Chapter: Ibn Sayyad

We were along with Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) that we happened to pass by children amongst whom there was Ibn Sayyad. The children made their way but Ibn Sayyad kept sitting there (and it seemed) as if Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) did not like it (his sitting with the children) and said to him: May your nose he besmeared with dust, don't you bear testimony to the fact that I am the Messenger of Allah? Thereupon he said: No, but you should bear testimony that I am the messenger of Allah. Thereupon 'Umar b. Khattab said: Allah's Messenger, permit me that I should kill him. Thereupon Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said: If he is that person who is in your mind (Dajjal ), you will not be able to kill him.

We were walking with Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) that Ibn Sayyad happened to pass by him. Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said to him: I have concealed for you (something to test you, so tell me that). He said: It is Dukh. Thereupon Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said to him: Be off. You cannot get farther than your rank, whereupon 'Umar said: Allah's Messenger, permit me to strike his neck. Thereupon Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said: Leave him; if he is that one (Dajjal) whom you apprehend, you will not be able to kill him.

Do you bear testimony to the fact that I am the Messenger of Allah? Thereupon he said: Do you bear testimony to the fact that I am the messenger of Allah? Thereupon Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said: I affirm my faith in Allah and in His Angels and in His Books, and what do you see? He said: I see the throne over water. Whereupon Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said: You see the throne of Iblis upon the water, and what else do you see? He said: I see two truthfuls and a liar or two liars and one truthful. Thereupon Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said: Leave him He has been confounded.

Jabir b 'Abdullah reported that Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) met Ibn Sa'id (Sayyad) and there were with him Abu Bakr and 'Umar and Ibn Sayyad was in the company of children. The rest of the hadith is the same.

I accompanied Ibn Sayyad to Mecca and he said to me: What I have gathered from people is that they think that I am Dajjal. Have you not heard Allah's Messenger (may peace upon him) as saying: He will have no children, I said: Yes, of course. Thereupon he said: But I have children. Have you not heard Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) as saying: He would not enter Mecca and Medina? I said: Yes, of course. Thereupon he said I have been once in Medina and now I intend to go to Mecca. And he said to me at the end of his talk: By Allah, I know his place of birth his abode where he is just now. He (Abu Sa'id) said: This caused confusion in my mind (in regard to his identity).

Ibn Sa'id said to me something for which I felt ashamed. He said: I can excuse others; but what has gone wrong with you, O Companions of Muhammad, that you take me as Dajjal? Has Allah's Apostle (ﷺ) not said that he would be a Jew whereas I am a Muslim and he also said that he would not have children, whereas I have children, and he also said: verily, Allah has prohibited him to enter Mecca whereas I have performed Pilgrimage, and he went on saying this that I was about to be impressed by his talk. He (however) said this also: I know where he (Dajjal) is and I know his father and mother, and it was said to him: Won't you feel pleased if you would be the same person? Thereupon he said: If this offer is made to me, I would not resent that.

We came back after having performed Pilgrimage or `Umra and lbn Sa'id was along with us. And we encamped at a place and the people dispersed and I and he were left behind. I felt terribly frightend from him as it was said about him that he was the Dajjal. He brought his goods and placed them by my luggage and I said: It is intense heat. Would you not place that under that tree? And he did that. Then there appeared before us a flock of sheep. He went and brought a cup of milk and said: Abu Sa`id, drink that. I said it is intense heat and the milk is also hot (whereas the fact was) that I did not like to drink from his hands or to take it from his hand and he said: Abu Sa`id, I think that I should take a rope and suspend it by the tree and then commit suicide because of the talks of the people, and he further said. Abu Sa`id he who is ignorant of the saying of Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) (he is to be pardoned), but O people of Ansar, is this hadith of Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) concealed from you whereas you have the best knowledge of the hadith of Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) amongst people? Did Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) not say that he (Dajjal) would be a non believer whereas I am a believer? Did Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) not say he would be barren and no child would be born to him, whereas I have left my children in Medina? Did Allah's Messenger (may peace upon him) not say: He would not get into Medina and Mecca whereas I have been coming from Medina and now I intend to go to Mecca? Abu Sa`id said: I was about to accept the excuse put forward by him. Then he said: I know the place where he would be born and where he is now. So I said to him: May your whole day be spent.

Abu'l-Qasim, It is like a fine white musk, whereupon he (the Holy Prophet) said: 'You have told the the truth.

