amount to two hundred years that must necessarily elapse (1). Thus, according to his argument, even if the Dajjāl were to emerge now, two hundred years would still have to pass, so the Hour would occur after the year 1600 AH.

This demonstrates the falsity of every hadith that specifies the duration of this world.

In his book al-Manār al-Munīf, Ibn al-Qayyim mentioned general criteria by which a hadith may be recognized as fabricated. He said: “One of them is that the hadith contradicts an explicit statement of the Quran, such as the hadith claiming that the world will last seven thousand years and that we are now in the seventh millennium. This is one of the most manifest lies, for if it were authentic, everyone would know that, from our present time, 251 years remained until the Resurrection” (2).

Ibn al-Qayyim lived in the eighth Hijri century when he made this statement, yet more than 652 years have passed since then and the world has not ended.

Ibn Kathīr said: “As for what appears in the books of the Israelites and the People of the Book, specifying the elapsed period as thousands and two hundred years, more than one scholar has expressly declared them mistaken and wrong in this regard. They thoroughly deserve that judgment. A hadith states, ‘This world is one week among the weeks of the Hereafter,’ but its chain of transmission is likewise unsound. Similarly, the chain of every hadith that specifies the exact time of the Day of Resurrection is unestablished” (3).