Characteristics of Dajjal

Introduction

This article will detail all of Dajjal’s descriptions found in the ahadith. For an explanation of who dajjal is, visit this article.

1) Physical description

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: I have told you so much about the Dajjal (Antichrist) that I am afraid you may not understand. The Antichrist is short, hen-toed, 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.

[Sunan Abi Dawud 4320]

2) Kafir written on the forehead

The Dajjal has one blind eye, with a layer of thick skin over it, and between his eyes is written “disbeliever” (كَافِرٌ) which every believer will read, whether he is literate or illiterate.’

[Sahih Muslim 2934b]

3) Kafir will be read by any believer (Momin), literate or illiterate

“…between his eyes is written “disbeliever” (كَافِرٌ) which every believer will read, whether he is literate or illiterate.”

[Sahih Muslim 2934b]

“… everyone who would resent his deeds would be able to read or every believer (مُؤْمِنٍ).”

[Sahih Muslim 2930a, 2931, 169d]

“…everyone who is averse to his behavior shall read it.”

[Jami` at-Tirmidhi 2235]

4) Blind in the right eye

Al-Masih Ad- Dajjal is blind in the right eye and his eye looks like a protruding grape.

[Sahih al-Bukhari 7407]

Allah is not one-eyed and behold that Dajjal is blind of the right eye and his eye would be like a floating grape.

[Sahih Muslim 169e]

The Prophet (ﷺ) mentioned the Masih Ad-Dajjal in front of the people saying, Allah is not one-eyed while Masih Ad-Dajjal is blind in the right eye and his eye looks like a bulging out grape. While sleeping near the Ka`ba last night, I saw in my dream a man of brown color the best one can see amongst brown color and his hair was long that it fell between his shoulders. His hair was lank and water was dribbling from his head and he was placing his hands on the shoulders of two men while circumambulating the Ka`ba. I asked, ‘Who is this?’ They replied, ‘This is Jesus, son of Mary.’ Behind him I saw a man who had very curly hair and was blind in the right eye, resembling Ibn Qatan (i.e. an infidel) in appearance. He was placing his hands on the shoulders of a person while performing Tawaf around the Ka`ba. I asked, ‘Who is this? ‘They replied, ‘The Masih, Ad-Dajjal.’ “

[Sahih al-Bukhari 3439, 3440]
[Sahih al-Bukhari 3441]
[Sahih al-Bukhari 5902]
[Sahih al-Bukhari 6999]
[Sahih al-Bukhari 7026]
[Sahih Muslim 169b]
[Muwatta Book 49, Hadith 2]

5) He will have Paradise and Hell / River of Fire and Water

الدَّجَّالُ أَعْوَرُ الْعَيْنِ الْيُسْرَى جُفَالُ الشَّعَرِ مَعَهُ جَنَّةٌ وَنَارٌ فَنَارُهُ جَنَّةٌ وَجَنَّتُهُ نَارٌ

“There would be a garden and fire with him and his fire would be a garden and his garden would be fire.”

[Sahih Muslim 2934b]

وَإِنَّهُ يَجِيءُ مَعَهُ مِثْلُ الْجَنَّةِ وَالنَّارِ

“he would bring along with him a likeness of Paradise and Hell-Fire”

[Sahih Muslim 2936]

إِنَّ مَعَهُ مَاءً وَنَارًا، فَنَارُهُ مَاءٌ بَارِدٌ، وَمَاؤُهُ نَارٌ

“The Prophet (ﷺ) said about Ad-Dajjal that he would have water and fire with him: (what would seem to be) fire, would be cold water and (what would seem to be) water, would be fire.”

[Sahih al-Bukhari 7130]

“He said that the Dajjal would appear and there would be along with him water and fire …”

[Sahih Muslim 2935a]

“There would be along with him two canals (one flowing with water) and the other one (having) fire (within it)”

[Sahih Muslim 2935b]

“I know best what the Dajjal (Antichrist) will have with him. He will have with him a sea of water and a river of fire, and what you see as fire will be water and what you sea as water will be fire. If any of you who lives up to that time and desires water, he should drink from what he sees as fire, for he will find it water.”

[Sunan Abi Dawud 4315]

In all these ahadith, what seems like Paradise/Water/good will actually be Hell/Fire/evil. This is basically Satan’s tactic of flipping good and evil to misguide the people. The Holy Quran describes it:

By Allah, We did send Messengers to the peoples before thee; but Satan made their works[sins] appear beautiful to them. So he is their patron this day, and they shall have a grievous punishment.

[Quran 16:63]

6) He will have an Abundance of Food and Water with him

قُلْتُ لأَنَّهُمْ يَقُولُونَ إِنَّ مَعَهُ جَبَلَ خُبْزٍ وَنَهَرَ مَاءٍ

“Because the people say that he will have a mountain of bread and a river of water with him.”

