Ayat
and Ahadith about the Hour
Allah (Subhanahu
wa Ta'ala) said: "They ask thee about the
Hour, 'When will be its appointed time? Wherein
art thou (concerned) with the declaration thereof?
With thy Lord is the Limit fixed therefor. Thou
art but a Warner for such as fear it. The Day they
will see it, (it will be) as if they had tarried
but a single evening, or (at most till) the
following morn!" (Al-Nazi'at 79: 42-46)
"They ask thee about the (final) Hour - when
will be its appointed time? Say: 'The knowledge
thereof is with my Lord (alone): none but He can
reveal as to when it will occur. Heavy were its
burden through the heavens and the earth. Only,
all of a sudden will it come to you.' They ask
thee as if thou wert eager in search thereof: say:
'The knowledge thereof is with Allah (alone), but
most men know not.'" (Al-A'raf 7:187) There
are many Ayat and Ahadith concerning this subject:
Allah said: "The Hour (of Judgment) is nigh,
and the moon is cleft asunder." (Al-Qamar
54:1) The Prophet (sallallahu alayhe wa sallam)
said, whilst pointing with his index and middle
fingers, "The time of my advent and the Hour
are like these two fingers." In another
report he said, "The Hour almost came before
me." This indicates how close we are,
relatively speaking, to the Hour. Allah said:
"Closer and closer to mankind comes their
Reckoning: yet they heed not and they turn
away." (Al-Anbiya' 21:1) "(Inevitable)
cometh (to pass) the Command of Allah: seek, ye
not then to hasten it.'" (Al-Nahl 16:1)
"Only those wish to hasten it who believe not
in it: those who believe hold it in awe, and know
that it is the Truth.'" (Al-Shura 42:18) In
Sahih al-Bukhari, there is a Hadith which states
that a Bedouin asked the Prophet about the Hour.
He said, "It will surely come to pass. What
have you prepared for it?" The man said,
"O Messenger of Allah, I have not prepared
much in the way of prayer and good works, but I
love Allah and His Messenger." The Prophet
said, "You will be with those you love."
The Muslims had never rejoiced as much they did
when they heard this Hadith. Some Ahadith report
that the Prophet was asked about the Hour. He
looked towards a young boy and said, "If he
lives, he will not grow very old before he sees
your Last Hour coming to you." By this he
meant their death and entering the Hereafter,
because everyone who dies enters the Hereafter;
some people say that when a person has died, his
judgment has begun. This Hadith with this meaning
is "correct" (Sahih). Some heretics
comment on this Hadith and give it an incorrect
meaning. The exact timing of the Great Hour (al-Sa'at
al'Uzma) is something which Allah alone knows and
which He has not revealed to anyone, as is clear
from the Hadith in which the Prophet said:
"There are five things which nobody knows
except Allah;" then he recited, "Verily
the knowledge of the Hour is with Allah (alone).
It is He Who sends down rain, and He Who knows
what is in the wombs. Nor does anyone know what it
is that he will earn on the morrow: Nor does
anyone know in what land he is to die. Verily with
Allah is full knowledge and He is acquainted (with
all things)." (Laqman 31:34) When Gabriel (Jibreel)
(alayhe salam) came to the Prophet in the guise of
a Bedouin, he asked him about Islam, Iman (faith)
and Ihsan (excellence of faith); and the Prophet
answered his questions. But when he asked him
about the Hour, he said, "The one questioned
about it knows no better than the
questioner." Jibreel said, "Tell me
about its signs." Then the Prophet described
them, as we shall see later when we quote this
Hadith and others in full. Hudhayfah said:
"The Prophet stood up one day to speak to us,
and told us everything that was going to happen
until the Hour, and left nothing unsaid. Some of
the listeners learnt it by heart, and some forgot
it; these friends of mine learnt it. I do not
remember it completely, but sometimes it springs
to mind, just as one might remember and recognise
the face of a man whom one had forgotten, when one
sees him." (Abu Dawud, Muslim.) Imam Ahmad
reported via Abu Nudrah that Abu Sa'id said:
"One day the Prophet led us in praying the
afternoon prayer (Salat al'Asr). Then he stood and
addressed us until sunset. He mentioned everything
that was to happen until the Day of Resurrection,
and left nothing unsaid. Some of us remembered it,
and some of us forgot it. One of the things he
said was: 'O people, this world is full of
attractive temptations. Allah has appointed you as
vicegerents (Khalifah) in this world, and He will
see how you will act. So guard yourselves against
the temptations of this world and of women'
Towards the end of this speech, he said, 'The sun
is about to set, and what remains of this world,
compared to what has passed, is like what remains
of this day compared to what has passed.'"
'Ali ibn Zayed ibn Jad'an al-Timi narrated some
Gharib and Munkar Ahadith - which could bring into
question the validity of this Hadith. But there
are some reports which are similar to this Hadith,
and which were transmitted with different isnads.
Part of this Hadith is in SMuslim, through Abu
Nudrah on the authority of Abu Sa'id. This Hadith
refers to something which is beyond any doubt:
what remains of this world, compared to what has
passed, is very little. In spite of that, no-one
can know exactly how much time is left except
Allah, and no-one can know exactly how much time
has passed, except Allah. GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF
THE FITAN (TRIBULATIONS) Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman
said, "People used to ask the Prophet (sallallahu
alayhe wa sallam) about good things, but I used to
ask him about bad things because I was afraid that
they might overtake me. I said, 'O Messenger of
Allah, we were lost in ignorance (Jahiliyyah) and
evil, then Allah brought this good (i.e. Islam).
Will some evil come after this good thing?' He
said, 'Yes' I asked, 'And will some good come
after that evil?' He said, 'Yes, but it will be
tainted with some evil' I asked, 'How will it be
tainted?' He said, 'There will be some people who
will lead others on a path different from mine.
You will see good and bad in them. I asked, 'Will
some evil come after that good?' He said, 'Some
people will be standing and calling at the gates
of Hell; whoever responds to their call, they will
throw him into the Fire.' I said, 'O Messenger of
Allah, describe them for us.' He said, 'They will
be from our own people, and will speak our
language.' I asked, 'What do you advise me to do
if I should live to see that?' He said, 'Stick to
the main body (jama'ah) of the Muslims and their
leader (Imam). I asked, What if there is no main
body and no leader?' He said 'Isolate yourself
from all of these sects, even if you have to eat
the roots of trees until death overcomes you while
you are in that state.'" 'Abd Allah ibn
Mas'ud said: "The Prophet said, 'Islam began
as something strange, and it will revert to being
strange as it was in the beginning, so good
tidings for the strangers.' Someone asked, 'Who
are the strangers?' He said, 'The ones who break
away from their people (literally, 'tribes') for
the sake of Islam.' "This Hadith was narrated
by Ibn Majah on the authority of Anas and Abu
Hurairah. DIVISIONS WITHIN THE MAIN RELIGIOUS
GROUPS Abu Hurairah reported that the Prophet (sallallahu
alayhe wa sallam) said: "The Jews have split
into seventy-one sects, and my Ummah will divide
into seventy-three." 'Awf ibn Malik reported
that the Prophet said: "The Jews split into
seventy-one sects: one will enter Paradise and
seventy will enter Hell. The Christians split into
seventy-two sects: seventy-one will enter Hell and
one will enter Paradise. By Him in Whose hand is
my soul, my Ummah will split into seventy-three
sects: one will enter Paradise and seventy-two
will enter Hell." Someone asked, "O
Messenger of Allah, who will they be?" He
replied, "The main body of the Muslims (al-Jama'ah)."
