Understanding Al-Masih al-Dajjal: Sayings of the Prophet or Ahadith about Dajjal Can Be Explained with Evolving Political and Scientific Developments in Mind
By S.
Arshad, New Age Islam
19 June
2021
Hadiths about
Dajjal Hint at the Religious and Political Confrontation between Atheism and
Religion In Future
Main
Points:
1. Dajjal represents atheistic powers that will
reign the world in future.
2. Dajjal will appear from the region covering
China, Afghanistan and Iran.
3. Maududi rejected hadiths about Dajjal as
irrational.
4. Maulana Wahiduddin Khan opines that scholars
advocating forceful imposition of Islamic caliphate are Dajjal.
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(Photo Courtesy: Islamic Guidance/YouTube)
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In Islamic
eschatology, Dajjal is an evil figure who will appear on earth towards the end
of the world. Though Dajjal is not mentioned in the Quran, there are a number
of hadiths that tell us about the appearance and his mischiefs on earth.
According
to hadiths, Dajjal will be a short, stout or plump man with red face and curly
hair. He will be one eyed and will perhaps claim to be Messiah or God. He will
have powers to work miracles and will also be equipped with great scientific or
military powers. He will dominate the world but will not be able to enter
Makkah and Madina. All the evil men and women will become his followers because
of the miracles and wonders he will work.
Abdullah
bin Unar r.a. narrated that the holy prophet pbuh stood up among the people and
praised God as God has the right to be praised and then spoke about Dajjal. He
said, 'I warn you about Dajjal and every prophet has warned his ummah about
Dajjal. But I tell you one sign about him which no prophet before me did. He
will be one-eyed and God is not one-eyed.'(Sahih Bukhari, Kitabul Fitan; 2002)
Another
hadith
Abdullah
bin Umar r.a. narrated that the prophet pbuh said, ‘Once I dreamt that I was circumambulating
the Kaaba. I saw a man wheat complexioned with straight hair. Water was
trickling down his hair. I asked, 'Who is he?', 'People replied, ‘He is Jesus
son of Mary.' Then I turned to the other side and saw a red-faced plump man. I
asked, ' Who is he?’ People replied, 'He is Dajjal.' His face resembled Abdul
Uza bin Qatan of Khuza'aa. (He had died during Jahiliyya."(Sahih Bukhari;
Kitabul Fitan; 2003)
Anas
narrated that the holy prophet pbuh said, 'Dajjal will come from the east and
will reach the outskirts of Madina. He will not be able to enter Madina.
Similarly plague will also not enter Madina InshaAllah. (Sahih Bukhari;2009 )
Anas bin
Malik narrated that the holy prophet pbuh said, 'Dajjal will come from the east
and will reach the outskirts of Madina. Then earthquake will occur in Madina
thrice and all the kafirs and Munafiq will be terrified. They will run out of
Madina and join Dajjal. (Sahih Bukhari; Kitabul Fitan;1999)
Hadhrat Abu
Bakr r.a. narrated that the holy prophet pbuh said, 'People of Madina will not
fear Dajjal. On that day there will be seven gates of Madina and each gate will
be guarded by two angels.(Sahih Bukhari; Kirabul Fitan; 2000)
Other
divine books like Hebrew Bible and the New Teatament also mention Dajjal. In
them Dajjal is called anti-Christ or false prophet.
According
to Encyclopaedia Britannica:
"Al
Dajjal or the anti-Christ first appeared in the pseudo apocalyptic Christian
literature and is reworked in hadiths ascribed to Prophet Muhammad pbuh. There
he is described as a plump one-eyed man with reddy face and curly hair and the
Arabic letters k-f-r (unbelief) on his forehead."
In Mathew
(chapter 24) and Mark (chapter 13) Jesus warns his disciples not to be deceived
by the false prophets (anti-Christ).
Hebrew
Bible also warns people against false prophets. But it does not speak about any
anti-Messiah figure.
The Quran
is also silent on the issue of Dajjal.
The Arabic
word dajl means deception or lie. Dajjal is one who deceives or lies. Thus
Dajjal will be a figure who will deceive or lie to the people in order to
spread his ideology of atheism and make people his followers.
According
to Islamic traditions Jesus Christ will kill him or he will dissolve like salt
in water when confronted by Jesus.
But Islamic
scholars like Maulana Wahiduddin Khan and Maulana Abul Ala Maududi have their
own views on Dajjal. During one of his lectures, Maulana Wahiduddin Khan quotes
a hadiths in which the holy prophet pbuh says that in later period 30 Dajjal
will appear in the world. He interprets Dajjal as Fitna. He also says that the
theory of political Islam formed by some Islamic scholars was Dajjaliyat. He
further says that the violent interpretation of Islam was Dajjaliyat. According
to him the biggest problem of our age is Dajjaliyat. Some Islamic scholars
presented their own interpretation of Islam and tried to Islamise violence.
