The Dajjal in Islam: What the Quran and Hadith Say
Every prophet, from Nūḥ onwards, warned his people about one figure above all others: al-Masīḥ al-Dajjāl, the false messiah who will appear before the end of time. The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ spoke about him more than any prophet before him, describing what he will look like, what he will do and how believers can protect themselves.
This article gathers what the Quran and the authentic hadith say about the Dajjal, with links to read the narrations in full.
What the name means
Dajjāl comes from the Arabic root dajala, to cover over or to coat something so that it looks like what it is not, as gold plating hides plain metal. The Dajjal is the great deceiver, who makes falsehood look like truth.
He is also called al-Masīḥ, "the messiah". Scholars give two explanations for the title: that one of his eyes is wiped blank (mamsūḥ), or that he will travel across (masaḥa) the whole earth. The title mirrors that of ʿĪsā (Jesus), the true Messiah, who will be the one to end him.
Is the Dajjal in the Quran?
The Quran does not mention the Dajjal by name. Everything detailed about him comes from the hadith, but scholars have connected some verses to him.
The clearest link is a verse about the signs of the Hour:
هَلۡ يَنظُرُونَ إِلَّآ أَن تَأۡتِيَهُمُ ٱلۡمَلَٰٓئِكَةُ أَوۡ يَأۡتِيَ رَبُّكَ أَوۡ يَأۡتِيَ بَعۡضُ ءَايَٰتِ رَبِّكَۗ يَوۡمَ يَأۡتِي بَعۡضُ ءَايَٰتِ رَبِّكَ لَا يَنفَعُ نَفۡسًا إِيمَٰنُهَا لَمۡ تَكُنۡ ءَامَنَتۡ مِن قَبۡلُ أَوۡ كَسَبَتۡ فِيٓ إِيمَٰنِهَا خَيۡرٗاۗ قُلِ ٱنتَظِرُوٓاْ إِنَّا مُنتَظِرُونَ
Do they [then] wait for anything except that the angels should come to them or your Lord should come or that there come some of the signs of your Lord? The Day that some of the signs of your Lord will come no soul will benefit from its faith as long as it had not believed before or had earned through its faith some good. Say, "Wait. Indeed, we [also] are waiting." (6:158)
Abū Hurayrah reported that the Prophet ﷺ named three things which, once they appear, mean faith will no longer benefit a soul that did not believe before: the sun rising from the west, the Dajjal, and the Beast of the earth (Sahih Muslim 158).
Other verses are linked to him through ʿĪsā, whose return the hadith tie directly to the Dajjal's end. The Quran says "there is none from the People of the Scripture but that he will surely believe in him before his death" (4:159), and that ʿĪsā "will be [a sign for] knowledge of the Hour" (43:61). Some commentators also saw a hint in "The creation of the heavens and earth is greater than the creation of mankind" (40:57): however great the Dajjal's claims, he is a created man.
These are interpretations by scholars, not explicit mentions, and they are best read that way.
How the Prophet ﷺ described him
Every prophet warned of him
Ibn ʿUmar reported that the Prophet ﷺ stood among the people, praised Allah, then mentioned the Dajjal and said that there was no prophet who had not warned his people about him; Nūḥ warned his people. "But I will tell you something about him that no prophet told his people: he is one-eyed, and Allah is not one-eyed." (Sahih al-Bukhari 3337)
His appearance
He will be blind in the right eye, which will look like a grape floating out of place (Sahih al-Bukhari 3439, Sahih Muslim 169). In the narration of Ḥudhayfah it is the left eye that is blind (Sahih Muslim 2934); scholars such as al-Nawawī explained that both of his eyes are defective, one blind and the other bulging.
Written between his eyes will be kāfir, "disbeliever", and every believer will be able to read it, whether they can read or not (Sahih al-Bukhari 7131, Sahih Muslim 2933, 2934). The long hadith of al-Nawwās ibn Samʿān adds that he will be a young man with very curly hair (Sahih Muslim 2937).
The repeated point in these descriptions is the simplest one. Whatever he claims, he is a flawed, created man, and "your Lord is not one-eyed".
His paradise and his fire
He will bring with him what looks like a paradise and a fire (Sahih Muslim 2936). Ḥudhayfah reported the Prophet ﷺ saying that what people see as fire is in fact cool, sweet water, and what they see as water is burning fire (Sahih Muslim 2934). Things are the reverse of how he presents them.
The greatest trial
Hishām ibn ʿĀmir reported the Prophet ﷺ saying that between the creation of Ādam and the Hour there is no matter greater than the Dajjal (Sahih Muslim 2946).
What will happen when he appears
Most of what we know about his time comes from the long hadith of al-Nawwās ibn Samʿān (Sahih Muslim 2937). The Prophet ﷺ described it so vividly that the Companions thought he might be hiding among the nearby palm trees.
- He will come out between Syria and Iraq and spread corruption to the right and the left. Another narration says he will emerge from the east, from a land called Khurasan (Jamiʿ al-Tirmidhi 2237).
- He will stay on the earth for forty days: one day like a year, one like a month, one like a week, and the rest like ordinary days. The Companions asked whether a single day's prayers would be enough in the day that lasts a year. He said no: they should estimate the times. Even in his trial, the prayer is not dropped.
- He will seem to control the rain and the harvest. He will command the sky and it will rain, and the land to grow and it will grow, for the people who accept him. Those who reject him will wake to drought.
- He cannot enter Makkah or Madinah. Angels will guard every route into them (Sahih al-Bukhari 1881, Sahih Muslim 2943).
