How can we contend with Dajjal? What can we do to avoid the mischief of Dajjal?
A believer aims for the good, the justice and the truth to dominate. Apart from the major responsibility of ordering the good and prohibiting the evil, the believer should also contend with the evil. If the believer lives during the time of Dajjal, (s)he will do his/her best to contend with Dajjal.
The Messenger of Allah mentioned Dajjal as one of the things when he said: Whoever is saved from three things will achieve salvation...(1)
He said If Dajjal emerges when I am among you, I will overcome him. If he emerges when I am not among you, everyone should try to do their best to contend with him. O servants of Allah, resist him and show perseverance.(2)
It is stated in the Ibn-Majah narration of the hadith, I will overcome him with proofs. It shows that Dajjal, who attacks all the sacred faith issues like Allah, the Hereafter and fate, cannot be resisted with physical power but can be resisted with spiritual power, that is, by proving faith principles with definite proofs. Basing his opinion on earlier important people, Imam Rabbani gave the good news that, A person from the Mutakallemeen and the scholars of ilm-e kalaam will come; he will prove all the principles of faith and Islam (truths of faith and Islam) with reasonable evidence and perfect clarity .(3) One can only resist Dajjal with the evidence and proven truth of that wise scholar.
Those evidences will be needed a lot because Dajjal will throw in front of the followers of Muhammad all the doubts against Islam that had been accumulated for a thousand years. Confused people will require strong proofs so that they can be protected from those doubts. It can only be achieved through strong evidence.
In addition, Dajjal will not refrain from coercion, tyranny and giving annoyance to make people accept his irreligious ideas. To be able to resist those things one needs to be equipped with strong Quranic and faith principles. One should not submit to despotism in whatever circumstance even if (s)he is executed. Even if (s)he submits, it will not be willingly. Eventually (s)he will triumph. the following is stated in the the Rays (Şualar),The people who will not submit to the absolute compulsion of the Big Dajjal will be martyrs and the ones who submit unwillingly will not become unbelievers and probably not even sinners .(4)
The people who do not submit to the oppression and tyranny of communism, which prides in taking on the duty of the Big Dajjal, will be martyrs if they die for that cause. Even the Christians who resist communism will get great rewards:
Seeing that in the end of time, there is great indifference to religion and to the religion of Muhammad and seeing that the true religion of Jesus (pbuh) will govern and will stand shoulder to shoulder with Islam; certainly, it could be said that the oppressed Christians following Jesus who face calamities will become martyrs (shaheed) in a sense. Especially the elderly and those who face disasters, the poor and the weak face calamities under the compulsion and violence of the despotic tyrants. Surely, I have learned from the truth that not only will that calamity act as atonement against the sin and ungodliness of the civilization but it will also be a benefit to them a hundred times As for the people who suffer that calamity, who assist the oppressed and those who struggle to maintain the tranquility of humanity and the essence of religion and the sacredness of Divine Holy things and the rights of the people, the result of that spiritual and the Hereafter-related sacrifice is so big that it will make that disaster lovable and a source of honor .(5)
Dajjal, who takes ruining and destruction as a principle, ruins every established thing and overturns the legitimate social order. He kills everyone who opposes him, jails them or tries to sideline them. The difficulty of trying to take care of the religion and to practice it is indisputably hard. In accordance with the principle, The most virtuous act is the most troublesome(6), as the troubles increase so do the rewards.
After all, one should show perseverance and should not make concessions even if it is very difficult. Prophet Muhammad said the following when the Sahaba asked him, O Messenger of Allah, what should we do if we reach that time:
You should have patience and endurance like the friends of Jesus (pbuh) (Eesa), the son of Mary. They were cut with saws and bucksaws and were crucified on trees. I swear by ALLAH, who has my life in his hands, that dying by being obedient to Allah is favorable to dying by being rebellious to Allah .(7)
The important thing is to be able to resist Dajjal with faith and thought. Dajjal sees everything materially, he does not accept the existence, the oneness of Allah and his sovereignty and possession of everything from the mote to the globe and he presents himself as divine. Dajjal will not be able to have any authority over the person who denies him as divine and says, Our lord is Allah. We trust him and we approach him. From your evil, we seek refuge in Allah.(8)
Struggle against Dajjal could change with the circumstances and conditions. The criterion in that should be the following hadith, Try to hinder the wrong with the hand. If that is not possible, then try to hinder it with the tongue. If that is not possible, then turn your heart away from it. The believer should do everything he/she can to struggle against him. The believer should never condone his evils. If there is nothing he can do, he is obliged to turn away from it. The believer should not keep silent and refrain from telling the truth lest Dajjal should harm him.
