Is the ḥadīth: "The earths are seven. Between each earth and the one after it is a journey of five hundred years. The uppermost [earth] is upon the back of a whale whose ends meet in the sky. The whale is upon a rock, and the rock is in the hand of the angel. The second [earth] is the prison of the wind. The third has the stones of Hell. The fourth has the brimstone of Hell. The fifth has the serpents of Hell. The sixth has the scorpions of Hell. The seventh has Saqar, and therein Iblīs is chained with iron, one hand in front of him and one hand behind him. If Allah wills to release him for what He wills, He releases him," ṣaḥīḥ (sound), ḥasan (good), ḍaʿīf (weak), or mawḍūʿ (fabricated)? And does it ascend to the rank of ṣaḥīḥ or ḥasan by virtue of its aggregated chains of narration?

This narration reported from Abdullah ibn Amr, describing the seven earths, is a Munkar (denounced) hadith, almost fabricated, for several reasons related to its text (matn) and chain of transmission (isnad). The text contradicts currently observable scientific facts, and there are no scientific facts to support what was mentioned in the hadith about the layers of the earth and their contents. As for the chain of transmission, it includes narrators whose独-獨-獨 reports are not accepted, and their strange narrations are rejected. All of them are considered weak or Munkar al-Hadith (denounced in hadith), which leads to the hadith being severely weak. Al-Dhahabi ruled it as Munkar, and Ibn Kathir expressed his astonishment at it and noted that there was some consideration regarding its attribution to the Prophet (رفع).