Fitan

Abu Sa'id al-Khudri reported God's messenger as saying, "The dajjal will come but will not be allowed to enter the mountain passes of Medina, so he will alight in one of the salt tracts which are near Medina. A man who is the best (or, one of the best) of the people will go out to him, and will say he testifies that he is the dajjal the report of whom was given them by God's messenger. The dajjal will then ask the people to tell him whether, supposing he kills this man and brings him back to life, they will have any doubts about the matter, and when they reply that they will not he will kill him and afterwards bring him back to life. The man will then say, `I swear by God that I have had no clearer insight into your true nature than I have to-day.' The dajjal will therefore want to kill him, but will not be given power over him." (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Abu Huraira reported God's messenger as saying, "The Messiah[*] will come from the East making for Medina and will alight behind Uhud, but the angels will then turn his face towards Syria and he will perish there." *i.e., the dajjal(Bukhari and Muslim.)

Abu Bakra reported the Prophet as saying, "The terror of the antichrist[*] will not enter Medina, which will on that day have seven gates with two angels at each gate." *i.e., the dajjalBukhari transmitted it.

Fatima, daughter of Qais told that she had heard God's messenger's crier calling to congregational prayer, so she went out to the mosque and prayed along with God's messenger. When he had finished his prayer, he sat on the pulpit laughing and told everyone to remain where he had said the prayer. He then asked them if they knew why he had assembled them, and when they replied that God and His messenger knew best, he said, "I swear by God that I have not assembled you for some pleasant purpose or because of fear, but I have assembled you because Tamim ad-Dari, a Christian who came and accepted Islam, told me something which agrees with what I was telling you about the antichrist. He told me that he had sailed in a ship along with thirty men of Lakhm and Judham and that they were storm-tossed for a month. They drew near to an island when the sun was setting and going into the ship's small boats they went ashore where they were met by a very hairy beast whose hair was so abundant that because of it they could not tell its front from its back. They said, `Woe to you! What can you be?' and it replied, `I am the Jassasa.1 Go to this man in the monastery, for he is anxious to get news of you.' He said that when it named a man to them, they were afraid of it lest it should be a she-devil so they went off quickly and entered the monastery where they found a man with the hugest and strongest frame they had ever seen with his hand joined to his neck and in irons from the knees to the ankles. They said, `Woe to you! Who are you?' and he replied that they had had the opportunity of knowing about him, so they must tell him who they were. They said they were Arabs who had sailed in a ship and after having been storm-tossed for a month had landed on the island where they were met by a very hairy beast which informed them that it was the jassasa and told them to go to this man in the monastery, so they had come to him quickly. He asked them to tell him about the palm trees of Baisan whether they were producing fruit, and when they told him that they were, he said they would soon cease to bear fruit. He asked them to tell him about the lake of Tiberias whether there was water in it, and when they replied that it contained a great quantity of water he said that its water, would soon disappear. He asked them to tell him about the spring of Zughar[2] whether there was any water in the spring and whether the people carried on agriculture with the spring water, to which they replied that it had a great quantity of water and that its people carried on agriculture with its water. He asked them to tell him what had happened to the prophet of the Gentiles and they told him he had left Mecca and settled in Yathrib. He asked whether the Arabs had fought with him and when they replied that they had, he asked how he had dealt with them and they replied that he had overcome those in his neighbourhood and they had obeyed him. Saying it would be best for them to obey him, he told them that he would now inform them about himself. He Poundaid he was the antichrist and would soon be permitted to come forth. He would then come forth and travel in the earth for forty nights, not leaving a town unvisited except Mecca and Taiba[3] both of which are forbidden to him, for as often as he wanted to enter one of them he would be faced by an angel with a drawn sword in his hand who would turn him away from it, and on every one of its mountain paths there would be angels guarding it." Then striking the pulpit with the end of his staff, God's messenger said, "This is Taiba, this is Taiba, this is Taiba (meaning Medina). Have J told you [a story like this]?" On their replying that he had, he said, "I assure you that he is in the Syrian sea or the Yemen Sea; no, on the contrary, it is towards the East that he is and he pointed his hand to the East. 1. The name of a beast which is to seek for news to take to the dajjal.2. Different explanations are given of this name. It is said to have been a spring in the Balqa in Syria and to have been connected with a daughter of Lot.3. A name for Medina.Muslim transmitted it.

