Al-Bidayah wa an-Nihayah - Ibn Kathir - (17/84)

Al-Bidayah wa an-NihayahIbn Kathir

and the remainder of his days will be like your days of the present time. He will have a donkey that he rides, the distance between whose ears is forty cubits. He will say to the people, “I am your Lord,” yet he is one-eyed, whereas your Lord is not one-eyed. Between his eyes will be written the word “disbeliever” – “k, f, r” – spelled out, and every believer, whether literate or illiterate, will be able to read it. He will reach every body of water and every spring except Madinah and Makkah; Allah has forbidden him to enter them, and the angels will be standing guard at their gates. He will have with him mountains of bread, while the people will be in hardship, save those who follow him. He will also have two rivers, of which I know better than he: one he will call Paradise, and the other he will call Fire. Whoever is made to enter what he calls Paradise is in fact entering Fire, and whoever is made to enter what he calls Fire is in fact entering Paradise.

He said: “Devils will be sent forth with him to speak to the people, and he will possess a tremendous trial. He will command the sky and, as the people see, it will rain. He will kill a person and then, as the people see, bring him back to life, though he will be given no power over anyone else. He will say to the people, ‘Who but the Lord – Exalted is He – can do the like of this?’ ”

He said: “The Muslims will flee to Mount al-Dukhān in Syria; he will come to them and besiege them, and his siege will become extremely tight and their hardship severe. Then ʿĪsā son of Mary will descend and, at dawn, will call out, saying, ‘O people, what is keeping you from going out to confront this vile liar?’ They will say, ‘He is a man possessed by jinn.’ They will set out, and there before them will be ʿĪsā son of Mary ﷺ. The prayer will be established, and it will be said to him, ‘Step forward, O Spirit of Allah.’ He will reply, ‘Let your own imam step forward and lead you.’ When the dawn prayer has been performed, they will go out to face him.”

He continued: “When the liar sees him, he will melt (1) as salt melts in water. ʿĪsā will walk up to him and kill him, and even the tree and the stone will cry out, ‘O Spirit of Allah, here is a Jew!’ He will leave no one of those who used to follow him without killing him.”

This ḥadīth was also recorded by Imām Aḥmad alone, and it has been transmitted by more than one narrator from Ibrāhīm ibn Ṭahmān, who is reliable (2).

The ḥadīth of al-Nawwās ibn Samʿān al-Kilābī conveys the same meaning, and in greater detail:

Muslim said: Abu Khaythamah – Zuhayr ibn Ḥarb – narrated to us; al-Walīd ibn Muslim narrated to us; ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Yazīd ibn Jābir narrated to us; Yaḥyā ibn Jābir al-Ṭāʾī, the judge of Ḥimṣ, narrated to me; ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Jubayr narrated to me from his father, Jubayr ibn Nufayr al-Ḥaḍramī, that he heard al-Nawwās ibn Samʿān al-Kilābī…

And he also said: Muḥammad ibn Mihrān al-Rāzī narrated to me – and this is his wording – al-Walīd ibn Muslim narrated to us; ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Yazīd ibn Jābir narrated to us; from Yaḥyā ibn Jābir al-Ṭāʾī; from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Jubayr ibn Nufayr; from his father, Jubayr ibn Nufayr; from al-Nawwās ibn Samʿān, who said:

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ mentioned the Dajjal one morning. He spoke of him softly and loudly, until we thought he might be among the date-palms. Later that day we went to him, and he perceived what was on our minds and said, “What troubles you?” We said, “O Messenger of Allah, this morning you spoke of the Dajjal, sometimes softly and sometimes loudly, until we thought he was among the palm-trees.” He said, “Something other than the Dajjal alarms me more for your sake. If he comes forth while I am among you, I will contend with him on your behalf; but if he emerges when I am no longer among you, every man will contend on his own behalf, and Allah is my deputy over every Muslim. He will be a young man with very curly hair and a blinded eye; I liken him to ʿAbd al-ʿUzzā ibn Qaṭan. Whoever among you encounters him, let him recite over him the opening verses of Sūrah…"

(1) In Lisan al-‘Arab, under the lemma mith: “When salt enters water, it dissolves it, and likewise clay; it has also been recorded as anmatha.” Under the lemma muth: “mith yamut.” (2) It is reported by Ahmad in his Musnad (vol. 3, pp. 367–368). However, the author remarks at the start of the chapter on the description of the Dajjāl (the Antichrist) that there is some reservation about this narration, since it comes via Abu al-Zubayr from Jābir without explicitly stating that he heard it from Jābir.

