Antichrist-Dajjal II - Islamic Texts and Traditions

Images of the slaying of the Antichrist

ἀντίχριστος

Antichrist - Dajjal II

Stephen Lambden UC Merced.

IN PROGRESS AND UNDER REVISION

Last updated 17-03-2018.

Originally pivlished in the Baha'i Studies Bulletin (Newcastle upon Tyne. UK) as `Antichrist-Dajjāl : Some Notes on the Christian and Islamic Antichrist traditions and their Bahā’ī Interpretations'. VOLUME 1 No. 3 December 1982 -  Part II, p. 3f.

Revised from an early 1980s version printed in the Newcastle upon Tyne,  Baha'i Studies Bulletin (BSB)

Last revised 05-01-2018,

The Dajjal and associated Antichrist Figures in Islamic Literatures  
___________________________________________________
Stephen Lambden

While apocalyptic Antichrist speculation continued to flourish in Christian circles at the time of and subsequent to the rise of Islam (which religious phenomenon was itself in various ways regarded as a manifestation of the Antichrist) the Christian and other Antichrist traditions, including elements of the physiognomic portraits, were assimilated into Islamic eschatology.¹ Though the Antichrist figure as the Dajjāl does not appear in the Qur'an a great many traditions about him were attributed to the Prophet Muhammad and the Shī`ī Imams. A perusal of Sunni and Shī`ī books or collections of tradition and of Qur'ānic commentaries and works of theology, not to mention the apocalyptic (Malāhim) texts and popular legends, illustrates that, as the Prophet was believed to have put it, "Between the creation of Adam and the coming of the last hour there is no more serious matter than the Dajjāl." (MM II:1144). In Sunnī books of tradition the Prophet is accredited with having taught that all the past prophets warned the people of the coning of the Dajjāl adding that he had a new teaching concerning him; that is, that the Dajjāl unlike God, would be `one-eyed' (MM.II:1152> Bukhari + Muslim; see further below).

^1. For medieval and later Christian interpretations of Islam / Muhammad as manifestations of the Antichrist/Gog and Magog, etc., refer,McGinn, 1979 index+ bibliography), Emmerson, 1981 (index+ bibliography). The literature relating to this subject is too extensive to be noticed here.

It is of course extremely unlikely, in the light of the early proliferation and acceptance of Abrahamic, Jewish Christian or Islamo-biblica (Isrā'īliyyāt) by Muslims, that the Prophet himself added the latter detail about the one-eyed nature of the Dajjal to the physiognomic portrait of the Islamic Antichrist -- we have seen that a good many pre-Islamic Christian traditions have something to say about the peculiar nature of the Antichrist's left or right eye or eyes. Indeed, the Islamic tradition that all past prophets warned the people about the coming of the Antichrist / Dajjāl may be taken to be a veiled acknowledgement on the part of early Muslims that certain Antichrist / Dajjāl traditions were taken over from the People of the Book -- primarily, Jews and Christians.

The word Dajjāl may be of Syriac origin. It has been thought to derive from the Syriac adjective daggālā ("liar") which came to be used as an Arabic substantive denoting the Islamic "Antichrist". The Peshitta or revised form of the Syriac Bible (the Scripture of Syrian Christianity) translates               (= pseudo / false Christs) at Matt 24:24 by meshīḥ daggālā. ² Neither the Syriac daggālā ("liar") in itself signifies the Antichrist nor is the Arabic dajjāl used exclusively for the Islamic Antichrist. In Islamic eschatology dajjāl can mean simply "false teacher" and the Islamic Antichrist is occasionally referred to as al-Kaḍḍāb ("the Liar"). In some writings the more complete expression al-Masīḥ al-Dajjāl denotes the Islamic Antichrist (cf. the Syriac meshīḥa de-dhaggālútha and Rabin 1957:120). It may first be noted here that Rabin further points out that the opponent of the Qumran Teacher of Righteousness is also referred to as the Teacher or `Man  of Lies' (see Prov 19:22). This learned scholar  further  refers to the Syriacizing Targum to Proverbs 19:22f (where gavrā kaddāvā... daggalā occurs), and proposes that "The transition from `liar' to `Antichrist'.. seems to have taken place in a Jewish milieu rather than a Christian one" (1957:120 cf. also Hughes, DI:328f) where an attempt to account for the fact that the Dajjāl is called al-Mash is quoted: "Some say it is because he will have his eyes touched (masah) and be rendered blind; others that the word was originally masíkh, a "monster"<sup>. 
2</sup> Abel:76-7; Rabin, 1857: 120. cf. Bell, 1926:202f; Wensinck, SEI:67; idem, `Al-Dadjdjal' EI1:67 For details of references to the Dajjāl in the Sunní books of tradition see Wensinck, Handbook (1971):50-51. cf.Rabin 1957:120.

The Proto-Dajjāl[s], a contemporary of Muhammad

The nature and career of the Islamicate Dajjāl may now be briefly (and incompletely) sketched. The Prophet Muhammad or various of his companions, were believed to have entertained the idea that a certain`Abd Allāh Ibn .Sayyād  or a Jew of Medina were actually the Dajjāl or resembled this figure in appearence (see further on Ibn Sayyad in Sunní comilations of tradition refer, Handbook:103). ⁵ Thus, in Sunnī traditions we read, for example;

"Ibn `Umar said: I met him [ibn .Sayyād] when his eye was inflamed and asked him when his eye had become infected with the trouble I noticed.On his replying that he did not know I said, "You do not know, and yet it isin your head?" He replied, "If God will He will create it when you are unaware." He snorted as loudly as I have ever heard an ass snort." (Muslim, MM II:1157).

"Muhammad b. al-Munkadir told that he saw Jābir ibn `Abdallāh swearing by God that Ibn as-Sayyad was the dajjāl, and when he expressed surprise that he should swear by God, he replied that he heard `Umar swearing to that in the Prophet's presence without the Prophet making any objection to it." (Bukhārī + Muslim, MM II:1157).

Of particular interest are the following traditions which reckon that a Jewess of Medina gave birth to the (or one like the) Dajjāl and teach that the Dajjāl resembles a man named Ibn Qatan who was ruddy with woolly hair and blind in his right eye:

"The parents of the Dajjāl will wait thirty years without having any children born to them, then a boy who will be one-eyed and have a long moler tooth and be useless will be born to them. His eyes will sleep but his heart will not. His father will be very tall and spare and will have a nose like a beak, and his mother will be a huge woman with long arms." (Tirmihdī, MM II:1157-8).

