, O servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him.’ The only exception will be the gharqad tree, for it is one of the trees of the Jews.”

It was recorded by al-Bukhārī and Muslim, Ahmad (2/398, 417 and 530), al-Khatīb (7/207), and al-Dānī (64/2–65/1).

38 - All the hadiths agree on the number forty for the period during which the Dajjāl roams the earth. They differ, however, as to whether this means forty years, as in this narration, or forty days and nights, as in other narrations.

The latter is the correct account and must be accepted with certainty, because the narrations supporting it are more authentic and more numerous, as will be explained.

As for this narration, not only is its chain of transmission weak—as explained at the beginning of this study—but I have also found no reliable corroborating report that could lend it support, except perhaps the previously cited hadith (p. 77) narrated by Shahr ibn Hawshab from Asmāʾ bint Yazīd, with the wording:

“The Dajjāl will remain on earth for forty years: a year will be like a month, a month like a week, a week like a day, and a day like the blazing of a palm frond in a fire.”

This, however, is a rejected hadith, because Shahr is a weak narrator and alone transmits it; it therefore cannot serve as corroboration.

Nor is it strengthened by the following report transmitted by Suhayl ibn Abī Sālih, from his father, from Abū Hurayrah, and traced back to the Prophet:

“The Hour will not come until time contracts, so that a year becomes like a month, a month like a week, a week like a day, a day like an hour, and an hour like the burning of a palm frond or a palm leaf.”