Mention of Ibn Sayyad and the uncertainty over whether he is the Dajjal

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) that he said: One day I met Ibn Sayyad, and with him was a Jewish man. Suddenly my eye fell on his eye, which had been destroyed and was bulging out like the eye of a camel. When I saw it, I said: "O Ibn Sayyad! I ask you by Allah, when was this eye of yours destroyed?" He passed his hand over his eye and said: "By al-Rahman, I do not know." I said: "You are lying. The eye is in your head and you do not know?" That Jew claimed that I struck him on his chest with my hand, though I do not remember doing so. Then I said to Ibn Sayyad: "Be off! You will never go beyond your appointed limit." He replied: "Yes, I will not go beyond my limit." The narrator says: He also mentioned some other things which I did not remember. Then I mentioned this incident to the Mother of the Believers, Sayyidah Hafsah (may Allah be pleased with her), and she said: "Keep away from this man, for we used to say that the Dajjal will come forth when he becomes intensely angry."
I (Ibn Hajar) say: Imam Muslim recorded through the chain of Nafi', from Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both), from Sayyidah Hafsah (may Allah be pleased with her), that she said: "Indeed the emergence of the Dajjal will be due to some intense anger of his," but he did not record the beginning of the story mentioned here in this particular context.

It is narrated from Sayyidah Umm Salamah (may Allah be pleased with her) that she said about Ibn Sayyad: "Ibn Sayyad's mother gave birth to him in such a state that his umbilical cord had been cut from birth, he was blind in one eye, and he had been (naturally) circumcised."
Imam Ahmad bin Mani' narrated this hadith in his Musnad, and all its narrators are thiqat (trustworthy) and reliable.

It is narrated from Urwah bin al-Zubayr (may Allah have mercy on him) that when the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) heard about Ibn Sayyad, he (peace and blessings be upon him) went to him with some of his Companions. His mother said (on seeing him (peace and blessings be upon him)): He is playing with the boys; and she also said that when he was born he was blind in one eye and circumcised. He (peace and blessings be upon him) called for him, and the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) asked him: "Do you bear witness that I am the Messenger of Allah?" He (instead of answering, turned the question back on him (peace and blessings be upon him) and) said: "Do you bear witness that I am the Messenger of Allah?" The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) (seeing his obstinacy) said: "I believe in Allah and in all His messengers." Then, to test him, he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "I have hidden something in my heart for you; tell me, what is it?" He said: "It is 'dukh' (smoke)." He (peace and blessings be upon him) said to him sternly: 'Ikhsa'' (Be humiliated and stay within your limit; you cannot go beyond your devilish limit). Then he (peace and blessings be upon him) asked: "What do you see (in your visions)?" He said: "I see a whirlwind, and I see a throne upon the water." He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "The matter has been made confused and mixed up for him (that is, he is under devilish influences)." On this occasion Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "O Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)! Shall I not kill him?" He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "If he is the one (the great Dajjal), you will not be given power to kill him, and if he is not, then killing him is not lawful for you."
Takhrij: Imam al-Harith narrated this hadith in his Musnad (Bughyat al-Bahith: 4515); its basis is found in Sahih al-Bukhari (1355) and Sahih Muslim (2930), where the detailed incidents of Ibn Sayyad are narrated.

It is narrated from Rib'i bin Hirash (may Allah have mercy on him) that Sayyiduna Uqbah bin Amr (may Allah be pleased with him) asked Sayyiduna Hudhayfah bin al-Yaman (may Allah be pleased with him): Will you not narrate to us the hadith that you heard from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)? He replied: Why not! I heard him (peace and blessings be upon him) say: "When the Dajjal appears, he will have with him water and fire (both). What the people see as water will in reality be burning fire, and what the people take to be fire will actually be cold, sweet water. So whoever of you lives to see that time and faces this situation should plunge into what he sees as fire, for it will in fact be cold water." At this Sayyiduna Uqbah (may Allah be pleased with him) said (confirming it): I too heard it from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) exactly like this.
I (Ibn Hajar) say: This hadith of Sayyiduna Hudhayfah (may Allah be pleased with him) is also found with them (the other hadith compilers).