'Awf ibn Malik is the only one who reported this
Hadith, and its isnad is acceptable. Anas ibn
Malik said, "I shall tell you a Hadith which
I heard from the Messenger of Allah, and which
no-one will tell you after me. I heard him say,
'Among the signs of the Hour will be the
disappearance of knowledge and the appearance of
ignorance. Adultery will be prevalent and the
drinking of wine will be common. The number of men
will decrease and the number of women will
increase until there will be fifty women to be
looked after by one man.' " This Hadith was
reported in the two Sahihs from the Hadith of 'Abd
Rabbihi. 'Abd Allah said, "The Prophet said,
'Just before the Hour, there will be days in which
knowledge will disappear and ignorance will
appear, and there will be much killing.' " (Ibn
Majah; also narrated by Bukhari and Muslim, from
the Hadith of al-A'mash.) Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman
said, "The Prophet said, 'Islam will become
worn out like clothes are, until there will be
no-one who knows what fasting, prayer, charity and
rituals are. The Qur'an will disappear in one
night, and no Ayah will be left on earth. Some
groups of old people will be left who will say,
'We heard our fathers saying La ilaha illa Allah,
so we repeated it.' Silah asked Hudhayfah,
"What will saying La ilaha illa Allah do for
them when they do not know what prayer, fasting,
ritual and charity are?" Hudhayfah ignored
him; then Silah repeated his question three times,
and each time Hudayfah ignored him. Finally he
answered, "O Silah, it will save them from
Hell", and said it three times. (Ibn Majah)
This indicates that in the last days, knowledge
will be taken from the people, and even the Qur'an
will disappear from the Mushafs and from people's
hearts. People will be left without knowledge.
Only the old people will tell them that they used
to hear people saying La ilaha illa Allah; and
they will repeat it to feel close to Allah, so it
will give them some blessing, even if they do not
have any good deeds or beneficial knowledge.
Knowledge will be taken away from men and
ignorance will increase during the last days, and
their ignorance and misguidance will increase
until the end, as in the Hadith of the Prophet:
"The Hour will not come upon anyone who says,
'Allah, Allah'; it will only come upon the most
evil of men." THE EVILS WHICH WILL BEFALL THE
MUSLIM UMMAH DURING THE LAST DAYS. 'Abd Allah ibn
'Umar said, "The Prophet (sallallahu alayhe
wa sallam) came to us and said, 'O Muhajirun,
(emigrants from Makkah to al-Madinah) you may be
afflicted by five things; God forbid that you
should live to see them. If fornication should
become widespread, you should realise that this
has never happened without new diseases befalling
the people which their forebears never suffered.
If people should begin to cheat in weighing out
goods, you should realise that this has never
happened without drought and famine befalling the
people, and their rulers oppressing them. If
people should withhold Zakat, you should realise
that this has never happened without the rain
being stopped from falling; and were it not for
the animals' sake, it would never rain again. If
people should break their covenant with Allah and
His Messenger, you should realise that his has
never happened without Allah sending an enemy
against them to take some of their possessions by
force. If the leaders do not govern according to
the Book of Allah, you should realise that this
has never happened without Allah making them into
groups and making them fight one another." (Ibn
Majah). 'Ali ibn Abi Talib said, "The Prophet
said: 'If my Ummah bears fifteen traits,
tribulation will befall it.' Someone asked, 'What
are they, O Messenger of Allah?' He said, 'When
any gain is shared out only among the rich, with
no benefit to the poor; when a trust becomes a
means of making a profit; when paying Zakat
becomes a burden; when a man obeys his wife and
disobeys his mother; and treats his friend kindly
whilst shunning his father; when voices are raised
in the mosques; when the leader of a people is the
worst of them; when people treat a man with
respect because they fear some evil he may do;
when much wine is drunk; when men wear silk; when
female singers and musical instruments become
popular; when the last ones of this Ummah curse
the first ones - then let them expect a red wind,
or the earth to swallow them, or to be transformed
into animals.'" (Tirmidhi) 'Ali ibn Abi Talib
said, "The Prophet led us in praying Salat
al-Fajr (the morning prayer). When he had
finished, a man called to him: 'When will the Hour
be? The Prophet reprimanded him and said 'Be
quiet!' After a while he raised his eyes to the
sky and said, 'Glorified be the One Who raised it
and is taking care of it.' Then he lowered his
gaze to the earth and said, 'Glory be to the One
Who has outspread it and has created it.' Then the
Prophet said, 'Where is the one who asked me about
the Hour?' The man knelt down and said, 'I asked
you.' The Prophet said, 'The Hour will come when
leaders are oppressors, when people believe in the
stars and reject al-Qadar (the Divine Decree of
destiny) when a trust becomes a way of making a
profit, when people give to charity (Sadaqah)
reluctantly, when adultery becomes widespread -
when this happens, then your people will
perish.'" 'Imran ibn Husayn said, "The
Psaid, 'Some people othis Ummah will be swallowed
up by the earth, some will be transformed into
animals, and some will be bombarded with stones.'
One of the Muslims asked, 'When will that be, O
Messenger of Allah?' He said, 'When singers and
musical instruments will become popular, and much
wine will be drunk.'" (Narrated by Tirmidhi)
[Note: "The main body of the Muslims (al-Jama'ah)
means the people of the Qur'an, Hadith, Fiqh and
other sciences, who have agreed to follow the
Traditions of the Prophet in all circumstances
without introducing any changes or imposing their
own confused ideas.]
Greater signs of the Hour
AFTER the lesser signs of the Hour appear and
increase, mankind will have reached a stage of
great suffering. Then the awaited Mahdi will
appear; he is the first of the greater, and clear,
signs of the Hour. There will be no doubt about
his existence, but this will only be clear to the
knowledgeable people. The Mahdi will rule until
the False Messiah (al-Masih al-Dajjal) appears,
who will spread oppression and corruption. The
only ones who will know him well and avoid his
evil will be those who have great knowledge and
Iman (faith). The false Messiah will remain for a
while, destroying mankind completely, and the
earth will witness the greatest Fitnah
(tribulation) in its history. Then the Messiah
Jesus (alayhe sallam) will descend, bringing
justice from heaven. He will kill the Dajjal, and
there will be years of safety and security. Then
the appearance of Yajuj and Majuj (Gog and Magog)
will take mankind by surprise, and corruption will
overtake them again. In answer to Jesus faithful
prayer to Allah (Subhanahu wa Taala), they will
die, and safety, security, justice and stability
will return. This state of affairs will continue
for some years, until the death of Jesus. The
Ulama differ concerning the order in which the
other greater signs of the Hour will come about.
They are: nThe destruction of the Kabah and the
recovery of its treasure. nThe rising of the sun
from the west. nThe emergence of the Beast from
the earth. n The smoke. nA wind will take the
souls of the believers. n The Quran will be taken
up into heaven. nA fire will drive the people to
their last gathering place. nThe Trumpet will be
sounded: at the first sound everyone will feel
terror; at the second sound all will be struck
down; at the last sound all will be resurrected.
The Mahdi THE Mahdi will come at the end of time;
he is one of the Rightly-Guided Caliphs and Imams.
He is not the Mahdi who is expected by the Shiah,
who they claim will appear from a tunnel in
Samarra. This claim of theirs has no basis in
reality nor in any reliable source. They allege
that his name is Muhammad ibn al-Hasan ibn al-Askari,
and that he went into the tunnel when he was five
years old. The matter we intend to discuss has
been proven by Ahadith narrated from the Prophet (sallallahu
alayhe wa sallam): that the Mahdi will appear at
the end of time. I believe that he will appear
before Jesus the son of Mary comes down, as the
Ahadith indicate. Hajjaj said that he heard Ali
say, The Prophet said, Even if there were only one
day left for the world, Allah would send a man
from among us to fill the world with justice, just
as it had been filled with oppression and justice.
