THE DAJJAAL
The Dajjal will appear as the end
of the world approaches. The time he stays will be a time of
immense trial for all humanity. Prophet Muhammad (Sallallaahu
Alayhi Wasallam) told us that, 'No tribulation on the face of
the Earth since Allah created the children of Adam will be
greater than the trial of the Dajjal. Verily, no prophet was
sent who did not warn his people of the Dajjal, and I am the
last of the prophets, and you are the last of the nations, and
so he will inevitably appear among you." (ibn Majah, ibn
Khuzaymah, and al-Hakim). Most of the Dajjal's followers will
be from the Jews: "Seventy thousands of the Jews of Isfahan
will follow the Dajjal, wearing cloaks." (Muslim). The Jews
will believe that he is a miracle from Allah, that he will
return to them their Kingdom. They will call him the Messiah,
son of David.
WHEN WILL HE APPEAR ??
Just before the appearance of the
Dajjal, the Muslims will be at the peak of their military
power. It seems that the Dajjal's purpose will be to destroy
the Muslims' power. At that time, Muslims will make a peace
treaty with the Christians, and together they will conquer and
win, but the Christians will then break the treaty. Prophet
Muhammad, (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam), informed us, "You
will make a peace treaty with them [Christians] and together
you will invade an enemy beyond Rome. You will be victorious
and take much booty. Then, you will camp on a hilly pasture
when one of the [Christians] will come and raise a cross and
say: 'Victory to the Cross', so one of the Muslims will come
and kill him. Then the [Christians] will break the treaty and
prepare for al-Malhamah." (Abu Dawud).
AL MALHAMAH
As this battle between Muslims and
Christians approaches, men will abandon Christianity to
embrace Islam in large numbers. They will become the best of
Muslims, and the remaining Christians will pursue them
aggressively. Prophet Muhammad (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam)
said: "The Hour will not come until the [Christians] camp at
al-Amaq or Dabiq. An army, composed of the best people on
Earth at that time, will come out of Madinah to meet them.
When they arrange themselves in ranks, the [Christians] will
say: 'Do not stand between us and those who took prisoners
from amongst us. Let us fight them.' The Muslims will say:
'No! by Allah, we will not stand aside and let you fight our
brothers.' Then they will fight. One third will run away and
Allah will never forgive them; one third will be killed and
will be the best of the martyrs in the sight of Allah; another
third, who have never been subject to trials, will win and
conquer Constantinople. After they hang their swords on the
olive trees and begin to divide the booty, Satan will shout to
them that the Dajjal has taken their places amongst their
family. They will run out but will find that it is not true.
However when they reach ash-Sham (the area of present day
Syria, Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon), the Dajjal will appear.
While they are preparing to fight him, and drawing up their
ranks, Salaat time will come and then, Eesa the son of Maryam
will descend." (Muslim).
Prophet Muhammad (Sallallaahu
Alayhi Wasallam) has talked at length about this battle - how
terrible it will be and the great sense of sacrifice the
Muslims will display. He said, "The Hour will not come until
people will not be able to divide inheritance, nor rejoice
over booty." Pointing toward ash-Sham, he said: "An enemy will
gather forces against the Muslims, and the Muslims will gather
forces against them.' A companion asked: 'Do you mean the
[Christians]?' He said: 'Yes, and at that time there will be
terrible fighting. The Muslims will prepare a detachment to
fight to death, and not return unless they are victorious.
They will fight until night intervenes, both sides will take
booty but none will be victorious, and the detachment will
perish. Then the Muslims will prepare another detachment to
fight to death, and not return unless they are victorious.
They will fight until night intervenes, both sides will take
booty but none will be victorious. On the fourth day, the
Muslims who are left will return to fight, and Allah will make
their enemy to be defeated. There will be a battle the like of
which has never been seen, so that even if a bird were to pass
between the rank, it will fall dead before it reaches the end.
Out of a family of one hundred, only one man will survive. So,
how could he rejoice over any booty or divide any
inheritance?"' (Muslim)
IDENTIFYING THE DAJJAAL
The Dajjal will claim that he is
Allah. He will perform mighty acts to convince people of his
claim. But, every true believer, whether literate or
illiterate, will be able to read the word kafir on his
forehead, as stated by Prophet Muhammad (Sallallaahu Alayhi
Wasallam). He (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam) has also described
his physical appearance as: short, fat, red-faced, bow-legged,
with curly hair and one-eyed. One of his eyes is extinguished,
and is neither protruding nor deep-seated, but resembles a
floating grape. "If you are confused, know that your Lord is
not one-eyed, and that no one will be able to see the Lord [in
this world]." (paraphrased from Bukhari, Muslim, Ahmad and Abu
Dawud). And in the narration related by Muslim and Bukhari,
the Prophet (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam) told us that, "There
has never been a Prophet who did not warn his people against
the one-eyed Dajjal. Verily he is one-eyed and your lord is
not one eyed. On his forehead will be written the letters Kaf,
Fa', Ra, i.e., the root letters for 'kafir' or 'unbeliever').
These words will actually be written between his eyes on the
forehead.
He will move with great swiftness
around the Earth, "like a cloud driven by the wind. (Muslim)
Also, Prophet Mohammed (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam) has
informed us, "He [the Dajjal) will have two flowing rivers.
