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Book's
List
> The
Anti-Christ and Gog and
Magog
> Segment 3 .
Sign Number: I
Sign Number: II
Sign Number: III And he will pass through a wilderness and will say to it: Bring forth thy treasures. So its treasures will follow him as the bees follow their queen (Mishkat Ch. al-Dajjal.). Sign Number: IV
Sign Number: V
Sign Number: VI
Sign Number: VII And the last of those that will go out to him will be women, so much so that a man will return to his mother and his daughter and his sister and his aunt, and tie them fast lest they should go out to him (Dajjal) (Ibid., No. 2116.). Sign Number: VIII Beware! Most of the comrades and followers of the Dajjal will be the Jews and illegitimate children (Ibid., No. 2998.). Sign Number: IX And the women will assume the appearance of men and the men will assume the appearance of women (Ibid., No. 2998.). Sign Number: X And he will cure the blind and the lepers and will revive the dead (Ibid., No. 2080.). Sign Number: XI Whoever hears about the Dajjal should keep away from him. By Allah! One will come to him and he will think that he is a believer, but he will follow him (Dajjal) on account of the doubts that he will raise in his mind (Ibid., No. 2057.). Sign Number: XII
And very shortly I (i.e. Dajjal) shall be permitted to issue forth; so I will go forth and travel in the land and there will be no habitation which I shall not go through in twenty nights, excepting Makkah and Madinah (Ibid., No. 2988.).
The streams and fruits of the world will be made subservient to him (Kanz al-`Ummal Vol.7, No. 2090.). This, in fact, is the significance underlying all these words, viz., that all kinds of provisions will be in the control of Dajjal. This is a paradise for superficial observers, but it is spoken of as being hell, in reality, for whoever gets engrossed in the enjoyments of this life such as dancing, amusements and revelries, theatres, cinemas, indiscriminate mixing of the two sexes, drinking, gambling, adultery, cannot be expected to have any thought of God. As a result, he is deprived of spiritual benefits which is really a hell, and which though hidden from the physical eye of man in this life will become manifest in the hereafter. On the other hand, the hell of Dajjal which stands for the scantiness of worldly pleasures is a paradise really, because the lesser the engrossment in worldly pleasures, the greater the spiritual felicities to which a man can have access through communion with God. The enjoyments of physical life constitute the heaven of Dajjal, but they can only be had by neglecting the spirit. Whoever drinks the cup of 'life of enjoyment' meets perdition.
He will hold the cloud in his right hand. In other words, he would be moving about in the midst of or above the clouds. The Prophet further elucidated this by saying that "he will jump about between the earth and the sky." All these are clear references to his travelling through the air. Again he is spoken of as being so swift in his movements that He will overreach the sun in its setting place. Today it has become actually possible to move swifter than the apparent movement of the sun, and one starting in the morning from an eastern place can reach the west before the sun sets. A flight from Calcutta to Bombay, or from Lahore to Karachi takes but a few hours. And who knows what unthought of speeds may yet be attained by man! We are further told that the Dajjal "will find the sea ankle-deep for him." We find a literal fulfilment of these words in the movements of submarines under the waters of the seas. The conveyance of Dajjal is called an "ass" because the ass was used to convey man from one place to another and also served as a beast of burden for man. But that this was not a real ass is shown by the fact that it is described as having ears seventy yards apart, which an ass could not have, and as being of a white or shining colour. This description really draws the picture of a railway train. As for the statement that Dajjal's "one step will cover a journey of a day and a night", it evidently means that the distance which can be traversed by a man on foot in the course of 24 hours, will just be one step for Dajjal. It must be borne in mind that the object in describing these powers of Dajjal over the forces of nature is not to condemn his conquest of the forces of nature which is really an indication of the greatness of man, and to which the Qur'an has again and again drawn attention. The object is to point out that having conquered the forces of nature, the Dajjal will consider himself as the actual master and forget his real position as a humble servant of God. What is condemned is Dajjal's assuming the powers of divinity.
