Dajjal and Mahdi: Myths that distract from the Quran

Quran vs. Hadith: Who really knows the End?

 

The Quran’s message about the unseen and the end of days is crystal clear and remarkably simple.

Allah alone knows the unseen. The Hour will arrive suddenly. There are no named saviors or beasts described in elaborate stories.

 

The Quran: Knowledge of the unseen belongs only to Allah

 

He has the keys of the Unknown. No one but He has knowledge;

Quran 6:59

 

Say: "No one in the heavens and the earth has knowledge of the unknown except God, nor can they know when they will be raised again.

Quran 27:65

 

They ask you about the Hour, “When will it be?” Say, “Knowledge of it rests with my Lord. None can reveal its timing, except He. It weighs heavily on the heavens and the earth. It will not come upon you except suddenly.” They ask you as if you are well informed about it. Say, “Knowledge of it rests with God,” but most people do not know.

Quran 7:187

 

And to God is the unseen of the heavens and the earth, and the matter of the Hour is like the blink of the eye or nearer. God is capable of all things

Quran 16:77

 

People ask you concerning the Hour, say: "The knowledge of it is with Allah only. What do you know? It may be that the Hour is near!

Quran 33:63

 

 

Do they only wait for the Hour that it shall come upon them suddenly, while they perceive not?

Quran 43:66

 

 

Nowhere in the Quran does Allah tell us to await a man named Mahdi or to fear a deceiver called Dajjal.

Instead, the Quran warns that such fascination with unseen details is a human tendency.

 

 

 

The Hadith: Endless myths and theater

Now compare that to what hadith literature tells us about Dajjal and Mahdi. The contrast is shocking:

 

Abdullah bin 'Amr bin Al-'As said:

The Messenger of Allah said, "Dajjal (the Antichrist) will appear in my Ummah and he will stay in the world for forty. I do not know whether this will be forty days or forty months or forty years. Allah will then send (Prophet) 'Isa (Jesus), son of Maryam (Mary). 'Isa will pursue him and slaughter him. Then people will survive for seven years (i.e., after the demise of 'Isa) in the state that there will be no rancour between two persons. Then Allah will send a cool breeze from the side of Ash-Sham. None will remain upon the face of the earth having the smallest particle of good or Faith in him but he will die, so much so that even if someone amongst you will enter the innermost part of a mountain, this breeze will reach that place also and will cause him to die. Only the wicked people will survive and they will be as fast as birds (i.e., to commit evil) and as ferocious towards one another as wild beasts. They will never appreciate the good, nor condemn evil. Then Shaitan (Satan) will come to them in the garb of a man and will say: 'Will you not obey me?' They will say: 'What do you order us to do?' He will command them to worship idols. They will have abundance of sustenance and will lead comfortable lives. Then the Trumpet will be blown. Every one hearing it, will turn his neck towards it and will raise it. The first one to hear that Trumpet will be a man who will be busy repairing the basin for his camels. He will become unconscious. Allah will send, or will cause to send, rain which will be like dew and there will grow out of it (like wild growth) the bodies of the people. Then the second Trumpet will be blown and they will stand up and begin to look around. Then it will be said: 'O people! Go to your Rubb.' Then there will be a command: 'Make them stand there.' After it they will be called to account. Then it will be said: 'Separate from them the share of the Fire.' It will be asked: 'How much?' It will be said: 'Nine hundred and ninety-nine out of every thousand.' That will be the Day which will make children hoary-headed men because of its terror and that will be the Day when the Shin will be uncovered."

Riyad as-Salihin 1810

 

Anas said:

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, "There has not been a Prophet who has not warned his Ummah of that one-eyed liar (Dajjal). Behold, he is blind in one eye and your Rubb (Allah) is not blind. On his forehead are the letters: (K.F.R.) (meaning Kafir- disbeliever)."

Riyad as-Salihin 1817

 

Abdullah bin 'Umar said:

One day the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) mentioned Al-Masih Dajjal (the Antichrist) in the presence of the people and said, "Verily, Allah is not one-eyed but Al-Masih Ad-Dajjal is blind in the right eye which looks like a swollen grape."

