is this?’ They answered, ‘The son of Mary.’ I turned around and there appeared a powerfully built, ruddy man with tightly curled hair, blind in his right eye—his eye looked like a floating grape. I asked, ‘Who is this?’ They said, ‘This is the Antichrist; the person who resembles him most is Ibn Qaṭan.’ ” al-Zuhrī added, “He was a man from Khuzaʿah who died in the pre-Islamic era.” ⦗1⦘

It was also mentioned earlier in the ḥadith of Nawwās ibn Samʿān: “He will descend by the white minaret to the east of Damascus, wearing two garments lightly tinted with saffron, placing his palms upon the wings of two angels. When he lowers his head, droplets fall, and when he raises it, pearls like beads roll off it. No disbeliever who senses the fragrance of his breath will remain alive; his breath reaches as far as his gaze extends.” ⦗2⦘

The most widely accepted view as to where he will descend is the eastern white minaret of Damascus. I have read in some books that he will alight upon the white minaret east of the Great Mosque of Damascus, and that is most probably the preserved wording. The report would then read: “He will descend upon the eastern white minaret in Damascus.” The narrator merely expressed it in his own words. There is no minaret in Damascus known as “the eastern” except the one adjoining the Umayyad Mosque on its eastern side, and that location is the most fitting and proper. He will come down while the congregational prayer has already been established, whereupon the imam of the Muslims will say to him:

“O Spirit of Allah, lead us in prayer.”
He will reply, “You lead, for it was called for your sake.” ⦗3⦘

In another narration: “Some of you are leaders over others—this is Allah’s honor for this community.” ⦗4⦘

In our own time—a reconstruction carried out in 741 AH—a minaret of white stone was rebuilt, financed from the wealth of the Christians who had burned down the minaret that once stood there. Perhaps this is among the manifest signs of Prophethood: Allah ordained that this white minaret be rebuilt with the money of the Christians so that Jesus son of Mary might descend upon it, slay the swine, break the cross, and refuse to accept the jizyah; whoever does not embrace Islam he will kill. The same ruling will apply to all the disbelievers on earth that day, for no authority will remain in the world except his. This is part of what has been foretold about the Messiah, and Allah has permitted and legislated it for him, for he will judge in accordance with this purified Sharīʿah.

Some ḥadiths, as noted earlier, state that he will descend in Bayt al-Maqdis ⦗5⦘, while they also indicate that the Antichrist will be slain at Ludd before entering Jerusalem, showing that, like Mecca and Medina, the Antichrist will never enter it—divine protection shields it from him. One report says that Jesus will descend in the Jordan, and another that he will appear at the Muslims’ encampment; this occurs in certain narrations recorded by Muslim, as previously mentioned. Allah knows best.