With him will be mountains of bread, and people will be in distress except those who follow him. Indeed, the best guarantee of economic security in these days is to adopt the faith of Christianity. Those who do not adopt this course and who live side by side with these worldly wise people, find themselves in great hardship and difficulty. How truly did the Prophet draw this picture: Whoever follows him, he gives him to eat, but also makes of him an unbeliever (Kanz al-`Ummal Vol. 7, No. 2104.). But apart from those who undergo complete and formal religious conversions, there are many others, who just play a second fiddle to Dajjal and flatter him only for the sake of monetary benefits. It is with regard to this class of people that the hadith says: We keep his (i.e., Dajjal's) company although we know that he is an unbeliever. We still keep his company so that we may eat of his food. These are the slaves of the belly, who dance to his music, and do things detrimental to their faith, to their nation and to their country just for the sake of bread. The object of Dajjal in feeding these people is to make them irreligious by holding before them some kind of temptation, and even if he does not succeed in converting them to Christianity, he makes them at least indifferent to their own faith. What is, after all, the object with which so many colleges and schools are opened by various Christian missions? As a matter of fact, the whole system of education which is imparted to our boys and girls, tends to just one result, viz., that the material education imparted to them cuts them adrift from Religion and God. And what is the incentive for this education? Only this that those receiving it will be entitled to some jobs - the same question of bread again.
And devils will be raised with him who will assume the appearance of those who have died from among one's parents and brothers. Also: "They will speak to people". So these devils apart from assuming the form of men who once lived, will also speak to people. This picture of the so-called Spiritualist movement which the Holy Prophet has drawn, is indeed a wonderful proof of his extraordinary prophetic vision. Those who have been to the centres of this movement know how rooms are specially designed for this contrivance, and light rays specially controlled. Then there are the so-called `mediums' who can bring about the appearance of these supposed departed spirits. These `mediums' sometimes exhibit transfiguration, i.e., they themselves assume the appearance of the alleged disincarnate spirits, who speak to the people, who are present for a while and then vanish. And sometimes those who attend the `seances', as such sittings are called, are mentally affected in very much the same way as similar people in India are affected by the appearance of the ghosts of their own imagination. Whether Spiritualism has any reality behind it or not is altogether a different question. What we are concerned with here is that the great Prophet, the greatest seer the world has produced, drew a faithful picture of these feats or magic performances of Dajjal, in vivid language, full thirteen centuries ago.
And to warn those who say: Allah has taken to Himself a son (18:4.). As for the spite of the Jews against Jesus Christ the Qur'an speaks very clearly about it, so much so that it refers to the malicious libels of these people against the sacred personality of his mother, Lady Mary: And for their uttering against Mary a grievous calumny (4:156.). Indeed, the enmity of the Jews against Jesus is the greatest of its kind which a nation may harbour against a person. We are further told of the permanent nature of this animosity: We stirred up enmity and hatred among them to the day of Resurrection (4:156.). The Jews were being subjected to various kinds of tyranny both in the days of our Prophet as well as before him, and this oppression continued till long afterwards. Rather it can be said that until the appearance of Dajjal they remained subjects to those tyrannies of the Christians. But with all this, the Holy Prophet prophesied: With him (Dajjal) there will be seventy thousand Jews. Again: Most of those who will follow him will be the Jews. Still again: Dajjal, the enemy of God, will make his appearance and with him will be an army of Jews. It should be borne in mind that it is nowhere to be found among the sayings of the Holy Prophet that Dajjal himself will be a Jew. On the contrary, the Christian nations are explicitly identified with Dajjal. What is more, the Qur'an also says that Christianity will always have an upperhand over Judaism: And (I will) make those who follow thee (i.e. Jesus) above those who disbelieve to the day of Resurrection (3:55.). And yet we are confronted with the fact, the strangest of all, that the Christian Governments depend on the support of the Jews. The ministers of the biggest of these empires act at the bidding of the Jews. But the reason for this is not far to seek. The Jews possess the money with which they help these Christian Governments. Even the British Government, with all its power and glory, has been upholding the Jewish cause to ruin the Muslim country of Palestine. The Muslims of that country have become impoverished; their lands are slipping off their hands and passing into those of the Jews, who are settling down there in very large numbers. The expression "seventy thousand" means a very large number. It is universally recognised that in Arabic the numbers seven and seventy are used to indicate a large number. Seventy thousand Jews should thus mean that there would be large numbers of Jews who will co-operate with Dajjal. If the people of the world lacked the knowledge of how the Jews are secretly at the back of the British and other Western powers or how the latter are acting at the beck and call of this community, the British Government's act of colonising Palestine with these people has revealed the truth of the prophecy concerning this secret alliance, as clear as the daylight. And yet the combined forces of Judaism and European Christianity should not frighten the Muslims at all, provided they are apprised of the fact that the Holy Prophet of Islam, while giving us the news of this dreadful coalition, also prophesied thirteen centuries ago about the final victory of Islam over all the religion of the world.