This tradition continues to relate that certain companions of the Prophet heard of  and saw such a child who was born amongst the Jews of Medina....

"Jabir told that when a Jewess in Medina gave birth to a boy with an eye obliterated and a long eye-tooth God's messenger was afraid he might be the Dajjāl..'Umar b. al-Khattab then said, "Let me kill him, messenger of God," but he replied, "If he is the one you are not the person to deal with him, for the person to deal with him is only Jesus son of Mary.." (Sharḥ al-sunna, MM II:1158).

"He [the Dajjāl] will be a youth with curly hair and a floating eye whom I [Muhammad] might compare to Abd al-Uzza b. Qatan.." (Muslim+
Tirmihdī, MM II:1145 cf. 1130).

 Note also,

"The last hour will not come before a man of Qahtan comes forth driving people with his stick"(> Bukhari+Muslim, MM II:1130).

"Last night I [Muhammad] found myself in a vision at the Ka'ba and saw a ruddy man like the most good-looking of that type that you can see with  the most beautiful lock of hair you can see. He had combed it out and it was dripping with water. He was leaning on the shoulders of two men and going round the House. When I asked who he was I was told that he was the Messiah [Jesus] son of Mary. Then I saw a man with short woolly hair who was blind in his right eye, his eye looking like a floating grape. I have never seen anyone more closely resembling Ibn Qatan. He was placing his hands on the shoulders of two men and going round the House. I asked who this man was and was told that he was the Antichrist." ⁷

⁷ Note the pseudo-Christ aspect of the Dajjāl here. cf. Bukhārí+Muslim, MM.II:1223, "On the night when I (Muhammad) was taken up to heaven.. I met Jesus who was of medium height and red as though he had come out of the dímās (i.e. a hot bath)."

Sometimes closely associated with the Antichrist/ Dajjāl traditions in Islamic literatures, are other mythical or beast-like creatures. The Qur'ān and traditions, like the Apocalypse of John, for example, speak of Yājūj and Mājūj (Gog and Magog) and the Dābba min al-arḍ ("Beast from the earth"). Refer, Rev 20:8; Qur'ān 18:93f; 21:96; Rev 13:11; Qur'ān 27:82 cf. Brady, 1978.

The Eschatological Dajjāl
As indicated, a great many of the features of the career of the Islamic Antichrist are rooted in Christian and Jewlsh Antichrist / Anti-Messiah speculations. Like theChristian Antichrist the Dajjāl is an eschatological enemy of God and the people whose appearence is one of the most important signs of the `last days,' the "Hour". We have  noted above that the Syrian Father Ephraem thought, apparently after the invasion of
the Huns, that the Antichrist would appear in Choras(en)  (= Khurāsān) and that Jerome believed that he would be born in Babylon. Islamic tradition similarly, like also the Eastern Christian apocalyptic text Pseudo-Methodius which has it that a "son of destruction" wlll come from Chorase (= Khurāsān), includes speculations as to the birthplace or place of the appearence of the Dajjāl. Khurāsān in both Sunnī and Shī`ī eschatology is in fact singled out as being the place where the Dajjāl as well as the Mahdī or twelfth Imam / Qā'im will -- appear though other places are mentioned as well.
One well known Sunnī tradition has it that Abu Bakr reported the Prophet as having said that "the Dajjāl would come forth from a land in the East called Khurāsān" and be "followed by peoples whose faces resemble shields covered with skin" ⁸ Another Sunnī tradition holds that "He will come forth on a road between Syria and al-Iraq and do mischief right and left." ([Muslim]+Tirmihdī, MM. II:1145 ).

Summarizing Sunnī traditions Wensinck (SEI) in this connection writes,

"[Al-Dajjāl]..like the eschatological tyrant of the Old Testament, will come from a remote region, not the north, but from some region in the east (Ibn Mādja, Fitan, bāb 33), from Khurāsān (Ibn Hanbal,i.4,7.) or I.sfāhān (Ibn .Hanbal,iii. 224; vi.75)." ⁸ (Tirmihdí) MM.II:1152 . See also below on the Dajjal's coming forth from Isfahan (a centre of Iranian Jewry). cf.SEI Wensinck.

A. Abel refers to an apocalypse entitled Shams al-Ghuyh*b which also associates the rising place of the Dajjāl with Khurāsān; which, it must be remembered, is a region associated with the rise of the Abbasids. As Ephraem associated the rising place of the Antichrist with Chorasain connection with the Huns so too it appears, did some early Muslims associate the Dajjāl with Khurāsān in connection with the rise of the (at one time pro-Shī`ī) Abbasids. A number of Islamic traditions about the Dajjāl like certain Christian speculations about the Antichrist were born out of concrete historical situations. Shī`ī eschatology and messianism are to a considerable extent conditioned by frustrated religio-political hopes and millenial expectations shattered or delayed by such events as the crushing defeat of .Husayn at Karbila (c.680 CE), the quietism of the Imams after .Husayn and the supposed occultation of the twelfth Imam or al-Qā'im bi'ljihād ("the expected upriser who will wage holy war"), the deliverer who will arise to carry out the eschatological holy war and establish universal Shi`ism. (cf. Abel EI2 ; Bell. 1926:206).
The Dajjāl, born in the east or some other remote region, will prove unable to either enter or capture Mecca or Medina which will be subject to miraculous protection in Shī`ī sources Mecca is the place where the Mahdī will proclaim his mission. 9 The following Sunnī traditions express this conviction:
⁹ On the association of the Mahdí with Mecca refer, Sachedina,1981:75, 160-1,164.

"The Messiah (i.e. the Dajjāl) will come from the East making for Medina and will alight behind Uhud, but the angels will then turn his face towards Syria and he will perish there." (Bukhārī+Muslim, MM II:1149)
"The terror of the Antichrist will not enter Medina, which will on that day have seven gates with two angels at each gate." (Bukhārī, MM II:1149)

The Christian Antichrist, as we have seen, has frequently been represented as a pseudo-Christ. Aspects of his career mirror for evil reasons and with evil results the circumstances and ministry of Jesus. Like some representations of Armilus the Jewish Anti-Messiah the Islamic representation of the powers and career of the Dajjāl is at times coloured by the pseudo-Christ aspect of the Antichrist tradition. Just as Christ performed miracles so will the Dajjāl whose paradise will be hell and whose hell will be paradise. He will raise or appear to be capable of resurrecting the dead and command the elements:

"He will come to people and summon them to beliove in him. He will give command to the sky and it will give rain and to the earth and it will produce crops. Then in the evening their pasturing animals will come to them with their humps as high as possible; their udders full of milk, and their flanks distended. He will come to people and summon them, but they will reject what he says so they will leave him. In the morning they will be destitute, posessing none of their property. He will pass the waste land and tell it to bring forth its treasures, and its treasures will follow him like swarms of bees. He wlll then summon a man in the prime of youth, strike him with a sword and cut him in two.. after which he will call him and he will come forward laughing with his face shining." (Muslim+ Tirmihdī, MM II:1145).

