and everyone can recognize it.

If someone were to ask, “Since he carries such an obvious, physical mark, how could people still fall into his temptation?” our answer is that Allah has said in His Book: “Neither signs nor warnings can avail a people who do not believe” (Yunus 101). Those whom Allah has led astray gain no benefit from the portents of misguidance that are meant to caution them, nor from the portents of guidance that promise them good news; they take nothing from them even when the signs are perfectly clear.

The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) also made it plain that these signs will be hidden from no one. In another hadith he explained, “If he emerges while I am among you, I will dispute with him on your behalf and expose his deviation and falsehood; but if he emerges when I am no longer among you, then each person must contend with him on his own, and Allah is my deputy over every Muslim.” With that, the Prophet entrusted the matter to Allah, exalted is He.

In sum, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) issued the strongest warnings about the Dajjal and informed us that the greater Dajjal will appear at the end of time. He will remain on earth for only forty days, yet the first day will be like a year—twelve full months. During that day the sun will stay high in the sky for six months, traveling from east to west without setting throughout that long stretch, and it will remain absent during the night for another six months; that is the first day. The second day will be like a month, the third like a week, and the remaining thirty-seven days will be like our ordinary days. When the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) related this to his Companions, they did not find it problematic that the sun could remain above the earth for an entire year, even though in their experience it completes its circuit in every four—