The hadeeth of the mountain goats is a weak hadeeth
Question

                How sound is the hadeeth of the mountain goats? How should we understand it in the light of modern science?.
Praise be to Allah.The text of 
    the hadeeth of the mountain goats is as follows: 
It was 
    narrated that al-‘Abbaas ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib (may Allaah be pleased with 
    him) said: 
I was in 
    al-Batha’ with a group of people, among whom was the Messenger of Allaah 
     (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him). A cloud passed over him, 
    and he looked at it and said, “What do you call this?” They said, Sahaab 
    (a cloud). He said, “And muzn (rain cloud).” They said, And muzn. 
    He said, “And ‘anaan (clouds).” Abu Bakr said: they said, “And ‘anaan.” 
    He said: “How much (distance) do you think there is between you and the 
    heaven?” They said, We do not know. He said, “Between you and it is 
    seventy-one or seventy-two or seventy-three years, and there is a similar 
    distance between it and the heaven above it [and so on]” – until he has 
    counted seven heavens. “Then above the seventh heaven there is a river, 
    between whose top and bottom is a distance like that between one heaven and 
    another. Then above that there are eight (angels in the form of) mountain 
    goats. The distance between their hooves and their kneesis like the distance between one heaven and the 
    next. Then on their backs is the Throne, and the distance between the top 
    and the bottom of the Throne is like the distance between one heaven and 
    another. Then Allaah is above that, may He be blessed and exalted. 
Ibn 
    al-Atheer said in al-Nihaayah (3/355):  
Mountain 
    goats means angels in the form of mountain goats. 
This hadeeth 
    is well known in the books of the scholars, and is narrated in most of the 
    books of Musnad. It was narrated by Ahmad in al-Musnad 
    (1/206), Abu Dawood in al-Sunan (4723), al-Tirmidhi in al-Sunan 
    (3320), Ibn Maajah (193), al-Daarimi in al-Radd ‘ala al-Jahamiyyah 
    (50), al-Bazaar in his Musnad (4/134), Muhammad ibn ‘Uthmaan ibn Abi 
    Shaybah in al-‘Arsh (1/66), Ibn Khuzaymah in Kitaab al-Tawheed 
    (1/234) al-Haakim in al-Mustadrak (2/410) and other books of Sunnah. 
The reports 
    of these imams come through five isnaads, all of which meet in Simaak ibn 
    Harb from ‘Abd-Allaah ibn ‘Umayrah from al-Ahnaf ibn Qays from al-‘Abbaas 
    ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib (may Allaah be pleased with him). 
As for 
    Simaak ibn Harb, he met a number of the Sahaabah. Muslim narrated from him, 
    as did al-Bukhaari in mu’allaq reports. He was regarded as thiqah 
    (trustworthy) by a number of scholars, such as Imam Ahmad, Abu Haatim, 
    al-Bazaar and others. But some of the scholars criticized for some strange 
    matters in his hadeeth. Hence he was classed as da’eef (weak) by Shu’bah and 
    Ibn al-Mubaarak, and Ibn Abi Khaythamah said: I heard Ibn Ma’een being 
    asked: What is his fault? He said: He narrated ahaadeeth which no one else 
    narrated, but he is thiqah. Ibn ‘Ammaar said: They say that he used to make 
    mistakes, and they differed concerning his hadeeth. Al-Thawri regarded him 
    as somewhat da’eef but no one rejected him. Al-Nasaa’i said: Sometimes he 
    repeats everything he hears, therefore when he narrates a hadeeth which no 
    one else narrated, that cannot be regarded as sound. Ibn Hibbaan said in 
    al-Thiqaat: he makes many mistakes. 