Not only is the Dajjāl seen as a satanic tempter and pseudo-Christlike worker of miracles but Islamic tradition, both Sunni and Shī`ī, represents him, like Christ at his triumphal entry (refer, Mkll:lf; Matt21:1ff; Lk19:28f; Jn12:14f) as appearing riding on an ass or donkey. Both the Prophet Mu.hammad and Imam `Alī are said to have spoken of the ass of the Antichrist which -- like the ass mentioned in the Zoroastrian Bundahis -- is no ordinary beast:

"The dajjāl will come forth on a white ass with a space seventy times as wide as one can stretch between its ears." (Bayhaqī, MM II:1154).¹⁰

Shī`ī literature as E.G. Browne noted, attributes many curious qualities to the ass of the Dajjāl :

"Many other wonderful qualities are attributed to the ass of Antichrist, as, for instance, that the distance between its ears is a full mile, that each of its hairs gives forth ravishing strains of music, and the like, of which things the further ennumeration appears to be unprofitable and unnecessary." (1893:305)

Those who are to be misled by the Dajjāl are variously ennumerated. Just as some traditions allude to the fact or explicitly mention that the Dajjāl will be a Jew (a 10 Kitab al-Ba'tk wa'l-nushhur. cf. Sachedina, 1981:172; Bundahis Chap. XIX trans. West, Pahlavi Texts l:67f.

The description of the ass here may be profitably compared with the descriptions in Islamic literatures. notion widely entertained in Christian Antichrist speculation) so are his followers on occasion represented as Jews. One Sunnī traditions which is also echoed in Shī`ī literature (cf. below) identifes the followers of the Dajjāl with Persian Jews:  "The dajjāl will be followed by seventy thousand Jews of Isfahān wearing Persian shawls." (Muslim, MM II:1148)
Another Sunnī tradition has it that the Dajjāl will mislead no less than 70,000 Muslims, "The dajjāl will be followed by seventy thousand of my people wearing dark cloaks." (> Sharh al-sunna, MM II:1152) Yet further traditions speak of those enticed by the Dajjāl as being unbelievers, polytheists, women, bastards and/or musicians (Wensinck SEI). Some protection against the evil Dajjāl may be gained by the recitation of the opening verses of the Qur'ānic súrat al-Kahf (Sura of the Cave, Sura 18; see MM II:1145).
The career of the Dajjāl according to many traditions is to be short. A forty year period is often mentioned but this time span (cf. the 40 years wandering of the Israelites in the wilderness and the 40 days during which Jesus was tempted by Satan) is to be "shortened" (cf.Mk 13:20+ parallels) such that it does not in reality signify this length of time. Reference is also made to a forty day period during which the Dajjāl is to beguile
the wayward:

"Forty days, one like a year, one like a month, one like a week, and therest of his days like yours." (Muslim+Tirmihdī, MM II:1145).

The belief that Jesus son of Mary will descend from heaven in the last days or at  the time of the resurrection (qiyāma) and have a role of  considerable importance is affirmed and elabourated in a great many Sunnī and Shī`ī traditions. Sachedina writes in his Islamic Messianism,

"The Imamite doctrine of the Mahdī at one point merges with the return of Jesus, another prominent figure of Islamic eschatology. The doctrine of the return of Jesus, as described in the Sunnite sources and cited by the Shunnite traditionalists is explained in a more or less uniform manner." (Sachedina, 1981:171)

Islamic traditions and sourccs often teach that the Dajjāl is to be destroyed by Jesus at his second coming though the Mahdī, who is normally though not always distinguished from Jesus, has also been given this task be he the Sunnī deliverer who will be born in the normal way or the Qā'im of the Shī`ī who will emerge from his occultation or hidden retreat. `Abd Allāh ibn `Umar al-Baidāwī (d. c.1286 CE) the renowned Sunnī commentator, in the course of commenting on Súra 43:61, sums up the essentials of the mainstream Sunnī position with respect to the eschatological descent of Jesus:

"In the Tradition (.hadīth) it is reported that Jesus will come down over a mountain pass in the Holy Land called Afīq [apparently a mountain pass to the Jordan valley], and in his hand he will carry a spear with which he will  kill the Antichrist (dajjāl). He will then go to Jerusalem (bait al-muqaddas)  just when the inhabitants are performing the morning prayer. The prayer leader will want to step back (in view of Jesus' appearence), but Jesus will give precedence to him and perform the prayer behind him according to the rite of Muhammad [note the subservience of Jesus to the imam or Mahdī as prayer leader]. Then he will kill the swine, dash to pieces the crucifix, demolish the churches and synagogues, and kill the Christians who do not have (correct) belief in him." (Gätje, 1971: 129)

The manner in which Jesus is to overcome or defeat the Dajjāl and the place where this is to be accomplished are variously related in Islamic sources. It is generally agreed that the Dajjāl will be killed in Syria (Palestine) as the following tradition indicates:

"God will send the Messiah son of Mary who will descend at the white minaret in the east of Damascus wearing two garments died with saffron and placing his hands on the wings of two angels. When he lowers his head it will drip and when he raises it beads like pearls will scatter from it. Every infidel who feels the odour of his breath will die, and his breath will reach as far as he can see [see Isaiah 11:4 + Targum and II Thess,2:8 quoted below]. He will then seek him (the Dajjāl) till he catches up with him at the gate of Ludd and kills him." (Muslim+Tirmihdī, MM.II:1146 ).

