Mukhtasar Muslim

Narrated from Sayyiduna ‘Amir bin Shurahil Sha‘bi (Sha‘b Hamdan): He said to Fatimah bint Qais (may Allah be pleased with her), who was the sister of Sayyiduna Dihhak bin Qais (may Allah be pleased with him) and among those women who migrated early, “Tell me a hadith that you heard directly from the Messenger of Allah.” She replied, “Alright, if you wish, I will narrate it.” He said, “Yes, narrate it.” Sayyidah Fatimah (may Allah be pleased with her) said: I married Ibn Mughirah, and at that time he was among the distinguished young men of Quraysh. Then he was martyred in the first battle with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). When I became a widow, ‘Abdur Rahman bin ‘Awf (may Allah be pleased with him) came with some of the companions of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and proposed marriage to me. And the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) sent a proposal for his freed slave Usamah bin Zaid (may Allah be pleased with him). And I had heard this hadith from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him): “Whoever loves me should also love Usamah (may Allah be pleased with him).” When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) spoke to me about this, I said, “The matter of my affair is in your hands; marry me to whomever you wish.” He (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “Go to the house of Umm Sharik.” Umm Sharik was a wealthy woman among the Ansar and used to spend a lot in the way of Allah; guests would stay with her. I said, “Very well, I will go to Umm Sharik.” Then he (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “Do not go to Umm Sharik, for many guests come to her, and I dislike that your veil might fall or your shins become uncovered and people see something of your body that would displease you. Go to your paternal cousin, ‘Abdullah bin ‘Amr ibn Umm Maktum, who was from Banu Fihr, a branch of Quraysh, and from the same tribe as Sayyidah Fatimah (may Allah be pleased with her).” Then Sayyidah Fatimah said: I went to his house. When my ‘iddah (waiting period) ended, I heard the voice of a caller, and that caller was the announcer of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), calling out, “Gather for prayer.” I also went out towards the mosque and prayed with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). I was in the row in which the women were behind the people. When he (peace and blessings be upon him) finished the prayer, he sat on the pulpit and was smiling. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “Let every person remain in his place of prayer.” Then he said, “Do you know why I have gathered you?” The companions said, “Allah and His Messenger know best.” He (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “By Allah, I have not gathered you to encourage or frighten you, but because Tamim Dari, who was a Christian, came, pledged allegiance, became Muslim, and narrated to me a hadith which agrees with what I used to tell you about the Dajjal. He narrated that he (i.e., Tamim) boarded a ship with thirty men from the tribes of Lakhm and Judham. The sea waves played with them for a month. Then they landed on the shore of an island towards the setting sun. They boarded a small boat and entered the island. There they met a beast with a heavy tail, covered with so much hair that its front and back could not be distinguished due to the abundance of hair. The people said to it, ‘Woe to you! What are you?’ It said, ‘I am a spy.’ The people said, ‘What is a spy?’ It said, ‘Go to that man in the monastery, for he is very eager to know your news.’ Tamim (may Allah be pleased with him) said: When it mentioned the man, we were afraid of the beast, lest it be a devil. Tamim said: Then we hurriedly entered the monastery. There we saw a man of great stature, the likes of whom we had never seen, and he was bound very tightly. His hands were tied to his neck, and his legs were shackled from knees to ankles with iron. We said, ‘Woe to you! What are you?’ He said, ‘You have come to know about me (i.e., now you will know my condition). Tell me about yourselves, who are you?’ The people said, ‘We are Arabs. We boarded a ship, but when we set sail, we found the sea in turmoil. The waves played with us for a month, then we landed on this island. We boarded a small boat and entered the island. We met a beast with a heavy tail and much hair, so much so that we could not distinguish its front from its back due to the abundance of hair. We said to it, “Woe to you! What are you?” It said, “I am a spy.” We said, “What is a spy?” It said, “Go to that man in the monastery, for he is very eager to know your news.” So we came to you hurriedly, fearing it might be a demon.’ Then that man said, ‘Tell me about the date palms of Baisan.’ We said, ‘What do you want to know about them?’ He said, ‘I ask you whether they bear fruit?’ We said, ‘Yes, they bear fruit.’ He said, ‘Be informed, they will soon not bear fruit.’ He said, ‘Tell me about the lake of Tabariyyah (Tiberias).’ We said, ‘What do you want to know about it?’ He said, ‘Is there water in it?’ The people said, ‘There is plenty of water in it.’ He said, ‘Indeed, its water will soon run out.’ Then he said, ‘Tell me about the spring of Zughar.’ The people said, ‘What do you want to know about it?’ He said, ‘Is there water in that spring, and do the people irrigate their crops with it?’ We said, ‘Yes, it has plenty of water, and the people irrigate their crops with it.’ He said, ‘Tell me about the Prophet of the unlettered (Ummiyeen)—what has he done?’ The people said, ‘He has come out from Makkah and settled in Madinah.’ He said, ‘Did the Arabs fight him?’ We said, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘How did he deal with them?’ We said, ‘He prevailed over the Arabs around him, and they obeyed him.’ He said, ‘Has it really happened?’ We said, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘It is better for them that they obey him. Now I will tell you about myself: I am the Messiah (Dajjal). The time is near when I will be permitted to come out. I will travel about and will not leave any town except that I will enter it within forty nights, except Makkah and Taybah (Madinah), for they are forbidden to me. Whenever I try to enter either of them, an angel with a drawn sword in his hand will confront me and prevent me from entering, and there will be angels guarding every path to them.’ Sayyidah Fatimah (may Allah be pleased with her) said: Then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) struck the pulpit with his staff and said, ‘This is Taybah, this is Taybah, this is Taybah,’ meaning Madinah. Beware! Have I not told you about this before?’ The companions said, ‘Yes.’ The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, ‘I liked the story of Tamim (may Allah be pleased with him), for it agrees with what I have told you about the Dajjal, and about Madinah and Makkah. Beware! He is in the sea of Syria or Yemen? No, rather he is in the east, he is in the east, he is in the east (to the east is the Indian Ocean; perhaps Dajjal is on an island in the Indian Ocean),’ and he (peace and blessings be upon him) pointed towards the east. Sayyidah Fatimah bint Qais (may Allah be pleased with her) said: I have remembered this hadith from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him).