Asalamu 'aleykum.My previous question number was 2571729 and i asked a question concerning the distance between heaven and earth. I thank you for your efforts but it did not really help me that much. So you mentioned, that this Hadith may not be sahih. Is there just one hadih mentioning that 500 year distance between heaven or earth or are there more than that one? And is it a strong opinion, that this Hadith is daeef? If it is sahih - how exactly do we reconcile it now with the given scientific data? Jazak Allahu khairan. Wa aleykum salam wa rahmatullah

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His Slave and Messenger.

A weak Hadeeth cannot be presented as evidence in matters like these according to the consensus of the scholars. However, there is another Hadeeth to the same effect whose chain of transmission Shaykh Shuʻayb Al-Arnaa’oot declared Hasan (good). ʻAbdullaah ibn ʻAmr related that the Prophet said: “If a ball of lead like this one (and he pointed to one the size of a skull) were to be dropped from the heavens to the earth, and it is the distance of five hundred years' travel, it would reach the earth before the nightfall. But if it were dropped from the top of the chain (mentioned in the Quran 69:32 (which means) "Then in a chain whose length is seventy cubits insert him") it would travel for forty years, day and night, before it would reach its foundation or bottom.” [Ahmad]

In relation to the notion that the Hadeeth contradicts scientific facts, even if such a contradiction existed, we adequately addressed the matter in the previous Fatwa 125455. You should bear in mind that it is absolutely impossible for an authentic revealed text with a definite indication to contradict an established and definite scientific fact because the divine revelation is true and so are the established scientific facts and both originate from the same source – Allaah, who says (what means): {Unquestionably, His is the creation and the command; blessed is Allaah, Lord of the worlds.} [Quran 7:54]

Moreover, there can be no genuine contradiction between sound reason and authentic revealed texts with definite indications. Even if contradiction seems to be present, it is due to a defect in the understanding of the individual. One may assume that the text has a definite indication but it really does not. One may also mistakenly think that a "scientific fact" is definite and established while it may be only a hypothesis that has not been proven yet.

Allaah Knows best.