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 widespread. 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.)
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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 |
This does not mean that Madinah will be destroyed completely before the appearance of the Dajjal, 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 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.) |
