His Eminence Sheikh Abdul-Muhsin ibn Muhammad Al-Qassim, may Allah preserve him, delivered the Friday khutbah entitled, “Al-Masih Ad-Dajjal: One of the Major Signs of the Last Hour”, in which he talked about Al-Masih Ad-Dajjal (the False Messiah) and the great trials and tribulations caused by his appearance. He cited a number of Qur’anic verses and Prophetic hadiths as to his description and his general circumstances and showed how to avoid his trials and tribulations.
Praise be to Allah. We praise Him and seek His help and forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allah from the evil within ourselves and from our wrong deeds. He whom Allah guides, none can misguide, and he whom Allah sends astray, none can guide. I bear witness that there is no god but Allah alone, Who has no partners, and I bear witness that Muhammad is Allah’s servant and messenger. May Allah bestow his bountiful peace and blessings upon him and upon his family and Companions.
O Muslims!
Fear Allah, servants of Allah, as He should be feared, for whoever fears Allah will receive guidance from Him, and whoever seeks His refuge will certainly be saved and protected.
O Muslims!
Allah has made this ummah (the Muslim nation) the last of all nations. It will witness the signs of the Last Hour, and the Day of Judgement will come during its span. Allah, Glorified be He, informs us about the imminence of this event, saying:
"The Hour has drawn near, and the moon has been cleft asunder." (Al-Qamar: 1)
Whenever the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, mentioned the Last Hour (i.e. the Day of Judgement), his eyes turned red, his voice rose, and his anger grew intense as though he were warning of an approaching army, saying, “[An army] is going to attack you in the morning, or in the evening” (Reported by Muslim). The polytheists repeatedly asked the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, about the time when the Last Hour would take place. As Allah says in the Qur’an:
"They ask you about the Hour (Day of Resurrection): ‘When will be its appointed time?’ Say: ‘The knowledge thereof is with my Lord (Alone). None can reveal its time but He.’. . ." (Al-A’raf: 187)
It is out of the mercy of Allah, Glorified be He, towards His servants that He has set certain signs of the Last Hour before its occurrence so that people may turn in repentance to their Lord. Allah, Exalted be He, tells us about the signs and indications of its imminence when He says:
"Do they then await (anything) other than the Hour, that it should come upon them suddenly? But some of its portents (indications and signs) have already come . . ." (Muhammad: 18)
Once the major signs of the Last Hour have appeared, the other signs will soon follow.
The coming of Ad-Dajjal is a serious incident that Allah has made one of the signs of the Last Hour. There is no prophet who did not warn his followers against him. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “No prophet was sent but he warned his followers against him (i.e. Ad-Dajjal). Nuh (Noah) warned against him, and so did the prophets who came after him” (Reported by Al-Bukhari). The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, also warned his ummah against him. He said, “I sternly warn you against him [i.e. Ad-Dajjal]” (Reported by Al-Bukhari).
While performing the prayers, the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, used to seek refuge in Allah from the trials of Ad-Dajjal, and he would teach his Companions to seek refuge in Allah from him just as he would teach them a surah of the Qur’an. He would preach and warn his Companions about his imminent coming. An-Nawwas ibn Sam’an, may Allah be pleased with him, said, “[He made so much mention of him] that we thought he (i.e. Ad-Dajjal) was amidst a cluster of date-palm trees” (i.e. amidst the palm trees near them)” (Reported by Muslim).
The righteous predecessors recommended reminding people of him from time to time. As-Saffarini, may Allah have mercy upon his soul, said, “Every religious scholar should disseminate the hadiths about Ad-Dajjal among children, women, and men, particularly in our time that is fraught with trials and tribulations and in which the Prophet’s practices have died away.”
Ad-Dajjal is alive now and he is in a monastery in one of the sea islands. He is firmly tied up, his hands tied to his neck, and his legs bound from the knees to the ankles with iron shackles. His coming is imminent. He said about himself, “…I will soon be given leave to come out” (Reported by Muslim).
There are a number of signs indicating his coming. One of these signs is that the palm trees of Bisan, a city between Hawran and Palestine, will stop to bear fruits altogether. Yaqut Al-Hamawi (a renowned biographer and geographer), may Allah have mercy upon his soul, said, “I have frequently visited it, but I only saw two palm trees there and they did not bear fruit.”
