and she asked, “O Messenger of Allah, where will the Arabs be on that day?” He replied, “They will be few, and the greater part of them will be in Bayt al-Maqdis (Jerusalem). Their leader will be a righteous man. While that imam has stepped forward to lead them in the dawn prayer, Jesus son of Mary will descend among them. The imam will then withdraw, walking backward, so that Jesus may advance to lead the prayer, but Jesus—raḥimahum Allah (may Allah have mercy upon them)—will place his hand between the imam’s shoulders and say, ‘Step forward and lead, for it was established for you.’ So their imam will lead them in prayer, and when he has finished, Jesus, peace be upon him, will say, ‘Open the gate.’ It will be opened, and there will stand the Dajjāl with seventy thousand Jews, each one carrying an ornamented sword and wearing a crown. When the Dajjāl sees him he will melt as salt melts in water and will flee. Jesus, peace be upon him, will say, ‘I have a single stroke appointed for you, and you will not outstrip me.’ He will overtake him at the eastern gate of Ludd and kill him. Allah will then rout the Jews: nothing that Allah has created will afford a Jew concealment—neither stone, nor tree, nor wall, nor beast—except the gharqad tree, for it is one of their trees and will not speak—without saying, ‘O servant of Allah, O Muslim, here is a Jew; come and kill him.’ ”
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “His term will be forty years: a year will be like half a year, a year like a month, a month like a week, and the last of his days like a flash. One of you may set out in the morning at one gate of the city and not reach its other gate until evening.”
He was asked, “O Messenger of Allah, how shall we pray in those short days?” He answered, “Calculate the prayer-times in them just as you calculate them in these long days, and then pray.”
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ further said, “Jesus son of Mary will, in my community, be a just judge and an equitable leader. He will break the cross, slaughter the swine, abolish the jizyah, and dispense with charity; no collector will be sent out for sheep or camels. Rancor and mutual hatred will be lifted, and the venom of every venomous creature will be removed (1) so that a child may put his hand into a serpent’s mouth and it will not harm him; a child will drive away a lion and it will not harm him; the wolf will be among the sheep as though it were their dog. The earth will be filled with peace just as a vessel is filled with water. Speech will become one and none will be worshipped but Allah. War will lay down its burdens, Quraysh will be stripped of its dominion, and the earth will become like an enormous silver tray (kafathūr) (2), producing vegetation as in the time of Adam. A group will gather around a single bunch of grapes and it will satisfy them, and around a single pomegranate and it will satisfy them. The bull will be worth such-and-such an amount of wealth, while the horse will be bought for only a few dirhams.”
Someone said, “O Messenger of Allah, why will the horse be so cheap?” He replied, “Because it will never again be ridden for war.” He was asked, “Then why will the bull be so costly?” He said, “Because it will plow the entire earth.
“Indeed, before the appearance of the Dajjāl there will be three hard years in which the people will suffer severe famine. In the first year Allah will command the sky to withhold one-third of its rain and the earth to withhold one-third of its produce. In the second year He will command the sky to withhold two-thirds of its rain and the earth two-thirds of its produce. In the third year He will command the sky to withhold all its rain, so not a single drop will fall, and He will command the earth to withhold all its produce, so that nothing green will grow. No cloven-hoofed animal will remain alive except what Allah wills.”
It was asked, “How will people live in that time?” He replied, “By the tahlīl (uttering ‘lā ilāha illā Allah’), the takbīr (uttering ‘Allāhu akbar’), the tasbīḥ (uttering ‘subḥān Allah’), and the taḥmīd (uttering ‘al-ḥamdu li-llāh’); these will sustain them in the manner that food sustains them.”