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 isvery eager to know about you." So we came to you quickly,

fearinthat 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).