Riyad as-Salihin 1819

 

An-Nawwas bin Sam`an reported:

One morning the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) made a mention of Dajjal, and he described him to be insignificant and at the same time described him so significant that we thought he was on the date-palm trees (i.e., nearby). When we went to him (the Prophet (ﷺ)) in the evening, he perceived the sign of fear on our faces. He said, "What is the matter with you?'' We said: "O Messenger of Allah, you talked about Dajjal this morning raising your voice and lowering it until we thought he was hiding in the palm-trees grove: He said: "Something other than Dajjal make worry about you. If he appears while I am with you, I will defend you against him. But if he appears after I die, then everyone of you is his own defender. Allah is the One Who remains after me to guide every Muslim. Dajjal will be a young man with very curly hair with one eye protruding (with which he cannot see). I compare (his appearance) to that of Al-`Uzza bin Qatan. He who amongst you survives to see him, should recite over him the opening Ayat of Surat Al-Kahf (i.e., Surat 18: Verses 1-8). He will appear on the way between Syria and Iraq and will spread mischief right and left. O slaves of Allah! Remain adhered to the truth.'' We asked: "O Messenger of Allah! How long will he stay on the earth?'' He said, "For forty days. One day will be like a year, one day like a month, one day like a week and the rest of the days will be like your days.'' We said: "O Messenger of Allah! Will one day's Salat (prayer) suffice for the Salat of that day which will be equal to one year?'' Thereupon he said, "No, but you must make an estimate of time and then offer Salat.'' We said: "O Messenger of Allah! How quickly will he walk upon the earth?'' Thereupon he said, "Like cloud driven by the wind (i.e., very quickly). He will come to the people and call them to his obedience and they will affirm their faith in him and respond to him. He will then give command to the sky and it will send its rain upon the earth and he will then send his command to the earth and it will grow vegetation. Then in the evening their pasturing animals will come to them with their humps very high and their udders full of milk and their flanks stretched. He will then come to another people and invite them, but they will reject him and he will leave them, in barren lands and without any goods and chattels! He would then walk through the waste land and say to it: `Bring forth your treasures', and the treasures will come out and follow him like swarms of bees. He will then call a person brimming with youth and strike him with the sword and cut him into two pieces and make these pieces lie at a distance, which is generally between the archer and his target. He will then call that young man and he will come forward, laughing, with his face gleaming out of joy; and it will be at this very time that Allah will send `Isa (Jesus), son of Maryam (Mary) who will descend at the white minaret in the eastern side of Damascus, wearing two garments lightly dyed and placing his hands on the wings of two angels. When he will lower his head, there would fall drops of water from his head, and when he will raise it up, drops like pearls would scatter from it. Every disbeliever who will find his (i.e., `Isa's) smell will die and his smell will reach as far as he will be able to see. He will then search for Dajjal until he will catch hold of him at the gate of Ludd (village near Jerusalem), and will kill him. Then the people, whom Allah will have protected, will come to `Isa son of Maryam, and he will wipe their faces and will inform them of their ranks in Jannah, and it will be under such conditions that Allah will reveal to `Isa these words: `I have brought forth from amongst my slaves such people against whom none will be able to fight, so take these people safely to the mountain.' And then Allah will send Ya'juj and Ma'juj (Gog and Magog people) and they will sworn down from every slope. The first of them will pass the Lake Tabariyah (near the Dead Sea in Palestine) and drink all its water. And when the last of them will pass, he will say: `There was once water there.' Prophet `Isa (ﷺ) and his companions will then be so much hard-pressed that the head of an ox will be dearer to them than one hundred dinar, and `Isa along with his companions, will make supplication to Allah, Who will send insects which will attack their (Ya'juj and Ma'juj people) neck until they all will perish like a single person. Prophet, `¦sa and his companions will then come down and they will not find in the earth as much space as a single span which would not be filled with their corpses and their stench. Prophet `Isa and his companions will then again beseech Allah, Who will send birds whose necks will be like those of Bactrian camels, and they will carry them and throw them where Allah will desire. Then Allah will send down rain which will spare no house in the city or in the countryside. It would wash away the earth until it appears like a mirror. Then the earth will be told to bring forth its fruit and restore its blessings; and as a result of this, there will grow such a big pomegranate that a group of people will eat from it and seek shelter under its skin. Milk will be so blessed that the milk of one she-camel will suffice for a large company and the cow will give so much milk, that it will suffice for a whole tribe. The sheep will give so much milk that the whole family will be able to drink out of that, and at that time Allah will send a pleasant wind which will soothe people even under their armpits, and will take the life of every Muslim and true believer, and only the wicked will survive. They will commit adultery in public like asses and the Resurrection Day will be held.''

