al-Kahf. He will come forth from a narrow passage between Syria and Iraq, ravaging to the right and to the left. O servants of Allah, stand firm!
We asked, “O Messenger of Allah, how long will he remain on earth?”
He said, “Forty days: one day like a year, one day like a month, one day like a week, and the rest of his days are like your days.”
We said, “O Messenger of Allah, during the day that is like a year, will a single day’s prayers suffice us?”
He replied, “No; calculate the times for it in proportion to its length.”
We said, “O Messenger of Allah, how swift will he travel through the earth?”
He said, “Like rain driven by a strong wind. He will come upon a people, invite them, and they will believe in him and answer his call. He will then command the sky and it will rain, and the earth and it will bring forth vegetation. Their livestock will return to them in the evening with higher humps than ever, fuller udders, and broader flanks. Then he will go to another people, invite them, and they will reject his words. He will leave them, and they will awake the next morning stricken by drought, with nothing of their wealth in their hands.
“He will pass by a ruined land and say to it, ‘Bring out your treasures,’ and its treasures will follow him like swarms of bees. He will then summon a vigorous young man, strike him with a sword and cut him into two pieces, the halves lying as far apart as a bow-shot. He will then call him, and the young man will come forward with his face shining and laughing.
“While he is in that state, Allah will send down the Messiah, son of Mary. He will descend at the white minaret to the east of Damascus, wearing two lightly-dyed garments (1), placing his hands on the wings of two angels. When he lowers his head, drops fall from it; when he raises it, beads like pearls cascade from it. No disbeliever who inhales the scent of his breath will live, and his breath reaches as far as his gaze extends. He will pursue him until he overtakes him at the gate of Ludd and kills him.
“ʿĪsā son of Mary will then come to a people whom Allah has protected from that liar; he will wipe their faces and inform them of their ranks in Paradise.
“While he is with them, Allah will reveal to him: ‘I have brought forth servants of Mine whom no one has the power to fight (2). Take My servants to Mount Ṭūr for refuge.’ Allah will then send forth Gog and Magog, surging from every rise. The first of them will pass by Lake Tiberias and drink all its water; the last of them will pass by and say, ‘There was once water here.’
“The Prophet of Allah ʿĪsā and his companions will be besieged until the head of an ox will be dearer to one of them than one hundred dinars are to you today. They will beseech Allah, and Allah will send against them worms (3) in their necks; they will all die, their corpses lying prostrate as though the death of a single soul (4).
“ʿĪsā and his companions will then descend to the earth, and they will not find a hand-span of ground that is not filled with their fat and stench (5). They will again beseech Allah, and Allah will send birds with necks like those of Bukhṭ camels; the birds will carry them away and cast them wherever Allah wills.
“Allah will then send a rain from which no house of brick or hair will remain untouched (6). It will wash the earth until it leaves it as smooth as a mirror (7).
“Then it will be said to the earth, ‘Bring forth your fruits and restore your blessings,’ and on that day