Islam, like its predecessors, has the fascinating end-of-times bad guy. But unlike Judaism or Christianity, our Antichrist or Dajjal is already among us.
“He (Prophet Mohamed) said: By Allah. I have not made you assemble for exhortation or for a warning, but I have detained you here, for Tamim Dari, a Christian, who came and accepted Islam, told me something, which agrees with what I was telling you about the Dajjal. He narrated to me that he had sailed in a ship along with thirty men of Bani Lakhm and Bani Judham and had been tossed by waves in the ocean for a month. Then these (waves) took them (near) the land within the ocean (island) at the time of sunset. They sat in a small side-boat and entered that Island.
There was a beast with long thick hair (and because of these) they could not distinguish his face from his back.
T: “Woe to you, who can you be?”
J: “I am al-Jassasa.”
T: “What is al-Jassasa?”
J: “O people, go to this person in the monastery as he is very much eager to know about you.”When it named a person for us we were afraid of it lest it should be a Devil. Then we hurriedly went on till we came to that monastery and found a well-built person there with his hands tied to his neck and having iron shackles between his two legs up to the ankles.
T: “Woe be upon thee, who are you?”
A: “You would soon come to know about me. but tell me who are you.”
T: “We are people from Arabia and we embarked upon a boat but the sea-waves had been driving us for one month and they brought as near this island. We got Into the side-boats and entered this island and here a beast met us with profusely thick hair and because of the thickness of his hair his face could not be distinguished from his back. We said: Woe be to thee, who are you? It said: I am al- Jassasa. We said: What is al-Jassasa? And it said: You go to this very person in the monastery for he is eagerly waiting for you to know about you. So we came to you in hot haste fearing that that might be the Devil. “
A: “Tell me about the date-palm trees of Baisan.”
T: “About what aspect of theirs do you seek information? “
A: “I ask you whether these trees bear fruit or not.”
T: “Yes”
A: “I think these would not bear fruits. Inform me about the lake of Tabariyya?”
T: “Which aspect of it do you want to know?”
A: “Is there water in it?”
T: “There is abundance of water in it.”
A: “I think it would soon become dry. Inform me about the spring of Zughar.”
T: “Which aspect of it you want to know?”
A: “Is there water in it and does it irrigate?”
T: “Yes, there is abundance of water in it and the inhabitants irrigate with the help of it”
A: “Inform me about the unlettered Prophet; what has he done?”
T: “He has come out from Mecca and has settled In Yathrib”
A: “Do the Arabs fight against him?”
T: “Yes”
A: “How did he deal with him?”
T: “He has overcome those in his neighbourhood and they had submitted themselves before him”
A: “Had it actually happened?”
T: “Yes”
A: “If it is so that is better for them that they should show obedience to him. I am going to tell you about. I am Dajjal and would be soon permitted to get out and so I shall get out and travel in the land, and will not spare any town where I would not stay for forty nights except Mecca and Medina as these two are prohibited for me and I would not make an attempt to enter any one of these two. An angel with a sword in his hand would confront me and would bar my way and there would be angels to guard every passage leading to it”Then Allah’s Messenger striking the pulpit with the help of the end of his staff said: “This implies Taiba meaning Medina. Have I not, told you an account like this?” The people said: “Yes”, and “this account narrated by Tamim Dari was liked by me for it corroborates the account which I gave to you in regard to him (Dajjal) at Medina and Mecca. Behold he (Dajjal) is in the Syrian sea (Mediterranian) or the Yemen sea (Arabian sea). Nay, on the contrary, he As In the east, he is in the east, he is in the east, and he pointed with his hand towards the east.”
According to the hadith he’s chained up in an island east of Arabia. Could this island be among the two thousand islands which form Maldives? Maybe even the notorious prison island Maafushi! The description of his bondage “with his hands tied to his neck and having iron shackles between his two legs up to the ankles” would certainly send waves of nostalgia washing over any former inmate at the facility.
If Tamim-Dari and his companions could see and talk to him, why can’t we see him or his island today in this age of satellites and Google Earth? I am sure someone would have noticed if a large version of Prince Eric’s dog Max was bounding around on the beach and would have investigated. And wouldn’t that monastery be of interest to the archaeological community? More importantly the discovery would enable geriatrics to investigate Dajjal’s secret of longevity, since he clearly has been around for more than 1400 years. And surprisingly he’s human.
“He (Dajjal) would be a young man with twisted, contracted hair, and a blind eye.”
Ofcourse he could be “hidden” from us, possibly in some form of cartoonish invisible bubble or perhaps in the Bermuda triangle. Just like the tribes of Yajuj and Majuj, (who with all their manpower can’t seem to knock down a wall) and that shady character al-Khidr (http://khidr.org/khidr.htm). And Tamim was just lucky that God chose him to prove His point.
Dajjal is also prophesied to ‘appear’ among the Jews of Isfahan. Its always the Jews isn’t it? And no one asks how he has broken his chains and when or how he transported himself to Iran from his island prison that no one seems able to find.
Anas b. Malik reported that Allah’s Messenger said: “The Dajjal would be followed by seventy thousand Jews of Isfahan wearing Persian shawls.”
As the current population of Jews in Isfahan is around 3000 we may be safe from this apocalyptic villain for a few more years. Lets hope that Dajjal survives till then. From the looks of it he might be submerged underwater with the rising sea levels. And his ‘little’ dog too.
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