the Jews of Isfahan—seventy thousand of them—all wrapped in taylasan cloaks.”
He is called al-Masīḥ (the “Messiah”) because one of his eyes is wiped out; others say the name comes from his sweeping over the earth, that is, traversing it from end to end.
He is styled al-Dajjāl from the root dajala, “to mix and varnish falsehood”; the form dajjāl, on the intensive pattern faʿʿāl, indicates his abundant lying and deception.
He will emerge during the era of the Mahdī.
Al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Kathīr (may Allah have mercy on him) says:
“Permission will then be given to him—the Dajjāl—to come forth at the end of time. He will appear first in the guise of one of the mighty tyrant-kings, then claim prophethood, and finally claim divinity. The ignorant among the children of Adam, the rabble, riffraff and common folk will follow him, whereas those whom Allah has guided among the righteous, the God-fearing party of Allah, will oppose and refute him.
“He will keep advancing, seizing lands: town after town, fortress after fortress, province after province, district after district. No locality will remain without his cavalry and infantry setting foot in it—except Mecca and Madinah.
“His residence on earth will last forty days: a day like a year, a day like a month, a day like a week, and the remaining days like your present days, amounting in all to one year, two months, and a half.
“Allah will place many extraordinary feats in his hands, by which He will mislead whom He wills of His creation, while the believers remain steadfast; their faith will only grow and their guidance increase.
“The descent of Jesus son of Mary, the Messiah of guidance, will coincide with the days of the Messiah of misguidance. The believers will rally around him, and Allah’s devout servants will gather with him. Jesus son of Mary will march with them toward the Dajjāl, who will have made for Jerusalem. The Dajjāl will flee, but Jesus will overtake him at the gate of Lod, kill him with his spear as he enters it, and say, ‘You have a blow from me that you will never escape.’
“When the Dajjāl confronts him he will melt away like salt dissolving in water, yet Jesus will overtake him and slay him with the war-lance at the gate of Lod. There, as the authentic reports indicate—and may Allah curse him—will be his end.”