Who Is the Dajjal? (Comprehensive Answer)

Question

Who is the Dajjal and what are his attributes?

Praise be to Allah.

Meaning of the word Masih (Messiah)

There are over fifty scholarly comments on the meaning of the word Masih (Messiah). They said that this word is applied both to the Truthful One [True Messiah, i.e., ‘Isa (Jesus)] and to the misleading liar [the “antichrist” or Dajjal].

The Messiah is the Truthful One, ‘Isa ibn Maryam (Jesus the son of Mary), the Messiah of guidance, who healed those who were born blind and lepers, and brought the dead to life by Allah’s Leave.

The false messiah (al-Masih al-Dajjal) is the liar who leads people astray, the messiah of misguidance who will tempt people by means of the signs that he is given, such as bringing down rain, reviving the earth to bring forth vegetation, and other “miracles.”

So Allah has created two messiahs, who are opposites of one another.

Why the Dajjal is called masih

The scholars said that the reason why the Dajjal is called masih (a “messiah”) is because one of his eyes is mamsuh (lit. “wiped”; smooth or abraded, i.e., he will be blind or defective in one eye). Or it was said that it is because he will survey or travel throughout the earth (yamsah) in forty days… The former view is more correct, because of what was said in the hadith narrated by Muslim (no. 5221) from Anas ibn Malik, who said: “The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: ‘The Dajjal will be blind (mamsuh) in one eye, and between his eyes will be written ‘kafir’…’”.

Meaning of the word Dajjal

The word Dajjal is taken from the expression “Dajjala al-ba’eer (he smeared the camel)”, referring to when they covered it with tar.

The root dajala means to mix. The word dajala is used to mean deliberately confusing matters and being vague and ambiguous, The Dajjal is the one who speaks in vagaries, who tells many lies and deceives many people.

The word “Dajjal” became a title given to the lying, one-eyed, false messiah. The Dajjal is so called because he will conceal his kufr from the people by lying to them, deceiving them and confusing them.

Description of the Dajjal, and the ahadith narrated concerning him

The Dajjal will be a man from among the sons of Adam. He will have many attributes which were described in the ahadith to acquaint people with him and to warn them of his evil.

So when he comes, the believers will know him and will not be misled by him. They will know his features which the Truthful One (the Prophet) (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) has told us about.

These features will distinguish him from other people, so that no one will be deceived by him except those who are ignorant and whose doom has already been decreed. We ask Allah to keep us safe and sound.

Attributes of the Dajjal

Among these attributes are:

He will be a young man with a ruddy complexion, short, with thick curly hair, a wide forehead, and broad upper chest, blind or defective (mamsuh) in the right eye. This eye will be neither prominent nor sunken, and will look like a floating grape.

His left eye will be covered with a thick piece of flesh growing at the edge of his eye. Written between his eyes will be “Kaf fa ra (K-F-R)”, in separate (Arabic) letters, or “kafir”, with the letters joined. This will be read by every Muslim, literate or illiterate.

Another of his characteristics will be that he will be sterile, with no children born to him.

Hadiths about the Dajjal

There follow some of the sahih ahadith in which the above attributes are mentioned. These ahadeeth form part of the evidence (dalil) concerning the emergence of the Dajjal :

1- From ‘Abd-Allah ibn ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: “The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: ‘Whilst I was sleeping, I saw myself performing Tawaf around the Ka’bah, when I saw a dark man with straight hair, standing between two other men, with water dripping from his head. I asked, “Who is this?” They said, “The son of Maryam.” Then I turned and saw a ruddy-complexioned man, well built, with curly hair, blind in his right eye, with his eye looking like a floating grape. I asked, “Who is this?” They said, “This is the Dajjal.” The person who looks most like him is Ibnu Qatan.’” (Narrated by al-Bukhari, no. 6508; Ibn Qatan was a man from Banu Mustalaq from Khuza’ah).

2- It was also narrated from Ibn ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) mentioned the Dajjal to the people and said: “Allah is not one-eyed, but the false messiah (al-Masih al-Dajjal) is one-eyed, blind or defective in his right eye, with his eye looking like a floating grape…” (narrated by al-Bukhari, no. 3184).

3- In the lengthy hadith narrated by al-Nawwas ibn Sam’an (may Allah be pleased with him) it says: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) mentioned the Dajjal one morning. Sometimes he described him as insignificant and sometimes he described him as so significant that we thought that he was in the cluster of date-palm trees…” One of the features of the Dajjal that he described was: “He will be a young man with very curly hair, with his eye floating. It is as if he looks like ‘Abd al-‘Uzza ibn Qatan.” (Narrated by Muslim, no. 5228)

4- It was narrated from ‘Ubadah ibn al-Samit (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “I have told you so much about the Dajjal that I fear you will not understand. The Dajjal will be a short man, pigeon-toed, with curly hair. He will be one-eyed, with his eye neither prominent nor sunken. If you become confused about him, then remember that your Lord is not one-eyed.” (Narrated by Abu Dawud, no. 3763. This hadith is sahih – Sahih al-Jami’ al-Saghir, no. 2455).

5- Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: ‘… as for the false messiah, he will be one-eyed, with a wide forehead and broad upper chest, and he will be hunchbacked…’” (Narrated by Ahmad, no. 7564).

6- Hudhayfah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: ‘The Dajjal will be one-eyed, blind or defective in his left eye, with thick hair. He will have with him a paradise and a hell, but his hell will be a paradise and his paradise will be a hell.’” (Narrated by Muslim, no. 5222).