`Abdallah b. `Umar reported God's messenger as saying, "Last night I found myself in a vision at the Ka`ba and saw a ruddy man like the most good-looking of that type that you can see with the most beautiful lock of hair you can see. He had combed it out, and it was dripping with water. He was leaning on the shoulders of two men and going round the House. When I asked who he was I was told that he was the Messiah, son of Mary. Then I saw a man with short, woolly hair who was blind in the right eye, his eye looking like a floating grape. I have never seen anyone more closely resembling Ibn Qatan. He was placing his hands on the shoulders of two men and going round the House. I asked who this man was and was told that he was the antichrist." In a version he said about the dajjal that he was a red, fleshy man with woolly hair, blind in the right eye, Ibn Qatan being the one who resembled him most closely. (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Fatima, daughter of Qais told in the tradition of Tamim ad-Dari that he said, "Then I saw a woman who was trailing her hair and asked who she was. She replied that she was the jassasa and told me to go to that castle. I went to it and found a man with trailing hair, bound in fetters, leaping between heaven and earth, and when I asked him who he was he replied that he was the dajjal.'' Abu Dawud transmitted it.

`Ubada b. as-Samit reported God's messenger as saying, "I have told you so much about the dajjal that I am afraid you may not understand. The antichrist is short, hen-toed[*], woolly-haired, one-eyed, an eye sightless and neither protruding nor deep-seated. If you are confused about him, know that your Lord is not one-eyed." *It may also mean 'bandy-legged.Abu Dawud transmitted it.

Abu `Ubaida b. al-Jarrah told that he heard God's-messenger say, "There has been no prophet after Noah who has not warned his people about the dajjal, and I warn you of him." He then described him to them, saying, "Perhaps some who have seen me or heard my words will live till his time." God's messenger was asked what the condition of their hearts would be on that day, and he replied, "Like what they are (meaning at the time he was speaking), or better.'Tirmidhi and Abu Dawud transmitted it.

`Amr b. Huraith quoted Abu Bakr as-Siddiq as saying that God's messenger told them the dajjal would come forth from a land in the East called Khurasan followed by peoples whose faces resemble shields covered with skin. Tirmidhi transmitted it.

`Imran b. Husain reported God's messenger as saying, "Let him who hears of the dajjal go far from him, for I swear by God that a man will come to him thinking he is a believer and follow him because of confused ideas which he rouses in him." Abu Dawud transmitted it.

Asma' daughter of Yazid b. as-Sakan reported the Prophet a saying, "The dajjal will remain in the earth forty years, a year being like a month, a month like a week, a week like a day, and a day like the time it takes to burn a palm-branch." It is transmitted in Sharh as sunna.

Abu Sa'id al-Khudri reported God's messenger as saying, "The dajjal will be followed by seventy thousand of my people wearing dark cloaks." It is transmitted in Sharh as-sunna.

When God's messenger was in my house, he mentioned the dajjal saying, "Before he comes there will be three years, one in which the heaven will withhold a third of its rain and the earth a third of its vegetation, the second in which the heaven will withhold two-thirds of its rain and the earth two-thirds of its vegetation, and the third in which the heaven will withhold all its rain and the earth all its vegetation, and every animal with hoof or fang will perish. One of the severest of his afflictions will be his coming to a nomadic Arab and saying, `Tell me, if I bring your camels to life for you, will you not know that I am your Lord?' and he will reply, `Certainly. He will then make the devils appear to him like his camels with the finest udders and the highest humps. He will come to a man whose brother and father have died and say, `Tell me, if I bring your father and your brother to life for you, will you not know that I am your Lord?' and he will reply, `Certainly.' He will then make the devils appear to him like his father and his brother." She said that God's messenger then went out to relieve himself and when he found on his return that the people were greatly upset over what he had told them, he put his hands on the sides of the door and said, "What is the matter, Asma'?" When she replied that their hearts were perturbed over them; mention of the dajjal, he said, "If he comes forth when I am alive, I shall dispute with him, otherwise my Lord will take my place on behalf of every believer." She said, "Messenger of God, I swear by God that when we knead our dough, we are hungry before we make it into bread. Now how will believers fare at that time?" He replied, "The glorifying of God and the declaration of His holiness which are enough for the angels will be enough for them." ...Transmitted it. The source of the tradition is omitted in the text. It occurs in Ahmad b. Hanbal, Musnad, vol. 6, p. 455 f. A form of the tradition is also given in Tayalisi's Musnad (Haidarabad, 1321), p. 227.

No one asked God's messenger more about the dajjal than I did, and he assured me he would do me no harm. When I told him people were saying he would have with him a mountain of bread and a river of water, he replied that he was too insignificant in God's sight for that[*].*Mirqat, 5:213, says that this means either that he is too despicable to be able really to produce such things, or that such seeming marvels could cot mislead believers. Another explanation is that such things are allowed only because believers will have their faith increased and unbelievers, hypocrites and such like will provide more evidence of their unbelief.(Bukhari and Muslim.)