(Ahmad). Ali said, The Prophet said, The Mahdi is
one of us, from among the people of my household.
In one night Allah will inspire him and prepare
him to carry out his task successfully. (Ahmad and
Ibn Majah.) Ali said, whilst looking at his son
al-Hasan, This son of mine is a Sayyid (master),
as the Prophet named him. Among his descendants
there will be man named after your Prophet. He
will resemble him in behaviour but not in looks.
Then he told them the report which mentions that
the earth will be filled with justice. (Abu Dawud.)
Abu Dawud devoted a chapter of his Sunan to the
subject of the Mahdi. At the beginning of this
chapter he quoted the Hadith of Jabir ibn Samrah,
in which the Prophet said, This religion will
remain steadfast until twelve caliphs have ruled
over you. (According to another report he said,
This religion will remain strong until twelve
caliphs have ruled over you.) Jabir said, The
people cheered and shouted Allahu akbar! Then the
Prophet whispered something. I asked my father
What did he say? My father said, He said, All of
them will be from Quraysh. Another report says
that when the Prophet returned to his house,
Quraysh came to him and asked, What will happen
after that? He said, Then there will be
tribulation and killing. Abu Dawud reported a
Hadith from Abd Allah ibn Masud: The Prophet said,
If there were only one day left for the world,
that day would be lengthened until a man from
among my descendants or from among the people of
my household, was sent; his name will be the same
as my name, and his fathers name will be the same
as my fathers name. He will fill the earth with
justice and fairness, just as it will have been
filled with injustice and oppression. The world
will not end until a man of my household, whose
name is the same as mine, holds away. Abd Allah
said, The Prophet said, A man from my household,
whose name is like mine, will take power. (Tirmidhi.)
In another report, from Abu Hurairah, the Prophet
said, If there were only one day left for this
world, Allah would lengthen it until he took
power. Abu Said said, The Prophet said, The Mahdi
will be one of my descendants; he will have a high
forehead and a hooked nose. He will fill the earth
with justice and fairness just as it was filled
with injustice and oppression, and he will rule
for seven years. (Abu Dawud.) Umm Salamah reported
that the Prophet said, People will begin to differ
after the death of a Khalifah. A man from the
people of Madinah will flee to Makkah. Some of the
people of Makkah will come to him and drag him out
against his will; they will swear allegiance to
him between al-Rukn and al-Maqam. An army will be
sent against him from Syria; it will be swallowed
up in the desert between Makkah and Madinah. When
the people see this, groups of people from Syria
and Iraq will come and swear allegiance to him.
Then a man from Quraysh whose mother is from Kalb
will appear and send an army against them, and
will defeat them; this will be known as the Battle
of Kalb. Whoever does not witness the spoils of
this battle will miss much! The Mahdi will
distribute the wealth, and will rule the people
according to the Sunnah of the Prophet. Then he
will die, and the Muslims will pray for him. (Abu
Dawud.) Ali said, The Prophet said, A man named
al-Harith ibn Hirath will come from Transoxania.
His army will be led by a man named Mansur. He
will pave the way for and establish the government
of the family of Muhammad, just as Quraysh
established the government of the Messenger of
Allah. Every believer will be obliged to support
him. (Abu Dawud.) Abd Allah ibn al-Harith ibn Juz
al-Zubaydi said, The Prophet said, A people will
come out of the East who will pave the way for the
Mahdi. (Ibn Majah.) Abd Allah said, Whilst we were
with the Prophet, some young men from Banu Hashim
approached us. When the Prophet saw them, his eyes
filled with tears and the colour of his face
changed. I said, We can see something has changed
in your face, and it upsets us. The Prophet said,
We are the people of a Household for whom Allah
has chosen the Hereafter rather than this world.
The people of my Household (Ahl al-Bayt) will
suffer a great deal after my death, and will be
persecuted until a people carrying black banners
will come out of the east. They will instruct the
people to do good, but the people will refuse;
they will fight until they are victorious, and the
people do as they asked, but they will not accept
it from them until they hand over power to a man
from my household. Then the earth will be filled
with fairness, just as it had been filled with
injustice. If any of you live to see this, you
should go to him even if you have to crawl across
ice. This text refers to the rule of the Abbasids,
as we have mentioned above in the text referring
to the beginning of their rule in 132 AH. It also
indicates that the Mahdi will appear after the
Abbasids, and that he will be one of the Ahl al-Bayt,
a descendant of Fatimah, the daughter of the
Prophet, through Hasan, not Husayn, as mentioned
in the Hadith from Ali ibn Abi Talib; and Allah
knows best. Thwaban said, The Prophet said, Three
men will be killed at the place where your
treasure is. Each of them will be the son of a
Khalifah, and none of them will get hold of the
treasure. Then the black banners will come out of
the East, and they will slaughter you in a way
which has never been seen before. Then he said
something which I do not remember; then, If you
see him, go and give him your allegiance, even if
you have to crawl over ice, because he is the
Khalifah of Allah, the Mahdi. (Ibn Majah.) The
treasure referred to in this text is the treasure
of the Kabah. Towards the end of time, three of
the sons of the Khalifahs will fight to get hold
of it, until the Mahdi appears. He will appear
from the East, not from the tunnel of Samarra, as
the Shiah claim; they believe that he is in this
tunnel now, and they are waiting for him to emerge
at the end of time. There is no evidence for it in
any book or Sahih tradition, and there is no
benefit in believing this. The truth of the matter
is that the Mahdi whose coming is promised at the
end of time will appear from the East, and people
will swear allegiance to him at the Kabah, as some
Ahadith indicate. At the time of the Mahdi, there
will be peace and prosperity, with abundant crops
and wealth, strong rulers, and Islam will be
well-established. Abu Said said, By Allah every
ruler we have had has been worse than the previous
one, and every year has been worse than the year
before, but I heard the Prophet say, Among your
rulers will be one who will give out wealth
freely, without counting it. A man will come and
ask him for money, and he will say Take; the man
will spread his cloak out and the ruler will pour
money into it. The Prophet spread out a thick
cloak he had been wearing, to demonstrate the mans
actions; then he gathered it up by its corners and
said, Then the man will take it and leave.
(Ahmad.)
Trials and tribulations
Zaynab bint Jahsh said, The Prophet (sallallah
alayhe wa sallam) got up
from his sleep; his face was flushed and he said,
There is no god but
Allah. Woe to the Arabs, for a great evil which is
nearly approaching
them. Today a gap has been made in the wall of Gog
and Magog like this
(Sufyan illustrated this by forming the number of
90 or 100 with his
fingers). Someone asked, Shall we be destroyed
even though there are
righteous people among us? The Prophet said, Yes,
if evil increases.
(Bukhari).
Umm Salamah, the wife of the Prophet said, One
night the Prophet got up
and said, Subhan Allah! How many tribulations have
come down tonight, and how many treasures have
been disclosed! Go and wake the dwellers of these
apartments (i e his wives) for prayer. A
well-dressed soul in this world
may be naked in the Hereafter. (Bukhari.)
Usamah ibn Zayd said, Once the Prophet stood over
one of the battlements
of al-Madinah and asked the people, Do you see
what I see? They said, No.
He said, I see afflictions falling upon your
houses as raindrops fall.
(Bukhari, Muslim.)
Abu Hurairah (radiallahu anhu) said, The Prophet
said, Time will pass
rapidly, knowledge will decrease, miserliness will
become widespread in
peoples hearts, afflictions will appear, and there
will be much Harj. The
people asked, O Messenger of Allah, what is Harj?
