The death of the Dajjaal

Praise be to Allaah.

The Dajjaal will die at the hands of the Messiah ‘Eesa ibn Maryam (peace be upon him), as is indicated by the saheeh ahaadeeth. The Dajjaal will appear on earth and will gain many followers, spreading his fitnah far and wide. No one will escape his fitnah except a few of the believers. At that point, ‘Eesa ibn Maryam (peace be upon him) will descend to the eastern minaret in Damascus, and the believing slaves of Allaah will gather around him. He will lead them towards the Dajjaal, who at the time of the descent of ‘Eesa (peace be upon him) will be heading for Bayt al-Maqdis (Jerusalem). ‘Eesa will catch up with him at the gate of Ludd (Lod), a place in Palestine near Bayt al-Maqdis. When the Dajjaal sees him, he will start to melt like salt melting in water, but ‘Eesa (peace be upon him) will say to him, “I have some business with you, you will not get away from me.” Then he will catch up with him and will kill him with his spear. His followers will flee, pursued by the Muslims, who will kill them, and trees and rocks will say, ‘O Muslim, O slave of Allaah, there is Jew behind me – come and kill him!” – apart from the gharqad (box thorn), for it is one of the trees of the Jews. 

There follow some of the ahaadeeth narrated about the death of the Dajjaal and his followers: 

Muslim (no. 5233) narrated that ‘Abd-Allaah ibn ‘Amr (may Allaah be pleased with them both) said: “The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: ‘The Dajjaal will emerge among my ummah and will stay for forty… Then Allaah will send ‘Eesa ibn Maryam, who looks like ‘Urwah ibn Mas’ood, and he will pursue him and kill him.” 

Imaam Ahmad (no. 14920) and al-Tirmidhi (no. 2170) narrated that Majma’ ibn Jaariyah al-Ansaari (may Allaah be pleased with him) said: “I heard the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) say: ‘The son of Maryam will kill the Dajjaal at the gate of Ludd.” 

Muslim (no. 5228) narrated a lengthy hadeeth from al-Nawwaas ibn Sam’aan (may Allaah be pleased with him) about the Dajjaal, in which the story of the descent of ‘Eesa and his killing the Dajjaal are mentioned. In this hadeeth the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “… Every kaafir who will smell the fragrance of (‘Eesa) will die, and his fragrance will reach as far as he will be able to see. He will then search for him (the Dajjaal) until he catches up with him at the gate of Ludd, where he will kill him.” 

Imaam Ahmad narrated that Jaabir ibn ‘Abd-Allaah (may Allaah be pleased with him) said: “The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: ‘The Dajjaal will emerge at a time when religious commitment is low and knowledge has decreased… Then ‘Eesa ibn Maryam will descend just before dawn and will call people, saying, ‘O people, what is stopping you from coming out against this evil liar?’ They will say, ‘This man is a jinn’, then they will set out. When they reach ‘Eesa ibn Maryam, the time for prayer will come the iqqamah will be given, and it will be said to him, ‘Go forward (to lead the prayer), O Spirit of Allaah.’ He will say, ‘Let your imaam go forward and lead you in prayer.’ When they have prayed fajr, they will go out to meet him (the Dajjaal) and when they see the liar, he will start to dissolve like salt in water. ‘Eesa will go to him and kill him. Even the trees and rocks will call out, ‘O Spirit of Allaah, here is a Jew!’ And none of those who followed him will be left, they will all be killed.” (Hadeeth no. 14426). 

When he (may Allaah curse him) is killed, his great fitnah will come to an end. Allaah will save those who believed from his evil and from the evil of his followers, at the hands of the Spirit and Word of Allaah, ‘Eesa ibn Maryam (peace be upon him) and his believing followers. Praise and blessings be to Allaah.

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Sheikh Muhammed Salih Al-Munajjid