See his 
    biography in Tahdheeb al-Tahdheeb (4/204) 
As for 
    ‘Abd-Allaah ibn ‘Umayrah: we do not know anything about his biography except 
    that he narrated from al-Ahnaf ibn Qays, and no one is known to have 
    narrated from him except Simaak ibn Harb. None of the scholars stated 
    whether he was thiqah or da’eef except Ibn Hibbaan who mentioned him in 
    al-Thiqaat. Ibn Hajar said in Tahdheeb al-Tahdheeb (5/301): 
    al-Bukhaari said: It is not known whether he heard from al-Ahnaf. He was 
    mentioned by Ibn Hibbaan in al-Thiqaat, and al-Tirmidhi classed his 
    hadeeth as hasan. I (Ibn Hajar) say: Abu Na’eem said in Ma’rifat 
    al-Sahaabah: He lived during the Jaahiliyyah and he was the guide of 
    al-A’sha, but it is not proven that he accompanied the Prophet  (peace 
    and blessings of Allaah be upon him) or saw him. Muslim said in 
    al-Wuhdaan: Simaak alone narrated from him. Ibraaheem al-Harbi said: I 
    do not know him. End quote. 
Because 
    Simaak’s report is not to be accepted when he is the only one narrating it, 
    and because we find that there are some doubts about ‘Abd-Allaah ibn 
    ‘Umayrah, the scholars differed as to whether the hadeeth should be classed 
    as saheeh or da’eef. 
Al-Tirmidhi 
    said concerning the hadeeth: it is hasan ghareeb. It was classed as saheeh 
    by Ibn Khuzaymah in his report in his book al-Tawheed where he 
    stipulated some conditions for its soundness. Al-Haakim said in 
    al-Mustadrak: it is saheeh according to the conditions of Muslim 
    although they (al-Bukhaari and Muslim) did not narrate it.
Among the 
    later scholars, Ibn Taymiyah in Majmoo’ al-Fataawa (3/192) and Ibn 
    al-Qayyim in Mukhtasar al-Sawaa’iq (433) said its isnaad is jayyid. 
With regard 
    to the scholars who classed it as da’eef: 
This is what 
    is understood from the words of al-Bazaar in his Musnad (4/115), 
    where he says: We do not know of these words being narrated except with this 
    isnaad from al-‘Abbaas from the Prophet  (peace and blessings of Allaah 
    be upon him). We do not know of anyone who narrated from ‘Abd-Allaah ibn 
    ‘Umayrah except Simaak ibn Harb. End quote. 
Ibn ‘Adiyy 
    said in al-Kaamil (9/27): it is not known. 
Al-Mazzi 
    indicated that it is da’eef in Tahdheeb al-Kamaal (10/391). 
Al-Dhahabi 
    said in al-‘Uluw (1/60): It was narrated only by Simaak from 
    ‘Abd-Allaah, and ‘Abd-Allaah is somewhat unknown. End quote. But al-Dhahabi 
    classed the hadeeth as hasan in al-‘Arsh (24). 
Another of 
    the later scholars who classed it as da’eef was al-Albaani in al-Silsilah 
    al-Da’eefah (1247). 
What seems 
    most likely – and Allaah knows best – is that the hadeeth is da’eef. As 
    Simaak ibn Harb was the only one who narrated this hadeeth which has to do 
    with matters of the unseen, this means that it is not acceptable. The fact 
    that little is known about ‘Abd-Allaah ibn ‘Umayrah further damages the 
    soundness of the hadeeth. Then there is the interruption (in the isnaad) 
    between him and al-Ahnaf ibn Qays. 
If anyone 
    wants to quote this hadeeth as evidence that Allaah is above His creation 
    and that He is above the mighty Throne, the Qur’aan and saheeh Sunnah are 
    full of such evidence and there is no need to quote this hadeeth as 
    evidence. There are a thousand pieces of evidence which Imam al-Dhahabi 
    compiled in his book al-‘Uluw, for those who want to know more. 
We have 
    already quoted some of the evidence on our site. Please see the answers to 
    questions no. 992 and 
    11035. 
And Allaah 
    knows best.