The legend of al-dajjāl (antichrist): The personification of evil in the Islamic tradition

Muslim World

Volumn 93, Issue 2, 2003, Pages 291-307

  Saritoprak, Zeki ^a  

^a JOHN CARROLL UNIVERSITY   (United States)

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 62449110817     PISSN: 00274909     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/1478-1913.00024     Document Type: Article

References (77)

1. The terms al-Dajjāl and Antichrist will be used interchangeably.
2. Khalil bin Ahmad Al-Faraidi, Kitāb al-'Ayn, eds. Mahdi al-Makhzumi and Ibrahim al-Samarai, (Baghdad, 1967), vol. 3, 156-7.
3. Tabir al-Ru'ya Bukhārī, no. 33. (Traditions indicate that the Prophet sees both Christ and the anti-Christ. The figure of Christ is beautiful, in contrast, the anti-Christ is hideous. )
4. Jamāl al-Dīn Muhammad Ibn Manzūr, Lisān al-'Arab (Beirut, 1970), vol. 4, 4196-9.
5. Raphael Nakhlah, Gharaib al-Lughat al-'Arabiyyah (The Strange Words of Arabic Language) (Beirut, n. d. ), 206.
6. Bedizzaman Said Nursi, Şualar (Rays) (Istanbul: Sozler, 1958), 500. Nursi believes that there are two Antichrists: the first is the one who emerges in the Muslim world and tries to destroy the teachings of Muhammad; the second, which is more powerful, is the one who emerges in the world of Christendom and tries to destroy the teachings of Jesus. The Prophet of Islam in various traditions in fact refers to both. Therefore, the Antichrist is also the anti-Muhammad.
7. Muhammad 'Awad, Masīh al-Dalalah Ua' al-Fitnah fī Ākhir al-Zamāln: al-Masīh al-Dajjāl (The Messiah of Misguidance and trial at the end of Time: Antichrist) (Cairo, 1989), 53.
8. See M. Fuād 'Abd al-Bāqī, al-Mu'jam al-Mufahras (Cairo, 1987), 515-16.
9. Al-Asqalani (d. 852 c. e. ), Ahmad bin Ali bin Hajar tells a story in which Muhammad, on the occasion of the death of his son al-Qasim, is referred to as abtar (one who is cut off) by al-As bin wail, a forceful opponent, meaning that Muhammad is without heirs. Allah comforts Muhammad with the above revelation through the angel Gabriel (108, 1-3). Muhammad is promised that he has "abundance" while his enemy is actually the one who is cut off.
10. See al-'Asqalani's al-Isābah, vol. 5. (Beirut: Dar al-Jil, 1992), 515.
11. Bernard McGinn, Anti-Christ: Two Thousand Years of the Human Fascination with Evil (New York: Columbia University Press, 2000), 111.
12. Hadīth references are given according to the index of A. J. Wensinck's Concordance Et Indices De La Tradition Muslamane.
13. Al-Bukhārī, Adab, 97: Muslim, Fitan, 85-88, 95: Abū Dawud, Malāhim, 16.
14. See also, David J. Halperin. "The Ibn Sayad Traditions and the Legend of Al-Dajjāl," Journal of the American Oriental Society 96 (1976), 213-25.
15. For specific reference to these Hadīth, see 220.
16. Al-Bukharī, Fitan, no. 26.
17. This long tradition is found in Muslim, Fitan, no. 110.
18. Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, Risale-i Nur Kulliyati I-II (The Collection of the Treatises of Light) (Istanbul: Nesil Yayinlari, 1996), vol. I, 887.
19. Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, Sozler (Istanbul: Sozler Publications, 1986), 319.