According to a narration, one of the reasons for the difficult test of Job (pbuh) (Ayyub) was because he kept silent and did not warn the tyrant Pharaoh. The people of Basaniya, on the other hand, had defended their rights and did not hesitate using sharp words against him. Job (pbuh) had chosen to be silent and mild because he wanted to protect his crop but he was responsible for warning the Pharaoh against his tyranny and ordering the Divine commands.
During the drought days in Damascus, the Pharaoh had invited him to Egypt, Come to us! For you, there is abundance and wideness here with us. Then, Job (pbuh) had taken his property and family and had gone to Egypt. The Pharaoh had given him some bounties.
He was in the Pharaohs court one day when Shuaib (Jethro) came in and shouted at the Pharaoh, O Pharaoh! Are you not afraid of the wrath of Allah when the people of the skies, the earth, the sea and the mountains are angry.
Job, meanwhile, chose to keep silent. So, Allah commanded: O Job! You kept silent because you went to the Pharaohs country! Be prepared for the calamity (test)!
Although Job replied, Did I not undertake the livelihood of the orphan? Did I not shelter the poor? Did I not feed the hungry? Did I not try to help the widow?, he could not escape the test.(9)
As can be seen, even because of some important affairs, being silent and mild towards Dajjal can bring about those kinds of results for the important people.
Apart from abandoning the struggle against Dajjal, to be in favor of Dajjal would, no doubt, summon more serious disasters. Even if the worldly life of the person prospers, (her) his Hereafter life will collapse. Even in this worldly life, the troubles and calamities will not be missing. If there is widespread support for Dajjal in a place, there is an invitation for general calamities like hunger, famine or earthquake because The general calamities come from the mistake of the majority. The majority of the people join them when they support tyrant people with their actions or when they undertake or become a part of their actions. So, they cause general calamities.(10)
As can be seen, the struggle against Dajjal is not easy. The influence of Dajjal is great and his despotism is fierce; and he will try to silence those who dare to struggle against him. The believer should not lose the sense of struggle and strive as much as (s)he can. (S)He should turn (her) his heart away if (s)he cannot do anything. (S)He should not approach him or his cause as much as possible and stay away from his mischief. The advice of the Prophet regarding the issue is as follows:
When you hear the emergence of Dajjal, stay away from him because one goes to him with the intention of refusing him but becomes a subject because he gives apprehension to the hearts and deceives and doubts them.
Another narration is as follows:
The Messenger of Allah mentioned Dajjal as one of the things when he said: Whoever is saved from three things will achieve salvation...(1)
How can we avoid the evils of Dajjal?
He said If Dajjal emerges when I am among you, I will overcome him. If he emerges when I am not among you, everyone should try to do their best to contend with him. O servants of Allah, resist him and show perseverance.(2)
It is stated in the Ibn-Majah narration of the hadith, I will overcome him with proofs. It shows that Dajjal, who attacks all the sacred faith issues like Allah, the Hereafter and fate, cannot be resisted with physical power but can be resisted with spiritual power, that is, by proving faith principles with definite proofs. Basing his opinion on earlier important people, Imam Rabbani gave the good news that, A person from the Mutakallemeen and the scholars of ilm-e kalaam will come; he will prove all the principles of faith and Islam (truths of faith and Islam) with reasonable evidence and perfect clarity .(3) One can only resist Dajjal with the evidence and proven truth of that wise scholar.
Those evidences will be needed a lot because Dajjal will throw in front of the followers of Muhammad all the doubts against Islam that had been accumulated for a thousand years. Confused people will require strong proofs so that they can be protected from those doubts. It can only be achieved through strong evidence.