He said, Killing,
killing! (Bukhari)
Al-Zubayr ibn Adi narrated, We went to Anas ibn
Malik and complained about the wrong we were
suffering at the hands of al-Hajjaj. Anas ibn
Malik
said, Be patient, For no time will come but that
the time following it
will be worse, until you meet your Lord. I heard
the Prophet say that.
(Bukhari.)
Abu Hurairah said, The Prophet said, There will
come a time of afflictions
when one who sits will be better than one who
stands; one who stands will
be better than one who walks; and one who walks
will be better than one
who runs. Whoever exposes himself to these
afflictions, they will destroy
him. So whoever can find a place of protection or
refuge from them, should
take shelter in it. (Bukhari and Muslim.)
Hudhayfah said, The Prophet told us two Hadith,
one of which I have seen
fulfilled, and I am waiting for the fulfilment of
the other. The Prophet
told us that honesty came down into mens hearts
(from Allah); then they
learnt it from the Quran, and then from the Sunnah.
The Prophet told us
that honesty would be taken away. He said, Man
will be overtaken by sleep, during which honesty
will be taken away from his heart, and only its
trace will remain, like traces of a dark spot.
Then man will be overtaken by
slumber again, during which honesty will decrease
still further, until its
trace will resemble a blister such as is caused
when an ember is dropped
onto ones foot: it swells, but there is nothing
inside. People will be
carrying on with their trade, but there will
hardly be any trustworthy
persons. People will say, There is an honest man
in such-and-such a tribe.
Later they will say about some man, What a wise,
polite and strong man he
is! - although he will not have faith even the
size of a mustard-seed in
his heart. Indeed, there came a time when I did
not mind dealing with any
one of you, for if he were a Muslim his Islam
would compel him to pay
whatever he owed me, and if he were a Christian,
the Muslim official would
compel him to pay it. But now I do not deal with
anyone except so-and-so
and so-and-so. (Bukhari.)
Ibn Umar said, The Prophet stood beside the
pulpit, facing the east, and
said, Afflictions will verily emerge from here,
where the top of Satans
head will appear. (Bukhari.)
Abu Hurairah said that he had heard the Prophet
say, The Hour will not
come until a man passes by someones grave and
says, Would that I were in
his place! (Bukhari.)
Abu Hurairah said, I heard the Prophet say, The
Hour will not come until
the buttocks of the women of Daws* move whist
going around Dhu l-Khalasah.
Dhu l-Khalasah was an idol worshipped by the tribe
of Daws during the
Jahiliyyah. (Hadith from Bukhari.)
Abu Hurairah also said, The Prophet said, The
Euphrates will disclose a
golden treasure. Whoever is present at that time
should not take anything
of it.
Abu Hurairah said, The Prophet said, The Hour will
not come before the
Euphrates uncovers a mountain of gold, for which
people will fight.
Ninety-nine out of every hundred will die, but
every one among them will
say that perhaps he will be the one who will
survive (and thus possess the
gold). (Muslim.)
Abu Hurairah said, The Prophet said, The Hour will
not come until the
following events have come to pass: two large
groups will fight the
another, and there will be many casualties; they
will both be following
the same religious teaching. Nearly thirty Dajjals
will appear, each of
them falsely claiming to be a Messenger from
Allah. Knowledge will
disappear, earthquakes will increase, time will
pass quickly, afflictions
will appear, and Harj (ie killing) will increase.
Wealth will increase, so
that a wealthy man will worry lest no-one accept
his Zakat, and when he
offers it to anyone, that person will say, I am
not in need of it. People
will compete in constructing high buildings. When
a man passes by someones grave, he will say, Would
that I were in his place! The sun will rise from
the west; when it rises and the people see it,
they will believe, but, No good will it do to a
soul to believe in them then, if it believed not
before nor earned righteousness through its faith
... (Al-Anam 6:158)
The Hour will come suddenly: when a man has milked
his she-camel and taken away the milk, but he will
not have time to drink it; before a man
repairing a tank for his livestock will be able to
put water in it for his
animals; and before a man who has raised a morsel
of food to his mouth
will be able to eat it. (Bukhari.)
Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman said, Of all the people, I
know most about every
tribulation which is going to happen between now
and the Hour. This is not
because the Prophet told me something in
confidence which he did not tell
anyone else; it is because I was present among a
group of people to whom
he spoke about the tribulations (al-Fitan). The
Prophet mentioned three
tribulations which would hardly spare anybody, and
some which would be
like storms in summer; some would be great and
some would be small.
Everyone who was present at that gathering has
passed away, except me.
(Muslim.)
Abu Hurairah said, I heard the Prophet say, If you
live for a while, you
will see people go out under the wrath of Allah
and come back under His
curse, and they will have in their hands whips
like the tail of an ox.
(Ahmad, Muslim.)
Abu Hurairah said, The Prophet said, There are two
types among the people
of Hell whom I have not yet seen. The first are
people who have whips like
the tails of oxen, with which they beat people,
and the second are women
who are naked in spite of being dressed; they will
be led astray and will
lead others astray, and their heads will look like
camels humps. These
women will not enter Paradise; they will not even
experience the faintest
scent of it, even though the fragrance of Paradise
can be perceived from
such a great distance.
Anas ibn Malik said, The Prophet was asked, O
Messenger of Allah, (what
will happen) when we stop enjoining good and
forbidding evil? He said,
When what happened to the Israelites happens among
you: when fornication becomes widespread among
your leaders, knowledge is in the hands of the
lowest of you, and power passes into the hands of
the least of you. (Ibn Majah.)
Abu Hurairah said, The Prophet said, Woe to the
Arabs from the great evil
which is nearly approaching them: it will be like
patches of dark night. A
man will wake up as a believer, and be a kafir
(unbeliever) by nightfall.
People will sell their religion for a small amount
of worldly goods. The
one who clings to his religion on that day will be
as one who is grasping
an ember - or thorns. (Ahmad.)
Abu Hurairah said, I heard the Prophet saying to
Thawban, O Thawban, what will you do when the
nations call one another to invade you as people
call one another to come and eat from one bowl?
Thawban said, May my father and my mother be
sacrificed for you. O Messenger of Allah! Is it
because we are so few The Prophet said, No, on
that day you (Muslims) will be many, but Allah
will put weakness (wahn) in your hearts. The
people asked, What is that weakness, O Messenger
of Allah? He said, It is love for this world and
dislike of fighting. (Ahmad.)
The Prophet said, There will be a tribulation in
which one who is sleeping
will be better than one who is lying down, one who
is lying will be better
than one who is sitting, one who is sitting will
be better than on who is
standing, one who is standing will be better than
one who is walking, one
who is walking will be better than one who is
riding, and one who is
riding will be better than one who is running; all
of their dead will be
in Hell. The Companion of the Prophet who narrated
this Hadith said, O
Messenger of Allah, when will that be? He said,
That will be the days of
Harj. He asked, When will the days of Harj be?
The Prophet said, When a man will not trust the
person to whom he is
speaking. The Companion asked, What do you advise
me to do if I live to
see that? He said, Restrain yourself, and go back
to your place of
residence. The Companion then asked, O Messenger
of Allah, what should I
do if someone enters my neighbourhood to attack
me? He said, Go into your
house. The Companion asked, What if he enters my
house? He said, Go into
the place where you pray and do this - and he
folded his arms, - and say
My Lord is Allah, until you die.
Abu Bakrah said, The Prophet said, There will be a
tribulation during
which one who is lying down will be better than
one who is sitting, one
who is sitting will be better than one who is
standing, one who is
standing will be better than one who is walking,
and one who is walking
will be better than one who is running. Someone
asked, O Messenger of
Allah, what do you advise me to do? He said,
Whoever has camels, let him
stay with them, and whoever has land, let him stay
in his land. Someone
asked, What about someone who does not have
anything like that? He said,
Then let him take his sword and strike its edge
against a stone, then go
as far away as possible. (Abu Dawud; similar
Hadith in Muslim.)