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Awf bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Before the appearance of the Dajjal there will be deceptive years built on cunning and deceit, in which there will be abundant rain but the vegetation and produce of the earth will become very little. In that age the truthful person will be belied and the liar will be believed and supported; the dishonest traitor will be trusted as trustworthy, while the truly trustworthy will be accused of betrayal and deemed unreliable; and in those years the 'Ruwaybidah' will speak." It was asked: O Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)! What is this 'Ruwaybidah'? He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "The insignificant person who has no standing or importance in society."
Imam al-Bazzar also narrated this hadith with his chain through Abu Kurayb, in which Muhammad bin Ishaq explicitly stated that he heard it directly; and at the end of this report the explanation of 'Ruwaybidah' is narrated in these words: "The contemptible and petty person who speaks about the collective affairs of the general public."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: "When the Dajjal comes forth, he will come out from the direction of the East. His armies and his outposts will be very numerous, and no one will be able to reach him except one who says, 'I have come as an envoy.' So a man will come and say, 'I am an envoy.' When the Dajjal sees him, he will say: 'O son of Adam! Do you not know that I am your Lord?' He will reply: 'Certainly not! Rather, you are the enemy of Allah, the Dajjal.' The Dajjal will say: 'Then I am going to kill you.' The man will say: 'Even if you kill me.' Then he will send for a saw, place it between his two legs (on the trunk) and saw him into two pieces. Then he will say to the people around him: 'What do you think if I bring him back to life?' They will say: 'Then we will be certain that you are our Lord.' So he will bring him back to life and say to him: 'O son of Adam! You used to claim that I am not your Lord.' The man will say: 'The complete insight and certainty that I have now gained about your being the Dajjal, I never had before.' The Dajjal will say: 'Now I will slaughter you.' He will say: 'Even if you slaughter me.' Then he will want to slaughter him but will not find the power to do so. So the man will say from beneath him: 'If you are truthful in your claim, then slaughter me and show it.' At that very moment his armies will fall into doubt about him, and during this Isa bin Maryam (peace be upon him) will descend. When the Dajjal sees him and perceives his scent, he will begin to melt just as lead melts."
The chain of this report is hasan (good). Imam Musaddad narrated it in his Musnad, and its basis is found in Sahih al-Bukhari [hadith: 1882] and Sahih Muslim [hadith: 2938] in the story narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Sa'id al-Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him); however, with the simile of melting lead and differences in some words, these routes strengthen one another.

It is narrated from al-Haytham bin al-Aswad (the father of al-Uryan bin al-Haytham) that he said: I went to Yazid bin Mu'awiyah, and Yazid narrated a story. On that occasion Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Amr (may Allah be pleased with them both) asked: "Is there in your land a place called 'Kutha', consisting of saline (salty) ground and palm groves?" He replied: "Yes." So he (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Indeed the Dajjal will come forth from that very place."
The chain of this report is hasan (good). Imam Musaddad bin Musarhad narrated it in his Musnad; all its narrators are thiqat (trustworthy), and al-Haytham bin al-Aswad was declared trustworthy by Imam Ibn Hibban.

Abu al-Tufayl (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: I heard from some of the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) (may Allah be pleased with them) a hadith about the Dajjal, greater and more important than which I had never heard anything: that "the Dajjal will come riding on a donkey. He will come to a man (as a trial and test) taking the likeness of one of the members of his household, and will address him, saying: 'O so-and-so! I am calling you to the truth; indeed my affair is entirely true.'"
[Musnad Ahmad: 4520; Shu'ayb al-Arna'ut declared it a sahih hadith and its chain hasan.]