20. Ibn Mājah, Fitan, no. 33.
21. Muslim, Fitan, no. 119, 120, 121;
22. see also Malāhim Abū Dāwūd, no. 15;
23. Tirmidhī, Fitan, no. 66.
24. A. J. Jenkinson, "The Moslim Anti-Christ Legend," Muslim World (New York, 1930), vol. 20, 50-55;
25. Abel, A. "al-Dadjdjal. " Encyclopedia of Islam Second Edition. (London, 1976), vol. 2, 77;
26. Triton, A. S. "al-Dajjāl-Anti-Christ," Proc, 5th All India Oriental Conference 1930. Triton focuses on the Christian influence in the Muslim understanding of the Anti-Christ. Sweetman explores similarities between the Islamic concept of the Anti-Christ and the Christian concept of the Anti-Christ, without attributing these similarities to the influence of one faith over another. Sweetman J. Windrow, Islam and Christianity (London, 1947), 213-14.
27. For details of the criticism of this tradition and its narrators see: Zeki Saritoprak, Islama ve digger dinlere gore Deccal (The Anti-Christ According to Islam and other Religions (Istanbul: Yeni Asya Yayinlari, 1992), 65-66.
28. Muslim, al Salāt, no. 128;
29. the Hadīth also briefly mentioned in al-Bukhari, Fitan, no. 26.
30. Muslim, Salāt, no. 128.
31. Ali bin Sultan al-Haravi al-Qari, Mirqat al-Mafatih. (Cairo, n. d. ), vol. 5, 210.
32. Muhammad Anwar Al-Kashmiri, Atasrih bima Tawatere fi Nuzul al-Masīh, edited by Abel al-Fattah Abu Ghuddah (Aleppo, 1965), 60. In editor's footnote.
33. Al-Bukhārī, Fitan, no. 26.
34. See also Muslim Fitan no. 95, 101, 102: Abu Dawud. Malahim, no. 14;
35. al-Tirmidhi, Eitan, no. 656-62.
36. Al-Nawawi, Muhyi al-Din Abu Zakariyya Yahya Bin Sharaf. Sharh Sahīh Muslim (Cairo, 1929), vol. 18, 60;
37. See also for more details: Ibn Kathir, Isrnael Bin Omar. Nahiyit al-Bidayab Wa al-Nahiyah fi al-Fitan Wa al-Malahim, edited by Muhammad Fahim (Riyadh, 1968), vol. 1, 148.
38. See Bernard McGinn, Anti-Christ 112, ft. 165.
39. The Hadīth is recorded in Ibn Majah, Fitan, no. 33.
40. Nursi, Risale-i Nur Kulliyat vol. I, 347.
41. Muhammad bin al-Murtaza al-Kasany, I'lm al-Yaqīn fi Usūl al-Din. (Qum, 1979), vol. 2, 805.
42. Ismail bin Mūsa al-Jaytali, Qanātir al-Khaynat (Cairo, 1889), vol. III, 318.
43. Abd al-Jabbar Abu al-Hasan al-Hamadani, al-Mughni fi Abwab al-Tawhid wa al-Adl, edited by Amin al-Khuli (Cairo, 1960), vol. 16, 432.
44. Ibn al-Arabi, Muhyi al-Din Muhammad Ibn Ali, al-Futuhat al-Makkiyyah, edited by Usman Yahya and Ibrahim Madhkur. (Cairo, 1972), vol. 4, 337-8.
45. Rumi Jalal al-Din Mawlana, al-Mathnawī, trans. into Arabic by Muhammad Abd al-Salam al-Kefafi (Beirut, 1966), vol. 1, 104.
46. Said Ramadan al-Buti, Kubra al-Yaqiniyyat. al-Kaumiyyah (Damascus, 1974), 342.
47. For traditionist views of some contemporary scholars see the following sources: al-Jisr, Husain, Al-Husun al-Hamidiyyah (Cairo, n. d. ), 86-87;
48. Khan, Siddiq Hasan, Qatf al-Thimar fi Beyan Aaqaid Ahl al-Athar (Picking the Prints of Traditional Beliefs), edited by Asim bin Abd Allah al-Qaryuni (Cairo, 1984), 118;
49. al-Jazairi, Abu Bakr, Aqidah al-Mumin (The Creed of the Believer) (Cairo, 1985), 262.
50. For more sources on the subject see Zeki Saritoprak's Deccal, 116-117.
