Ibn Abī Ḥātim reported:
“My father narrated to us; Abū Ṣāliḥ, the scribe of al-Layth, narrated to us; Muʿāwiyah ibn Ṣāliḥ narrated to me from Abū Maryam, who said that he heard Abū Hurayrah say: ‘The Beast (dābbah) displays every color, and the span between its two horns is a parasang for a mounted rider.’

He also transmitted from the Commander of the Believers ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (may Allah be pleased with him), that he said: ‘It is a creature that has feathers and down, a hoof, no tail, and it has a beard. It will surge forward with the gallop of a swift horse three times, yet even then only one third of it will have emerged.’ Ibn Abī Ḥātim related this.

Ibn Jurayj reported from Abū al-Zubayr that he described the Beast, saying: ‘Its head is the head of a bull, its eye the eye of a pig, its ear the ear of an elephant, its horn the horn of a stag, its neck the neck of an ostrich, its chest the chest of a lion, its color the color of a leopard, its flank the flank of a cat, its tail the tail of a ram, and its legs the legs of a camel. Between every two joints there are twelve cubits. With it will be the staff of Moses and the ring of Solomon. No believer will remain without the Beast dotting his face with the staff of Moses, leaving a white mark that will spread until his whole face shines white; and no disbeliever will remain without the Beast dotting his face with the ring of Solomon, leaving a black mark that will spread until his whole face turns dark. So much so that people will conduct their business in the market saying, “How much is this, O believer?” and “How much is this, O disbeliever?” Even the members of a single household, as they sit at table, will recognize the believer among them from the disbeliever.

‘Then the Beast will say to them, “So-and-so, rejoice, for you are among the people of Paradise; and so-and-so, you are among the people of the Fire.”’ That is the meaning of the Most High’s words: “When the decree comes to pass against them, We shall bring forth for them a Beast from the earth that will speak to them, for mankind had no certainty in Our signs” (27:82).

We have already mentioned above, on the authority of Ibn Masʿūd, that the Beast will slay the accursed Iblīs; this was related by Nuʿaym ibn Ḥammād in his compilation al-Fitan wa-l-Malāḥim, and Allah knows best. (2)

Muslim narrated: Abū Bakr ibn Abī Shaybah told us; Muḥammad ibn Bishr told us; from Abū Ḥayyān, from Abū Zurʿah, from ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAmr, who said: ‘I memorized a hadith from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ that I have never forgotten: I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say, “The first of the portents to appear will be the rising of the sun from the west and the emergence of the Beast to the people in the forenoon; whichever of the two precedes the other, the second will follow shortly thereafter.”’ (3)

That is, they are the first of the extraordinary signs, even though the Antichrist, the descent of Jesus (may Allah have mercy on them), and the emergence of Gog and Magog will take place before that. All of those are familiar matters, for they are human beings whose like is already known. As for the coming forth of the Beast in a form unknown, its addressing the people, and its branding them