It is narrated from Imam Ubayd bin Umayr (may Allah have mercy on him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said (warning the Ummah): "I warn you of (the trial of) the Dajjal" (the complete hadith).
In the chain of this report a narrator named Muhadir contradicted (Abdullah bin Dawud) and narrated it through Hisham bin Urwah, from Wahb bin Kaysan, from Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both); Imam Ibn Hibban narrated this route. However, from the scholarly and technical point of view, the first route is more correct and reliable, even though it is mursal.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Umamah (may Allah be pleased with him) that he mentioned the blessed saying (of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)) concerning the story of the Dajjal: "So whoever of you meets him (the Dajjal) should spit in his face."
Ibn Abi Umar said: Hisham bin Sulayman al-Makhzumi narrated to us; he said: Isma'il bin Rafi' informed us through the person who had told him, and he mentioned the hadith on the story of the Dajjal from Sayyiduna Abu Umamah (may Allah be pleased with him). This report is also narrated by Imam Ibn Majah through another chain, by way of Isma'il bin Rafi', from Yahya bin Abi Amr, from Abu Umamah (may Allah be pleased with him), and Hisham added these words in this report: "So whoever of you meets him (the Dajjal) should spit in his face."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Sa'id al-Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him) that he was asked about the Dajjal, and he said that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Indeed every prophet warned his people of the trial of the Dajjal. Beware! He has already eaten food. And indeed I am going to tell you something about him which no prophet told his Ummah. Take heed! His right eye will be completely flat and sightless, as if it were a mark of phlegm on the corner of a wall, and his left eye will be like a star shining like a pearl. He will have with him the likes of Paradise and Hell; so (what he calls fire) will in reality be a green garden, and what he calls Paradise will be a dusty place full of smoke. Before him there will be two men who will warn the inhabitants of the towns; whichever town they enter, they will warn its people (of the trial of the Dajjal), and when they leave it, the vanguard of the Dajjal's companions will enter. He will enter all the towns except Makkah and Madinah, because these two cities have been made forbidden to him. At that time the believers will be scattered in the earth, and Allah Almighty will gather them in one place. A man among them will say: By Allah! I will certainly go so that I may see this one of whom the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) warned us. His companions will say: We will not let you go there; if we knew that he would not put you to trial, we would not block your way, but we fear that he may put you to the test and you end up following him. But he will insist on going, so he will set off until, when he reaches the nearest of the Dajjal's outposts, the guards will seize him and ask: What is your business, and where do you intend to go? He will say: I want to go to this lying Dajjal. They will say: Do you call him a liar? Then they will write to the Dajjal: We have seized a man who is saying such-and-such things; shall we kill him or send him to you? He will say: Send him to me. So they will take him to the Dajjal. When that believer sees him, he will recognise him by the signs described by the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and will say: You are the lying Dajjal of whom the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) warned us. The Dajjal will say to him: Is it you who says these things? Now either you obey me in what I command you, or else I will cut you into two pieces. That believing servant will call out among the people: O people! This is the lying Messiah. The Dajjal will order him to be laid down, then send for an iron saw, place it on the lower end of his spine and split him into two parts. Then the Dajjal will say to his followers: What do you think, if I bring him back to life, will you not be certain that I am your Lord? They will say: Yes! Then he will take a staff and strike one of his two pieces, or the ground, with it, and the man will stand up again, whole and sound. When his followers see this, they will affirm him, take him as their lord and become devoted to him. Then the Dajjal will say to that believing servant: Do you still not believe in me? He will say: Now my insight about you has become even firmer than before. Then he will call out among the people: O people! This is the lying Messiah; whoever obeys him will go into the Fire, and whoever disobeys him will enter Paradise. The Dajjal will say: Obey me, or else I will slaughter you. He will say: By Allah! I will never obey you; you are the liar. The Dajjal will order him to be laid down and slaughtered, but he will not be able to slaughter him, because he was given power over him only once. Then he will seize him by his hands and feet and throw him into that fire which will be without smoke (a garden)." The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said that that man will be the closest of my Ummah to me and the highest of them in rank. Abu Sa'id al-Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him) says: I asked: Then how will the Dajjal be destroyed? He said: Allah knows best.