Another Sunnī tradition reports that the last hour will not come before the Muslim armies, about to divide the booty of Constantinople, make a hasty retreat as a result of a false alarm raised by Satan who suggests that the Dajjāl has attacked their absent families. It is realised that the Satanic suggestion is false and the Muslim armies move on to Syria;

"Then.ḥe (the Dajjāl) will come forth, and while they are preparing for battle and arranging the ranks the time for prayer will come and Jesus son of Mary will descend and lead them in prayer. When God's enemy (the Dajjāl) sees him (Jesus) he will dissolve like salt in water, and if he (Jesus) were to leave him (the Dajjāl) he would dissolve completely; but God will kill him (the Dajjāl) by his hand and he will show them (the Muslim armies) his blood on his spear." (Muslim, MM II:1131).'

In many Sunnī traditions then, it is Jesus who is to destroy or kill the Dajjāl. On the other hand, as Sachedina notes, in the Shī`ī traditions "the function of killing the Dajjāl is reserved for al-Mahdi." (1981:172) According to a lengthy tradition recorded in Majlisi's Bihar al-Anwar Imam `Alī predicted that the one-eyed Dajjāl who will appear riding on an ass will be killed at Afīq (cf.above) at the hands of "the one  behind whom Jesus will worship" or the twelfth Imām al-Qā'im al-Mahdī (Sachedina, 1981:172)

Before turning to the subject of the physiognomic descriptions of the Dajjāl we may sum up by quoting an interesting and detailed description of the appearence of the Dajjāl contained in a Shī`ī doctrinal treatise:

"The forty-sixth of the signs of the appearence [of the Imām Ma.hdī] is the coming forth of Antichrist. And the name of that accursed one is Sā'id ibn Sayd [sic. cf.below]. The traditions concerning him are various. Some imply that he has existed from the time of Adam until now, as it is related in a tradition that the Apostle of God went to one of the houses in Medina wherein was a babbling madman with his mother. The prophet pointed him out to his companions and said, `O people, God hath not sent any prophet without filling his church with the fear of  Antichrist, whom he has respited and left until your time. And this man shall come forth with a mountain of bread and a river of water; and  he will appear in a time of famine. Most of his followers will be Jews, women, Arabs and nomads. He will enter into all quarters and regions  of the earth save Mecca and its two mountains, and Medina and its two mountains. And whenever he comes forth he will claim to be God,  although he is one-eyed and God is not one-eyed.'
And in some traditions it hath come down that he was born in the time of His Highness [the Prophet]; that he had a beard and spoke when he was born; that the Prophet went to his house; that he claimed the rank of a prophet and said, `I am one sent of God'; then His Holiness  the Prophet] commanded an angel which was in the form of a great bird to carry him away and cast him into a well situated in one of the  Jewish villages near Sajistān or Isfahān; and he is chained [there] till such time as he shall receive permission to come forth. And he has an  ss whereof each step covers a mile (three miles being equal to one passang), and on the body of his ass are white spots like a leopard. Now the characteristics of the Antichrist are these: his right eye is crushed; his left eye is in his forehead and glitters as though it were the morning star, and it is a piece of blood, so that it seems to be pervaded with blood; between his two eyes it is written that he is a   misbeliever; so that everyone whether learned or unlearned can read it; he is a skilled magician, who, by his magic, descends into oceans   with him travels the sun; before his face is a mountain of smoke, and behind his back is a white mountain, and through [his] magic it  seemeth in men's eyes that they are two mountains of water and bread, though in truth it is not so, but a mere juggle; he traverseth all  oceans, and over whatsoever ocean or water he passeth it sinketh down and cometh forth no more till the Day of Judgement; before him Satan dances, and the devils cause him and his ass to appear pleasing in men's eyes, and this is a mischief for the proving of mankind. And he crieth out so that the dwellers in the East and in the West, whether jinn or of mankind, hear his voice, and he saith, `0 my friends, I am God who created and fashioned the members and parts of the world; I am that God who predestined the affairs of [His] servants and guided and directed mankind; I am your supreme Lord.' And most of his followers are women, Jews, bastards, and musicians. But when he commeth to `Akaba-i-Afīk, which is a mountain in Syria, His Highness the Kā'im shall slay him at the third hour on Friday, and shall cleanse the world of the filth and foulness of the Accursed One." (`Aqā'id al-Shī'a ["Tenets of the Shī`ītes"] trans. E.G. Browne, 1891:304-5).

 The physiognomic characteristics of the Dajjāl

As in the above passage, a great many Islamic traditions containing physiognomic descriptions of the Dajjāl. They are obviously related to or rooted in the    Jewish and Christian portraits of the Antichrist / Anti-Messiah outlined in the preceeding pages. Many are scattered throughout Sunnī and Shī`ī literatures. Perhaps the most frequently mentioned characteristic of the, Dajjāl is that he is to be one-eyed or have an eye or eyes of a peculiar or deformed nature -- also (see below) a constant feature of the Christian Antichrist portraits. Both the Prophet Mu.hammad and the Imam `Alī are said to have described the Dajjāl as being one-eyed or having an eye which shines like the morning-star. The followqng passages from various Sunnī books of tradition illustrate aspects of Islamic physiognomic depictions of the Dajjāl: ¹¹  warn you of him [the Dajjāl], and there is no prophet who has not warned his people. Noah warned his people, but I shall tell you something about him which no prophet has told his people  You must know that he is one-eyed, whereas God is not one-eyed." (Bukhārī+ Muslim, MM II:1154). ¹¹  = I am not aware ofany detailed study of the Islamic physiognomic chacacterists of the Dajjal. cf. though Rosenstiehl's, Le Portrait..I [Muhammad]

"God is not hidden from you, God most high is not one-eyed, but the Antichrist is blind in the right eye, his eye looking like a floating grape." (Bukhārī+ Muslim, MM II:1144).

"There is no prophet who has not warned his people about the one-eyed liar. I tell you that he is one-eyed, but your Lord is not one-eyed. On his forehead are the letters K,F,R [signifying Kafir= "Infidel"]." (Bukhārī+ Muslim, MM II:1144).

"The Dajjāl will have an eye obliterated over which will be a coarse film, and 'Infidel' (Kafir) will be written on his forehead. Every Muslim who can write and those who cannot will read it." (Bukhārī+ Muslim, MM II:1144).

"The Dajjāl is blind in the left eye and has a great quantity of hair." (Bukhārī + Muslim, MM II:1145).

"I [Muhammad] have told you so much about the Dajjāl that I am afraid you may not understand. The Antichrist is short, hen-toed (or
'bandylegged'), woolly-haired, one-eyed, an eye sightless and neither protruding nor deep-seated. If you are confused about him, know that your Lord is not one-eyed." (Abú Dāwúd, MM II:1154).