[Sahih al-Bukhari 7122]

“No one asked Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) more about Dajjil than I asked him. He said: He should not be a source of worry to you for he would not be able to do any harm to you. I said: Allah’s Messenger, it is alleged that he would have along with him (abundance of) food and water. Thereupon he said: He would be very insignificant in the eye of Allah (even) with all this.”

[Sahih Muslim 2939a]

“… he would have a mountain load of bread and mutton and rivers of water…”

[Sahih Muslim 2939b]

6) Rejectors of Dajjal will lose their wealth

“He would then come to another people and invite them. But they would reject him and he would go away from them and there would be drought for them and nothing would be left with them in the form of wealth.”

[Sahih Muslim 2937a]

7) Travel extremely fast through the earth

We said: Allah’s Messenger, how quickly would he walk upon the earth? Thereupon he (ﷺ) said: Like cloud driven by the wind.

[Sahih Muslim 2937a]

فَإِذَا رَجُلٌ يَجُرُّ شَعْرَهُ مُسَلْسَلٌ فِي الأَغْلاَلِ يَنْزُو فِيمَا بَيْنَ السَّمَاءِ وَالأَرْضِ فَقُلْتُ مَنْ أَنْتَ قَالَ أَنَا الدَّجَّالُ

“So I came to it and found a man who was trailing his hair, chained in iron collars, and leaping between Heaven and Earth. I asked: Who are you? He replied: I am the Dajjal.”

[Sunan Abi Dawud 4325]

Travel to every city except Mecca and Medina

لَيْسَ مِنْ بَلَدٍ إِلاَّ سَيَطَؤُهُ الدَّجَّالُ، إِلاَّ مَكَّةَ وَالْمَدِينَةَ

“There will be no town which Ad-Dajjal will not enter except Mecca and Medina”

[Sahih al-Bukhari 1881]

لَيْسَ مِنْ بَلَدٍ إِلاَّ سَيَطَؤُهُ الدَّجَّالُ إِلاَّ مَكَّةَ وَالْمَدِينَةَ

“There will be no land which would not be covered by the Dajjal but Mecca and Medina”

[Sahih Muslim 2943a]

8) Command the sky to rain and grow crops

“He would then give command to the sky and there would be rainfall upon the earth and it would grow crops.”

[Sahih Muslim 2937a]

9) Make animals produce more produce

“Then in the evening, their pasturing animals would come to them with their humps very high and their udders full of milk and their flanks stretched.”

[Sahih Muslim 2937a]

10) Extract treasures from wastelands

“He would then walk through the waste land and say to it: Bring forth your treasures, and the treasures would come out and collect (themselves) before him like the swarm of bees.”

[Sahih Muslim 2937a]

11) Revive dead people

“He would then call a person brimming with youth and strike him with the sword and cut him into two pieces and (make these pieces lie at a distance which is generally) between the archer and his target. He would then call (that young man) and he will come forward laughing with his face gleaming (with happiness)”

[Sahih Muslim 2937a]

12) Dajjal is the biggest fitnah ever

‏ مَا بَيْنَ خَلْقِ آدَمَ إِلَى قِيَامِ السَّاعَةِ خَلْقٌ أَكْبَرُ مِنَ الدَّجَّالِ

“There would be no creation (creating more trouble) than the Dajjal right from the creation of Adam to the Last Hour.”

[Sahih Muslim 2946a]

Dajjal means deceiver. The Holy Quran talks about the biggest deceiver:

یٰۤاَیُّہَا النَّاسُ اِنَّ وَعۡدَ اللّٰہِ حَقٌّ فَلَا تَغُرَّنَّکُمُ الۡحَیٰوۃُ الدُّنۡیَا ٝ وَلَا یَغُرَّنَّکُمۡ بِاللّٰہِ الۡغَرُوۡرُ

O ye men, assuredly the promise of Allah is true, so let not the present life deceive you, nor let the Deceiver deceive you with respect to Allah.

Surely, Satan is an enemy to you; so take him for an enemy.

[Quran 35:5-6]

13) Every Prophet warned about the Dajjal

“l warn you against him (i.e. the Dajjal) and there was no prophet but warned his nation against him. No doubt, Noah warned his nation against him.”

[Sahih al-Bukhari 3337]

The Holy Quran mentions who all prophets warned against:

وَلَقَدۡ بَعَثۡنَا فِیۡ کُلِّ اُمَّۃٍ رَّسُوۡلًا اَنِ اعۡبُدُوا اللّٰہَ وَاجۡتَنِبُوا الطَّاغُوۡتَ

And We did raise among every people a Messenger, preaching: ‘Worship Allah and shun the Evil One.’

[Quran 16:36]

14) Dajjal will emerge from the Church

He 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. They said: Woe to you, who can you be? Thereupon it said: I am al-Jassasa. They said: What is al-Jassasa? And it said: O people, go to this person in the monastery as he is very much eager to know about you. He (the narrator) said: 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.

