It is narrated from Rasool Allah-azwj [1] , ‘when Dajjal was born, I visited him and presented Islam to him but he refused to accept it and hurled insults to me-saww , i.e., you are not better than me in leading people. Prophet-saww said, ‘ go away, O malicious animal! You will definitely meet destruction and will never succeed in your devious objectives. Prophet-saww, then told his companions, Every Messenger of Allah-azwj did warn his nation about the ‘fitna’ [2] of Dajjal. Allah-azwj, however, delayed Dajjal’s birth and did not let him appear until now. Be aware! he will claim to be God-azwj and try to create doubts in your minds. Have a firm belief; one-eyed creature cannot be your Lord-azwj. He will come out riding on a monster donkey, which will have a distance of one mile between its two ears. He will claim to have come with the gifts of paradise and arsenal of hell. He will carry a mountain of bread and rivers of water. He will get the support of the Jews, people from the wilderness and women. He will be able to travel all over the world but will be barred from entering into Mecca and Madinah.
Ibn Babowiya narrates from Amir-ul-Momineen-as that one day Imam Ali-as declared from the pulpit, ‘Saluni Qabal En Tafqadduni’ (Ask me anything before I leave you behind). A companion, Sayasa asked from Amir ul momaneen-as, ‘O Successor of the Holy Prophet-saww please tell us when will Dajjal emerge?’ Mola Ali-as replied, ‘there are a few signs which will become noticeable prior to his appearance, those signs are: people would stop offering prayers, people will be robbed of their deposits; twisting facts would be considered an appreciable quality; society will accept interest and use bribe as a means of subsistence; religion will be sold for the worldly gains; idiots will take over the intelligent; innocent will be slaughtered; those with humble and courteous ways will be called weak and naïve; those with harsh and cruel customs will be envied and praised; wealthy will be traitors; government officials will be malicious; prosperous would be evasive; clerics will be devious; adultery and illegitimate relationships will become societal norm; woman will participate in trade with men; falsehood and speculation will be admired; women will ride on saddle and prefer manly styles whereas men would like to dress like women; and that year will also experience a severe famine.
Mola-as continued, the ‘Onea.s’ [3] who would lead Hazrat Isa-as in congressional prayers, will terminate Dajjal and by this will then be followed by a diabolic bloodshed.
Then Asbagh bin Nabata (or Kanana) stood up and asked, Who is Dajjal, O Amir al Momineen-as? Imam-as replied, ‘Sayaad -the son of Alsaad, only terminally ill fated will follow him. He will appear from a village called ‘Yahodia’ near city of Aisfahan (Iran), his right eye will be punctured and his left eye would be raised onto his forehead and will be sparkling like a star. Everyone will be able to read the word ‘Kafar’, inscribed in bold letters, within his two eyes. There will be big mountains of smoke at both front and backsides of his caravan. People will anticipate food within those mountains (as he will be eating and drinking from there), during the severe famine. He will be riding on a huge white coloured ‘donkey’ who will cover a mile in a single stride. All rivers, falling in his way, will become dry and he will call upon people in aloud voice, ‘O my friends! Come to me! I am your lord who has made your limbs and gave you sustenance. Mola Ali -saww then said, the one-eyed enemy of Allah-azwj who will not manage without eating, drinking and wondering around-will be a deceiver. Your Lord-azwj is autonomous from these limitations. Most of his followers will be illegitimate and will be wearing green turbans. He will then be killed by the ‘One’a.s who will be the Imama.s of Hazrat Isa-as in congressional prayers. This will happen at the place of ‘Aqabah’ near ‘Sham’ (Syria) between afternoon and evening. After this there will be tremendous devastation. People then asked, O Imam-as! what will be that calamity?
Mola Ali-as replied that Rasool Allah-saww said: ‘Dabba-tul-Arz’ will be born near the mountain of Safa (near Mecca). He will have the ring of Hazrat Sulaman-as and ‘Asa’ (walking stick) of Hazrat Musa-as. He will inscribe on the forehead of ‘Momin’ (true believer) using the ring and will write on the forehead of ‘Kafir’ using the ‘Asa’. Momin’s forehead would read ‘ this is true believer’ whereas Kafir’s forehead could be read as ‘this is non-believer’. Then ‘Dabba-tul-Arz’ would raise his head and will be clearly seen by all. This will happen after Sun rise from the West (instead of East)-at this time no repentance will be accepted. Amir ul momaneen-as then said, ‘ do not ask any further because Rasool Allah-as has barred all other details for anyone else but Ahlul Bait-as. The narrator states, ‘I, later on, asked from Sahsah, ‘please tell me about the ‘person’ who will be followed by Hazrat Isa -as in the congressional prayers. The answer was he will be the 9th Divine Imam-as from the bloodline of Imam Hussain-as, who will appear between the ‘Rukan-e-Hajar and Muqam-e-Ibrahim’ [4] and re-establish justice as it will be filled with cruelty.
There are a number of Ahadith from Masomeen-as which indicate that ‘Dabba-tul-Arz’ will, in fact be Amir-al-Momaneen-as and will appear after the ‘zahoor’ of Imam Mehdi-as and this time will be very close the Day of Judgement.
Also in a Hadith,
فس: الحسين بن عبد الله السكيني، عن أبي سعيد البجلي، عن عبد الملك بن هارون، عن أبي عبد الله، عن آبائه عليهم السلام قال: قال الحسن بن علي عليه السلام فيما ناظر به ملك الروم: كان عمر عيسى عليه السلام في الدنيا ثلاثة وثلاثين سنة، ثم رفعه الله إلى السماء، ويهبط إلى الارض بدمشق، وهو الذي يقتل الدجال.
Al Husayn Bin Abdullah Al Sukayni, from Abu Saeed Al Jabaly, from Abdul Malik Bin Haroun,
‘From Abu Abdullah-asws, from his-asws forefathers-asws having said: ‘Al-Hassan-asws Bin Ali-asws said during what the king of Rome showed him-asws: ‘The age of Isa-as in the world was thirty-three years, then Allah-azwj Raised him-as to the sky, and he-as will descend to the earth at Damascus, and he-as is the one who will kill Al-Dajjal-la’’.[5]
[1] Ain-ul-Hiyat, Mohammed Baqir Majlisi
[2] Mischief
[3] Imam Mehdi Akir-al-Zaman-as
[4] Two distinct places near Qabah- the house of God in Mecca.
[5] Bihar Al-Anwaar– V 14, The book of Prophet-hood, Ch 18 H 27