Abu Huraira reported the Prophet as saying, "The dajjal will come forth on a white ass with a space seventy times as wide as one can stretch between its ears." Baihaqi transmitted it in Kitab al-ba`th wan nushur

`Abdallah b. `Umar told that `Umar b. al-Khattab went with God's messenger and some of his companions to Ibn Sayyad and found him playing with the boys in the fortress of the B. Maghala, Ibn Sayyid at that time being near the age of puberty. Before he was aware God's messenger gave him a clap on the back and said, "Do you testify that I am God's messenger?" He looked at him and said, "I testify that you are the messenger of the Gentiles," after which Ibn Sayyad said, "Do you testify that I am God's messenger?" The Prophet squeezed him and said, "I believe in God and His messengers." He then asked Ibn Sayyad what visions he had, and when he replied, "One who speaks the truth and one who lies comes to me," God's messenger said, "You are confused." He then said, "I have concealed something in my mind which I would like you to tell me" (referring to "the day when the sky will bring forth smoke (dukhan) clearly visible").[1] On his replying, "It is smoke (dukhkh)," he said, "Away with you! You cannot get farther than your rank."[2] `Umar then asked God's messenger if he would permit him to cut off his head, but he replied, "If he is the one[3] you will not be given power over him, and if he is not, you will not do well in killing him." Ibn `Umar told that sometime afterwards God's messenger and Ubayy b. Ka'b went towards the palm trees where Ibn Sayyid was, and God's messenger hid behind the palm trunks seeking stealthily to hear something from Ibn Sayyid before he could see him. Ibn Sayyid was lying on his bed in a wrapper from which a murmur issued, and when his mother saw the Prophet hiding behind the palm trunks she said, "Saf '(that being his name), here is Muhammad," whereupon Ibn Sayyad stopped the murmuring, and God's messenger said, "If you had left him alone, he would have made things clear." `Abdallah b. `Umar told that God's messenger stood up among the people, and when he had extolled God - in a fitting manner he mentioned the dajjal and said, "I warn you of him, and there is no prophet who has not warned his people. Noah warned his people, but I shall tell you something about him which no prophet has told his people. You must know that he is one-eyed, whereas God is not one-eyed."1. Quran, 44:10. 2. The idea is that Ibn Sayyid was being tested to see whether he had any supernatural knowledge of what the Prophet had in mind. His use of a different form of the word for smoke put him on the level of a kahin with a defective source of information. 3. i.e., the dajjal. (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Abu Sa'id al-Khudri told that God's messenger, Abu Bakr and `Umar met him, i.e., Ibn Sayyad, on one of the roads of Medina and God's messenger said to him, "Do you testify that I am God's messenger?" to which he retorted, "Do you testify that I am God's messenger?" To this God's messenger replied, "I believe in God, His angels, His books, and His messengers. What visions do you have?" He said, "I see a throne on water." God's messenger told him that what he was seeing was the throne of Iblis on the sea, and asked him what else he saw. On his replying, "I see two who tell the truth and one who lies, or two who lie and one who tells the truth," God's messenger said, "He is confused, so leave him alone." Muslim transmitted it.

He told that Ibn Sayyad asked the Prophet about the soil of paradise and that he replied it was a white, sifted flour and pure musk. Muslim transmitted it.

Nafi told that when Ibn 'Umar once met Ibn Sayyad on one of. the roads of Medina he said something to him which angered him and he swelled up till he filled the street. Ibn `Umar went in to visit Hafsa who had heard of the incident, and she said, "God have mercy on you! What did you want with Ibn Sayyad? Do you not know that God s messenger said it would just be because of his being seized by a fit of anger that he[*] would come forth?" *i.e., the Dajjal.Muslim transmitted it.

I accompanied Ibn Sayyad to Mecca and he exclaimed, "What I have encountered from people who assert that I am the dajjal! Have you not heard God's messenger say he will have no children? But I have children. Has he not said that he will be an infidel? But I am a Muslim. Has he not said that he will enter neither Medina nor Mecca? But I have come from Medina and am on my way to Mecca." One of the last things he said to me was, "I swear by God that I know when and where he was born and where he is just now, and I know his father and his mother." He made me feel doubtful, so I said, "Confound you for the rest of the day!" He told that when someone asked him if he would like to be that man he replied, "If it were offered to me I would not object." Muslim transmitted it.