Book 27: Fitan

`Abdallah b. `Umar told that `Umar b. al-Khattab went with God's messenger and some of his companions to Ibn Sayyad and found him playing with the boys in the fortress of the B. Maghala, Ibn Sayyid at that time being near the age of puberty. Before he was aware God's messenger gave him a clap on the back and said, "Do you testify that I am God's messenger?" He looked at him and said, "I testify that you are the messenger of the Gentiles," after which Ibn Sayyad said, "Do you testify that I am God's messenger?" The Prophet (ﷺ) squeezed him and said, "I believe in God and His messengers." He then asked Ibn Sayyad what visions he had, and when he replied, "One who speaks the truth and one who lies comes to me," God's messenger said, "You are confused." He then said, "I have concealed something in my mind which I would like you to tell me" (referring to "the day when the sky will bring forth smoke (dukhan) clearly visible").[1] On his replying, "It is smoke (dukhkh)," he said, "Away with you! You cannot get farther than your rank."[2] `Umar then asked God's messenger if he would permit him to cut off his head, but he replied, "If he is the one[3] you will not be given power over him, and if he is not, you will not do well in killing him." Ibn `Umar told that sometime afterwards God's messenger and Ubayy b. Ka'b went towards the palm trees where Ibn Sayyid was, and God's messenger hid behind the palm trunks seeking stealthily to hear something from Ibn Sayyid before he could see him. Ibn Sayyid was lying on his bed in a wrapper from which a murmur issued, and when his mother saw the Prophet (ﷺ) hiding behind the palm trunks she said, "Saf '(that being his name), here is Muhammad," whereupon Ibn Sayyad stopped the murmuring, and God's messenger said, "If you had left him alone, he would have made things clear." `Abdallah b. `Umar told that God's messenger stood up among the people, and when he had extolled God - in a fitting manner he mentioned the dajjal and said, "I warn you of him, and there is no prophet who has not warned his people. Noah warned his people, but I shall tell you something about him which no prophet has told his people. You must know that he is one-eyed, whereas God is not one-eyed." 1. Quran, 44:10. 2. The idea is that Ibn Sayyid was being tested to see whether he had any supernatural knowledge of what the Prophet (ﷺ) had in mind. His use of a different form of the word for smoke put him on the level of a kahin with a defective source of information. 3. i.e., the dajjal. (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Abu Sa'id al-Khudri told that God's messenger, Abu Bakr and `Umar met him, i.e., Ibn Sayyad, on one of the roads of Medina and God's messenger said to him, "Do you testify that I am God's messenger?" to which he retorted, "Do you testify that I am God's messenger?" To this God's messenger replied, "I believe in God, His angels, His books, and His messengers. What visions do you have?" He said, "I see a throne on water." God's messenger told him that what he was seeing was the throne of Iblis on the sea, and asked him what else he saw. On his replying, "I see two who tell the truth and one who lies, or two who lie and one who tells the truth," God's messenger said, "He is confused, so leave him alone." Muslim transmitted it.

He told that Ibn Sayyad asked the Prophet (ﷺ) about the soil of paradise and that he replied it was a white, sifted flour and pure musk. Muslim transmitted it.

Nafi told that when Ibn 'Umar once met Ibn Sayyad on one of. the roads of Medina he said something to him which angered him and he swelled up till he filled the street. Ibn `Umar went in to visit Hafsa who had heard of the incident, and she said, "God have mercy on you! What did you want with Ibn Sayyad? Do you not know that God s messenger said it would just be because of his being seized by a fit of anger that he[*] would come forth?" *i.e., the Dajjal. Muslim transmitted it.

Aba Said al-Khudri said: I accompanied Ibn Sayyad to Mecca and he exclaimed, "What I have encountered from people who assert that I am the dajjal! Have you not heard God's messenger say he will have no children? But I have children. Has he not said that he will be an infidel? But I am a Muslim. Has he not said that he will enter neither Medina nor Mecca? But I have come from Medina and am on my way to Mecca." One of the last things he said to me was, "I swear by God that I know when and where he was born and where he is just now, and I know his father and his mother." He made me feel doubtful, so I said, "Confound you for the rest of the day!" He told that when someone asked him if he would like to be that man he replied, "If it were offered to me I would not object." Muslim transmitted it.

Ibn `Umar said: I met him when his eye was inflamed and asked him when his eye had become infected with the trouble I noticed. On his replying that he did not know I said, "You do not know, and yet it is in your head?" He replied, "If God will He will create it when you are unaware." He then snorted as loudly as I have ever heard an ass snort. Muslim transmitted it.

Muhammad b. al-Munkadir told that he saw Jabir b. `Abdallah swearing by God that Ibn as-Sayyad was the dajjal, and when he expressed surprise that he should, swear by God, he replied that he had heard `Umar swearing to that in the Prophet's presence without the Prophet (ﷺ) making any objection to it. (Bukhari and Muslim.)