At the time of the Fitnah of Uthman ibn Affans
Khilafah (Caliphate), Sad
ibn Abi Waqqas said, I bear witness that the
Prophet said, There will come
a tribulation during which one who sits will be
better than one who
stands, one who stands will be better than one who
walks, and one who
walks will be better than one who runs. Someone
asked, What do you advise if someone enters my
house to kill me? He said, Be like the son of Adam
(ie resign yourself). (Muslim, Tirmidhi.)
Abu Musa al-Ashari said, The Prophet said, Before
the Hour comes, there
will be a tribulation like patches of dark night.
A man will get up a
believer and go to sleep a kafir, or will go to
sleep a believer and get
up a kafir. The one who sits will be better than
one who stands, and one
who walks will be better than one who runs. Break
your bows, cut their
strings, and strike your swords against stones. If
someone comes to kill
any of you, then be like the better of the two
sons of Adam. (Abu Dawud.)
Abu Dharr said, The Prophet was riding a donkey
and sat me behind him. He
said, O Abu Dharr, if the people were suffering
from such severe hunger
that you could not even get up from your bed to go
to the mosque, what
would you do? I said, Allah and His Messenger know
best. He said, Be
decent and restrain yourself. Then he said, O Abu
Dharr, if the people
were suffering from severe death (i e if a man
were worth no more than a
grave), what would you do? If the people were
killing one another, until
Hajarat al-Zayt (an area of Madinah) were
submerged in blood, what would
you do? I said, Allah and His Messenger know best.
He said, Stay in your
house and lock the door. I asked, What if I am not
left alone? He said,
Then be one of them. I said, Should I take up my
sword? He said, If you
did that, you would be joining them in their
activities. No - if you fear
that the brightness of the shining sword will
disturb you, then cover your
face with part of your clothing, and let him carry
his own sin and your
sin. (Ahmad.)
Abd Allah ibn Amr said, We were on a journey with
the Prophet ... When the
Prophets caller called for prayer, I went there.
The Prophet was
addressing the people, saying: O people, it has
been the duty of every
Prophet before me to guide his people to whatever
he knew was good for
them, and to warn them against whatever he knew
was bad for them, but this Ummah has its time of
peace and security at the beginning; at the end of
its existence it will suffer trials and
tribulations, one after the other.
Tribulation will come, and the believer will say,
This will finish me, but
it will pass. Another tribulation will come, and
he will say, This is it,
but it will pass, and a third will come and go
likewise. Whoever wishes to
be rescued from Hell, and enter Paradise, let him
die believing in Allah
and the Last Day, and treat the people as he
himself wishes to be treated.
If anyone gives allegiance to an Imam, then let
him obey him if he can (or
on one occasion he said: as much as you
can).
Abd al-Rahman (one of the narrators of this Hadith)
said, When I heard
that, I put my head between my knees and said, But
your cousin Muawiyah is ordering us to squander
our wealth among ourselves in vanity, and to kill
each other, although Allah has said, O ye who
believe! Squander not your
wealth among yourselves in vanity ... (Al-Nisa
4:29)
Abd Allah (another narrator) put his head in his
hands and paused awhile,
then he raised his head and said, Obey him in that
which is obedience to
Allah and disobey that which is disobedience to
Allah. I asked him, Did
you hear that from the Prophet? He said, Yes, I
heard it with my ears and
understood it in my heart. (Ahmad, Abu Dawud, al-Nasai,
Ibn Majah.)
Abd Allah ibn Amr said, I heard the Prophet say,
If you see my Ummah
fearing a tyrant so much that they dare not tell
him that he is a tyrant,
then there will be no hope for them. The Prophet
said, Among my Ummah,
some will be swallowed up by the earth, some
bombarded with stones, and
some transformed into animals. (Ahmad).
FOOTNOTE:
*Daws: a tribe in Yemen, Dhul-Khalasah: a house
full of idols - it is so
called because they believed that whoever
worshipped it or went around it
would be purified (khallasa).
This Hadith means that the tribe of Daws will
become apostates from Islam
and will go back to idol worshipping; even their
women will exert
themselves in worshipping the idol and running
around it, so that their
flesh will quiver.
Signs and portents
"ABD Allah ibn 'Amr said, "I went
to
the Prophet (peace be upon him) one day whilst he
was performing Wudu'
(ablution) slowly and carefully. He raised his
head, looked at me and said,
'Six things will happen to this Ummah: the
death of your Prophet - 'and
when I heard that I was aghast,' - this is the
first. The second is that
your wealth will increase so much that if a man
were given ten thousand,
he would still not be content with it. The third
is that tribulation will
enter the house of every one of you. The fourth is
that sudden death will
be widesprea. The fifth is a peace-treaty between
you and the Romans: they will gather troops
against you for nine months - like a woman's
period of
childbearing - then they will be the first to
break the treaty. The sixth
is the conquest of a city.' I asked, 'O Messenger
of Allah, which city?'
He said, 'Constantinople." (Ahmad.) Abu
Hurayrah said, "The Prophet said,
'Hasten to do good deeds before six things happen:
the rising of the sun
from the West, the smoke, the Dajjal, the beast,
the (death) of one of you,
or general tribulation." (Ahmad,
Muslim.) Hudhayfah ibn 'Ubayd said,
"The
Prophet came upon us whilst, we were busy in
discussion He asked us, 'What are you talking
about?' We said, 'We are discussing the Hour.' He
said, 'It will not come until you see ten signs:
the smoke, the Dajjal, the
beast, the sun rising from the West, the descent
of Jesus son of Mary,
Gog and Magog, and three land-slides - one in the
East, one in the West,
and one in Arabia, at the end of which fire will
burst forth from the
direction of Aden (Yemen) and drive people to the
place of their final
assembly.' " (Ahmad.) THE BATTLE WITH THE
ROMANS: After the battle with the Romans, which
ended with the conquest of Constantinople, the
Dajjal will appear, and Jesus son of Mary will
descend from Heaven to the earth, to the white
minaret in the east of Damascus, at the time of
Salat al-Fajr (the morning prayer), as we shall
see in the Sahih Traditions. Dhu
Mukhammar said, "The Prophet (pbuh) said,
'You will make a peace-treaty
with the Romans, and together you will invade an
enemy beyond Rome. You
will be victorious and take much booty. Then you
will camp in a hilly
pasture; one of the Roman men will come and raise
a cross and say "Victory
to the Cross", so one of the Muslims will
come and kill him. Then the
Romans will break the treaty, and there will be a
battle. They will gather
an army against you and come against you
with eighty banners, each banner followed by
10,000 men.' " (Ahmad, Abu Dawud, Ibn Majah.)
Yusayr ibn Jabir said, "Once there was
a red storm in Kufah. A man came who had nothing
to say except, 'O 'Abd Allah ibn Mas'ud, has
the Hour come?" 'Abd Allah was sitting
reclining against something, and said, 'The Hour
will not come until people will not divide
inheritance, nor rejoice over booty.'
Pointing towards Syria, he said. 'An enemy will
gather forces against
the Muslims and the Muslims will gather forces
against them.' I asked,
'Do you mean the Romans?' He said, 'Yes. At that
time there will be very
heavy fighting. The Muslims will prepare a
detachment to fight to the
death; they will not return unless they are
victorious. They will fight
until night intervenes. Both sides will return
without being victorious;
then many will be killed on both sides. On the
fourth day, the Muslims
who are left will return to the fight, and Allah
will cause the enemy to
be routed. There will be a battle the like of
which has never been seen,
so that even if a bird were to pass their ranks,
it would fall down dead
before it reached the end of them. Out of a family
of one hundred, only
one man will survive, so how could he enjoy the
booty or divide any
inheritance? While they are in this state, they
will hear of an even worse
calamity. A cry will reach them: "The Dajjal
has taken your place among
your offspring." So they will throw away
whatever is in their hands and go
forward, sending 10 horsemen as a scouting party.
