“The Antichrist is blind in his right eye; it is as though that eye were a bulging grape. Last night I was shown—at the Kaʿbah in a dream—a brown-complexioned man, the most handsome of all men of such complexion. His hair fell to his shoulders, neatly arranged, with water dripping from his head. He had placed his hands on the shoulders of two men while he circumambulated the House.
I asked, ‘Who is this?’
They replied, ‘The Messiah son of Mary.’
Then I saw a man behind him—curly-haired, with tightly coiled locks, blind in the right eye—who, of everyone I have ever seen, most resembled Ibn Qaṭan. He had his hand on the shoulder of a man circling the House.
I asked, ‘Who is this?’
They said, ‘The Antichrist (al-Masīḥ al-Dajjāl).’” (1)
Muslim also transmitted it (2) through the narration of Mūsā ibn ʿUqbah (3).
Al-Bukhārī added: it was corroborated by ʿUbayd Allāh from Nāfiʿ (4), and he further presented it through the chain of al-Zuhrī, from Sālim, from Ibn ʿUmar. Al-Zuhrī said: “Ibn Qaṭan was a man from Khuzaʿah who died in the pre-Islamic era.” (5)
Thus—may God’s blessings and peace be upon him—the Prophet set forth the characteristics of the two messiahs: the Messiah of guidance and the Messiah of misguidance, so that when the former descends the believers will recognise and accept him, and when the latter appears the monotheists will recognise and beware of him.
Al-Bukhārī also said (6): ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad related to us; ʿAbd al-Razzāq reported to us; Maʿmar informed us, from Hammām ibn Munabbih, from Abū Hurayrah, that the Prophet ﷺ said:
“Jesus son of Mary saw a man stealing and asked him, ‘Have you stolen?’ The man replied, ‘No, by Him besides whom there is no god!’ Jesus said, ‘I believe in God and deny my own eyes.’”
Muslim likewise narrated it (7) from Muḥammad ibn Rāfiʿ, from ʿAbd al-Razzāq.
Aḥmad said (8): ʿAffān related to us; Ḥammād ibn Salamah related to us; from Ḥumayd al-Ṭawīl, from al-Ḥasan and others, from Abū Hurayrah—who said, and I believe it was from the Prophet ﷺ:
“Jesus saw a man stealing and said, ‘O so-and-so, have you stolen?’ He replied, ‘No, by God, I have not.’ Jesus said, ‘I believe in God and disbelieve my own eyesight.’”