7- According to the hadith of Anas (may Allah be pleased with him), the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “No Prophet was sent but he warned his people about the one-eyed liar. He is one-eyed, but your Lord is not one-eyed, and between his eyes will be written ‘kafir.’” (Narrated by al-Bukhari, no. 6598). According to another report: “Written between his eyes will be ‘kaf fa ra.’” (Muslim, no. 5219) According to a report narrated by Hudhayfah, “This will be read by every believer, literate or illiterate.” (Muslim, no. 5223)

Is what is written between the eyes of the Dajjal real?

From the apparent meaning, this writing will be real, and the fact that some will see it whilst others will not, and that illiterate people will read it, is not problematic. “This is because Allah causes people to understand something when looking at it, as He wills and when He wills. So the believer will see this with his insight, even if he is illiterate, and the kafir will not be able to see it, even if he is literate. By the same token, the believer will see with his insight evidence that the kafir will not see. Allah will enable the believer to understand without him being literate, because at that time, extraordinary things will be happening.” (Fath al-Bari by Ibn Hajar al-‘Asqalani, 13/100)

Al-Nawawi said: “The correct view according to those who studied this issue is that this writing should be taken literally, as being real writing which Allah will create as a sign, one of the definitive proofs that (the Dajjal) is a kafir and a liar, to expose his falsehood. Allah will show this sign to every Muslim, literate or illiterate, and will conceal it from everyone whom He decrees is doomed or whom He wants to test. There is no reason why this should be impossible.” (Sharh al-Nawawi li Sahih Muslim, 18/60)

8- Another of his attributes was mentioned in the hadith of Fatimah bint Qays (may Allah be pleased with her), in the story of al-Jassasah, in which Tamim al-Dari (may Allah be pleased with him) said; “So we rushed to the monastery, where we saw the most enormous man we had ever seen, fettered with the most chains we had ever seen.” (Narrated by Muslim, no. 5235).

9- ‘Imran ibn Husayn (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) say: ‘From the time of the creation of Adam until the Hour begins, there will never be a bigger creation than the Dajjal.’” (Narrated by Muslim, 5239).

10- The Dajjal will not have any children, as stated in the hadith of Abu Sa’id al-Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him), who described what happened between him and Ibn Sayyad, who said to him: “Did you not hear the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) say that he will have no children? …” Abu Sa’id said, ‘I said, ‘Yes…’” (Narrated by Muslim, no. 5209).

From the reports quoted above, we may note that some of them describe his right eye as being blind or defective, and some describe his left eye as being blind or defective. Both accounts are sahih. Some of the scholars sought to reconcile these reports. Al-Qadi ‘Iyad said: “Both eyes of the Dajjal will be defective, because all the reports are sahih. His right eye will be the one that is abraded (mamsuh) and dull, unable to see, as stated in the hadith of Ibn ‘Umar. And his left eye will be the one that is covered with a thick fold of skin, and will also be defective.” So he will have a defect in both his right eye and his left eye; each of them will be blind, i.e., defective, because the Arabic word used in the hadith, a’war, is used to describe anything that is defective and is especially used to describe the eyes if they are impaired. One eye will be nonfunctional and the other will be defective.”

Al-Nawawi agreed with this reconciliation suggested by al-Qadi ‘Iyad, and al-Qurtubi also approved of it.

Where the Dajjal will emerge

The Dajjal will emerge from the direction of the east, from Khurasan, from among the Jews of Isfahan. Then he will travel throughout the earth and will leave no city without entering it, apart from Makkah and Madinah , which he will not be able to enter because the angels are guarding them.

According to the hadith of Fatimah bint Qays (may Allah be pleased with her), the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said concerning the Dajjal:

“He will (emerge) from the direction of the Syrian sea or from the direction of the Yemeni sea… No, rather from the east…” – and he pointed towards the east. (Narrated by Muslim, no. 5228)

Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) told us: “The Dajjal will emerge from a land in the east called Khurasan.” (Narrated by al-Tirmidhi, no. 2163. Classed as sahih by al-Albani, Sahih al-Jami’ al-Saghir, hadith 3398).

Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: ‘The Dajjal will emerge from among the Jews of Isfahan, and with him will be seventy thousand Jews, wearing crowns.’” (Narrated by Ahmad, no. 12865).

Places which the Dajjal will never enter

It is forbidden for the Dajjal to enter Makkah or Madinah when he emerges at the end of time, because of the sahih ahadith narrated to that effect. As far as other places are concerned, he will enter them one after another.

In the hadith of Fatimah bint Qays (may Allah be pleased with her), it says: “(He will say:), ‘I almost have permission to emerge. Then I will emerge and will travel throughout the earth for forty days, and I shall not leave any town without entering it, apart from Makkah and Madinah, which I will be prevented from entering because every time I try to enter, there will be an angel with an unsheathed sword in his hand, preventing me from entering. On every gate there will be angels defending them.’” (Narrated by Muslim, no. 5228)

It was also reported that the Dajjal will not enter the mosque of Sinai, or Masjid al-Aqsa (at Jerusalem). Imam Ahmad (no. 22572) narrated that Junadah ibn Umayyah al-Azdi said: “I came to a man from among the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and said to him, ‘Tell me a hadith that you heard from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) about the Dajjal.’ He mentioned the hadith, and said, ‘He will stay among you for forty days, during which he will go to every place (on the earth) apart from four mosques: Masjid al-Haram (in Makkah), the mosque of Madinah, the (mosque of) Sinai and Masjid al-Aqsa.’”

The followers of the Dajjal

Most of the followers of the Dajjal will be from among the Jews, Persians and Turks, and a mixture of other peo