Wahiduddin
Khan disagrees with the theory that Islam is a complete system of life. He says
that the moment you say that Islam is a complete system of life you try to
impose it on the society. And to impose it you need to fight all the other
systems and make the world your enemy. In this way violence is justified. Islam
asks man to be a good human being in all aspects of life. Islam asks man to
follow not to impose.
In his
views, violent ideology has originated from this political theory that Islam is
a complete socio-political system which needs to be imposed. And to him this is
Dajjaliyat. This theory creates organisations like Al Qaida, Muslim
Brotherhood, ISIS, Taliban etc. and Dajjal like Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, Mulla
Umar, Osama bin Laden etc.
Another
famous Islamic scholar Syed Abul Ala Maududi does not believe in the hadiths on
Dajjal. He rejects hadiths about Dajjal on the basis that traditions about
Dajjal are irrational and not acceptable by intellect and mind.
If we go by
all the traditions and hadiths about Dajjal, we find that in some of the
hadiths, it is a human figure: he is plump or stout man with red face. He is
one eyed. In some others he is presented as a symbolic figure: He will appear
in Khorasan or some part in the 'East' and will travel through the world in 40
days or 40 years. He will have rivers at his disposal and a mountain of breads
with him. Rivers will appear and dry on his order. He will cause vegetation
grow on arid land. When he speaks his voice will be heard in the whole world.
He will feed the hungry people. He will conquer the whole world and will be
stopped outside Madina. He will travel with the speed of clouds. He will work
miracles like Jesus did. He will cure the lepers and bring back dead to life.
Jews will be his main followers but also magicians, women, and men of evil
nature will be his followers. Moreover, his followers will be people with flat
faces (like Chinese?). He will be captured by Jesus Christ in the town of Lod,
15 kilometres from Tel Aviv, the capital of Israel. In some traditions, Jesus
will kill him and according to other traditions, Dajjal will dissolve like salt
in water when confronted by Jesus.
According
to one tradition, Dajjal is a human figure chained and confined in an island
east of Yemen and will be released soon.
Because of
the contradictory descriptions and narrations about Dajjal, Islamic scholars
have not been able to give a clear explanation about Dajjal. But it can be
concluded that Dajjal will be a powerful figure or head of a state who will not
believe in religion and will be out to dominate the world with its military and
scientific power. During the seventh century, Khurasan fell in the region that
today covers China, Afghanistan and Iran. Chinese are flat faced and also
atheists. Communists are known atheists. The moment you know that a man is a
communist, you know that he is an atheist (The word Kufr will be cast between
his eyes). So Dajjal will be a known atheist figure with great military and
scientific powers at his disposal. He will dominate the world in 40 days or
years. Probably, the atheist power will establish his dominance in the world in
40 years. He will have scientific and technological powers to make arid land
fertile in short period of time and grow vegetation. He will cause rivers to
flow in a region where people pay allegiance to him and make rivers dry where
people refuse to pay allegiance to him. He will appear at a time when drought
will have occurred for five years and people will be hungry and in a miserable
condition. So when he will provide food and water to them in plenty and cure
people of disease and bring the dead back to life with the help of scientific
powers, people will believe that he is Messiah or God. His messages and orders
will reach far and wide in the world through the scientific and technological
tools of communication and transportation. When we know the advantages of 5G
technology we can understand what 8G or 10G technology may be. He will be able
to reach any part of the world in no time thanks to the advancement of science
and technology. Because of his powers he will claim to be God. Probably he will
also build heaven and hell on earth.
All the
above scenario are not unbelievable when we look at the fast development of
science and technology in our age and we can foresee the scientific and
technological development in 50-100 years from now. The rise of China both
militarily, scientifically and economically gives a hint at the future world
order. It has sent its mission to Mars. Another powerful nation North Korea,
also a communist state with scientific development is waiting to emerge as a
powerful nation and is China's ally. And the Jews or Israel will be a part of
any alliance that is formed against Muslim countries. That Jesus (spiritual
leader of the Christian community,) Imam Mahdi,( the spiritual leader of
Muslims) will be on one side and the atheists (Chinese and Koreans)) and Jews
will be on the other side makes it clear that in the coming decades or in the
22nd century, the world will see a big religio-political confrontation which
will result in huge bloodshed.
The
alliance of the atheist powers (led by Dajjal) will conquer territory after
territory. Finally, the army will reach Madina and intend to destroy Makkah and
Madina. It is when the final confrontation will take place. During this time,
Jesus and Imam Mahdi will appear. The mother of all battles will be fought.
Peace will prevail with the victory of one side. There is a hadith that
predicts that toward the end of the world, there will be lot of bloodshed.
Therefore,
the accounts of Dajjal in hadiths cannot be rejected as irrational or fiction.
They should be understood both symbolically and literally. They are not totally
literal or totally symbolical. They can only be explained with the modern
political developments and scientific and technological advances in mind.
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Sohail
Arshad is a columnist with NewAgeIslam.com.
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islamic-society/hadiths-dajjal-masih/d/124994