سائر أيامه كأيّامكم هذه، وله حمار يركبه، عَرْضُ ما بين أُذُنَيْه أربعون ذِرَاعًا، فيقول للناس: أنا ربُّكم، وهو أعْوَرُ، وإنّ رَبّكم ليس بأعْور، ومكتوب بين عينيه كافر "ك ف ر" مُهَجَّاة يقرؤه كلُّ مؤمن، من كاتب، وغير كاتب، يَرِدُ كلِّ ماء ومَنْهَلٍ، إلا المدينة، ومكة، حرّمهما اللَّه عليه، وقامت الملائكة بأبوابها، ومعه جبال من خبز، والناس في جَهْد إلا من اتبعه، ومعه نهران، أنا أعلم بهما منه، نهر يقول: الجنة. ونهر يقول: النار، فمن أُدْخِلَ الذي يُسَمّيه الجنّة فهو النار، ومن أُدْخِلَ الذي يُسَمّيه النار فهو الجنة " قال: " وتُبعثُ معه شياطين تُكَلِّم الناس، ومعه فِتْنَةٌ عظيمة، يأمر السماء فتُمْطِرُ، فيما يرى الناس، ويقتل نَفْسًا، ثم يحييها، فيما يرى الناس، لا يسلط على غيرها، ويقول للناس: هل يفعلُ مثلَ هذا إلا الربُّ؛ – Exalté soit-Il – ؟ " قال: " فيفرُّ المسلمون إلى جبل الدخان بالشام، فيأتيهم، فيحاصرهم، فيشتدّ حصارُهم، ويجهَدُهم جَهْدًا شديدًا، ثم ينزل عيسى ابنُ مريم، فينادي من السّحَرِ، فيقول: يا أيّها الناس، ما يمنعكم أن تخرجوا إلى الكذّاب الخبيث؟ فيقولون: هذا رجل جِنّي فينطلقون، فإذا هم بعيسى ابن مريم ﷺ فتقام الصلاة، فيقال له: تقدم، يا رُوحَ اللَّه، فيقول: ليتقدّم إمامُكم فَلْيُصَلِّ بكم، فإذا صلى صلاة الصبح، خرجوا إليه ". قال: " فحين يراه الكذّاب يَنْماثُ (١) كما يَنْماثُ المِلْحُ في الماء، فيَمْشي إليه فيَقْتُلهُ، حتى إن الشَّجَرة والحَجَر ينادي: يا رُوحَ اللَّه، هذا يَهُودِيّ، فلا يَتْرُك مِمَّنْ كان يَتْبَعُهُ أحدًا إلّا قَتله ". تفرّد به أحمد أيضًا، وقد رواه غيرُ واحد عن إبراهيم بن طَهْمان، وهو ثقة (٢) . حديث النوّاس بن سِمعان الكلابيّ في معناه، وأبسط منه: قال مسلم: حدثني أبو خَيْثمة زهيرُ بن حرب، حدّثنا الوليد بن مُسلم، حدثني عبد الرحمن بن يزيد بن جابر، حدثني يحيى بن جابر الطائيّ، قاضي حِمْص، حدثني عبد الرحمن بن جُبَيْر، عن أبيه جُبَيْر بن نُفَيْر الحَضْرمي أنّه سمع النواس بن سِمْعان الكلابى، "ح " وحدثني محمد بن مِهْرانَ الرازيّ، واللفظ له، حدّثنا الوليد بن مُسلم، حدثنا عبدُ الرحمن بن يزيد بن جابر، عن يحيى بن جابر الطائي، عن عبد الرحمن بن جُبَيْر بن نُفَيْر، عن أبيه جُبَيْر بن نُفَيْر، عن النّواس بن سمعان، قال: ذكر رسول اللَّه ﷺ الدجّال ذات غَدَاةٍ، فخفَّض فيه، ورفَّع، حتى ظَنَنّاهُ في طائفة النخل، فلما رُحْنا إلَيْه، عرفَ ذلك فينا، فقال: " ما شأنكم؟ " قلنا: يا رسول اللَّه، ذكرتَ الدجّال غداةً فَخَفَّضت فيه، ورفَّعْتَ، حتى ظَنَنّاه في طائفة النخل، فقال: " غير الدجّال أخْوَفُنِي عليكم، إن يخرج وأنا فيكم، فأنا حَجيجه دونكم، وإنْ يخْرُجْ ولَسْتُ فيكم فامرؤٌ حَجِيجُ نَفْسِه، واللَّهُ خليفتي على كلّ مُسلم، إنه شابٌّ قَطَطٌ عَيْنُهُ طَافِئَةٌ كَأَنِّي أُشَبّهُهُ بعَبْد العُزَّى بن قَطَن، فمن أدركه منكم فليقرأ عليه فواتح سورة

(١) جاء في "لسان العرب" (ميث): ماث الملح في الماء أذابه وكذلك الطين. وقد انماث. . ووردت في (موث) ماث يموث. (٢) رواه أحمد في المسند (٣/ ٣٦٧ - ٣٦٨) وقد قال المصنف عنه في أول باب صفة الدجال: إن فيه نظرًا، لأنه من رواية أبي الزبير عن جابر ولم يصرح بسماعه من جابر.