One will appear to be pure water, and the other will appear to
be flaming fire. Whosoever lives to see that, let him choose
the river that seems to be fire, then let him close his eyes
and drink from it, for it will be cold water" "...and the cool
water will be fire." (Bukhari).
The Dajjal will acquire assistance
from devils: He will say to a Bedouin: 'What do you think if
I bring your father and mother back to life for you'? Will you
bear witness that I am your Lord?' The Bedouin will say,
'Yes', so two devils will assume the appearance of his father
and mother and will say: 'O son follow him, for he is your
Lord. (ibn Majah, ibn Khuzaymah, and al-Hakim).
Animals and objects will execute
his orders: "He will come to people and call them, and they
will believe in him and answer his call. Upon his order, the
sky will rain, and the Earth will produce crops. Their animals
will graze on these crops, and will come back with their
udders full of milk and their flanks stretched. Then he will
go to other people and will call them, but they will reject
his call. He will depart from them and then they will suffer
great famine and will possess nothing in the form of wealth.
He will pass by the wasteland and say: 'bring forth your
treasures' and its treasures will follow him like swarms of
bees." (Muslim).
His time will be filled with
extreme trials as Allah created him to be a test for people.
Only those whose faith is strong will resist the great
temptation and might of the Dajjal. He will rule on Earth for
forty days but they would not be like other days. They are:
"Forty days, and one of these days will be like a year,
another day like a month, yet another like a week, and the
rest will have the same length as normal days. The companions
who were always concerned about the matters of faith and
worship, asked Prophet Muhammad: 'O Messenger of Allah, for
the day which is like a year, will one day's prayer be
sufficient?' He said: 'No, you must estimate the time and
observe the salah. (Muslim). This means that the day will
truly be lengthened, and it will not be due to the people's
imagination.
Prophet Mohammed (Sallallaahu
Alayhi Wasallam) said: "There will be no town the Dajjal will
not visit, except Makkah and Madinah, for all their gates will
be guarded by angels surrounding them. So he will camp at the
salt-marsh (near Madinah). Madinah will be shaken by three
tremors, after which every disbeliever and hypocrite will
leave it." (Bukhari and Muslim).
The Dajjal will finally be
destroyed by Prophet Eesa (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam) who
will descend to Earth and spread peace.
THE DAJJAAL IS ALIVE AND IS
IMPRISONED ON A REMOTE ISLAND
Prophet Muhammad (Sallallaahu
Alayhi Wasallam) once gathered the Muslims in the masjid and
said: "I have kept you here because Tamim ad-Dari, a Christian
man who has embraced Islam, told me something which agrees
with what I have told you about the Dajjal. He told me that he
had sailed in a ship with thirty men from Banu Lakham and Banu
Judham. The waves tossed them about for a month, then they
came near an island at sunset. They approached the island on
the ship's rafts, and landed. They were met by a beast that
was so hairy that they could not tell its front from its back.
They said: 'Woe to you! What are you?' It said: 'I am al-Jassasah.'
They said: 'What is al-Jassasah?' It said: 'O people, go to
this man in the monastery, for he is very eager to know about
you, Tamim said that when it named a person to us we were
afraid lest it be a devil. Tamim said: "We quickly went to the
monastery. There we found a huge man with his hands tied up to
his neck and with iron shackles between his legs up to the
ankles. We said: 'Woe to you, who are you?' It said: 'You will
soon know about me. Tell me who you are.' We said: 'We are
people from Arabia. We sailed on a ship, but the waves have
been tossing us about for a month, and they brought us to your
island, where we met a beast which was so hairy that we could
not tell its front from its back. We said to it: 'Woe to you
what are you?' She said: 'I am al-Jassasah.' We asked: 'What
is al-Jassasah?' and it told us: 'Go to this man in the
monastery, for he is very eager to know about you.' So we came
to you quickly, fearing that it might be a devil.' The man
said: 'Tell me about the date-palms of Beisan.' We said: 'What
do you want to know about them'?' He said: 'I want to know
whether these trees bear fruits or not.' We said 'Yes'. He
said: 'Soon they will not bear fruits.' Then he said: 'Tell me
about the lake of Tabariyah (in Palestine).' We said: 'What do
you want to know about it?' He said: 'Is there water in it'?'
We said: 'There is plenty of water in it.' He said: 'Soon it
will become dry.' Then he said: 'Tell me about the spring of
Zughar.' We asked: 'What do you want to know about it'?' He
asked: 'Is there water in it, and does it irrigate the land'?'
We said: 'Yes, there is plenty of water in it, and the people
use it to irrigate the land.' Then he said: 'Tell me about the
illiterate Prophet [Muhammad], what has he done?' We said: 'He
has left Makkah and settled in Yathrib (later Madinah).' He
said: 'Do the Arabs fight against him'?' We said 'Yes'. He
said: 'How does he deal with them'?' So we told him that
Prophet Muhammad had overcome the Arabs around him and that
they had followed him. He asked: 'Has it really happened?' We
said yes. He said: 'It is better for them that they follow
him. Now I will tell you about myself. I am the Dajjal. I will
soon be permitted to leave this place: I will emerge and
travel about the Earth. In forty nights, I will pass through
every town, except Makkah and Madinah, for these have been
forbidden to me. Every time I try to enter either of them, I
will be met by an angel bearing an unsheathed sword, who will
prevent me from entering. There will be angels guarding them
at every passage leading to them.' (Muslim).
Last modified:
July 19, 2007
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