falsehood, and I see a throne upon the water.”
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ asked, “Do you testify that I am the Messenger of Allah?” He replied, “Do you testify that I am the messenger of Allah?” The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “I believe in Allah and His messengers,” and the matter remained obscured for him.
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ then said, “O Ibn Ṣayyād, we have concealed something for you; what is it?” He answered, “Ad-dukh, ad-dukh.” The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said to him, “Be gone! Be gone!” ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb (may Allah be pleased with him) said, “Give me leave, O Messenger of Allah, to slay him.” The Messenger of Allah ﷺ replied, “If he is indeed him, you will not be his slayer; his slayer will be Jesus son of Mary. And if he is not, then you have no right to kill a man who is under covenant.” Jābir—meaning the narrator—said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ continued to feel apprehensive that he might be the Dajjal. This isnād is exceedingly unusual (1).
Imām Aḥmad said: Yūnus narrated to us; al-Muʿtamir narrated to us, from his father, from Sulaymān al-Aʿmash, from Shaqīq ibn Salamah, from ʿAbd Allah ibn Masʿūd, who said: While we were walking with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, he passed by some children who were playing, among them Ibn Ṣayyād. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Dust be upon your hands! Do you testify that I am the Messenger of Allah?” He replied, “Do you testify that I am the messenger of Allah?” ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb (may Allah be pleased with him) said, “Let me strike his neck!” The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “If he is the one you fear, you will never be able to overpower him.” (2)
The reports concerning Ibn Ṣayyād are many, and in some of them there is hesitation about his status—whether he is the Dajjal or not; Allah knows best. It is possible that all this occurred before revelation came to the Prophet ﷺ concerning the Dajjal and his identification. The report of Tamīm al-Dārī mentioned earlier is decisive on this point. We shall cite further narrations indicating that the Dajjal is not Ibn Ṣayyād—Allah knows best and is most wise.