"On the day of resurrection a huge fat man will come, but in God's estimate he will not weigh as much as a gnat's wing.." (Bukhārī+ Muslim,
MM II:1171).

A J. Wensinck has summed up many of the features contained in the physiognomic descriptions of the Dajjāl. He writes,

 ..the connection between the Antichrist and Satan is apparent in the description of al-Dadjdjal's appearence.. He is reddish (Bukhārī, Ru'yā, bāb 33) with frizzy hair (Bukhārī, Libās, bab 68), corpulent (Bukhārī, Libās, bab 33), he has a wide throat (.Tayalisī, N2532), he is one-eyed (Bukhārī, Anbiyā', bab 3; Ru'yā, bab 11). His one eye in his broad forehead (.Tayalisī, N 2532) is like a floating grape (Bukhārī, Maghāzī, bab 77). 0n his forehead is written kāfir ("unbeliever": Bukhārī, Hadjdj, bab 30; Anbiyā', bab 8). Or else one of his eyes is as if made of green glass (.Tayalisī No. 544), in the other is a hard nail (.Tayalisī No 1106)." (Wensinck, SEI).

Multiple eschatoloical Dajjāls

The Prophet Mu.hammad is, in various sources, said to have spokon of the appearence of about thirty dajjāls (or ka.d.dābún "liars") at the "last hour" each of whom would assert that he is the true messenger of God and also to have associated a number of his contemporaries with the Dajjāl or his "spy" (al-Jassāsa; see MM II:1149ff).

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Rabin, C

• 1957 Qumran Studies Oxford:

Sachedina, `Abdulaziz Abdulhussein.

• 1981 Islamic Messianism. New York:??

SBE = Sacred Books of the East. (ed.) F. Max Muller. rept. Delhi, 1970
Tabrīzī,

• Mishkat al-Masabih, trans Robson, Mishkat al-Masabih. Vol.II. [henceforth MM.II] Lahore: 1975,

Wensinck, A.J.

• SEI= `Al-Dadjdjāl,' EI1 = SEI:67
• 1971  A Handbook of Early Muhammedan Traditions. Leiden: E.J. Brill,

West, E. W.

• (trans.) `Bundahis' in Pahlavi Texts,Pt.l. (in SBE

The Proto-Dajjāl[s], a contemporary of Muhammad
The Prophet Mu.hammad or various of his companions were believed to have entertained the idea that a certain [`Abd Allāh] Ibn .Sayyād  .Saiyad] or a Jew of Medina were actually the Dajjāl or resembled him in appearence. <sup>5</sup> Thus in Sunnī traditions we read, for example; "Ibn `Umar said: I met him [ibn .Sayyād] when his eye was inflamed and asked him when his eye had become infected with the trouble I noticed.
On his replying that he did not know I said, "You do not know, and yet it is in your head?" He replied, "If God will He will create it when you are
unaware." He snorted as loudly as I have ever heard an ass snort." (Muslim, MM II:1157).

