He was the liar who claimed prophethood—the first troubling event to arise after the Prophet’s death. Great crowds followed him, yet the Truthful Caliph, Abu Bakr al-Ṣiddīq, went out and fought him.

Abu Ḥātim records in his two Ṣaḥīḥ collections, on the authority of Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh, who said:

“I heard the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, say: ‘Before the Hour there will appear liars: among them the man of al-Yamāmah, among them the man of Ṣanʿāʾ—the ʿAnsī, among them the man of Ḥimyar, and among them the Antichrist (al-Dajjāl), who will be the greatest of them in trial.’ ”

The man of al-Yamāmah is Musaylimah. He added, “My Companions have informed me that they are close to thirty liars in all.”

Muslim also narrates, from Abū Hurayrah, that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said:

“The Hour will not be established until thirty impostors—each of them claiming to be a messenger of Allah—emerge, until wealth overflows, tribulations become evident, and they increase…”