The Signs Before The Day Of Judgement

Author: Al-Haafidh Ibn Katheer

Published: Thursday 14th January, 2016



The Hadeeth of Al-Mugheerah Ibn Shu'bah

Al-Mugheerah ibn Shu'bah said,

"No-one asked the Prophet (صلى الله علیه وسلم) more questions about the Dajjaal than I did. He said, 'You should not worry about him, because he will not be able to harm you.' I said, 'But they say that he will have much food and water!' He said, 'He is too insignificant in the sight of Allaah to have all that.' " [Muslim]


Al-Mugheerah ibn Shu'bah said,

"No-one asked the Prophet (صلى الله علیه وسلم) more questions about the Dajjaal than I did." One of the narrators said, "What did you ask him?" Al-Mugheerah said, "I said, 'They say that the Dajjaal will have a mountain of bread and meat, and a river of water. The Prophet (صلى الله علیه وسلم) said, 'He is too insignificant in the sight of Allaah to have all that.' " [Muslim]


From these Ahaadeeth, we can see that Allaah will test His servants with the Dajjaal and by the miracles which he will be permitted to perform: as we have already mentioned, the Dajjaal will order the sky to rain for those who accept him, and will order the earth to bring forth its fruits so that they and their livestock will eat of it, and their flocks will return fat and with their udders full of milk. Those who reject the Dajjaal and refuse to believe in him will suffer drought and famine; people and livestock will die, and wealth and supplies of food will be depleted. People will follow the Dajjaal like swarms of bees, and he will kill a young man and bring him back to life.

This is not a kind of magic; it will be something real with which Allaah will test His servants at the end of time. Many will be led astray, and many will be guided by it. Those who doubt will disbelieve, but those who believe will be strengthened in their faith.

Al-Qaadi 'Iyaad and others interpreted the phrase "He is too insignificant in the sight of Allaah to have all that" as meaning that the Dajjaal is too insignificant to have anything that could lead the true believers astray, because he is obviously evil and corrupt. Even if he brings great terror, the word Kaafir will be clearly written between his eyes; one report explains that it will be written "Kaaf, Faa, Raa," from which we can understand that it will be written perceptibly, not abstractly, as some people say.

One of his eyes will be blind, protruding and repulsive; this is the meaning of the Hadeeth: "...as if it were a grape floating on the surface of the water." Other reports say that it is "dull, with no light in it," or "like white spittle on a wall," i.e. it will look ugly.

Some reports say that it is his right eye which will be blind; others say that it is his left eye.

He could be partly blind in both eyes, or there could be a fault in both eyes. This interpretation could be supported by the Hadeeth narrated by at-Tabaraanee, in which he reports that Ibn 'Abbaas said,

"The Prophet (صلى الله علیه وسلم) said, 'The Dajjaal is curly-haired and white-skinned. His head is like the branch of a tree; his left eye is blind, and the other eye looks like a floating grape.' "


One may ask: if the Dajjaal is going to cause such widespread evil and his claim to be a "lord" will be so widely believed - even though he is obviously a liar, and all the Prophet's have warned against him - why does the Qur'aan not mention him by name and warn us against his lies and stubbornness?

The answer is:-

  1. The Dajjaal was referred to in the Ayah:

    "...The day that some of the Signs of your Lord do come, no good will it do to a person to believe then, if he believed not before, nor earned good (by performing deeds of righteousness) through his Faith..." [al-An'aam (6):158]


    Abu Hurairah said,

    "The Prophet (صلى الله علیه وسلم) said, 'There are three things which, when they appear, no good will it do a soul to believe in them then, if it believed not before nor earned righteousness through its Faith. They are: The Dajjaal, the Beast, and the rising of the sun from the west.' "

  2. Jesus son of Mary will descend from Heaven and kill the Dajjaal, as we have already mentioned. The descent of Jesus is mentioned in the Ayaat:

    "And because of their saying (in boast), "We killed Messiah 'Eesaa (Jesus), son of Maryam (Mary), the Messenger of Allaah," - but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but the resemblance of 'Eesaa (Jesus) was put over another man (and they killed that man), and those who differ therein are full of doubts. They have no (certain) knowledge, they follow nothing but conjecture. For surely; they killed him not [i.e. 'Eesaa (Jesus), son of Maryam (Mary) alayhi-salam]:

    But Allaah raised him ['Eesaa (Jesus)] up (with his body and soul) unto Himself (and he alayhi-salam is in the heavens). And Allaah is Ever All Powerful, All Wise.

    And there is none of the people of the Scripture (Jews and Christians), but must believe in him ['Eesaa (Jesus), son of Maryam (Mary), as only a Messenger of Allaah and a human being], before his ['Eesaa (Jesus) alayhi-salam or a Jew's or a Christian's] death (at the time of the appearance of the angel of death). And on the Day of Resurrection, he ['Eesaa (Jesus)] will be a witness against them." [an-Nisaa' (4):157-9]


    We think that the Tafseer (interpretation) of this Aayah is that the pronoun in "before his death" (qabla mawtihi) refers to Jesus; i.e, he will descend and the People of the Book who differed concerning him will believe in him. The Christians claimed that he was divine, while the Jews made a slanderous accusation, i.e. that he was born from adultery. When Jesus descends before the Day of Judgment, he will correct all these differences and lies.

    On this basis, the reference to the descent of the Messiah Jesus son of Mary also includes a reference to the Dajjaal (false Mesor Antichrist), who is the opposite of the true Messiah, because sometimes the Arabs refer to one of two opposites and not the other, but mean both.

  3. The Dajjaal is not mentioned by name in the Qur'aan because he is so insignificant: he claims to be divine, but he is merely a human being. His affairs are too contemptible to be mentioned in the Qur'aan. But the Prophet's, out of loyalty to Allaah, warned their people about the Dajjaal and the tribulations and misguiding miracles he would bring. It is enough for us to know the reports of the Prophet's and the many reports from the Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله علیه وسلم).

    One could argue that Allaah has mentioned Pharaoh and his false claims, such as:

    "I am your lord, most high" [an-Nazi'aat (79):24]


    and

    "O chiefs! I know not that you have an ilaah (a god) other than me..." [al-Qasas (28):38]


    This can be explained by the fact that Pharaoh and his deeds are in the past, and his lies are clear to every believer. But the Dajjaal is yet to come, in the future; it will be a Fitnah and a test for all people. So the Dajjaal is not mentioned in the Qur'aan because he is contemptible; and the fact that he is not mentioned means that it will be a great test.

The facts about the Dajjaal and his lies are obvious and do not need further emphasis. This is often the case when something is very clear. For example, when the Prophet (صلى الله علیه وسلم) was terminally ill, he wanted to write a document confirming that Abu Bakr would be the Khaleefah after him. Then he abandoned this idea, and said,

"Allaah and the believers will not accept anyone other than Abu Bakr."


He decided not to write the document because he knew of Abu Bakr's high standing among the Sahaabah (Companions) and was sure that they would not choose anyone else. Similarly, the facts about the Dajjaal are so clear that they did not need to be mentioned in the Qur'aan.

Allaah did not mention the Dajjaal in the Qur'aan because He (سبحانه و تعالى) knew that the Dajjaal would not be able to lead His true servants astray; he would only increase their faith, their submission to Allaah and His Messenger, their belief in the Truth, and their rejection of falsehood. For this reason the believer whom the Dajjaal overpowers will say, when he revives him,

"By Allaah, it has only increased my understanding that you are the one-eyed liar about whom the Prophet (صلى الله علیه وسلم) spoke."


 

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