-D

S
P M I
denote the personage endowed with miraculous powers who will arrive before the
end of time and, for a limited period of either 40 days or 40 years, will let impurity
and tyranny rule the world which, thereafter, is destined to witness universal
conversion to Islam. His appearance is one of the proofs of the end of time. The
characteristics attributed to him in Muslim eschatological legends combine features
C p M Mk
taken from the Apocalypse of St. John of Patmos (xi 7, xii, xiii, xx 5-18, 8-10).
T pp p-pp p
H S Ep k pp C
C K S Ep S
Sermo II de fine extremo, trans. T. J. Lamy, iii, 187-214, 9-13). His essential
activity is to lead the crowds astray, to accomplish miracles (short of restoring the
dead to life), to kill Elias and Enoch, the two witnesses put forward by God against
himthey will immediately come to life againand finally to be conquered and
dismembered at the coming of the Son. The Ps. Methodius ( Monumenta SS . Patr .
Op B 1569 99 pk
coming from Choras, and finally perishing at the hands of the king of the
Romans, before the Second Coming. In a similar passage, the relationship being
pp B pk I -
Hk p T MS Arab. Paris, 215,
f 171).
Uk pp M I
repeats the legends about the ass on which he rides, the sinners and hypocrites who
attend him, his end before Jesus (iii, 867, iii, 238, ii, 397-98, 7-8 S
K -F p B k -D

which describes him as a corpulent, red-faced man with one eye and frizzy hair,
who brings with him fire and water, the water being of fire and the fire of cold
water. The Prophet will have announced his coming and will have prayed to God
for help against his fitna . Conquering the world, he will be unable, at Medina (and
Mecca), to cross the barrier formed by angels standing at the gates of the -
Bk M 17-110). These traditions derive their details from St.
Ephraem: he will bring with him a mountain of bread and a river of water, and also
the episode, though condensed and distorted, of his meeting with Elias and Enoch
(an upright man among upright men who will denounce him, and whom he will kill
and bring to life again, but will be powerless to put to death once more). On his
k K Wk
Shorter Encyclopaedia of Islam , 67, and s.v., Handbook of Early Muhammadan
Tradition ).
L pp : K - M P
6 18 1 -B -R 119
1 S -G - M P 669 55-56
v), and also the Christian pamphlet on the capture of Constantinople in 1204,
repeating the old Revelations of Sibylla, daughter of Herael (Ms. Arab. Paris, 70,
74, f 126 v ff., 178, 175 p p D

his false miracles, his conquests and his end. But clearly in the Muslim
pp M p
his title is to perish, whilst th R S k
J T p D

beauty and powers of seduction, and repeat the episode of the righteous men
denouncing him. The apocalypse of Sibylla believes that the decisive proof of his
imposture is his inability to raise up the dead.
I pp 11
16 J-C
D

p p
p p J C - -
B

K -F -F C 191 66 -333) regards him as

the ultimate term of comparison to describe false doctrine and going astray
though his sedition is only to last 40 days and recalls that Christians believed
that he would perish at the hands of Jesus who, in that way, would be converted to
Islam after killing pigs, scattering wine and taking his place for prayer at the
K
T D

p
pp k I S Ep
pp S -G M P 559 K
(cf. Ibn al-W -B P K - -
B M P 5 W Gp
travellers of the classical period state that he dwelt in the c

-H pp
R G E I
p I K -M I I
A giant, false prophet, king of the Jews, representations of him vary according to
the degree of literary information available or the predominating prejudices. It is
interesting to note the allusion to the legend of Prometheus which makes him live
Mk - 1; -
M M

8
(A. Abel)
________________
EI: D
Cook, David B.
T D ppears at the end of the
pp pp J T
p p S
frequently for the Antichrist.
{{ N.B.: "dagalo" is not acceptable; see EI.}}
T D Q pp pp
k T D J
to come from the eastern part of the Muslim world, either Isfahan or various other
I F K H
the ridiculous, and he is usually said to be of superhuman stature (forty cubits),
riding a donkey of proportional size. He is always portrayed as blind in one eye
or even missing an eyeball k
forehead, which will be legible to all Muslims. There has been disagreement
M D ; pp
that he is not, some traditions assert that he is indeed human, and the similarity
I S
scholars to accept his humanity.
F D p M :
thousand Jews from Isfahan are frequently mentioned, as are Bedouins, Turks,
weavers, magicians, children of prostitutes, and people of the lowest social
W D T
D pp uch that only a limited number of people, all
Muslims, will be able to resist his temptations. He is described as using deceptive
miracles, analogous to the miracles of Jesus, to convince people to follow him.
These include: healing lepers, paralytics, and the blind; raising the dead; creating
k; pp
movement. He tortures and murders those who oppose him.
T D
protected cities of Mecca and Medina and finally to Syria-Palestine, where he is
said to besiege his few Muslim opponents (twelve thousand men and seven
thousand women). The locations mentioned are either Jerusalem/Damascus or a
group of cities and mountainous locations in northern Syria, including Antioch and
Jabal al-Dk W p
M pp D
p J Dl, cause him and his followers to flee,
p L L k I
D k p R 1:1 ;
defeat he seeks out the sea and is killed close to it.
p D I S p
M M
mysterious verbal jousts with the Prophet, and to have been accused of being the
D He is said to have been greeted by the Jews of Isfahan as their king
connecting him to the cycle of stories aboveand to have disappeared at the time
of the battle of the Harra (63/683). Another story about the appearance of the
D T -D Cp Pp
the Mediterranean, was shipwrecked on an island and met by a mysterious creature
called al- p k
man who is chained in a monastery. This man, who, in some versions, is said to
have been blinded in one eye, asks them a number of elliptic questions about
natural events in Syria, such as earthquakes and agricultural production, and then
p pp D T I S
T pp
T D S pp Cp M
pp k D -Semitic materials from The
protocols of the elders of Zion and make him into a more malevolent but seductive
figure.
David B. Cook
Bibliography
N H K - S Zkk B 1991
I K -N -fitan wa-l- C
Ibn al-M -M Q 118/1995
M S K - Q -k -D
k I S k -D - -D
k -D B
Q I S - -D - MS L U
Library, Or. 7175
al-Q -Tadhkira, Cairo n.d.
David Cook, Studies in Muslim apocalyptic, Princeton 2002
David Cook, Contemporary Muslim apocalyptic literature, Syracuse 2005
Jean-P F Lpp I P 8
D J Hp T I S JOS 96/ 1976 125
Arent Jan Wensinck (ed.), Concordance et indices de la tradition musulmane, 8
vols. in 4, Leiden 1992.
Cite this page
Ck D B "D" Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE.
Edited by: Kate Fleet, Gudrun Krmer, Denis Matringe, John Nawas, Everett
Rowson.
First appeared online: 2011