The last to go out to him (Dajjal) will be women. Indeed the natural modesty of women resisted these temptations of Dajjal for quite a long time. But today they also have fallen victims to his machinations, and although it has not yet reached that pitch here which is to be found in Europe, yet there are many women in the East today who have already said good-bye to Islamic modesty and have adopted the semi-nudism of the West, and are not only frequenting the clubs but have also started attending ball room dancing. If the influence of the Dajjal is allowed to work unchecked and Islamic culture allowed to be replaced by the Western culture, a day is bound to come when as in Europe here in our country also fornication and its antecedents will cease to arouse any indignation in the minds of people. It is true Islam does not enjoin that women should observe the seclusion and the veil which is in vogue today. It is also true that Islam permits woman to go out for business and to attend her outdoor needs and to do all such acts that help the satisfaction of legitimate social, economic or any other needs. She can act as a labourer, she can ply her trade and she can take up service. But with all this freedom of action in Islam, it does not approve of indiscriminate intermingling of the sexes; nor does it permit immodest dressing when the sexes are obliged by the exigency of circumstances to meet together in one place. She is not allowed to display her charms in such a way as to excite the passions of the male. It is this kind of display and promiscuous intermingling which constitutes the principal feature of Dajjal in his social affairs and which is exerting such a baneful influence on the higher circles of Muslim womanhood.
Behold! Verily the bulk of the people of the Dajjal and his followers will be the Jews and illegitimate children. A considerable portion of these illegitimate children are screened away from public notice by certain laws which legalise illegality. For instance, if as a result of illicit intercourse the woman becomes pregnant but the pair go through the marriage ceremony before the birth actually takes place, the offspring is considered legitimate. As a matter of fact, the law has gone so far in this respect that if the adulterous couple get married at any time in their life all their offspring previous to the marriage cease to be regarded as illegitimate. But with all these liberal provisions of the law, in every city of Europe one finds a huge number of children who are known to be illegitimate even from this liberal point of view. As for the children born in the course of war, they receive the honoured title of "war babies"! And if one considers the rapidly worsening condition of intersexual relationship which prevails in Europe and America, one can very well predict that in no distant future people in these countries will turn away from civilised way of life and revert to savagery, behaving like lower animals so far as sexual relations are concerned.
The women would look like men and the men like women.
He will give cure to the blind and the lepers and will give life to the dead (Kanz al-`Ummal Vol. 7, No. 2080.). The expression "giving life to the dead" here means giving cure to such incurable diseases that it will almost amount to giving life to the dead. Indeed in the treatment of diseases, these people have shown wonders and this is an achievement worthy of praise. But the Holy Prophet has counted this among the trial of Dajjal together with the swiftness of his movements and his conveyances on land, on sea and in the air. This is because on account of these achievements, these people think that they are superior to other people and their claim to superhuman powers almost amounts to a claim to Divinity. And also because these material advantages are misleading people away from the spiritual side of life.