Another sign of his coming is that Lake Tabariyah (Tiberius, in Palestine) will dry up. Its water is currently scarce and is on the decrease. Still another sign is that the spring of Zughar, a city in Syria, will dry up and its inhabitants will not be able to irrigate their land with the water of this spring.
He will first appear in Al-Yahudiyyah, the Jews’ quarter in the city of Isfahan in Khurasan (a region in the northeast of Persia), accompanied by 70,000 of its Jews along with guards and aides.
He is a red-complexioned young man with a huge body and broad forehead, rather bending with thick, curly hair. One of his eyes looks like a protruding grape; that is, protuberant and blind. Tamim Ad-Dari, may Allah be pleased with him, who had once seen him, said about him, “He is the biggest man we have ever seen.” He is the biggest man in this world. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “There is no one greater in stature, from the time of the creation of Adam to the Day of Resurrection, than Ad-Dajjal” (Reported by Muslim).
The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, provided a detailed description of him so that people may recognize him when he comes out and know that he is truly the False Messiah, and not the Lord of the Worlds, as he will falsely claim. Because Ad-Dajjal is going to appear in this ummah, the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, informed us about one of his attributes which had not been mentioned by any prophet before. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “I will tell you something about him which no prophet ever told his people about. You should know that he is one-eyed, but Allah is not one-eyed” (Reported by Al-Bukhari).
He will come out at a time when people are negligent of religion and are turning away from Islamic knowledge. This will serve to distinguish true believers from disbelievers and true Muslims from doubters. Ad-Dajjal will claim that he is the lord of the worlds and people will be tested by his trials and the miraculous feats which Allah will enable him to perform.
When he comes out, people will flee to the mountain heights for fear of him, and then the door of repentance will be closed. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “When three things appear, faith will not do any good to a person who has not believed before or earned good through his faith: the rising of the sun in its place of setting, the coming of Ad-Dajjal, and the beast of the earth” (Reported by Muslim).
One of his trials is that he will kill a man and then bring him back to life by Allah’s permission. He will also strike another man with the sword, cutting him into two halves, then he will call him after killing him, and the killed person will rise from the dead, his face beaming with joy. He will also saw another man from the middle of his head all the way down to what is between his legs and then he will walk between the two pieces, saying, “Get up”, and the dead man will rise to his feet. He will also seize a man by his feet and hands and cast him into the fire that will be with him. People will think Ad-Dajjal has cast him into the fire, but he will have been actually cast into the garden, for his fire is actually a garden and his garden is actually fire.
He will command the sky to rain, and it will rain, and he will command the earth to bring forth vegetation and it will do so. He will pass by the wasteland and say, “Bring forth your treasures”, and its treasures will follow him. Ibn Al-Arabi, may Allah have mercy upon his soul, said, “All of these [feats] are really frightening.”
He will go swiftly in the land. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, described him as being “like a cloud driven by the wind” (Reported by Muslim). He will stay on the earth for forty days, one day like a year, one day like a month and one day like a week, and the rest of the days will be just like our days.
There will be no town which he will not enter, except Makkah and Al-Madinah, for there will be angels on each of their mountain passes (i.e. entrances) guarding them. Whenever he tries to enter any of them, he will be met by an angel with a drawn sword in his hand to repel him. People in all towns will fear Ad-Dajjal with the exception of the inhabitants of Al-Madinah, who will not fear him in the least. Therefore, part of showing gratitude to Allah for His blessings upon the inhabitants of Makkah and Al-Madinah is that they should show obedience to Allah in these cities for having favoured them by protecting them against Ad-Dajjal.
When Ad-Dajjal is denied access to Al-Madinah, he will set up a camp in the marshy land of Juruf, on the west of Mount Uhud, where he will pitch his tent. Most of those who will follow him will be women. Then, Al-Madinah will shake with its inhabitants three times whereupon every disbeliever and hypocrite will go out of Al-Madinah to join him. The best among people at all times and in all places is one who forbids evil whenever he sees it.
Allah, Exalted be He, says:
"You [true believers in Islamic Monotheism, and real followers of Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, and his Sunnah] are the best of peoples ever raised up for mankind; you enjoin Al-Ma’ruf (i.e. Islamic Monotheism and all that Islam has ordained) and forbid Al-Munkar (polytheism, disbelief and all that Islam has forbidden), and you believe in Allah. . ." (Al ‘Imran: 110)
While Ad-Dajjal will be staying nearby Al-Madinah, a young man will come to him and challenge his claim to godhood and reject his fraudulent deception. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “He is the best of all people (or one of the best people). He will say to him, ‘I bear witness that you are Ad-Dajjal, about whom Allah’s Messenger, peace and blessings be upon him, talked to us’” (Reported by Al-Bukhari).
