there will be born to them a one-eyed boy, the most harmful of people and the least beneficial; his eyes sleep while his heart never sleeps.’

The Prophet then described the child’s parents, saying:
‘His father is a tall man, fleshy and loose-jointed, with a long nose that looks like a beak, and his mother is a firdākhiyyah woman (1)—a large-framed woman with enormous breasts.’

The narrator continues: ‘News reached us that a child had been born to the Jews in Madinah, so I and al-Zubayr ibn al-‘Awwam went and entered upon his parents. In them we found exactly the description given by the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and the child himself was sprawled in the sun on a woollen blanket, muttering to himself. We questioned his parents and they said, “We remained thirty years without a child; then this one-eyed boy was born to us—utterly harmful and of the least benefit.” When we left we passed by him, and he said, “What were you discussing?” We asked, “Did you hear us?” He replied, “Yes, for my eyes sleep but my heart does not sleep.” Thus, he proved to be Ibn Ṣayyād.’

Al-Tirmidhi likewise recorded it through Hammad ibn Salamah and declared it sound (hasan). (2) I say: rather, it is extremely munkar, and Allah knows best. (3)

Ibn Ṣayyād had been one of the Jews of Madinah—though some say he belonged to the Ansar. His name was ‘Abd Allah, also reported as Ṣāf; both renderings exist. Most likely his original name was Ṣāf, and when he embraced Islam he renamed himself ‘Abd Allah. His son, ‘Umārah ibn ‘Abd Allah, was among the eminent Successors, from whom Malik and others transmitted. We have already affirmed that the real Dajjal is other than Ibn Ṣayyād, whereas Ibn Ṣayyād was merely one of the many minor dajjals. Later he repented, professed Islam, and Allah alone knows his inward state and secret. (4)

As for the greater Dajjal, he is the one mentioned in the hadith of Fatimah bint Qays, which she narrated from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ concerning Tamim al-Dari and the story of al-Jassasah. He will be granted leave to emerge at the end of time, after the Muslims have conquered the Byzantine city of Constantinople. His first appearance will be from Isfahan, from a quarter therein called the Jewish Quarter. Seventy thousand Jews of that city, fully armed and wearing green hooded cloaks, will rally to him, as will seventy thousand Tatars, multitudes from Khurasan, and tribesmen from the deserts. He will initially present himself in the guise of a mighty king; then he will claim prophethood, and finally he will claim divinity. The ignorant among the children of Adam—the taghām (5), the rabble and riffraff—will follow him, whereas those whom Allah has guided among His righteous servants, the God-fearing party of Allah, will oppose and rebut him. He will advance, taking territory after territory—city after city, fortress after fortress, province after province, district after district—so that no land remains untrampled by his cavalry and infantry except Mecca and Madinah. His stay on earth will last forty days: one day like a year, one day like a month, one day like a week, and the remaining days like your present days; altogether this equals one year, two months, and a half. Allah will place in his hands many extraordinary feats by which He leads astray whom He wills of His creation, while the believers remain steadfast in spite of them,