The Prophet said, 'I know their names, and the
names of their fathers, and the colours of
their
horses. They will be the best horsemen on the face
of the earth on that
day.' " (Ahmad, Muslim). Abu Hurayrah said,
"The Prophet said, 'The Hour
will not come until the Romans camp at al-A'mash
or Dabiq. An army,
composed of the best people on earth at that time,
will come out from
Madinah to meet them. When they have arranged
themselves in ranks, the
Romans will say, 'Do not stand between us and
those who took prisoners
from amongst us. Let us fight with them.'
One-third will run away, and
Allah will never forgive them. One-third will be
killed, and they will
be the best of martyrs in Allah's sight.
One-third, who will never be
subjected to trials or tribulations, will win, and
will conquer
Constantinople. Whilst they are sharing out the
booty, after hanging their
swords on the olive-trees, Satan will shout
to them that the Dajjal has
taken their place among their families. When they
come to Syria, the Dajjal
will appear, while they are preparing for battle
and drawing up the ranks.
When the time for prayer comes, Jesus the son of
Mary will descend and
lead them in prayer. When the enemy of Allah (i.e.
the Dajjal) sees him,
he will start to dissolve like salt in water, but
Allah will kill him.'
" (Muslim.) The Prophet said, "The Hour
will not come until the furthest
border of the Muslims will be in Bula." Then
he said, "O 'Ali!" 'Ali said,
"May my father and mother be sacrificed for
you!" The Prophet said, "You
will fight the Romans, and those who come after
you will fight them, until
the best people among the Muslims, the people of
al-Hijaz, will go out to
fight them, fearing nothing but Allah. They will
conquer Constantinople
with Tasbih and Takbir (saying "Subhan
Allah" and "Allahu Akbar"), and
they will obtain booty the like of which has never
been seen - they will
share it out by scooping it up with their sheilds.
Someone will come and
say, 'The Dajjal has appeared in your land', but
he will be lying. Anyone
who takes notice of him will regret it, and anyone
who ignores him will
regret it." (Ibn Majah.) Nafi' ibn 'Utbah
said, "The Prophet said, 'You
will attack Arabia, and Allah will enable you to
conquer it. Then you will
attack Persia, and Allah will enable you to
conquer it. Then you will
attack Rome, and Allah will enable you to conquer
it. Then you will attack
the Dajjal, and Allah will enable you to
conquer him.' " (Muslim) When
Mustawrid al-Qurashi was sitting with 'Amr ibn
al-'As, he said, "I heard
the Prophet say, 'The Hour will come when the
Romans will be in the
majority.' 'Amr asked him, "What are you
saying?" He said, "I am repeating
that which I heard from the Prophet." 'Amr
said, "If you say this, it is
true, because they have four good characteristics:
they are the most able
to cope with tribulation, the quickest to recover
after disaster and to
return to the fight after disaster, and are the
best as far as treating
the poor, weak and orphans is concerned. They have
a fifth characteristic
which is very good; they do not allow themselves
to be oppressed by their
kings." The Prophet said, "You will
fight the Romans, and Believers from
the Hijaz will fight them after you, until Allah
enables them to conquer
Constantinople and Rome with Tasbih and Takbir
("Subhan Allah" and
"Allahu Akbar"). Its fortifications will
collapse, and they will obtain
booty the like of which has never been seen, so
that they will share it
out by scooping it up with their shields. Then
someone will cry,
'O Muslims! the Dajjal is in your country, with
your families', and the
people will leave the wealth. Anyone who takes
notice will regret it and
anyone who ignores it will regret it. They will
ask, 'Who shouted?' but
they will not know who he is. They will say, you
will hear about his deeds.
' So they will go and see, and if they see that
everything is normal, they
will say, 'No-one would give a shout like that for
no reason, so let us go
together to Ilya'.' If we find the Dajjal
there we will fight him together,
until Allah decides between us and him. If
we do not find the Dajjal, we
will go back to our country and our
families.' " Mu'adh ibn Jabal said,
"The Prophet said, 'The building of Bayt al-Maqdis
(in Jerusalem) will be
followed by the destruction of Yathrib (Madinah),
which will be followed by
the conquest of Constantinople, which will be
followed by the appearance of the Dajjal.' Then he
put his hand on the thigh or the shoulder of the
one
with whom he was speaking (i.e. Mu'adh), and said,
'This is as true as the
fact that you are here (or as true as you are
sitting here).' " This does not
mean that Madinah will be destroyed
completely before the appearance of the Daj, but
that will happen at the end of time, as we shall
see in some
authentic Ahadith. But the building of Bayt al-Maqdis
will be the cause of the destruction of Madinah,
as it was proven in the Hadith that the Dajjal
will not be able to enter Madinah. He will be
prevented from doing so because it is surrounded
by angles bearing unsheathed swords. Abu Hurayrah
said, "The Prophet said about Madinah:
'Neither plague nor the Dajjal can enter it.'
" (Bukhari
Appearance
of Dajjal
First of
all, we will quote the reports which mention the
liars and "dajjals" who will precede the
coming off the Dajjal, or Antichrist, who will be
the last of them; may Allah curse them and punish
them with Hell-fire. Jabir ibn Samurah said,
"I heard the Prophet say, 'Just before the
Hour there will be many liars.'" Jabir said,
"Be on your guard against them."
(Muslim). Jabir said, "I heard the Prophet
say, 'Just before the Hour there will be many
liars; among them is the one in al-Yamamah, the 'Ansi
in San'a', the one in Himyar, and the Dajjal. This
will be the greatest fitnah.''' (Ahmad.) Abu
Hurayrah said, "The Prophet said, "The
Hour will not come ... until nearly 30 "dajjals"
(liars) appear, each one claiming to be a
messenger from Allah.'" (Bukhari Muslim.) Abu
Hurayrah said, "The Prophet said, 'The Hour
will not come until 30 "dajjals" appear,
each of them claiming to be a messenger from
Allah, wealth increases, tribulations appear and
al-Harj increases.'" Someone asked, 'What is
al-Harj?' He said, 'Killing, killing.' (Ahmad.)
Abu Hurayrah said, "The Prophet said, 'The
Hour will not come until 30 "dajjals"
appear, all of them lying about Allah and His
Messenger." (Abu Dawud.) Abu Hurayrah said,
"The Prophet said, 'Just before the Hour,
there will be 30 "dajjals", each of whom
will say, I am a Prophet.'" (Ahmad.) Abu
Hurayrah said, "The Prophet said, 'There will
be "dajjals" and liars among my Ummah.
They will tell you something new, which neither
you nor your forefathers have heard. Be on your
guard against them, and do not let them lead you
astray.'" (Ahmad.) Thawban said, "The
Prophet said, 'There will be 30 liars among my
Ummah. Each one will claim that he is a prophet;
but I am the last of the Prophets (Seal of the
Prophets), and there will be no Prophet after
me.'" (Ahmad.) The Prophet said, "Verily
before the Day of Resurrection there will appear
the Dajjal, and 30 or more liars." (Ahmad.)
