Imam Tāwūs (1) would instruct his son to repeat the prayer if he had not recited this supplication during it (2). This demonstrates how keen the early Muslims were to teach their children this momentous supplication.
Al-Saffārīnī said: “Every scholar ought to spread the hadiths concerning the Dajjāl among children, women, and men.... It has been reported that one of the signs of his emergence is that mention of him will be forgotten from the pulpits (3).”
He later said: “This is especially so in our own time, when tribulations have reared their heads, ordeals have multiplied, the landmarks of the sunnah have been effaced, the practices of the sunnah have come to be regarded as innovations, and innovation has become a religious law to be followed. There is no power and no strength except through Allah, the Most High, the Magnificent” (4).
(1) He was the imam Tāwūs ibn Kaysān al-Yamānī, Abū Abd al-Rahmān, one of the leading Successors. He met fifty Companions, performed the pilgrimage forty times, and his supplications were answered. Ibn Uyayna said: “Three men kept their distance from rulers: Abū Dharr in his time, Tāwūs in his time, and al-Thawrī in his time.” He died in 106 AH. May Allah have mercy on him.
See *Tahdhīb al-Tahdhīb* (5/8–10).
(2) See *Sahīh Muslim*, Book of Mosques, chapter “Seeking Refuge from the Punishment of the Grave” (5/89, with al-Nawawī’s commentary).
(3) A hadith concerning this was narrated from al-Sab ibn Jaththāma and authenticated by al-Haythamī in *Majma al-Zawā’id*. He said: “I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, say: ‘The Dajjāl will not emerge until people become heedless of mentioning him and the imams cease mentioning him from the pulpits.’”
See *Majma al-Zawā’id wa Manba al-Fawā’id* (7/335).
(4) *Lawāmi al-Anwār al-Bahiyya* (2/106–107).