I said: Will Isa bin Maryam (peace be upon him) destroy him? Abu Sa'id (may Allah be pleased with him) said: Allah knows best, except that Allah Almighty is going to destroy him and those with him. I asked: What will happen after him? He said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) told us that after him the people will plant trees and gather wealth. I said in amazement: Subhan Allah! Will this happen even after the Dajjal? He said: Yes! They will remain in the earth for as long as Allah wills, then Gog and Magog will be let loose, and they will destroy all the people on the earth except those who take refuge in fortresses. When they have finished with the people of the earth, they will turn to one another and say: Now only those remain who are in the fortresses or in the heaven. Then they will shoot their arrows towards the heaven, and they will fall back stained with blood. They will say: You have rid yourselves even of those in the heaven; now only those in the fortresses remain. They will besiege them until the hardship and trial upon the besieged become severe. Meanwhile Allah Almighty will create worms in the necks of them (Gog and Magog) which will break their necks, and they will fall dead upon one another in heaps. A man (from the fortress) will call out: By the Lord of the Ka'bah! Allah has killed them. The people will say: They are doing this to deceive us; if we go out, they will destroy us too as they did our brothers. That man will say: Open the gate for me. His companions will refuse, so he will say: Lower me down with a rope. When he descends, he will find them dead, and then the people will come out of the fortresses.
Sayyiduna Abu Sa'id (may Allah be pleased with him) told me that Allah Almighty will make the bodies of Gog and Magog food for their livestock, which they will graze on, and they will find nothing besides it. And the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) told us that after that the people will plant orchards and gather wealth. I said: Subhan Allah! Even after Gog and Magog? He said: Yes! So they will be busy in their trade when suddenly a caller will call out from the heaven: The command of Allah (the Hour) has come! The people of the earth will be alarmed on hearing this call and will turn to one another, then they will again get busy with their trade, markets and work. Meanwhile they will be called once more: O people! The command of Allah has come! So they will set off towards that call, and a man will leave his sheep, goats and merchandise and run in the direction of that voice, until they meet Allah and become heedless of their livestock. At that time it will be the matter of "And when the she-camels ten months pregnant are abandoned" [Surah al-Takwir: 4]. They will be running towards that call when suddenly they will be presented before Allah Almighty in the state of "in canopies of clouds (the punishment or decision of Allah will come)" [Surah al-Baqarah: 210], and the Trumpet will be blown, so "whoever is in the heavens and whoever is on the earth will fall unconscious (or perish), except whom Allah wills" [Surah al-Zumar: 68]. Then they will remain in that state for as long as Allah wills, then the Trumpet will be blown again, and suddenly they will be standing, looking on. Then Hell will be brought, from which the sounds of its roaring and boiling will be coming. Then a call will be made, and he mentioned the long hadith further.
The story of the intercession and the story of those sent to Hell from this hadith were also narrated by the compilers of the Sunan; however, there is some divergence in this wording, and what is in the two Sahihs (Bukhari and Muslim) is more correct, and success is only from Allah.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mughaffal (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "The Dajjal (having been born) has already eaten food and walked about in the markets."
Imam Abu Ya'la narrated this report in his Musnad; the narrator Ali bin Zayd bin Jud'an in its chain is considered da'if (weak) by the hadith scholars on account of the weakness of his memory. Moreover, al-Hasan al-Basri's hearing from Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mughaffal (may Allah be pleased with him) is also open to scholarly question, and for this reason this report is weak in its chain.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "No one except Isa bin Maryam (peace be upon him) will be given dominance and power over the Dajjal (to overpower him and put an end to his trial)."
Imam Abu Dawud al-Tayalisi recorded this report in his Musnad; its chain contains a narrator named Musa bin Mutayr, who is da'if (weak). However, mention of the victory of Isa (peace be upon him) over the Dajjal and of his killing him is explicitly found in other sahih and reliable hadith.

It is narrated from Sayyidah Fatimah bint Qays (may Allah be pleased with her) concerning the story of the Dajjal; she narrates that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "And indeed he (the Dajjal) is (to appear) among you, O people of this Ummah!"
In another chain, it is narrated from Sayyidah Fatimah (may Allah be pleased with her) about the story of Tamim al-Dari and the Dajjal, at the beginning of which it says that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Tamim told me something that made me extremely happy, so I wished to tell it to you too, so that you may also be happy just as your Prophet has been happy."
In another route of the same hadith there are these words, that he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Indeed Tamim came to me and gave me news which, out of joy and the coolness of my eyes, took away my midday nap (qaylulah)."
Imam al-Sha'bi narrates: Then I met al-Muharrar bin Abi Hurayrah, and he said: My father (Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him)) also narrated this hadith to me; and he added that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) pointed with his blessed hand towards the East about twenty times.
Another report adds that he (the Dajjal) asked them: "Have the people built any strong place of refuge?" It also says that he struck one of his feet against the sole of the other, and also that he said he would appear from the direction of Iraq.
This hadith is sahih (authentic) in its basis, and its essential parts are found in Sahih Muslim within the incident of Sayyiduna Tamim al-Dari (may Allah be pleased with him).