Fatwa ID: 04229

Answered by: Maulana Mustafa Umar

Question
 

Is Dajjal going to literally bring dead people back to life or it will be magic, hence it will seem to the people that he brought them back to life?

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحِيْم

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Answer:

There are several reports from the Prophet about the Dajjal. One of them is as follows: “Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) told us a long narrative about Ad-Dajjal, and among the many things he mentioned, was his saying, "Ad-Dajjal will come and it will be forbidden for him to pass through the entrances of Madina. He will land in some of the salty barren areas (outside) Madina; on that day the best man or one of the best men will come up to him and say, 'I testify that you are the same Dajjal whose description was given to us by Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) .' Ad-Dajjal will say to the people, 'If I kill this man and bring him back to life again, will you doubt my claim?' They will say, 'No.' Then Ad-Dajjal will kill that man and bring him back to life. That man will say, 'Now I know your reality better than before.' Ad-Dajjal will say, 'I want to kill him but I cannot.'" [Sahih Al-Bukhari #1882]

Shaykh Ibn Taymiyyah explains regarding people in his time that claimed to be able to perform miracles: “You will find that in many such cases, their evidence to support their belief that someone is a wali or close friend of Allah is that he foretold some future events or performed some extraordinary feats, such as pointing to a person and he died, or flying through the air to Makkah or elsewhere, or walking on water, or filling a vessel out of thin air, or spending some time in the unseen, or sometimes disappearing from people’s view, or people sought his help when he was absent or dead, then they saw him come and meet their needs, or telling people what has been stolen from them, or telling them how an absent loved one is doing, or healing a sick person, and so on. There is nothing in any of these cases to indicate that the one who does them is a wali or close friend of Allah. Rather the close friends of Allah are unanimously agreed that if a man flies through the air or walks on water, no one should be deceived by him until he examines how closely he follows the Messenger of Allah and the extent to which he complies with his commands and prohibition. Even though the one who does these extraordinary feats may be a wali or close friend of Allah, he may also be an enemy of Allah, because these extraordinary feats may be done by many of the disbelievers, polytheists, people of the Book and hypocrites, or they may be done by followers of innovation and may even be done by the devils. So it is not permissible to think that everyone who performs some of these feats is a close friend of Allah. Rather the close friends of Allah are to be recognized by their attributes, deeds, and character as indicated by the Qur’an and Sunnah, and they are to be recognized by the light of faith and the Qur’an, and the level of faith they have in their hearts, and how they comply with the outward teachings of Islam. [Majmu` al-Fataawaa 11:213] The exact same principle applies to recognize the Dajjal with his abilities. We do not know in detail how or why it happens, therefore was cannot speculate, but we do know that we can recognize the truth of the person from other signs of their behavior and character.

Only Allah knows best

Written by Maulana Mustafa Umar

Checked and approved by Mufti Mohammed Tosir Miah

Darul Ifta Birmingham