In addition, Dajjal will not refrain from coercion, tyranny and giving annoyance to make people accept his irreligious ideas. To be able to resist those things one needs to be equipped with strong Quranic and faith principles. One should not submit to despotism in whatever circumstance even if (s)he is executed. Even if (s)he submits, it will not be willingly. Eventually (s)he will triumph. the following is stated in the the Rays (Şualar),The people who will not submit to the absolute compulsion of the Big Dajjal will be martyrs and the ones who submit unwillingly will not become unbelievers and probably not even sinners .(4)
The people who do not submit to the oppression and tyranny of communism, which prides in taking on the duty of the Big Dajjal, will be martyrs if they die for that cause. Even the Christians who resist communism will get great rewards:
Seeing that in the end of time, there is great indifference to religion and to the religion of Muhammad and seeing that the true religion of Jesus (pbuh) will govern and will stand shoulder to shoulder with Islam; certainly, it could be said that the oppressed Christians following Jesus who face calamities will become martyrs (shaheed) in a sense. Especially the elderly and those who face disasters, the poor and the weak face calamities under the compulsion and violence of the despotic tyrants. Surely, I have learned from the truth that not only will that calamity act as atonement against the sin and ungodliness of the civilization but it will also be a benefit to them a hundred times As for the people who suffer that calamity, who assist the oppressed and those who struggle to maintain the tranquility of humanity and the essence of religion and the sacredness of Divine Holy things and the rights of the people, the result of that spiritual and the Hereafter-related sacrifice is so big that it will make that disaster lovable and a source of honor .(5)
Dajjal, who takes ruining and destruction as a principle, ruins every established thing and overturns the legitimate social order. He kills everyone who opposes him, jails them or tries to sideline them. The difficulty of trying to take care of the religion and to practice it is indisputably hard. In accordance with the principle, The most virtuous act is the most troublesome(6), as the troubles increase so do the rewards.
After all, one should show perseverance and should not make concessions even if it is very difficult. Prophet Muhammad said the following when the Sahaba asked him, O Messenger of Allah, what should we do if we reach that time:
You should have patience and endurance like the friends of Jesus (pbuh) (Eesa), the son of Mary. They were cut with saws and bucksaws and were crucified on trees. I swear by ALLAH, who has my life in his hands, that dying by being obedient to Allah is favorable to dying by being rebellious to Allah .(7)
The important thing is to be able to resist Dajjal with faith and thought. Dajjal sees everything materially, he does not accept the existence, the oneness of Allah and his sovereignty and possession of everything from the mote to the globe and he presents himself as divine. Dajjal will not be able to have any authority over the person who denies him as divine and says, Our lord is Allah. We trust him and we approach him. From your evil, we seek refuge in Allah.(8)
Struggle against Dajjal could change with the circumstances and conditions. The criterion in that should be the following hadith, Try to hinder the wrong with the hand. If that is not possible, then try to hinder it with the tongue. If that is not possible, then turn your heart away from it. The believer should do everything he/she can to struggle against him. The believer should never condone his evils. If there is nothing he can do, he is obliged to turn away from it. The believer should not keep silent and refrain from telling the truth lest Dajjal should harm him.
According to a narration, one of the reasons for the difficult test of Job (pbuh) (Ayyub) was because he kept silent and did not warn the tyrant Pharaoh. The people of Basaniya, on the other hand, had defended their rights and did not hesitate using sharp words against him. Job (pbuh) had chosen to be silent and mild because he wanted to protect his crop but he was responsible for warning the Pharaoh against his tyranny and ordering the Divine commands.
During the drought days in Damascus, the Pharaoh had invited him to Egypt, Come to us! For you, there is abundance and wideness here with us. Then, Job (pbuh) had taken his property and family and had gone to Egypt. The Pharaoh had given him some bounties.
He was in the Pharaohs court one day when Shuaib (Jethro) came in and shouted at the Pharaoh, O Pharaoh! Are you not afraid of the wrath of Allah when the people of the skies, the earth, the sea and the mountains are angry.