We said: Woe be upon thee, who are you?
And he said: You would soon come to know about me. but tell me who are you.
We said: 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…

He said: Inform me about the lake Tiberius?
We said: Which aspect of it do you want to know?
He said: Is there water in it?
They said: There is abundance of water in it.
Thereupon he said: I think it would soon become dry…
He said: Inform me about the unlettered Prophet; what has he done?
We said: He has come out from Mecca and has settled In Yathrib (Medina).
He said: Do the Arabs fight against him?
We said: Yes. He said: How did he deal with them?
We informed him that he had overcome those in his neighbourhood and they had submitted themselves before him.
Thereupon he said to us: Has it actually happened?
We said: Yes.
Thereupon he said: If it is so that is better for them that they should show obedience to him. I am going to tell you about myself and 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 (places) are prohibited (areas) 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 (ﷺ) 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 (of the Dajjal) 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 (Mediterranean) or the Yemen sea (Arabian sea). Nay, on the contrary, he is in the east, he is in the east, he is in the east, and he pointed with his hand towards the east.

I (Fatima bint Qais) said: I preserved it in my mind (this narration from Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ).

[Sahih Muslim 2942a]

Click here to read the complete article on this topic.

15) Dajjal will be killed with arguments

فَقَالَ ‏”‏ غَيْرُ الدَّجَّالِ أَخْوَفُنِي عَلَيْكُمْ إِنْ يَخْرُجْ وَأَنَا فِيكُمْ فَأَنَا حَجِيجُهُ دُونَكُمْ وَإِنْ يَخْرُجْ وَلَسْتُ فِيكُمْ فَامْرُؤٌ حَجِيجُ نَفْسِهِ وَاللَّهُ خَلِيفَتِي عَلَى كُلِّ مُسْلِمٍ إِنَّهُ شَابٌّ

Thereupon he (ﷺ) said: I harbor fear in regard to you in so many other things besides the Dajjal. If he comes forth while I am among you, I shall contend with him on your behalf, but if he comes forth while I am not amongst you, a man must contend on his own behalf and Allah would take care of every Muslim on my behalf (and safeguard him against his evil).

[Sahih Muslim 2937a]

حَجِيجُهُ (Contend) means to argue/debate

As per Lanes Lexicon, this is the following definition of the word:

Root: حج – Entry: حَجِيجٌ
Also i. q.مُحَاجٌّ↓ as act. part. n. of حَاجَّ: so in the phrase, أَنَا حَجِيجُهُ I am he who will overcome him by arguments, or proofs, or the like: occurring in a trad. relating to Ed-Dejjál.

[Lanes Lexicon, Book 1, part 1, pg 515]

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16) Dajjal will emerge from the East

بَلْ مِنْ قِبَلِ الْمَشْرِقِ ما هُوَ مِنْ قِبَلِ الْمَشْرِقِ مَا هُوَ مِنْ قِبَلِ الْمَشْرِقِ مَا هُوَ

“Nay, on the contrary, he is in the east, he is in the east, he is in the east, and he pointed with his hand towards the east.”

[Sahih Muslim 2942a]

الدَّجَّالَ يَخْرُجُ مِنْ أَرْضٍ بِالْمَشْرِقِ

“The Dajjal will emerge from a land in the east called Khurasan”

[Musnad Ahmad 12]

17) Most followers will be Jews and women

يَتْبَعُ الدَّجَّالَ مِنْ يَهُودِ أَصْبَهَانَ سَبْعُونَ أَلْفًا عَلَيْهِمُ الطَّيَالِسَةُ

“The Dajjal would be followed by seventy thousand Jews of Isfahan wearing Persian shawls.”

[Sahih Muslim 2944]

“You shall fight the Jews. You will gain such control over them, that a rock will say: ‘O Muslim! This Jew is behind me so kill him!’”

[Jami` at-Tirmidhi 2236]

Note: The Tirmidhi hadith is under the chapter “What Has Been Related About The Signs of the Dajjal” (باب مَا جَاءَ فِي عَلاَمَةِ الدَّجَّالِ).

عَنِ ابْنِ عُمَرَ قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ يَنْزِلُ الدَّجَّالُ فِي هَذِهِ السَّبَخَةِ بِمَرِّقَنَاةَ فَيَكُونُ أَكْثَرَ مَنْ يَخْرُجُ إِلَيْهِ النِّسَاءُ حَتَّى إِنَّ الرَّجُلَ لَيَرْجِعُ إِلَى حَمِيمِهِ وَإِلَى أُمِّهِ وَابْنَتِهِ وَأُخْتِهِ وَعَمَّتِهِ فَيُوثِقُهَا رِبَاطًا مَخَافَةَ أَنْ تَخْرُجَ إِلَيْهِ

[5/30 المحدث أحمد شاكر خلاصة حكم المحدث إسناده صحيح في مسند أحمد]

“The False Messiah will come upon this marsh of Marriqanat. Most of those who go out to him will be women, until a man goes back to his wife, his mother, his daughter, his sister, and his aunt to shackle them tightly, fearing they would go out to him.”

[Musnad Aḥmad 5353] – Sahih by Ahmad Shakir