Whoever hears about the Dajjal, let him keep away from him. For by God, it will so happen that a man will come to him believing that he is a believer, but he will become his follower on account of the doubts he will raise in his mind (Kanz al-`Ummal Vol. 7, No. 2057.). If one examines the question, it will be evident that the method of mischievous insinuation as employed by the Western nations stands unparalleled in history. They cast evil suggestions into the minds of people in such subtle ways that it makes the imagination stagger. Take the case of education. It is a process through which the thought of people can be either directed or misdirected. But these people have prescribed such courses of study as subtly aim at creating disloyalty in the minds of the students against their own religions and cultures, even though the arguments employed for this purpose may go against the faith of Christianity. They have carried this process so far that believing as they do in the existence of God they try their utmost to raise doubts in the minds of people regarding Divine existence. Themselves believing in the phenomena of revelation and prophethood, of the life beyond death, they yet raise doubts in the minds of people concerning these verities. It is not unoften that they praise an idea or a personality to give one the impression that the writer or the speaker is a fairminded person, but while expressing such an appreciation they make such insinuations as to make their hearers devoid of all regard for such an idea or personality. In short, all that has been said of these people regarding their characteristics, amounts to this that the Dajjal will divert people from the path of truth by means of evil suggestions, and this is what constitutes the principal feature of the European nations.
There will be no part in the world which he will not traverse and prevail over. Again the following words are put in the mouth of Dajjal: I will leave no human habitation unentered by me. This shows not only the extraordinary power of spiritual vision of the Holy Prophet, but also that the name Dajjal signifies not a person but a big party or rather a whole nation of people, the members of which will reach every spot in the world. It is absolutely impossible for one man, however swift he may be in his movements, to have all that has been prophesied about Dajjal, fulfilled in his person. It is physically impossible for one man to exhibit his heaven and hell in all places of the world, and then to advance his claim in every place, and to bestow affluence to whomsoever would accept him and to inflict hardships and calamities on whomsoever would reject his claims, and further to leave no human habitation unvisited. All these feats it is absolutely impossible for one man to perform. It is not a question of speed alone; it involves the additional question of inviting people to accept his claims by some kind of statement, and to award them reward or punishment, as the case may be. Now, all these things must happen in every village and town, and however short the time in which one may move from one place to another, this preaching and its concomitants must take some time in every place. If he has to spend even one hour in each place, he will require one century to dispose of about seven hundred thousand villages of India alone. In this way he will need thousands of years to pass through all the habitations of the world. But if we take all these remarks as applying to a nation, these performances become not only easy to understand and possible for human powers, but reveal themselves as facts accomplished before our very eyes, and they demonstrate to the point of utmost certainty the power of spiritual vision as vouchsafed to the Holy Prophet Muhammad. On the one hand, we see the quick movements of the European nations; not to speak of forty days, even a few days suffice one to go round the whole world. On the other hand, we notice them visiting and exercising complete control over every human habitation in the world. If at one time we are impressed with the mountains of bread which they carry about with them, at others we are not bewildered with their luxuries and gay life. If one witnesses their exploitation of things at one time, at others one sees the snare of their educational institutions which foster immoral and irreligious doubts in the minds of people. If they are found at one place to win the sympathy of people through their hospital services, at others they are seen performing feats of spiritualism. In short, if we apply these descriptions to a nation or a group of nations, everything appears clear and understandable. But if we take it to apply to one person, the whole thing becomes incomprehensible. Take, for instance, the prophecy about the Dajjal going about in the whole world and his domination over all. If it be applied to just one person, even then he must need millions of assistants to maintain a hold of this kind over people. Such a power must accordingly, in the last resort, be ascribed to very large numbers of people instead of one single person. In any case, the prophecy that Dajjal will pass through all human habitations and will prevail over the whole world has seen actual fulfilment in our days and before our very eyes, in the supremacy of the European nations and their spreading out in all places. How long shall we be shutting our eyes against hard facts and keep on expecting a Dajjal which exists nowhere but in our own imagination? The idea of Dajjal's presence in every habitation of the world and of his acquiring supremacy over the whole world could not possibly occur to the human mind, particularly at such a great distance in the past as the time in which the Holy Prophet lived. But if one just thinks over the matter, one will not find a single human habitation today which has not seen the presence of Dajjal in its midst. Indeed there is no place either in the deserts and the forests, in the big islands or in the small ones, in hills and dales, which Dajjal has not ventured through. The wildest human imagination could never have visualised such a state of affairs, and yet we see all these things presented in actual facts before our very eyes. And whoever will consider these happenings with a serious mind will irresistibly bow in respect and admiration before the greatness of the spiritual vision of the Holy Prophet. Book's
List
> The
Anti-Christ and Gog and
Magog
> Segment 3
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