Ibn 'Umar said, "I heard the Prophet say,
'Among my Ummah there will be more than 70
callers, each of whom will be calling people to
Hell-fire. If I wished, I could tell you their
names and tribes.'" Abu Bakrah said,
"The people spoke a great deal against
Musaylimah before the Prophet said anything about
him. Then the Prophet got up to give a speech and
said: '...as for this man about whom you have
spoken so much - he is one of the 30 liars who
will appear before the Hour, and there is no town
which will not feel the fear of the
Antichrist.'" (Ahmad.) In another version of
this report, the Prophet said, "He is one of
the 30 liars who will appear before the Dajjal.
There is no town which will escape the fear of the
Djjal, apart from Madinah. At that time there will
be two angels at every entrance of Madinah,
warding off the fear of the Antichrist." Anas
ibn Malik said, "The Prophet said, 'The time
of the Dajjal will be years of confusion. People
will believe a liar, and disbelieve one who tells
the truth. People will distrust one who is
trustworthy, and trust one who is treacherous; and
the Ruwaybidah will have a say.' Someone asked,
'Who are the Ruwaybidah?' He said, 'Those who
rebel against Allah and will have a say in general
affairs.'" (Ahmad.)
Ahadith about the Dajjal
'Abd Allah ibn 'Umar said, "'Umar
ibn al-Khattab went along with the
Prophet and a group of people to Ibn Sayyad, and
found him playing with
some children near the battlement of Banu Maghalah.
At that time Ibn
Sayyad was on the threshold of adolescence; he did
not realise that
anybody was near until the Prophet struck him on
the back. The Prophet (S)
said to him: 'Do you bear witness than I am the
Messenger of Allah?' Ibn
Sayyad looked at him and said, 'I bear witness
that you are the Prophet of
the unlettered.' Then Ibn Sayyad said to the
Prophet, 'Do you bear witness
that I am the Messenger of Allah?' The Prophet
dismissed this and said, 'I
believe in Allah and His Messengers.' Then the
Prophet asked him, 'What do
you see?' Ibn Sayyad said, 'Sometimes a truthful
person comes to me, and
sometimes a liar.' The Prophet said to him, 'You
are confused', then he
said, 'I ahiding something from you.' Ibn Sayyad
said, 'It is Dukh.' The
Prophet said, 'Silence! You will not be able to go
beyond your rank.'
'Omar ibn al-Khattab said, 'O Messenger of Allah,
shall I cut off his
head?' The Prophet said, 'If he is (the Dajjal)
you will not be able to
overpower him, and if he is not, then killing will
not do you any good.'"
Salim ibn 'Abd Allah said, "I heard 'Abd
Allah ibn 'Omar say, 'After that,
the Prophet and Ubayy ibn Ka'b went along to the
palm trees where Ibn
Sayyad was. The Prophet started to hide behind a
tree, with the intention
of hearing something from Ibn Sayyad before Ibn
Sayyad saw him. The
Prophet saw him lying on a bed, murmuring beneath
a blanket. Ibn Sayyad's
mother saw the Prophet hiding behind a tree, and
said to her son, "O Saf
(Ibn Sayyad's first name), here is Mohammad!"
Ibn Sayyad jumped up, and
the Prophet said, "If you had left him alone,
he would have explained
himself.''
Salim said, "Abd Allah ibn 'Omar said, The
Prophet stood up to address the
people. He praised Allah as He deserved to be
praised, then he spoke about
the Dajjal: 'I warn you against him; there is no
Prophet who has not
warned his people against him ? even Noah warned
his people against him.
But I will tell you something which no other
Prophet has told his people.
You must know that the Dajjal is one-eyed, and
Allah is not one-eyed.'"
Ibn Shihab said: "'Omar ibn Thabit al-Ansari
told me that some of the
Companions of the Prophet told him that on the day
when he warned the
people about the Dajjal, the Prophet said:
"There will be written between
his eyes the word Kafir (unbeliever). Everyone who
resents his bad deeds -
or every believer- will be able to read it."
He also said, "You must know
that no one of you will be able to see his Lord
until he dies.'" (Muslim,
Bukhari).
Ibn 'Omar said, "The Prophet mentioned the
Dajjal to the people. He said,
"Allah is not one-eyed, but the Dajjal is
blind in his right eye, and his
eye is like a floating grape.'"
(Muslim)
Anas ibn Malik said, "The Prophet said,
'there has never been a Prophet
who did not warn his people against that one-eyed
liar. Verily he is
one-eyed and your Lord is not one-eyed. On his
forehead will be written
the letter Kaf, Fa, Ra (Kafir).'" (Muslim,
Bukhari)
Hudhayfah said, "The Prophet said, 'I know
more about the powers which the
Dajjal will have than he will know himself. He
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 which
seems to be fire, then let him close his eyes,
lower his head and drink
from it, for it will be cold water. The Dajjal
will be one-eyed; the place
where one eye should be will be covered by a piece
of skin. On his
forehead will be written the word Kafir, and every
believer, whether
literate or illiterate, will be able to read
it.'" (Muslim)
Abu Hurayrah said, "The Prophet said, 'Shall
I tell you something about
the Dajjal which no Prophet has ever told his
people before me? The Dajjal
is one-eyed and will bring with him something
which will resemble Paradise
and Hell; but that which he calls Paradise will in
fact be Hell. I warn
you against him as Noah warned his people against
him.'" (Bukhari, Muslim)
Mohammad ibn Munkadir said: "I saw Jabir ibn
'Abd Allah swearing by Allah
that Ibn Sayyad was the Dajjal, so I asked him,
'Do you swear by Allah?'
He said, 'I heard 'Omar swear to that effect in
the presence of the
Prophet, and the Prophet did not disapprove of
it.'"
Some 'ulama' (scholars) say that some of the
Sahabah (Companions of the
Prophet) believed Ibn Sayyad to be the greater
Dajjal, but that is not the
case: Ibn Sayyad was a lesser dajjal.
Ibn Sayyad travelled between Makkah and Madinah
with Abu Sa'id, and
complained to him about the way that people were
saying that he was the
Dajjal. Then he said to Abu Sa'id, "Did not
the Prophet say that the
Dajjal would not enter Madinah? I was born there.
Did not he say that he
would not have any children? - I have children.
Did not he say that he
would be a Kafir? - I have embraced Islam. Of all
the people, I know the
most about him: I know where he is now. If I were
given the opportunity to
be in his place, I would not resent it.'" (Bukhari,
Muslim)
There are many Ahadith about Ibn Sayyad, some of
which are not clear as to whether he was the
Dajjal or not. We shall see Ahadith which
indicates
that the Dajjal is not Ibn Sayyad, as in the
Hadith of Fatimah Bint Qays
al-Fahriyyah, although this does not mean that he
was not one of the
lesser Dajjal; but Allah knows best.
THE HADITH OF FATIMAH BINT QAYS: 'Amir ibn
Sharahil Sha'bi Sha'b Hamdan reported that he
asked Fatimah bint Qays, the sister of Dahhak ibn
Qays, who was one of the first Muhajirat,
"Tell me a Hadith which you heard
directly from the Prophet with no narrator in
between." She said, "I can
tell you if you like." He said, 'Yes, please
tell me," she said, "I
married Ibn al-Mughirah, who was one of the best
of the youth of Quraysh
in those days. But he fell in the first Jihad on
the side of the Prophet.
"When I became a widow, 'Abd al-Rahman ibn 'Awf,
one of the companions of the Prophet sent me a
proposal of marriage. The Prophet also sent me a
proposal of marriage on behalf of his freedman
Usamah ibn Zayd. I had been
told that the Prophet had said, 'He who loves me
should also love Usamah.'
When the Prophet spoke to me, I said, 'It is up to
you: marry me to
whomever you wish.'
"The Prophet said, 'Go and stay with Umm
Sharik.' Umm Sharik was a rich
Ansari (Muslim originally from Madinah) woman, who
spent much in the way
of Allah and entertained many guests. I said, 'I
will do as you wish.'
