Al-Kāfi 8, narration 44

Translation

44. Muhammad Bin Yahya, from Ahmad Bin Muhammad Bin Isa, from Al-Hassan Bin Mahboub, from Jameel Bin Saaleh, from Abu Maryam who has said: Abu Ja’far (asws), said, ‘I asked him (asws) about the Statement of Allah (azwj) Mighty and Majestic: “[105:3] And send against them swarms of flying creatures [105:4] Striking them with stones of baked clay”, he (asws) said: ‘These were low flying birds which came upon them from the sea front. Their heads were like the heads of predatory birds, and their claws were like the claws of predatory birds. Along with each of the birds were three stones. In their legs were two stones and in their beaks was one stone each. So they went on to pelt them by these until their bodies became blistered with smallpox. So they killed them by it and there was not seen before that anything from the smallpox, nor were such birds seen before that day, nor after it’. He (asws) said: ‘And the ones from among them who escaped on that day went until they reached Hazramaut, and it is a valley in a part of Yemen. Allah (azwj) Sent against them a flood. So, all of them were drowned in it’. He (asws) said: ‘And no water had been seen in that valley at all for fifteen years before that’. He (asws) said: ‘So that is why it has been named as Hazramaut (death arrived), for that is wherein they died’.

Translation: Muhammad Sarwar — published with the edition, reproduced verbatim.