It is like white shining pure musk.

As I saw Jabir b. 'Abdullah taking an oath in the name of Allah that it was Ibn Sa'id who was the Dajjal I said: Do you take an oath in the name of Allah? Thereupon he said: I heard 'Umar taking an oath in the presence of Allah's Apostle (ﷺ) to this effect but Allah's Apostle (ﷺ) did not disapprove of it.

'Umar b. Khattab went along with Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) in the company of some persons to Ibn Sayyad that he found him playing with children near the battlement of Bani Maghala and Ibn Sayyad was at that time just at the threshold of adolescence and he did not perceive (the presence of Holy Prophet) until Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) struck his back with his hands. Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said : Ibn Sayyad , don't you bear witness that I am the messenger of Allah ? Ibn Sayyad looked toward him and he said : I bear witness to the fact that you the messenger of the unlettered. Ibn Sayyad said to the Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) : Do you bear witness to the fact that I am the messenger of Allah ? Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) rejected this and said : I affirm my faith in Allah and in His messengers. Then Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said to him : What do you see ? Ibn Sayyad said : It is a Dukh. Thereupon Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said : May you be disgraced and dishonoured , you would not not be able to go beyond your rank. 'Umar b. Khattab said : Allah's Messenger , permit me that I should strike his neck. Thereupon Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said : If he is the same (Dajjal) who would appear near the Last Hour , you would not be able to overpower him , and if he is not that there is no good for you to kill him.

'Abdullah b. 'Umar further narrated that after some time Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) and Ubayy b. Ka'b went towards the palm trees where Ibn Sayyad was. When Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) went near the tree he hid himself behind a tree with the intention of hearing something from Ibn sayyad before Ibn Sayyad could see him , but Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) saw him on a bed with a blanket around him from which a murmuring sound was being heard and Ibn Sayyad's mother saw Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) behind the trunk of the palm tree. She said to Ibn Sayyad : Saf (that being his name) , here is Muhammad. Thereupon Ibn Sayyad jumped up murmuring and Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said : If she had left him alone he would have made things clear.

Abdullah b. Umar told that Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) stood up amongst the people and lauded Allah as He deserved , then he made a mention of the Dajjal and said : I warn you of him and there is no Prophet who has not warned his people against the Dajjal. Even Noah warned (against him) but I am going to tell you a thing which no Prophet told his people. You must know that he (the Dajjal) is one-eyed and Allah , the Exalted and Glorious , is not one-eyed. Ibn Shihab said : 'Umar b. Thabit al-Ansari informed me that some of the Companions of Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) informed him that the day when Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) warned people against the Dajjal , he also said : There would be written between his two eyes (the word) Kafir (infidel) and everyone who would resent his deeds would be able to read or every Muslim would be about to read , and he also said : Bear this thing in mind that none amongst you would be able to see Allah , the Exalted and Glorious , until he dies.

" Had his mother left him (to murmur) his matter would have become clear."

Ibn 'Umar reported that Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) happened to pass by Ibn Sayyad along with his Companions including 'Umar b. Khattab as he was playing with children near the battlement of Bani Maghala and he was also a child by that time. The rest of the hadith is the same as narrated by Ibn Umar (in which there is a mention of) setting out of Allah's Apostle (ﷺ) along with Ubayy b. Ka'b towards the date-palm trees.

May Allah have mercy upon you, why did you incite Ibn Sayyad in spite of the fact that you knew it would be the extreme anger which would make Dajjal appear in the world?

I met lbn Sayyad twice and said to some of them (his friends): You state that it was he (the Dajjal). He said: By Allah, it is not so. I said: You have not told me the truth; by Allah some of you informed me that he would not die until he would have the largest number of offspring and huge wealth and it is he about whom it is thought so. Then Ibn Sayyad talked to us. I then departed and met him again for the second time and his eye had been swollen. I said: What has happened to your eye? He said: I do not know. I said: This is in your head and you do not know about it? He said: If Allah so wills He can create it (eye) in your staff. He then produced a sound like the braying of a donkey. Some of my companions thought that I had struck him with the staff as he was with me that the staff broke into pieces, but, by Allah, I was not conscious of it. He then came to the Mother of the Faithful (Hafsa) and narrated it to her and she said: What concern you have with him? Don't you know that Allah's Apostle (ﷺ) said that the first thing (by the incitement of which) he would come out before the public would be his anger?