"Muhammad b. al-Munkadir told that he saw Jābir b. `Abdallāh swearing by God that Ibn a.s-.Sayyad was the dajjāl, and when he expressed surprise that he should swear by God, he replied that he heard `Umar swearing to that in the 4 It may be noted here that Rabin, 1957:120 points out that the opponent of the Qumran Teacher of Righteousness is called the Teacher (or Man) of Lies (see Prov 19:22)He also refers
to the Syriacizing Targum to Proverbs 19:22f (where gavrā kaddāvā... daggalā occurs), and proposes that "The transition from `liar' to `Antichrist'.. seems to have taken place in a Jewish milieu rather than a Christian one." cf. also Hughes, DI:328f., where an attempt to account for the fact that the Dajjāl is called al-Masí.h is quoted: "Some say it is because he will have his eyes touched (masah) and be rendered blind; others that the word was originally masíkh, a "monster"."
⁵ For references to Ibn Saiyad in Sunní comilations of tradition refer, Handbook:103 Prophet's presence without the Prophet making any  objection to it." (Bukhārī + Muslim, MM II:1157).
Of particular interest are the following traditions which reckon that a Jewess of Medina gave birth to the (or one like the) Dajjāl and teach that the Dajjāl resembles a man named Ibn Qa.tan who was ruddy with woolly hair and blind in his right eye: "The parents of the Dajjāl will wait thirty years without having any children born to them, then a boy who will be one-eyed and have a long moler tooth and be useless will be born to them. His eyes will sleep but his heart will not. His father will be very tall and spare and will have a nose like a beak, and his mother will be a huge woman with long arms." (Tirmihdī, MM II:1157-8).
This tradition continues to relate that certain companions of the Prophet heard of
and saw such a child who was born amongst the Jews of Medina....
"Jabir told that when a Jewess in Medina gave birth to a boy with an eye
obliterated and a long eye-tooth God's messenger was afraid he might be
the Dajjāl..'Umar b. al-Khattab then said, "Let me kill him, messenger of
God," but he replied, "If he is the one you are not the person to deal with
him, for the person to deal with him is only Jesus son of Mary.." (Sharḥ alsunna,
MM II:1158).
"He [the Dajjāl] will be a youth with curly hair and a floating eye whom I
[Muhammad] might compare to Abd al-Uzza b. Qatan.." (Muslim+
Tirmihdī, MM II:1145 cf. 1130).6
6 Note also, "The last hour will not come before a man of Qa.h.tan comes forth
driving people with his stick"(> Bukhari+Muslim, MM II:1130).
"Last night I [Muhammad] found myself in a vision at the Ka'ba and saw a
ruddy man like the most good-looking of that type that you can see with
the most beautiful lock of hair you can see. He had combed it out and it
was dripping with water. He was leaning on the shoulders of two men and
going round the House. When I asked who he was I was told that he was
the Messiah [Jesus] son of Mary. Then I saw a man with short woolly hair
who was blind in his right eye, his eye looking like a floating grape. I have
never seen anyone more closely resembling Ibn Qatan. He was placing
his hands on the shoulders of two men and going round the House. I
asked who this man was and was told that he was the Antichrist."7
The Eschatological Dajjāl
As indicated, a great many of the features of the career of the Islamic Antichrist
are rooted in Christian and Jewlsh Antichrist / Anti-Messiah speculations. Like the
Christian Antichrist the Dajjāl is an eschatological enemy of God and the people whose
appearence is one of the most important signs of the `last days,' the "Hour". We have
7 Note the pseudo-Christ aspect of the Dajjāl here. cf. Bukhārí+Muslim, MM.II:1223,
"On the night when I (Mu.hammad) was taken up to heaven.. I met Jesus who was of
medium height and red as though he had come out of the dímās (i.e. a hot bath).."
It may be noted here that sometimes closely associated with the Antichrist/ Dajjāl
traditions in Islamic literatures are other mythical or beast-like creatures. The Qur'ān
and traditions, like the Apocalypse of John, for example, speak of Yājūj and Mājūj (Gog
and Magog) and the Dābba min al-arḍ ("Beast from the earth"). Refer, Rev 20:8; Qur'ān
18:93f; 21:96; Rev 13:11; Qur'ān 27:82 cf. Brady, 1978.
noted above that the Syrian Father Ephraem thought, apparently after the invasion of
the Huns, that the Antichrist would appear in Choras(en) (= Khurāsān) and that
Jerome believed that he would be born in Babylon. Islamic tradition similarly, like also
the Eastern Christian apocalyptic text Pseudo-Methodius which has it that a "son of
destruction" wlll come from Chorase (= Khurāsān), includes speculations as to the
birthplace or place of the appearence of the Dajjāl. Khurāsān in both Sunnī and Shī`ī
eschatology is in fact singled out as being the place where the Dajjāl as well as the
Mahdī or twelfth Imam / Qā'im will -- appear though other places are mentioned as well.
One well known Sunnī tradition has it that Abh* Bakr reported the Prophet as having
said that "the Dajjāl would come forth from a land in the East called Khurāsān" and be
"followed by peoples whose faces resemble shields covered with skin" 8 Another Sunnī
tradition holds that "He will come forth on a road between Syria and al-Iraq and do
mischief right and left." ([Muslim]+Tirmihdī, MM. II:1145 ).
Summarizing Sunnī traditions Wensinck (SEI) in this connection writes,
"[Al-Dajjāl]..like the eschatological tyrant of the Old Testament, will come from a remote
region, not the north, but from some region in the east (Ibn Mādja, Fitan, bāb 33),
from Khurāsān (Ibn Hanbal,i.4,7.) or I.sfāhān (Ibn .Hanbal,iii. 224; vi.75)."
8 (Tirmihdí) MM.II:1152 . See also below on the Dajjal's coming forth from I.sfahan (a
centre of Iranian Jewry). cf.SEI Wensinck.
A. Abel refers to an apocalypse entitled Shams al-Ghuyh*b which also
associates the rising place of the Dajjāl with Khurāsān; which, it must be remembered,
is a region associated with the rise of the Abbasids. As Ephraem associated the rising
place of the Antichrist with Choras in connection with the Huns so too it appears, did
some early Muslims associate the Dajjāl with Khurāsān in connection with the rise of the
(at one time pro-Shī`ī) Abbasids. A number of Islamic traditions about the Dajjāl like
certain Christian speculations about the Antichrist were born out of concrete historical
situations. Shī`ī eschatology and messianism are to a considerable extent conditioned
by frustrated religio-political hopes and millenial expectations shattered or delayed by
such events as the crushing defeat of .Husayn at Karbila (c.680 CE), the quietism of the
Imams after .Husayn and the supposed occultation of the twelfth Imam or al-Qā'im bi'ljihād
("the expected upriser who will wage holy war"), the deliverer who will arise to
carry out the eschatological holy war and establish universal Shi`ism. (cf. Abel EI2 ; Bell.
1926:206).
The Dajjāl, born in the east or some other remote region, will prove unable to
either enter or capture Mecca or Medina which will be subject to miraculous protection
in Shī`ī sources Mecca is the place where the Mahdī will proclaim his mission. 9 The
following Sunnī traditions express this conviction:
9 On the association of the Mahdí with Mecca refer, Sachedina,1981:75, 160-1,164.
"The Messiah (i.e. the Dajjāl) will come from the East making for Medina
and will alight behind Uhud, but the angels will then turn his face towards
Syria and he will perish there." (Bukhārī+Muslim, MM II:1149)
"The terror of the Antichrist will not enter Medina, which will on that day
have seven gates with two angels at each gate." (Bukhārī, MM II:1149)
The Christian Antichrist, as we have seen, has frequently been represented as a
pseudo-Christ. Aspects of his career mirror for evil reasons and with evil results the
circumstances and ministry of Jesus. Like some representations of Armilus the Jewish
Anti-Messiah the Islamic representation of the powers and career of the Dajjāl is at
times coloured by the pseudo-Christ aspect of the Antichrist tradition. Just as Christ
performed miracles so will the Dajjāl whose paradise will be hell and whose hell will be
paradise. He will raise or appear to be capable of resurrecting the dead and command
the elements:
"He will come to people and summon them to beliove in him. He will give
command to the sky and it will give rain and to the earth and it will produce
crops. Then in the evening their pasturing animals will come to them with
their humps as high as possible; their udders full of milk, and their flanks
distended. He will come to people and summon them, but they will reject
what he says so they will leave him. In the morning they will be destitute,
posessing none of their property. He will pass the waste land and tell it to
bring forth its treasures, and its treasures will follow him like swarms of
bees. He wlll then summon a man in the prime of youth, strike him with a
sword and cut him in two.. after which he will call him and he will come
forward laughing with his face shining." (Muslim+ Tirmihdī, MM II:1145).
Not only is the Dajjāl seen as a satanic tempter and pseudo-Christlike worker of
miracles but Islamic tradition, both Sunni and Shī`ī, represents him, like Christ at his
triumphal entry (refer, Mkll:lf; Matt21:1ff; Lk19:28f; Jn12:14f) as appearing riding on an
ass or donkey. Both the Prophet Mu.hammad and Imam `Alī are said to have spoken of
the ass of the Antichrist which -- like the ass mentioned in the Zoroastrian Bundahis -- is
no ordinary beast:
"The dajjāl will come forth on a white ass with a space seventy times as wide as
one can stretch between its ears." (Baiqhaqī, MM II:1154). 10
Shī`ī literature as E.G. Browne noted, attributes many curious qualities to the ass
of the Dajjāl:
"Many other wonderful qualities are attributed to the ass of Antichrist, as,