The young man who sees through him
Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī reported that a believing young man will go out to face him and declare: "I bear witness that you are the Dajjal the Messenger of Allah ﷺ told us about." The Dajjal will kill him, cutting him in two, and then appear to bring him back to life. The young man will stand and say that he has never been more certain of who the Dajjal is. The Dajjal will try to kill him again, and will not be able to (Sahih al-Bukhari 7132, Sahih Muslim 2938).
His end
According to the hadith of al-Nawwās, Allah will send ʿĪsā son of Maryam, who will descend at the white minaret in the east of Damascus, his hands resting on the wings of two angels. He will pursue the Dajjal and kill him at the gate of Lud. After this, the hadith goes on, Gog and Magog will be released, the people the barrier of Dhul-Qarnayn holds back in Surah Al-Kahf.
The man on the island and Ibn Ṣayyād
Two other reports are often discussed.
Fāṭimah bint Qays reported that the Prophet ﷺ told the people a story that Tamīm al-Dārī, a Christian who had become Muslim, had told him. Tamīm and his companions were shipwrecked on an island, where they met a strange creature called al-Jassāsah and a huge man chained inside a monastery, who questioned them about the Prophet ﷺ and said he would soon be allowed to roam the earth, except for Makkah and Madinah. The Prophet ﷺ said the story pleased him because it agreed with what he had told them (Sahih Muslim 2942).
In Madinah there was also a boy called Ibn Ṣayyād who made strange claims, and some Companions suspected he was the Dajjal. The Prophet ﷺ went to see him with ʿUmar, and when ʿUmar asked permission to kill him, he said: "If it is him, you will not be given power over him, and if it is not him, there is no good in killing him." (Sahih al-Bukhari 1354, Sahih Muslim 2930) Scholars have long discussed how these two reports fit together; many concluded that Ibn Ṣayyād was one of the lesser deceivers rather than the Dajjal himself.
The lesser dajjals
The Prophet ﷺ also warned of smaller deceivers before the great one. Abū Hurayrah reported that the Hour will not come until around thirty dajjāls appear, each claiming to be a messenger of Allah (Sahih al-Bukhari 3609). The word is used for anyone who builds a lie on religion.
How to protect yourself
The Prophet ﷺ did not only describe the Dajjal. He left clear, practical protection.
Memorise the opening of Surah Al-Kahf. Abū al-Dardāʾ reported that whoever memorises ten verses from the beginning of Surah Al-Kahf will be protected from the Dajjal (Sahih Muslim 809); one narration says the last ten verses. In the hadith of al-Nawwās, whoever meets him is told to recite its opening verses over him (Sahih Muslim 2937). Verses 1 to 10 are a manageable goal. More on the surah, and why it is read every Friday, is in our article on Surah Al-Kahf.
Seek refuge from him in every prayer. Abū Hurayrah reported that the Prophet ﷺ told believers, after the final tashahhud, to seek refuge in Allah from four things (Sahih Muslim 588):
اللَّهُمَّ إِنِّي أَعُوذُ بِكَ مِنْ عَذَابِ جَهَنَّمَ، وَمِنْ عَذَابِ الْقَبْرِ، وَمِنْ فِتْنَةِ الْمَحْيَا وَالْمَمَاتِ، وَمِنْ شَرِّ فِتْنَةِ الْمَسِيحِ الدَّجَّالِ
O Allah, I seek refuge in You from the punishment of Hell, from the punishment of the grave, from the trials of life and death, and from the evil of the trial of the False Messiah.
Keep away from him. ʿImrān ibn Ḥuṣayn reported the Prophet ﷺ saying that whoever hears of the Dajjal should stay far away from him, because a man will go to him thinking he is a believer, and end up following him because of the doubts he raises (Sunan Abi Dawud 4319). Confidence in your own faith is not a reason to go and look.
Know your Lord. Again and again the hadith come back to one sentence: "your Lord is not one-eyed". The deepest protection is knowing who Allah is, so that no created being, however impressive, can be mistaken for Him.
Reading the signs wisely
Mainstream Sunni scholarship has always held that the Dajjal is a real, individual man who will appear before the Hour, as the hadith describe him in such specific detail. Some modern writers have read him as a symbol of materialism or of a deceptive civilisation. That reading is a minority view, and classical scholars would not have accepted it in place of the plain meaning of the hadith, though reflecting on the deceptions of our own time is worthwhile in itself.
What the Prophet ﷺ did not do was give a date. People in every generation have announced that some ruler, movement or technology must be the Dajjal, and every one of those guesses has passed. The Companions' approach is a better guide: learn what the Prophet ﷺ taught, take the protection he gave, and get on with faith and good deeds.
Start with Surah Al-Kahf
Read Surah Al-Kahf in the Uthmani or IndoPak script, with English or Urdu translation, and use the recitation to help you memorise the first ten verses. Each verse has its own page, so you can work through them one at a time.
Sources
- The Quran, 6:158, 4:159, 43:61, 40:57 and Surah Al-Kahf (18), in the Saheeh International translation
- Sahih al-Bukhari 1354, 1881, 3337, 3439, 3609, 7131 and 7132
- Sahih Muslim 158, 169, 588, 809, 2930, 2933, 2934, 2936, 2937, 2938, 2942, 2943 and 2946
- Jamiʿ al-Tirmidhi 2237 and Sunan Abi Dawud 4319
- al-Nawawī, Sharḥ Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, on the descriptions of the Dajjal
- The commentaries (tafsīr) of al-Ṭabarī and Ibn Kathīr on 6:158, 4:159 and 43:61
The wording of the hadith above is summarised rather than translated word for word; follow the links to read the full narrations. For questions of belief and practice, please ask a qualified scholar.