what he does not know: 'Allah knows best.' Allah said to His Prophet: 'Say: I do not ask of you any reward for it, nor am I of the pretenders.' I will inform you about the smoke: When the Quraysh were slow to accept Islam, the Messenger of Allah invoked Allah against them, saying: 'O Allah, help me against them with seven [years] like the seven [years] of Joseph.' Consequently, they were struck by famine until they ate carrion and bones, to the point that one of them would see what was between him and the sky as smoke due to extreme hardship. That is the meaning of His saying: 'So watch for the day when the sky will bring a visible smoke,' up to His saying: 'Indeed, we are believers.' They asked for the punishment to be removed from them so that they might believe, but Allah said: 'How will there be for them the reminder, when there has come to them a clear messenger,' up to His saying: 'We will take retribution.' It was removed from them, but they returned to their disbelief. So He seized them on the day of Badr, and that is the meaning of His saying: 'The day We will strike with the greatest strike.' Thus, 'Abd Allah ibn Mas'ud used to say: 'The Strike, the Smoke, and the Inevitable (al-Lizam) have already passed.'"