The Beast is also a
major sign of Qiyamah. Allah says in the Qur'an,
"And when the word is
fulfilled concerning them. We shall bring forth a Beast of the Earth to speak
unto them because mankind had no faith in our revelation." (Surah An-Naml)
Abdullah-b-Umar
said, "I memorised a Hadith from the Messenger of
Allah Peace and
blessings be upon him which I have not forgotten. I heard the Messenger of
Allah Peace and blessings be upon him saying, 'The first of the signs that will
come is the rising of the sun from the place of its setting and the emergence
of the Beast upon the people. Whichever of these two occurs before the other
then the other is right behind it." (Muslim)
Commentating
on the above verse Ibne Kathir has said that the beast will appear very near
the end of time. When disintegration, corruption, kufr and evil prevail,
commands of Allah are ignored, the Deen changed and made a mockery of, it is
then Allah will take out the Beast from the earth.
(Ibne Kathir)
Imam
Hakim in the light of the above Hadith has said that the rising of the sun from
the west will take place before the emergence of the Beast. The Beast will
appear on the same day the sun has risen from the west or very soon thereafter.
Ibne Hajar after quoting Imam Hakim mentions, "The wisdom in the Beast
appearing after the sun has risen from the west is that the door of repentance
will close at the time the sun rises from the west. Thus the Beast will emerge
to distinguish the believers from the non-believers completing the aim of
closing the door of repentance." (Fathul-Bari)
Task
The task
of the Beast will be to distinguish the believers from the non-believers, with
Prophet Moosa'sPeace be upon him staff it will draw a line on the forehead of
every believer whereby his face will become bright and luminous and with the
ring of SulamanPeace be upon him it will seal the nose of every non-believer
where by his whole face will become black. Thus there will be complete
distinction between the Muslim and non-Muslirn, so that if many parties sit at
a dinner table, the Muslim and non-Muslirn will be distinguished. (Abu
Huraira-Musnad Ahmad/Tirmidhi)
The Beast
will also talk to people. It will say, "Mankind had no faith
in our
revelations." (Ibne Kathir)
Place of
emergence
Many
opinions have been expressed as regards to the place the Beast will come out
from. A few are listed:
1) It
will come out from Al-Masjid Al-Haraam in Makkah. This opinion is based on the
hadith reported by Tabrani on the authority of Hudhaifa-b-Usaid.
2) It
will come out three times, from some desert and then go back into hiding, then
from some village and finally from Al-Masjid Al-Haraam.
There are
many other opinions most of them report that it will come out from the Haram of
Makkah. (See Tadkirah and Al-Isha'ah)
******Nature of the Beast******
Many
different opinions have been expressed as to the nature of the Beast
and the
type of animal it is. A few are shared and explained.
1) Some
Ulama are of the opinion that the Beast to come before the end of time is the
very animal which has been mentioned in the Hadith of Fatimah-b-Qais. Known as
the Jassasa (spy) seen by Tamim Dari and his companions from the tribes of
Lakhm and Juzaam on the same Island as the Dajjal. This is related of being the
opinion of the Sahabi Abdullah-b-Amr-b-al-Aas. (Nawawee's commentary on Muslim)
Fatimah-bin-Qais
reported, "I heard the proclaimer of the Messenger of Allah Peace and
blessings be upon him proclaiming (for) 'Congregational Prayer'. I came out of
the mosque and prayed with the Prophet Peace and blessings be upon him. When he
finished his prayer, he sat upon the pulpit smiling and said, 'Let every man
remain in his seat.' Then he said, 'Do you know why I have called you
together?' They replied, 'Allah and his Messenger know best.' He said, 'By
Allah, I have not called you together for hope or for fear, but I have called
you together because Tamim Dari a Christian came and embraced Islam. He
narrated a story to me which agreed with the account I have given to you about
the Dajjal (Anti-Christ).
He informed me that he had embarked upon a sea-boat
with thirty men of Lakhm and Jozam. Then the sea waves played with them for a
month and threw them onto an island when the sun was about to set. They sat in
a small side boat and entered the Island. A beast with very coarse hair met them.
They could not tell its front from its back due to its excessive hair. They
asked, 'Woe to thee! Who art thou?" It replied, 'I am a spy. Go to the man
in the monastery, as he is eager to have your information.' He said, 'When it
named a man for us, we fled away from it lest it might be the devil.' We
hurriedly went on till we entered the monastery and found a big-bodied man whom
we did never see before. He was firmly tied up, his hands tied to his neck, the
place between his knees, and joints tied up with iron chains." (Muslim)
********Camel*******
2) Some
scholars are of the opinion that it is the young of the she
camel of the
Prophet SalihPeace be upon him. Imam Al-Qurtubi holds
the same opinion, he
writes in his commentary of the Qur'an,
"The first opinion (regarding the
Beast) is that it is the young of the she-camel of the Prophet Salih Peace be
upon him. This is the most correct view and opinion. Allah knows best."