Job, meanwhile, chose to keep silent. So, Allah commanded: O Job! You kept silent because you went to the Pharaohs country! Be prepared for the calamity (test)!
Although Job replied, Did I not undertake the livelihood of the orphan? Did I not shelter the poor? Did I not feed the hungry? Did I not try to help the widow?, he could not escape the test.(9)
As can be seen, even because of some important affairs, being silent and mild towards Dajjal can bring about those kinds of results for the important people.
Apart from abandoning the struggle against Dajjal, to be in favor of Dajjal would, no doubt, summon more serious disasters. Even if the worldly life of the person prospers, (her) his Hereafter life will collapse. Even in this worldly life, the troubles and calamities will not be missing. If there is widespread support for Dajjal in a place, there is an invitation for general calamities like hunger, famine or earthquake because The general calamities come from the mistake of the majority. The majority of the people join them when they support tyrant people with their actions or when they undertake or become a part of their actions. So, they cause general calamities.(10)
As can be seen, the struggle against Dajjal is not easy. The influence of Dajjal is great and his despotism is fierce; and he will try to silence those who dare to struggle against him. The believer should not lose the sense of struggle and strive as much as (s)he can. (S)He should turn (her) his heart away if (s)he cannot do anything. (S)He should not approach him or his cause as much as possible and stay away from his mischief. The advice of the Prophet regarding the issue is as follows:
When you hear the emergence of Dajjal, stay away from him because one goes to him with the intention of refusing him but becomes a subject because he gives apprehension to the hearts and deceives and doubts them.
Another narration is as follows:
When you hear the emergence of Dajjal, do not approach him as much as possible. A person goes to him thinking that Dajjal is a believer, stays with him for a while and falls into his trap with his doubts.(11)
Approaching Dajjal in this context is not just approaching his body but also his cause which causes confusion in the minds and hearts. The system of Dajjal will continue even after he dies. He goes away by leaving a devastating mischief.
A Hadith advises us to prefer staying at home so as not to be infected with the appealing mischief of Dajjal. Prophet Muhammad informs us that before the doomsday there will be mischief like pieces of night time; one will reach the morning as a believer but become an unbeliever by the night time and many people will sell their religion for a piece of worldly benefit. The Sahaba asked him, What should we do when we reach such a time?" The Messenger of Allah said, Do not become infected by leaving your homes.(12)
The point is not to fall into his trap, to know Dajjal well so as not to be seized by his appealing mischief and carry out the struggle that one should.
Unfortunately, people who do not know Dajjal well can have wrong opinions and fall into his trap because of negligence and ignorance. The famous Dajjal can hunt those people down easily because he adopts methods like deception, fraud, and hypocrisy.
Dajjal is an unbeliever; he will start a war against Islam and will attack in every chance he gets. There is no need to say that people who know those things and follow him nevertheless will risk themselves. Even their deeds will not be useful for them. As the Prophet says for the people who submit to Dajjal none of their good acts will be of any use.(13)
What can we do to avoid the mischief of the Dajjal?
Certainly, I am warning you against Dajjal. There is no prophet who has not warned his people against him. Likewise, Noah (pbuh) had also warned his people against Dajjal.(14)
The greater the danger, the more protection necessary. Accordingly, there are warnings and preventive measures. As it can be seen above, the Munificient Prophet has made the necessary warnings against that big danger.
Because of those warnings, the Sahaba had expected Dajjal as a big calamity in a nearby place and a near time and they had prepared against him accordingly.