for instance, that the distance between its ears is a full mile, that each of
its hairs gives forth ravishing strains of music, and the like, of which things
the further ennumeration appears to be unprofitable and unnecessary."
(1893:305)
Those who are to be misled by the Dajjāl are variously ennumerated. Just as
some traditions allude to the fact or explicitly mention that the Dajjāl will be a Jew (a
10 Kitab al-Ba'tk wa'l-nushhur. cf. Sachedina, 1981:172; Bundahis Chap. XIX trans.
West, Pahlavi Texts l:67f. The description of the ass here may be profitably compared
with the descriptions in Islamic literatures.
notion widely entertained in Christian Antichrist speculation) so are his followers on
occasion represented as Jews. One Sunnī traditions which is also echoed in Shī`ī
literature (cf. below) identifes the followers of the Dajjāl with Persian Jews:
"The dajjāl will be followed by seventy thousand Jews of I.sfahān wearing
Persian shawls." (Muslim, MM II:1148)
Another Sunnī tradition has it that the Dajjāl will mislead no less than 70,000
Muslims,
"The dajjāl will be followed by seventy thousand of my people wearing
dark cloaks." (> Shar.h al-sunna, MM II:1152)
Yet further traditions speak of those enticed by the Dajjāl as being unbelievers,
polytheists, women, bastards and/or musicians (Wensinck SEI). Some protection
against the evil Dajjāl may be gained by the recitation of the opening verses of the
Qur'ānic súrat al-Kahf (Sura of the Cave, Sura 18; see MM II:1145).
The career of the Dajjāl according to many traditions is to be short. A forty year
period is often mentioned but this time span (cf. the 40 years wandering of the Israelites
in the wilderness and the 40 days during which Jesus was tempted by Satan) is to be
"shortened" (cf.Mk 13:20+ parallels) such that it does not in reality signify this length of
time. Reference is also made to a forty day period during which the Dajjāl is to beguile
the wayward:
"Forty days, one like a year, one like a month, one like a week, and the
rest of his days like yours." (Muslim+Tirmihdī, MM II:1145).
The belief that Jesus son of Mary will descend from heaven in the last days or at
the time of the resurrection (qiyāma) and have a role of considerable importance is
affirmed and elabourated in a great many Sunnī and Shī`ī traditions. Sachedina writes in
his Islamic Messianism,
"The Imamite doctrine of the Mahdī at one point merges with the return of
Jesus, another prominent figure of Islamic eschatology. The doctrine of
the return of Jesus, as described in the Sunnite sources and cited by the
Shunnite traditionalists is explained in a more or less uniform manner."
(Sachedina, 1981:171)
Islamic traditions and sourccs often teach that the Dajjāl is to be destroyed by
Jesus at his second coming though the Mahdī, who is normally though not always
distinguished from Jesus, has also been given this task be he the Sunnī deliverer who
will be born in the normal way or the Qā'im of the Shī`ī who will emerge from his
occultation or hidden retreat. `Abd Allāh ibn `Umar al-Bai.dāwī (d. c.1286 CE) the
renowned Sunnī commentator, in the course of commenting on Súra 43:61, sums up
the essentials of the mainstream Sunnī position with respect to the eschatological
descent of Jesus:
"In the Tradition (.hadīth) it is reported that Jesus will come down over a
mountain pass in the Holy Land called Afīq [apparently a mountain pass to
the Jordan valley], and in his hand he will carry a spear with which he will
kill the Antichrist (dajjāl). He will then go to Jerusalem (bait al-muqaddas)
just when the inhabitants are performing the morning prayer. The prayer
leader will want to step back (in view of Jesus' appearence), but Jesus will
give precedence to him and perform the prayer behind him according to
the rite of Mu.hammad [note the subservience of Jesus to the imam or
Mahdī as prayer leader]. Then he will kill the swine, dash to pieces the
crucifix, demolish the churches and synagogues, and kill the Christians
who do not have (correct) belief in him." (Gätje, 1971: 129)
The manner in which Jesus is to overcome or defeat the Dajjāl and the place
where this is to be accomplished are variously related in Islamic sources. It is generally
agreed that the Dajjāl will be killed in Syria (Palestine) as the following tradition
indicates:
"..God will send the Messiah son of Mary who will descend at the white
minaret in the east of Damascus wearing two garments died with saffron
and placing his hands on the wings of two angels. When he lowers his
head it will drip and when he raises it beads like pearls will scatter from it.
Every infidel who feels the odour of his breath will die, and his breath will
reach as far as he can see [see Isaiah 11:4 + Targum and II Thess,2:8
quoted below]. He will then seek him (the Dajjāl) till he catches up with
him at the gate of Ludd and kills him." (Muslim+Tirmihdī, MM.II:1146 ).
Another Sunnī tradition reports that the last hour will not come before the Muslim
armies, about to divide the booty of Constantinople, make a hasty retreat as a result of
a false alarm raised by Satan who suggests that the Dajjāl has attacked their absent
families. It is realised that the Satanic suggestion is false and the Muslim armies move
on to Syria;
"Then.ḥe (the Dajjāl) will come forth, and while they are preparing for
battle and arranging the ranks the time for prayer will come and Jesus son
of Mary will descend and lead them in prayer. When God's enemy (the
Dajjāl) sees him (Jesus) he will dissolve like salt in water, and if he (Jesus)
were to leave him (the Dajjāl) he would dissolve completely; but God will
kill him (the Dajjāl) by his hand and he will show them (the Muslim armies)
his blood on his spear." (Muslim, MM II:1131).
In many Sunnī traditions then, it is Jesus who is to destroy or kill the
Dajjāl. On the other hand, as Sachedina notes, in the Shī`ī traditions "the function of
killing the Dajjāl is reserved for al-Mahdi." (1981:172) According to a lengthy tradition
recorded in Majlisi's Bihar al-Anwar Imam `Alī predicted that the one-eyed Dajjāl who
will appear riding on an ass will be killed at Afīq (cf.above) at the hands of "the one
behind whom Jesus will worship" or the twelfth Imām al-Qā'im al-Mahdī (Sachedina,
1981:172)
Before turning to the subject of the physiognomic descriptions of the Dajjāl we
may sum up by quoting an interesting and detailed description of the appearence of the
Dajjāl contained in a Shī`ī doctrinal treatise:
"The forty-sixth of the signs of the appearence [of the Imām Ma.hdī] is the
coming forth of Antichrist. And the name of that accursed one is Sā'id ibn
Sayd [sic. cf.below]. The traditions concerning him are various. Some
imply that he has existed from the time of Adam until now, as it is related
in a tradition that the Apostle of God went to one of the houses in Medina
wherein was a babbling madman with his mother. The prophet pointed
him out to his companions and said, `O people, God hath not sent any
prophet without filling his church with the fear of Antichrist, whom he has
respited and left until your time. And this man shall come forth with a
mountain of bread and a river of water; and he will appear in a time of
famine. Most of his followers will be Jews, women, Arabs and nomads. He
will enter into all quarters and regions of the earth save Mecca and its two
mountains, and Medina and its two mountains. And whenever he comes
forth he will claim to be God, although he is one-eyed and God is not oneeyed.'
And in some traditions it hath come down that he was born in the
time of His Highness [the Prophet]; that he had a beard and spoke when
he was born; that the Prophet went to his house; that he claimed the rank
of a prophet and said, `I am one sent of God'; then His Holiness [the
Prophet] commanded an angel which was in the form of a great bird to
carry him away and cast him into a well situated in one of the Jewish
villages near Sajistān or I.sfahān; and he is chained [there] till such time
as he shall receive permission to come forth. And he has an ass whereof
each step covers a mile (three miles being equal to one passang), and on
the body of his ass are white spots like a leopard. Now the characteristics
of the Antichrist are these: his right eye is crushed; his left eye is in his
forehead and glitters as though it were tye morning star, and it is a piece
of blood, so that it seems to be pervaded with blood; between his two eyes
it is written that he is a misbeliever; so that everyone whether learned or
unlearned can read it; he is a skilled magician, who, by his magic,
descends into oceans; with him travels the sun; before his face is a
mountain of smoke, and behind his back is a white mountain, and through
[his] magic it seemeth in men's eyes that they are two mountains of water
and bread, though in truth it is not so, but a mere juggle; he traverseth all
oceans, and over whatsoever ocean or water he passeth it sinketh down
and cometh forth no more till the Day of Judgement; before him Satan
dances, and the devils cause him and his ass to appear pleasing in men's
eyes, and this is a mischief for the proving of mankind. And he crieth out
so that the dwellers in the East and in the West, whether jinn or of
mankind, hear his voice, and he saith, `0 my friends, I am God who
created and fashioned the members and parts of the world; I am that God
who predestined the affairs of [His] servants and guided and directed
mankind; I am your supreme Lord.' And most of his followers are women,
Jews, bastards, and musicians. But when he commeth to `Akaba-i-Afīk,
which is a mountain in Syria, His Highness the Kā'im shall slay him at the
third hour on Friday, and shall cleanse the world of the filth and foulness of
the Accursed One." (`Aqā'id al-Shī'a ["Tenets of the Shī`ītes"] trans. E.G.
Browne, 1891:304-5).

