الدجال
al-Dajjāl
Topic
The False Messiah of the end of time, described in hadith but not named in the Quran.
What it means
Dajjāl means “the great deceiver”. Hadith describe a one-eyed man who will appear before the end of time and claim to be a lord, and who will work wonders and spread corruption. Jesus will descend and kill him, as in a report in Sahih Muslim. The Prophet taught believers to seek God’s protection from him in every prayer, and said that reciting the opening verses of chapter 18 guards against him (Sahih Muslim).
Often misunderstood as
That Muslims have copied the Christian idea of the Antichrist.
What the sources say
The word “Dajjal” is applied also to impostors in general: the Prophet said that thirty liars would arise, each claiming to be a prophet (Sahih al-Bukhari). The ideas of an end-time deceiver and of Jesus’ return are found in Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and Muslims see this as a sign that they come from a common source.