Nawwas bin Saman explains how the Messenger of Allah expressed that mischief:
The Munificient Prophet explained Dajjal one morning. He lowered Dajjal so much and emphasized (his mischief) so much that we thought he was in that date garden (in person).(15)
Seeking refuge in Allah from the mischief of Dajjal, the Messenger of Allah(16) had taught them this prayer that he often repeated himself: I seek refuge in You from the mischief of Dajjal.(17)
In addition, after finishing the final tashahhud of the prayer (salat) he advised us to seek refuge in Allah from the following four things: the Hell torment, the grave torment, the mischief of life and death and the evil of Masihud Dajjal.(18)
Including those Sunnah prayers in his principles of methods, Badiuzzaman also mentioned avoiding the mischief of Dajjal in the prayers he made after morning (fajr) and evening (maghrib) prayers:
O Allah, protect us from Hell! O Allah, protect us from all fires! O Allah, protect us from the religious and worldly mischief! O Allah, protect us from the mischief of the end of time! O Allah, protect us from the mischief of Masihud Dajjal and Sufyan! O Allah, protect us from perversion, false innovation (bida) and troubles!(19)
The Messenger of Allah also advises reading the first verses of the Chapter al-Kahf to avoid the mischief of Dajjal.
Among his mischief is that he has a heaven and a hell by his side. However, his hell is Heaven and his heaven is Hell. Whoever is tested with his fire should ask for help from Allah and read the first verses of the Chapter al-Kahf. Then, his fire will give coolness and peace as it happened to Abraham. (20)
In addition, apart from the narration for protection from the evil of Dajjal, there are narrations that say, One who reads the Chapter al-Kahf will be protected from the mischief of Dajjal(21), one who reads the last verses(22) and one who memorizes the first ten verses will be protected.(23)
What is the Divine Wisdom in the reading that chapter (surah)?
In that chapter, Allah, the Almighty, is introduced with His personality and attributes and it is explained how, with His help, Ashab-u Kahf were rescued from the evil of the ruler of the time, Dakyanus. One can be protected from the evil of Dajjal with the help of Allah. That chapter gives the believers that security. An important wisdom of the fact that that chapter has been read in mosques every Friday since the time of the Messenger of Allah, is seeking refuge in Allah from the evil of Dajjal.
When Muhammed al-Hejazi (d. 1625) evaluates the advice of reading the Chapter al-Kahf for the protection from the mischief of Dajjal, he says that Dajjal can only be resisted with the Quran. He explains the secret as:
One who is strong against Dajjal is strong only with the Quran.(24)
The tricks, doubts and apprehensions of Dajjal cannot influence, in any way, a person who knows the Quran well and who fills his heart and mind with its sacred truths.
Footnotes:
1. Musnad, 4:110.
2. Muslim, Fitan: 20.
3. Nursi, Şuâlar (Rays), p. 152.
4. ibid, p. 504.
5. Nursi, Kastamonu Lâhikası (Kastamonu Addendum), p. 79-80.
6. al-Ajluni, Ismail Muhammad, Kashful-Khafa wa Muzilul-Albas (Beirut: Daru Ihyaut-Turathil-Arabi, 1351), 1:155.
7. Sharani, Ölüm-Kıyamet-Âhiret ve Âhirzaman Alâmetleri, p. 380.
8. Musnad, 5:372.
9. Ibni Asakir, Tarikh-i Dimashq, 3:194-195; Ibni Athir, al-Kamil, I-13 (Beirut: 1385/1965), 1:129-130.
10. Nursi, Sözler (Words), p. 158.
11. Abu Dawud, Malahim: 14.
12. Tirmizi, Fitan: 30 (H. 2196).
13. Musnad, 5:16.
14. Abu Dawud, Sunna: 25; Tirmizi, Kitabu'l-Fitan: 56, 62.
15. Muslim, Fitan: 110.
16. Bukhari, Fitan: 26; Musnad, 2:201, 233; 6:139-140.
17. Tirmizi, Daawat: 77.
18. Muslim, Salat: 128.
19. Nursi, Namaz Tesbihatı, p. 30.
20. Ibni Majah, Fitan: 36; Abu Dawud, Kitabu'l-Malahim (Deccal'ın Çıkışı babı) (4:117).
21. Abu Dawud, Malahim: 14.
22. Musnad, 2:446.
23. Musnad, 2:449.
24. al-Hijazi, Muhammad bin Muhammad bin Abdillah al-Hijazi al-Waiz, Sawau's-Sirat fi Zikris-Saati wal-Ashrat (Egypt: Darul-Kutubil-Misriyya, Ghaybiyat Taymur, nr. 26), vr. 251, 268.
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