The death of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, was a great loss for all Muslims, for if he were alive then, he would protect us from his evil. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “If he comes out while I am among you, then I will be his adversary on your behalf” (Reported by Muslim). But after the death of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, each person will have to fend for himself against Ad-Dajjal.
One of the means that will ensure protection from Ad-Dajjal is the religious knowledge of Allah’s names and attributes. Ad-Dajjal is one-eyed, whereas our Lord, Glorified be He, is not one-eyed. Moreover, no one can see Allah in this world, whereas Ad-Dajjal will be seen by people. Besides, the word kafir (i.e. ‘disbeliever’) will be written between Ad-Dajjal’s eyes, and it will be read by every lettered and unlettered person. Ibn Taymiyah, may Allah have mercy upon his soul, said, “A believer can perceive things which cannot be perceived by others, especially in times of trials.”
Shunning trials and tribulations will, by Allah’s leave, provide efficient protection against their evil. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “Whoever hears of Ad-Dajjal should stay away from him, (i.e. flee from him), for I swear by Allah that a man may come to him thinking himself a believer but then will end up following him due to the doubts that Ad-Dajjal will cast into his [heart]” (Reported by Abu-Dawud).
Holding fast to Islam ensures protection against Ad-Dajjal, for all his followers will be disbelievers. Frequently supplicating to Allah to give us refuge from Ad-Dajjal is a source of protection and safety from his evil. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “When one of you recites the tashahhud (the invocation made before concluding the prayers), let him seek refuge in Allah from four things, saying, ‘O Allah! We seek refuge in You from the torment of Hellfire, from the torment of the grave, from the trials of life and death, and from the trials and tribulations of Al-Masih Ad-Dajjal’" (Reported by Muslim). Tawus ibn Kaysan, may Allah have mercy upon his soul, used to order his son to perform his prayer again if he did not recite this particular supplication in his prayer.
The Holy Qur’an is the main source of protection against all trials and tribulations. Anyone who knows the first ten verses of Surat Al-Kahf by heart and hears of the coming of Ad-Dajjal’s will be protected from his evil, by Allah’s leave. Whoever sees him should recite the opening verses of Surat Al-Kahf before him. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “Those of you who witness him should recite before him the opening verses of Surat Al-Kahf” (Reported by Muslim).
Once Ad-Dajjal’s followers have increased in number and his trials have spread, Isa (Prophet Jesus), peace be upon him, will descend near the Eastern Minaret in Damascus and the servants of Allah will gather around him. Isa, peace be upon him, will follow Ad-Dajjal while he is heading to Baitul-Maqdis (Jerusalem) and will catch hold of him at the Gate of Ludd in Palestine. On seeing Isa, Ad-Dajjal will dissolve like salt in water, but Isa, peace be upon him, will get hold of him and kill him with a spear.
O Muslims!
The Promise of Allah is true. The Last Hour is coming, there is no doubt about it, and it is quick to occur. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “The Last Hour will come so suddenly that a man will be milking a she-camel, but the Hour will come before the vessel reaches his mouth, and that two people will be engaged in buying and selling a garment, but the Hour will come before they finish their bargain” (Reported by Muslim).
Ad-Dajjal asked Tamim Ad-Dari, may Allah be pleased with him, along with a number of the Companions, when they saw him, about Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, “What did he do?” They said, “He went out of Makkah and settled in Yathrib [i.e. Al-Madinah].” He said, “Did the Arabs fight against him?” They said, “Yes, they did.” He said, “How did he deal with them?” They told him that he had overcome those in his neighbourhood and that they had submitted themselves to him. He said, “Has this actually happened?” They said, “Yes, it has.” Then he said, “As for this man, it is better for them to obey him” (Reported by Muslim).
I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Satan:
"Draws near for mankind their reckoning, while they turn away in heedlessness." (Al-Anbiya’: 1)
May Allah bless you and me with the Great Qur’an and make us benefit from its verses and wise words. I have said what you have heard and I ask forgiveness of Allah for myself, for you, and for all Muslims, for any sin that we have committed. Ask Allah for forgiveness. He is the Most Forgiving, the Most Merciful.
0 Comments