Third: his call. It has been mentioned that, when he first emerges, he will call people to Islam, saying that he is a Muslim and defending Islam. Then he will claim prophethood, and thereafter he will claim to be a god. This is his claim; its culmination is the very beginning of Pharaoh’s claim: the claim to lordship.

Fourth: his trial. From Allah’s wisdom is that Allah gives him signs containing tremendous trials. He will come to a people and call them, and they will follow him. By morning, their lands will have sprouted and their livestock will be satiated, returning to them with milk in the greatest abundance and udders fuller than ever. That is, they will live in prosperity because they followed him.

He will come to another people and call them, but they will not follow him. By morning, they will be stricken by drought, with nothing in their lands. This is a tremendous trial, especially for the desert Arabs. He will pass by ruins and say, “Bring forth your treasures,” whereupon their treasures—gold, silver, and other things—will emerge and follow him like swarms of bees, without any equipment or anything else: a trial from Allah. Such will be his condition and his dealings with those who seek worldly enjoyment or despair over worldly life.

Among his trials is that Allah Most High will cause him to have something resembling Paradise and Hellfire (1), as they appear to the eye. Yet his paradise is fire, and his fire is Paradise. Whoever obeys him, he will admit into this paradise as people see it, but it is a burning fire—may Allah protect us. Whoever disobeys him, he will admit into the fire as people see it, but it is Paradise and sweet, wholesome water.