51. Rada, Rashid, Tafsir al-Manar (Cairo, 1954), vol. 3, 317-8.
52. For symbolic meaning of the Anti-Christ, see also: Muhammad Al-Bahi, Ra'y al-Din Bayn al-Sail Wa al-Mujib (Cairo, 1980), vol. 3, 70.
53. Muhammad Asad, The Road To Mecca (Arabic Version) (Beirut, 1956), 309-312.
54. Mustafa Mahmud, al-Masih al-Dajjāl (The Anti-Christ) (Cairo, 1980), 18-25.
55. See Muhammad Nasir al-Din al-Albani, Silsilah al-Ahadis al-Sahihah (The Chain of the Authentic Traditions (Kuwait, 1979), vol. 3, 190-191;
56. vol. 4, 477;
57. Muhammad al-Hamid, Rudud Ala Abatil (Answers to the Absurd) (Aleppo, n. d. ), 107.
58. Rida, ibid. , vol. 9, 444, 459.
59. Muhammad al-Ghazzālī, 'Aqīdat al-Muslim (Beirut, 1987), 124-5, 221.
60. Ayyoub Said, al-Masih al-Dajjāl Wa Qital Akhir al-Zaman Min Dairat al-Zihn Ila alam al-Tasawwur (The Anti-Christ and His War at the End of Time From the World of Memory the World of Imagination (Cairo, 1985), 53, 146;
61. Ibrahim Sabri, Al-Madhi Wa al-Mustaqbal fi Nubuat Daniel (The Past and the Future in the Prophecy of Daniel) (Cairo, n. d. ), 39.
62. Ben-Azra, Juan Josafat, The Coming of Messiah in Glory and Majesty, translated from Spanish by Rev. Edward living, a. m. (London, L. B. Seeley and Son, 1827), 297-300.
63. For the debate of this subject see: Muhammad Salamah Jibr, Ashrat al-Saa' Wa Asra ruha (The Signs of the Hour and its Secrets (Kuwait, 1982), 34;
64. Laila Mabruk, Alamat al-Saa' al-Sughra wa al-Kubra (The Small and Large Signs of the Hour) (1986), 58;
65. Ibrahim al-Gamal, al-I'tida wa al-Mahdi al-Muntazar (Animosity and the Expected Mahdi) (Medina, n. d. ), 34, 51-53.
66. Abu Usman Amr Bin Bahr al-Jahiz, Al-Bayan Wa al-Tabyin, edited by Abd al-Salam Muhammad Harun (Cairo, 1985), vol. 1, 397;
67. vol. 3, 356.
68. Abu Omar Ahmad Ibn Abd Rabbih, al-Iqd al-Farid (Cairo, 1962), vol. 4, 39-44.
69. For similar examples in Arab folklore, see Hamza Bin al-Hasan al-Isbahani, Al-Durrat al-Fakhirah Fi al-Amthal al-Tharih, edited by Abd al-Magid Qatamash (Cairo, 1972), 185;
70. al-Thaalibi, Abu Mansur Abd al-Malik, Lataif al-Lutf, edited by Omar al-Asad (Beirut, 1980), 117.
71. Muhammad Bin Ahmed Ibn Iyas, Badai' al-Zuhur Fi Waqai' al-Duhur (Cairo, n. d. ), 191.
72. For Hanafī's opinion on the subject see his book Min al-Aqida Ila al-Thawra (From Faith to Revolution) (Cairo, 1988), vol. 4, 471f.
73. For details of folkloric representations see Said al-Hadim, Ma'lam Min Funun al-Sha'biyyah (Cairo, 1961), 109. The author thanks Dr. Hasan Hanafī, professor of philosophy at Cairo University, for this source.
74. Muhammad bin Muhammad al-Waiz al-Hijazi, Sawa' al-Sirat fi Zikr al-Saa' Wa al-Ashrat, unpublished manuscript, Egypt National Library under Ghaybiat Taymur no. 26, folio, 271.
75. Atiyyah Izzat, "Hijrat al-Yahud Min al-Ittihad al-Soviati (The Immigration of Jews from the Soviet Union)," Al-Nur Gazette (Cairo: Issue 44, Feb. 7. 1990).
76. Christopher Hill, Anti-Christ in Seventh Century England (London, 1970), 158.
77. For details of the Anti-Christ in the contemporary Christianity, see: McGinn. Anti-Christ: Two Thousand Years of the Human Fascination with Evil (New York: Columbia University Press, 2000), 250-80.