*****Opinion Explained*****
The
people of Thamud were Arabs who lived a couple of hundred years
after the
Prophet NoahPeace be upon him in a place called Hijr which today is known as
Madaain Salih in the North of Arabia near Tabuk. Blessed in provisions and
livelihoods their land was fertile with green gardens and running springs and
they skilfully carved spacious houses out of mountains. They were ungrateful to
Allah as they worshiped the stone idols they carved with their very own hands.
Thus Allah honoured Salih from amongst them with Prophethood and sent him as a
Messenger to the people of Thamud to bring them out of darkness into light.
Salih Peace be upon him conveyed the message of Allah day and night and called
them to the worship of Allah with wisdom and kind-heartedness but the people of
Thamud decided to remain blind. Finally, they like the communities before them
asked to see a miracle. They said, ' O Salih take out a ten month pregnant
she-camel from a mountain which then gives birth to a young that has the same
body and stature as the mother.' Having seen the miracle they refused to
believe.
The she-carnel was a sign of Allah, very large and unusual in form and
the people were warned that they would be destroyed if they treated it with
evil. All the other animals were afraid of Prophet Salih's camel and would run
away whenever she and its young came to drink water. Thus bounds were arranged.
However, after a very short period they broke the agreement and decided to kill
the camel of Allah. A group hid waiting for the camel on its return from the
well with its child. Shooting an arrow they injured it and finally killed it
paving the way for the destruction of the entire community. On seeing its
mother in trouble the child fled to the mountains and disappeared. This young
is referred to in the second opinion.
*****Extraordinary Animal*****
3) Some
are of the opinion that the Beast to come is an animal that has features of
many different animals. The same is reported from Abu Zubair. Describing the
Beast he has reported that, "Its head is like that of a bull, eyes like
that of a pig, ears like that of an elephant, horns like that of a stag, neck
like that of an ostrich, chest like a lion, colour like that of a tiger, flanks
like that of a cat, tail like that of a ram, feet and legs like that of a camel
and a distance of 12 cubits between every two joints." (Tadhkirah)
* Snake*****
Some
scholars are of the opinion it is the Snake which guarded the
Holy Ka'bah. Imam
Al-Qurtubi relates this as being the opinion of
Ibne Abbas. (Al-Qurtubi)
Obeying
Allah's command the Prophet IbraheemPeace be upon him with
the help of his son
IsmailPeace be upon him built the Holy Ka'bah. He
dug a well inside the Holy
Ka'bah which was to the right of who entered
it and acted as a safe to all the
gifts that were presented to the Ka'bah which were kept inside it.
At the time
of Jurhum the gold and silver were stolen many times from the Kabah thus the
tribe of Jurhum decided to choose a man amongst them to keep guard.
Unfortunately, one day the guard himself decided to steal the gifts of the
Kabah. Taking the opportunity as it came he climbed down the well and began to
gather what he could in a piece of cloth. While he was busy Allah sent a stone
on him, which closed the well and thus he was unable to escape. From that day
Allah sent a snake to guard the Ka'bah.
The snake lived in the well guarding
the gifts of the Ka'bah for over 500 years. Exposed to the wearing factors of
nature the walls of the Ka'bah at the time of Quraish (slightly before the time
Prophet Peace and blessings be upon him received Prophethood) had become weak
and part of the covering had also burnt, thus the Quraish decided to rebuild
the Ka'bah. However, the snake prevented them from demolishing the Holy Ka'bah
every time they tried. Finally they stood at the Place of Ibrahim Peace be upon
him and prayed, "Oh Allah if you are happy in its rebuilding then make it
possible and take care of this snake." Allah sent an eagle which took the
snake towards Ajyaad. This snake is referred to in the forth opinion.
(Tarikh-Makka)
Many
other opinions have been expressed as regards to the nature of the Beast.
However, finding myself inclined towards Abu Amr Uthman
Ibne Sa'd al-Mukri
ad-Dani's opinion I conclude with his words, "There
are many narration's
in regards to the physical description, length, and
nature of the Beast but
most of these are Mawqoof on the Sahaba or those after them. As for those that
are Marfoo only a few are sound thus we
cannot assert anything in regard of its
description and nature except that which is proven from the authentic Marfoo
narration's and that it is a huge creature that will come out from the Earth, a
beast other than man, nobody will be able to escape it. It will stamp the
Muslim by writing 'believer' between his eyes, and stamp the non-Muslim by
writing Kafir between his eyes." (As-Sunan Al-Waridah Fil-Fitan)
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