The physiognomic characteristics of the Islamic  Dajjāl
As in the above passage, a great many Islamic traditions containing physiognomic descriptions of the Dajjāl. They are obviously related to or rooted in the Jewish and Christian portraits of the Antichrist / Anti-Messiah outlined in the preceeding pages. Many are scattered throughout Sunnī and Shī`ī literatures. Perhaps the most frequently mentioned characteristic of the, Dajjāl is that he is to be one-eyed or have an eye or eyes of a peculiar or deformed nature -- also (see below) a constant feature of the Christian Antichrist portraits. Both the Prophet Mu.hammad and the Imam `Alī are said to have described the Dajjāl as being one-eyed or having an eye which shines like the morning-star. The followqng passages from various Sunnī books of tradition illustrate aspects of Islamic physiognomic depictions of the Dajjāl: 11

11 I am not aware ofany detailed study of the Islamic physiognomic chacacterists of the Dajjal. cf. though Rosenstiehl's, Le Portrait..

I [Muhammad] warn you of him [the Dajjāl], and there is no prophet who has not warned his people. Noah warned his people, but I shall tell you something about him which no prophet has told his people. You must know that he is one-eyed, whereas God is not one-eyed." (Bukhārī+ Muslim, MM II:1154).

"God is not hidden from you, God most high is not one-eyed, but the Antichrist is blind in the right eye, his eye looking like a floating grape." (Bukhārī+ Muslim, MM II:1144).

"There is no prophet who has not warned his people about the one-eyed liar. I tell you that he is one-eyed, but your Lord is not one-eyed. On his forehead are the letters K,F,R [signifying Kafir= "Infidel"]." (Bukhārī+ Muslim, MM II:1144).

"The Dajjāl will have an eye obliterated over which will be a coarse film, and 'Infidel' (Kafir) will be written on his forehead. Every Muslim who can write and those who cannot will read it." (Bukhārī+ Muslim, MM II:1144).

"The Dajjāl is blind in the left eye and has a great quantity of hair." (Bukhārī+ Muslim, MM II:1145).

"I [Muhammad] have told you so much about the Dajjāl that I am afraid you may not understand. The Antichrist is short, hen-toed (or 'bandylegged'), woolly-haired, one-eyed, an eye sightless and neither protruding nor deep-seated. If you are confused about him, know that your Lord is not one-eyed." (Abú Dāwúd, MM II:1154).

"On the day of resurrection a huge fat man will come, but in God's estimate he will not weigh as much as a gnat's wing.." (Bukhārī+ Muslim,
MM II:1171).

A J. Wensinck has summed up many of the features contained in the physiognomic descriptions of the Dajjāl. He writes,

"..the connection between the Antichrist and Satan is apparent in the description of al-Dadjdjal's appearence.. He is reddish (Bukhārī, Ru'yā, bāb 33) with frizzy hair (Bukhārī, Libās, bab 68), corpulent (Bukhārī, Libās, bab 33), he has a wide throat (.Tayalisī, N2532), he is one-eyed (Bukhārī, Anbiyā', bab 3; Ru'yā, bab 11). His one eye in his broad forehead (.Tayalisī, N 2532) is like a floating grape (Bukhārī, Maghāzī, bab 77). 0n his forehead is written kāfir ("unbeliever": Bukhārī, Hadjdj, bab 30; Anbiyā', bab 8). Or else one of his eyes is as if made of green glass (.Tayalisī No. 544), in the other is a hard nail (.Tayalisī No 1106)." (Wensinck, SEI).

Multiple eschatoloical Dajjāls
The Prophet Mu.hammad is, in various sources, said to have spokon of the appearence of about thirty dajjāls (or ka.d.dābún "liars") at the "last hour" each of whom would assert that he is the true messenger of God and also to have associated a number of his contemporaries with the Dajjāl or his "spy" (al-Jassāsa; see MM II:1149ff).

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HERE

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