Riyad as-Salihin 1808

 

 

Narrated AbuSa'id al-Khudri:

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: The Mahdi will be of my stock, and will have a broad forehead a prominent nose. He will fill the earth will equity and justice as it was filled with oppression and tyranny, and he will rule for seven years.

Sunan Abi Dawud 4285

 

Narrated Abdullah ibn Mas'ud:

 

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: If only one day of this world remained. Allah would lengthen that day (according to the version of Za'idah), till He raised up in it a man who belongs to me or to my family whose father's name is the same as my father's, who will fill the earth with equity and justice as it has been filled with oppression and tyranny (according to the version of Fitr). Sufyan's version says: The world will not pass away before the Arabs are ruled by a man of my family whose name will be the same as mine.

Abu Dawud said: The version of 'Umar and Abu Bakr is the same as that of Sufyan.

Sunan Abi Dawud 4282

 

These tales read more like folklore than revelation, yet they have become mainstream “Islam.”

 

Borrowed Myths: Not something new

 

The Dajjal/Mahdi pattern: an evil deceiver followed by a savior is not unique. It appears across civilizations:

 

Christianity: The Antichrist will mislead people, and Jesus will return as savior.

 

Judaism: A Messiah (Mashiakh) will emerge to liberate the Jews and establish justice.

 

Zoroastrianism: The Saoshyant will rise at the end of time to defeat evil.

 

Hinduism: Kalki, the tenth avatar of Vishnu, will appear to restore dharma.

 

 

The similarities are too precise to ignore. These are archetypal myths of humanity, our longing for a savior to descend and fix what we ourselves fail to fix. 

Why people fall for these tales

 

If the Quran is so clear, why do millions still cling to stories of Dajjal and Mahdi? The answer lies not in revelation, but in human psychology.

 

1. The Psychology of Fear

The unknown terrifies us. Allah says plainly: “The Hour will come suddenly, and its knowledge is only with Him” (7:187). But for many, this is unsettling. They want details, signs, a map of the end. Storytellers answered that fear by giving them Dajjal with one eye, Mahdi with miracles, and a timeline to cling to.

 

It soothes the anxious heart: “At least we know what’s coming.” But it is a false comfort, built on tales Allah never revealed.

 

2. The Desire for a Savior

Human beings love rescue stories. It is easier to wait for a Mahdi than to face the hard truth that every soul is accountable only for what it earns (6:164).

 

Hadith promised: Don’t worry, Mahdi will fix it all. He will distribute wealth, restore justice, and carry your burdens.

 

But the Quran says the opposite: no soul can carry another’s burden (2:286). The savior we are waiting for is a reflection of our laziness, not a promise from Allah.

 

3. Neglect of the Quran

And at the core of it all is neglect. Myths flourished because Muslims abandoned the Book. Allah warned:

“The Messenger will say, ‘My people have taken this Quran as something abandoned.’” (25:30)

When the Quran is set aside, imagination takes over. Legends dressed as faith replace clear guidance. And instead of preparing for the sudden Hour, believers waste their lives chasing shadows.

 

Fear invented Dajjal

Laziness invented Mahdi

Abandoning the Quran allowed both to thrive.