In answer to the video "Muhammad the Mystic and the Boy Under the Blanket"
Saf Ibn Sayyad was a Jew and once when asked by the prophet if he testified to his prophethood he answered that, just as the learned Jews of the past and today reluctantly admit, Muhammad indeed was a prophet but not to the Israelites. Saf continued, in a challenging tone
"Do you bear witness to the fact that I am the messenger of Allah? Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) rejected this and said: I affirm my faith in Allah and in His messengers".Notice the prophet's tactful and eloquent negation of ibn Sayyad's arrogance. He did not repond with a negation or affirmation. He answered rethorically, forcing the questionner to deduct by himself the true answer.
"Then he said (to Ibn Saiyad), "What do you think?" Ibn Saiyad answered, "True people and liars visit me." The Prophet said, "You have been confused as to this matter." Then the Prophet said to him, "I have kept something (in my mind) for you, (can you tell me that?)" Ibn Saiyad said, "It is Al-Dukh (the smoke)."
Thereupon Allah's Messenger said: May you be disgraced and dishonoured, you would not be able to go beyond your rank. 'Umar b. Khattab said: Allah's Messenger, permit me that I should strike his neck. Therupon Allah's Messenger said: If he is the same (Dajjal) who would appear near the Last Hour, you would not be able to overpower him, and if he is not that there is no good for you to kill him".This long hadith shows something important. The prophet did not come to Saf ibn Sayyad randomly and started questioning him. There were speculations he might be the dajjal to the point people wanted to kill him, and so the prophet went to him publicly in order to discredit him and put an end to the negative attention he was generating; first by getting him to freely admit to Muhammad's prophethood, then by eloquently negating Saf's arrogant claim to prophethood, and finally showing that he had no special knowledge that could distinguish him from anyone, he couldn't see anything in the prophet's mind but smoke.
Since these steps did not decisively end the rumours, the prophet went together with a witness to attempt to overhear anything which would prove the deceit on Saf's part but when they were discovered and that the prophet could not catch him red handed saying anything compromising, the prophet then followed up by clearly defining to the suspicious people how to recognize the dajjal when he will actually appear.
Later on Saf would convert and become a devout, practicing Muslim, and would even reiterate the prophet's descriptions of the dajjal to those who still were suspicious and fearful of him. In another version of that encounter, ibn Sayyad doesnt answer the prophet's question on the unseen with a blurry "vision" of smoke. Instead he clearly sees the throne of Allah over the waters
"Whereupon Allah's Messenger said: You see the throne of Iblis upon the water", and what else do you see? He said: I see two truthfuls and a liar or two liars and one truthful. Thereupon Allah's Messenger said: Leave him He has been confounded".The prophet first corrects his supposed divine vision by telling him he has been deceived. Iblis deceives by all means and all avenues except in true visions which, per the Quran he has no access to. He was making the false prophet ibn Sayyad think he was having a divine vision of God on His throne. It is interesting to note that the prophet had said that, to imitate the Creator, Iblis also established himself on a throne
"Verily Satan puts his throne on ocean and sets veils around himself. This way he imitates Allah, the Almighty".In yet another version of the encounter, ibn Sayyad says that his vision was
"a throne on the sea , surrounded by serpents then the Prophet said “that is the throne of Iblees".Following this, the noble prophet, for ibn Sayyad's own sake, still gave him a chance to stop his shameful, deceitful act but instead, he gave an even more confused "vision" that further discredited him. At that point the prophet could have chosen to execute him as eagerly proposed by one of his companions, without this action diminishing an iota from his credibility as a true prophet.
The Bible orders to kill false prophets, a command the prophets of the Bible ruthlessly applied in many cases, slaughtering false prophets in masse.
Instead Muhammad told his companions to leave this confused fellow wandering on in his delusions. Ibn Sayyad later came to the truth, as already mentioned, like other contemporary Jews that initially opposed the prophet, accepting Islam and dying as devout Muslims.
As regards that end times figure, the traditions refer to him as the deceiver or the messiah deceiver. Among his recognizable features, of which both the traditions and the Quran warn about, is that he will urge people to believe in him as both God and messiah, waging war and oppression against those that dont
3:79-80"It is not meet for a mortal that Allah should give him the Book and the wisdom and prophethood, then he should say to men: Be my servants rather than Allah's; but rather (he would say): Be worshippers of the Lord because of your teaching the Book and your reading (it yourselves). And neither would he enjoin you that you should take the angels and the prophets for lords; what! would he enjoin you with unbelief after you are Muslims?"
He will gain many followers which isnt surprising, given that Christianity's central belief is in a divine messiah who shall return in this world as a warrior figure. They will be the foremost to be deceived. Many details, both in the canonized and apocryphal Christian traditions have circulated, some true others false, some having survived and others disappeared. Among the details that were common in the region of the Levant, was that the dajjal will not step foot in Mecca and Medina, a notion which Tamim addari, a Christian convert later confirmed
" I am going to tell you about myself and I am Dajjal and would be soon permitted to get out and so I shall get out and travel in the land, and will not spare any town where I would not stay for forty nights except Mecca and Medina as these two (places) are prohibited (areas) for me and I would not make an attempt to enter any one of these two. An angel with a sword in his hand would confront me and would bar my way and there would be angels to guard every passage leading to it; then Allah's Messenger striking the pulpit with the help of the end of his staff said: This implies Taiba meaning Medina. Have I not, told you an account (of the Dajjal) like this? 'The people said: Yes, and this account narrated by Tamim Dari was liked by me for it corroborates the account which I gave to you in regard to him (Dajjal) at Medina and Mecca".
Many deceiving messiahs have in fact already appeared, some even claiming divinity, and many more will come
"The Hour shall not be established until nearly thirty imposters, Dajjal appear, each of them claiming that he is the Messenger of Allah".
Every true prophet has warned against such a phenomenon in a different way
"l warn you against him (i.e. the Dajjal) and there was no prophet but warned his nation against him. No doubt, Noah warned his nation against him but I tell you about him something of which no prophet told his nation before me..."
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