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The dajjāl: The Islamic antichrist?

Andrew Henry · Religion For Breakfast · ·20 min read
Commentary by Hex Index staff

Andrew Henry doesn't just decode an obscure Islamic figure—he reveals how the Dajjāl myth became a living lens for Muslim communities navigating betrayal, power, and hope across 1,400 years. His deepest insight? This "lying messiah" was never static theology but a mirror reflecting real-world crises, from Umayyad dynastic wars to modern political fractures. In an age where apocalyptic rhetoric fuels extremism, understanding this evolution isn’t academic—it’s urgent.

The Mirage of Miracles

Henry cuts through sensationalism by grounding the Dajjāl in tangible hadith sources. He highlights a pivotal confrontation outside Medina where the Dajjāl appears to resurrect a man: "Adajal will kill that man and bring him back to life. That man will say, 'Now I know your reality better than before.'" Henry stresses this isn’t supernatural power but divine permission—"he’s only able to kill and resurrect that man because God allowed it." This reframes the Dajjāl’s "miracles" as divine tests, not invincibility. It’s a crucial nuance: God permits deception to reveal true faith. Yet Henry could push further—why did 9th-century compilers emphasize this after the Treaty of al-Hudaybiya (628 CE), when early Muslims grappled with broken treaties and false prophets?

The resurrected man’s defiance—"Now I know your reality better than before"—isn’t about survival. It’s the moment deception collapses before unwavering conviction.

The Blind Eye and the Burning Word

Henry masterfully dissects the Dajjāl’s physical markers as theological metaphors. He notes the hadith declaring "Allah is not one-eyed and behold that Adajal is blind of the right eye," then observes how scholars read this impaired vision as "a deeper spiritual defect. He can’t really perceive the truth." Even sharper is his treatment of the forehead inscription: "kafir" (disbeliever) visible only to believers. As Henry puts it, "His followers won’t be able to see it, but believers, literate or illiterate, will recognize him." This isn’t just identification—it’s a litmus test for spiritual clarity. Critics might argue this downplays how political movements exploit such imagery (e.g., labeling rivals "Dajjāl"), but Henry’s focus on early sources keeps the analysis anchored.

The dajjāl: The Islamic antichrist?

Shadows and Swords: Jesus, the Mahdi, and Defeat

Here, Henry’s cross-traditional analysis shines. He contrasts Sunni and Shi narratives: while Sunnis expect Jesus to slay the Dajjāl at Lod (near Jerusalem), "in many Shi communities... the Mahdi occupies the central end times role" as the one who "eliminates the Dajjāl." This divergence makes sense when Henry connects it to the Occultation—the belief that the 12th Imam is hidden until the end times. The Dajjāl thus becomes the ultimate foil for the Mahdi’s justice. Henry also exposes Christian-Jewish parallels without reductionism: "The Arabic term dajāl is a cognate of the Syriac daggāl," yet he resists claiming direct borrowing, noting how Muslim communities adapted shared apocalyptic motifs amid lived coexistence with Jews and Christians. Still, he underplays how modern Salafi movements weaponize these traditions—something future deep dives should tackle.

Bottom Line

Henry’s greatest strength is tracing how isnad-cum-matn analysis (scrutinizing narrator chains and content) reveals the Dajjāl myth evolving alongside Muslim political trauma—from Umayyad-era power struggles to Mongol invasions. His vulnerability? Not confronting how today’s actors hijack these narratives for violence. Watch for whether scholars can reclaim this figure from extremists by returning to Henry’s core insight: the Dajjāl’s power always depends on believers seeing the "kafir" on his forehead—and refusing to look away.

Deep Dives

Explore these related deep dives:

  • The Great War for Civilisation Amazon · Better World Books by Robert Fisk

    Fisk's magisterial account of the Middle East's wars from the perspective of those who lived through them.

  • Isnad-cum-matn analysis

    This scholarly method for verifying hadith authenticity explains how traditions about the Dajjāl were critically assessed beyond mere narrator chains.

  • Occultation (Islam)

    The Twelver Shia doctrine of the Hidden Imam's concealment provides crucial context for divergent Shi'a interpretations of end-times figures like the Mahdi versus the Dajjāl.

  • Treaty of al-Hudaybiya

    This 628 CE agreement established the sacred inviolability of Mecca and Medina, directly shaping the Dajjāl's prohibition from entering these cities in apocalyptic narratives.

Sources

The dajjāl: The Islamic antichrist?

by Andrew Henry · Religion For Breakfast · Watch video

On the day of judgment will come a man blind in one eye. On his forehead will be inscribed the word kafir, disbeliever. He will be forbidden from entering the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. With him comes a great and terrible army ready to wage war against all pious Muslims.

This terrifying figure is al-masi adajal or just adajal literally meaning the lying messiah or just the liar. Muslim traditions about the end of the world describe cosmic upheaval, moral collapse, and the arrival of a messianic figure known as the Mai. And among the most dramatic elements of these traditions is the appearance of this antiristlike figure, the Djal. Although he doesn't appear in the Quran itself, he looms large in later traditions as one of the major signs of the end of the world.

He's a menacing figure and he's also a mysterious figure who has been interpreted in a lot of ways as a miracle working impostor, a political tyrant, a cosmic deceiver, or a symbol of systemic corruption. So, who or what is the djal? What do the earliest Islamic sources actually say about him? And how have Muslims interpreted these traditions across the centuries?

To understand the dal, we need to start with the hadith. These are written reports about what the prophet Muhammad said, did or approved of, transmitted by chains of narrators and eventually compiled into large collections in the 8th and 9th centuries. The Quran offers relatively little detail about the end of the world. So, the hadith literature is where Islamic apocalyptic imagination really takes shape.

It's in these collections we find vivid descriptions of cosmic upheaval, the appearance of the Mai, the return of Jesus, and the rise of the dal. Now, Sunni and Shi Muslims and other smaller Muslim communities disagree on interpretation or even on which hadith traditions are legitimate. Though it's generally understood that Adajal is a real being that will come into the world at a specific moment as part of the day of judgment. There are literally hundreds of hadith about him and they're a little repetitive.

So, we'll highlight some of the more influential ones. Let's start with one account recorded in the Sah Albkari. This is one of the better known collections compiled in the 9th century. It describes Muhammad saying that a dajal will come and will be forbidden for ...