Ad-Dajjal (the Antichrist) الْمَسِيح الدَّجَّال

Overview

Ad-Dajjāl (Arabic: الْمَسِيح الدَّجَّال; "the False Messiah") is a great deceiver who will appear near the end of time as one of the major signs of the Hour. He will claim divinity, perform illusory miracles, command the heavens to give rain or withhold it, raise apparent dead, and traverse the earth in forty days. His appearance is one of the ten major signs of the Hour (Sahih Muslim 2901). He will be killed by Isa son of Maryam at the gate of Lod (Lydda) in Palestine.

The Dajjāl is not mentioned by name in the Quran, but is described in detail in numerous authentic hadith. The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ warned about him in every prayer at the end of the tashahhud — seeking refuge from the trial of the Dajjāl among the standard supplications.

Appearance and traits

From the long hadiths of An-Nawwās ibn Samʿān (Sahih Muslim 2937) and Tamim ad-Darī (Sahih Muslim 2942):

• Young, ruddy, short, with a curly head of hair and one defective eye (described variously as blind in one eye, with the word kāfir — disbeliever — written between his eyes, readable by every literate and illiterate believer).
• Will appear from the road between Sham and Iraq (some narrations specify a region in Persia).
• Will travel the earth except for Mecca and Medina, which guarding angels will protect.
• Will draw vast followings — the Prophet ﷺ said his trial is the greatest of trials between Adam and the Hour (Sahih Muslim 2946).
• Will reign forty days — one like a year, one like a month, one like a week, the rest like normal days.

Quranic references

Not by name. Classical scholars (al-Qurṭubī, Ibn Kathir) link general references to fitan (trials), false claimants, and the descent of Isa (Surah Az-Zukhruf 43:61) to the eschatological context in which the Dajjāl appears.

Hadith

Abu Hurayra reported the Prophet ﷺ said: "There is no prophet but warned his people of the Dajjāl. He is one-eyed; your Lord is not one-eyed; written between his eyes is kāfir — readable by every believer." — Sahih al-Bukhari 7408; Sahih Muslim 2933

Anas reported the Prophet ﷺ said: "On every door of Medina there are angels — neither plague nor the Dajjāl will enter." — Sahih al-Bukhari 1880

Abu Saʿīd al-Khudri reported the Prophet ﷺ said: "Whoever recites the first ten verses of Surah Al-Kahf will be protected from the Dajjāl." — Sahih Muslim 809 (some narrations specify the last ten verses; both views are authentic)

Defeat

The Prophet ﷺ said the Dajjāl will be killed by Isa son of Maryam, who will descend at the white minaret east of Damascus and pursue him until he reaches the gate of Lod (Lydda) in Palestine, where he will kill him (Sahih Muslim 2937). With the Dajjāl's death, Yaʾjūj wa-Maʾjūj (Gog and Magog) will be released, and other major signs follow.

Significance

The Prophet ﷺ taught the Muslim community to take refuge from the Dajjāl in every prayer, and to recite Surah Al-Kahf weekly (Friday) for protection. Belief in the Dajjāl is a Sunni doctrinal commitment; denial or relativisation of the prophetic descriptions is a departure from creedal consensus.

See also

• Isa son of Maryam
• Day of Judgement
• The Hour
• Medina
• Prophet Muhammad ﷺ

References

1. The Quran (Sahih International translation): Surahs Al-Kahf 18:1–10, 18:100–110; Az-Zukhruf 43:61.
2. Sahih al-Bukhari 1880, 7408; Sahih Muslim 809, 2901, 2933, 2937, 2942, 2946.
3. Ibn Kathir, al-Nihāyah fī al-Fitan wa-l-Malāḥim, central chapters on the Dajjāl.
4. Yusuf al-Wabil, Ashrāṭ as-Sāʿah (Dar Ibn al-Jawzī), sections on the Dajjāl.
5. Umar Sulayman al-Ashqar, al-Qiyāmah aṣ-Ṣughrā, sections on the major signs.