Then he said, 'Don't go. Umm Sharik has many
guests, and I would not like
it if your head or leg were to become uncovered
accidentally and people
saw something you would not wish them to see. It
is better if you go and
stay with your cousin 'Abd Allah ibn 'Amr ibn Umm
Maktum' (Abd Allah was
of the Banu Fihr of Quraysh, the same tribe as
that to which Fatima
belonged).
"So I went to stay with him, and when I had
completed my 'Iddah (perio of
waiting), I heard the Prophet's announer calling
for congregational
prayer. I went out to the mosque, and prayed
behind the Prophet. I was in
the women's row, which was at the back of the
congregation. When the
Prophet had finished his prayer, he sat on the
pulpit, smiling, and said,
'Everyone should stay in his place.' Then he said,
'Do you know why I had
asked you to assemble?' The people said, 'Allah
and His Messenger know
best.'
"He said, 'By Allah, I have not gathered you
here to give you an
exhortation or a warning. I have kept you here
because Tamim al-Dari, a
Christian man who has come and embraced Islam,
told me something which
agrees with that which I have told you about the
Dajjal. He told me that
he had sailed in a ship with 30 men from Banu
Lakhm and Banu Judham. The
waves had tossed them about for a month, then they
were brought near to an island, at the time of
sunset. They landed on the island, and were met by
a beast who 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?" He said,
"You will soon know about me. Tell me who you
are." We said, "We are people from
Arabia. We sailed in 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
who was so hairy that we could not tell its front
from its back. We said to it,
"Woe to you! What are you? and it 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,
fear in that it might be a devil.'
"The man said, "Tell me about the
date-palms of Baysan.' We said, 'What do
you want to know about them?" He said, 'I
want to know whether these trees bear fruit or
not.' We said, 'Yes.' He said, 'Soon they will not
bear
fruit.' Then he said, "Tell me about the lake
of al-Tabariyyah [Tiberias,
in Palestine].' We said, 'What do you want to know
about it?" He asked,
'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 said, 'What do you want to know
about it?' He said, '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
unlettered Prophet ' what has he done?'
We said, 'He has left Makkah and settled in
Yathrib.' He asked, 'Do the
Arabs fight against him?' We said, 'Yes.' He said,
'How does he deal with
them?' So we told him that the Prophet 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 if
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 40 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.'
Fatimah said, "The Prophet striking the
pulpit with his staff, said: 'This
is Tayyibah, this is Tayyibah, this is Tayyibah, [ie
Madinah]. Have I not
told you something like this?' The people said,
'Yes.' He said, 'I liked
the account given to me by Tamim because it agrees
with that which I have
told you about the Dajjal, and about Makkah and
Madinah. Indeed he is in
the Syrian sea or the Yemen sea. No, on the
contrary, he is in the East,
he is in the East, he is in the East' and he
pointed towards the East.
Fatimah said: I memorised this from the
Prophet." (Muslim).
'Abd Allah ibn 'Umar said, "The Prophet (S)
said, 'While I was asleep, I
saw myself a dream performing Tawaf
(circumambulation) around the Ka'bah. I saw a
ruddy man with lank hair and water dripping from
his head. I said, 'Who is he?" and they said,
"The son of Mary." Then I turned around
and saw another man with a huge body, red
complexion, curly hair and one eye. His other eye
looked like a floating grape. They said,
"This is the
Dajjal." The one who most resembles him is
Ibn Qatan, a man from the tribe
of al-Khuza'ah'." (Bukhari, Muslim).
Jabir ibn 'Abd Allah said, "The Prophet said,
'The Dajjal will appear at
the end of time, when religion is taken lightly.
He will have 40 days in
which to travel throughout the earth. One of these
days will be like a
year, another will be like a month, a third will
be like a week, and the
rest will be like normal days. He will be riding a
donkey; the width
between its ears will be 40 cubits. He will say to
the people: "I am your
lord." He is one-eyed, but your Lord is not
one-eyed. On his forehead will
be written the word Kafir, and every believer,
literate or illiterate,
will be able to read it. He will go everywhere
except Makkah and Madinah,
which Allah has forbidden to him; angels stand at
their gates. He will
have a mountain of bread, and the people will face
hardship, except for
those who follow him. He will have two rivers, and
I know what is in them.
He will call one Paradise and one Hell. Whoever
enters the one he calls
Paradise will find that it is Hell, and whoever
enters the one he calls
Hell will find that it is Paradise. Allah will
send with him devils who
will speak to the people. He will bring a great
tribulation; he will issue
a command to the sky and it will seem to the
people as if it is raining.
Then he will appear to kill someone and bring him
back to life. After that
he will no longer have this power. The people will
say, "Can anybody do
something like this except the Lord?" The
Muslims will flee to Jabal
al-Dukhan in Syria, and the Dajjal will come and
besiege them. The siege
will intensify and they will suffer great
hardship. Then Jesus son of Mary
will descend, and will call the people at dawn:
"O people, what prevented
you from coming out to fight this evil liar?"
They will answer, "He is a
Jinn." Then they will go out, and find Jesus
son of Mary. The time for
prayer will come, and the Muslims will call on
Jesus to lead the prayer,
but he will say, "Let your Imam lead the
prayer." Their Imam will lead
them in praying Salat al-Subh (Morning prayer),
then they will go out to
fight the Dajjal. When the liar sees Jesus, he
will dissolve like salt in
water. Jesus will go to him and kill him, and he
will not let anyone who
followed him live'." (Ahmad).
Warnings against the
Dajjal
THE HADITH OF AL-NUWAS IBN SAM'AN AL-KILABI
Al-Nuwas ibn Saman said, "One morning the
Prophet (sallallahu alayhe wa
sallam) spoke about the Dajjal. Sometimes he
described him as
insignificant, and sometimes he described him as
so dangerous that we
thought he was in the clump of date-palms nearby.
When we went to him
later on, he noticed that fear in our faces, and
asked, 'What is the
matter with you? We said, 'O Messenger of Allah,
this morning you spoke of
the Dajjal; sometimes you described him as
insignificant, and sometimes
you described him as being so dangerous that we
thought he was in the
clump of date-palms nearby.
"The Prophet (sallallahu alayhe wa sallam)
said, 'I fear for you in other
matters besides the Dajjal. If he appears whilst I
am among you, I will
contend with him on your behalf. But if he appears
while I am not among
you, then each man must contend with him on his
own behalf, and Allah will
take care of every Muslim on my behalf. The Dajjal
will be a young man,
with short, curly hair, and one eye floating. I
would liken him to 'Abd
al-Uzza ibn Qatan. Whoever amongst you lives to
see him should recite the
opening Ayat of Surat al-Kahf. He will appear on
the way between Syria and Iraq, and will create
disaster left and right. O servants of Allah,
adhere
to the Path of Truth."
"We said, 'O Messenger of Allah, for the day
which is like a year, will
one days prayers be sufficient? He said, 'No, you
must make an estimate of
the time, and then observe the
prayers."
"We asked, 'O Messenger of Allah, how quickly
will he walk upon the earth?
He said, 'Like a cloud driven by the wind. He will
come to the people and
call them (to a false religion), and they will
believe in him and respond
to him. He will issue a command to the sky, and it
will rain; and to the
earth, and it will produce crops. After grazing on
these crops, their
animals will return with their udders full of milk
and their flanks
stretched. Then he will come to another people and
will call them (to a
false religion), but they will reject his call. He
will depart from them;
they will suffer famine and will possess nothing
in the form of wealth.
Then he will pass through the wasteland and will
say, 'Bring forth your
treasures, and the treasures will come forth, like
swarms of bees. Then he
will call a man brimming with youth; he w
