'Aamir ibn Sharaaheel Sha'bi Sha'b Hamdaan reported that he asked Faatimah bint Qays, the sister of Dahhaak ibn Qays, who was one of the first Muhaajiraat,
"Tell me a Hadeeth which you heard directly from the Prophet (صلى الله علیه وسلم) 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-Mugheerah, who was one of the best of the youth of Quraysh in those days. But he fell in the first Jihaad on the side of the Prophet (صلى الله علیه وسلم).
"When I became a widow, 'Abd al-Rahmaan ibn 'Awf, one of the companions of the Prophet (صلى الله علیه وسلم) sent me a proposal of marriage. The Prophet (صلى الله علیه وسلم) also sent me a proposal of marriage on behalf of his freedman Usaamah ibn Zayd. I had been told that the Prophet (صلى الله علیه وسلم) had said, 'He who loves me should also love Usaamah.' When the Prophet (صلى الله علیه وسلم) spoke to me, I said, 'It is up to you: marry me to whomever you wish.'
"The Prophet (صلى الله علیه وسلم) said, 'Go and stay with Umm Shareek.' Umm Shareek was a rich Ansaaree (Muslim originally from Madeenah) woman, who spent much in the way of Allaah ande ntertained many guests. I said, 'I will do as you wish.' Then he said, 'Don't go. Umm Shareek 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 Allaah ibn 'Amr ibn Umm Maktoom' (Abd Allaah was of the Banoo Fihr of Quraysh, the same tribe as that to which Faatimah belonged).
"So I went to stay with him, and when I had completed my 'Iddah (period of waiting), I heard the Prophet's (صلى الله علیه وسلم) announcer calling for congregational prayer. I went out to the mosque, and prayed behind the Prophet (صلى الله علیه وسلم). I was in the women's row, which was at the back of the congregation. When the Prophet (صلى الله علیه وسلم) 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, 'Allaah and His Messenger know best.'
"He said, 'By Allaah, I have not gathered you here to give you an exhortation or a warning. I have kept you here because Tameem ad-Daaree, a Christian man who has come and embraced Islaam, told me something which agrees with that which I have told you about the Dajjaal. He told me that he had sailed in a ship with thirty men from Banoo Lakhm and Banoo Judhaam. 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-Jassaasah." They said, "What is al-Jassaasah?" It said, "O people, go to this man in the monastery, for he is very eager to know about you." Tameem 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 amonth, 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-Jassaasah." We asked, "Whatis al-Jassaasah?" and it told us, "Go to this man in the monastery, for he is very eager to know about you." So we came to you quickly, fearing that it might be a devil.'
"The man said, 'Tell me about the date-palms of Baysaan.' 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 at-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 (صلى الله علیه وسلم) 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. Iam the Dajjaal. I will soon be permitted to leave this place: I will emerge and travel about the earth. In forty nights I will pass through every town, except Makkah and Madeenah, 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.'
Faatimah said, "The Prophet (صلى الله علیه وسلم), striking the pulpit with his staff, said: 'This is Tayyibah, this is Tayyibah, this is Tayyibah, [i.e. Madeenah]. Have I not told you something like this?' The people said, 'Yes.' He said, 'I liked the account given to me by Tameem because it agrees with that which I have told you about the Dajjaal, and about Makkah and Madeenah. 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. Faatimah said: I memorised this from the Prophet (صلى الله علیه وسلم)." [Muslim] [1]
'Abd Allaah ibn 'Umar said,
"The Prophet (صلى الله علیه وسلم) said, 'While I was asleep, I saw myself in a dream performing Tawaaf (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 Dajjaal." The one who most resembles him is Ibn Qatan, a man from the tribe of al-Khuzaa'ah'.' " [Bukhaaree, Muslim] [2]
Jaabir ibn 'Abd Allaah said,
"The Prophet (صلى الله علیه وسلم) said, 'The Dajjaal will appear at the end of time, when religion is taken lightly. He will have forty 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 forty 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 Kaafir, and every believer, literate or illiterate, will be able to read it. He will go everywhere except Makkah and Madeenah, which Allaah 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. Allaah 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-Dukhaan in Syria, and the Dajjaal 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 Imaam lead the prayer." Their Imaam will lead them in praying Salaat al-Subh (Morning prayer), then they will go out to fight the Dajjaal. 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] [3]
Footnotes
[1] Muslim, Kitaab al- Fitan, 8/203-205.
Al-Jassaasah is so called because he spies on behalf of the Dajjaal (from jassa - to try to gain information, to spy out, etc.).
Baysaan - a village in Palestine.
'Ayn Zughar (the spring of Zughar) is a town in Palestine.
[2] Bukhaaree, Kitaab al-Fitan, 9/75. Muslim, Kitaab al-Imaan, 1/108.
[3] Ahmad, Musnad, 3/367, 368.
Checker's Note: Da`eef. Silsilatul Ahaadieeh ad-Da`eefah: 1969. It contains the `an`anah of Abu Zubair. Parts are found in authentic narrations. Refer to Dajjaal section in Saheeh Muslim.
