حَدَّثَنَا سُفْيَانُ، قَالَ عَمْرٌو وَسَمِعْتُ عِكْرِمَةَ، {وَإِذْ صَرَفْنَا إِلَيْكَ} وَقُرِئَ عَلَى سُفْيَانَ عَنِ الزُّبَيْرِ نَفَرًا مِنْ الْجِنِّ يَسْتَمِعُونَ الْقُرْآنَ قَالَ بِنَخْلَةَ وَرَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ يُصَلِّي الْعِشَاءَ الْآخِرَةَ كَادُوا يَكُونُونَ عَلَيْهِ لِبَدًا قَالَ سُفْيَانُ كَانَ بَعْضُهُمْ عَلَى بَعْضٍ كَاللِّبَدِ بَعْضُهُ عَلَى بَعْضٍ.
`Urwah said: I heard ‘lkrimah (recite): “And (remember) when We sent towards you (Muhammad (ﷺ)” and it was recited to Sufyan from az-Zubair, `a group (three to ten persons) of the jinn, (quietly) listening to the Qur`an` (al-Ahqaf [46:29]). He said: “[That was] in Nakhlah. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) was praying Isha`, and they (the jinn) just made round him a dense crowd as if sticking one over the other (in order to listen to the Prophet’s (ﷺ) recitation)” (al-Jinn [72:19]). Sufyan said: “They were one above the other, like thick masses of clouds one above the other.”