The Trials & Afflictions before the False Messiah - Bilal Assad

The Trials & Afflictions before the False Messiah

Speaker: Bilal Assad

Opening Introduction

Let me begin first of all. We Muslims, we Muslims have been told about this man who is called Dajjal, a Dajjal, by our Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم - ṣallá-llāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) more than any other religion in the entire world. You know, every Prophet that came to this world, Prophet Isa (عليه السلام - ʿalayhis-salām) Prophet Musa (عليه السلام - ʿalayhis-salām) Ibrahim (عليه السلام - ʿalayhis-salām) all of the Prophets, they all spoke something about the Dajjal.

But our Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم - ṣallá-llāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) was the last Prophet, he spoke about a Dajjal more in detail than any other Prophet that has ever spoken about him. Because we, he is the last messenger and there is no other messenger or Prophet after him. And he spoke about him in so much detail because the time for him to arise and walk on earth and do what he is going to do is very close.

It is very close. Let's begin by saying what the Dajjal, that word means. The word Dajjal, what is Dajjal? In English D-A-J-J-A-L.

I think that's how it is on, it's going to be on Netflix or whatever. Dajjal is an Arabic word meaning, you know how you have someone who lies, you got a liar, a liar, someone who says something that's not true right? And it's something worse than just lying. It's when you mix truth with false and you say it and show it in a way that anyone who hears about it or looks at it, they believe it and it's so hard to disprove it, to say it's not true.

Because it's mixed with truth and false. So you know, if I want to make up a story and I made it all a lie, sooner or later you're going to find out that it was just a lie because there's nothing truth about it and it's not going to make much sense because it won't make sense. But if I put some truth in it and some names that are true, it's going to be much harder for people to find out that I'm lying about it because they're going to find out, hold on a minute, he was true about this then that means he must be true about that.

You understand what I'm saying? There is a word for it today in the 21st century and it's called deception. Dajjal means, the closest word I know of in English is deception. You know when you watch stuff on Hollywood, any movie, that's what they do a lot of the times.

If you have ever listened to music, we all hear music when we go to the shops or wherever we go, music is playing. Let's not lie to ourselves, music is everywhere isn't it? You go to school, there's music, what can you do? But in the music there's also words and lyrics and things that the artists, the musicians do on stage and say that also is called deception. So what do they do? They show you things and sing things that sound nice which makes it easier for you to believe because you get moved right? You start moving to the beats, isn't that correct? And everybody else listens to it and then you think man I'm going to be left out, I better listen to this stuff. And you think it's cool and it sounds nice because it's the shaitan's voice so it sounds nice, it really moves you.

The Reality of Modern Deception

And what happens in there is that they take the opportunity to make you believe things that you're not supposed to believe. Now I know we're in a masjid, I don't like giving these examples but I see a lot of young people and what I think is that we shouldn't hide talking about things that young people now see and hear. I'm a teacher and I talk to my students all the time and I see some of the, like my parents and their generation, there's things they just won't talk about.

But what I see is that we have to talk about them because the young people are already there. You guys are already seeing stuff that we think oh my kids don't see it, they don't hear it, I better not talk about it, it's called taboo. No, no, no.

I think we have to talk about it, we have to address it. And I'm not one of those people who's going to hide from it. I always talk and I'm blunt with it because I believe this is what we need.

And I've seen a lot of brothers who've got children, they don't talk to their children about things they're supposed to talk about that's happening in this world, right? And the next minute when their children go, they go lost, the parents come to me and say please help my children and I say well we should have talked about this before and we've got to talk about these things. So that's why I'm bringing up music and I'm bringing up these Hollywood movies and all that stuff. So in the music industry, I won't say names of musicians, but for example there was this musician and the likes of her and him a lot.

She stood up on stage and then what she did was she kissed another musician, another woman, she's a woman, and kissed another woman on her lips on stage, alright? And that was only a few years back. And everybody goes what? This is disgusting, this shouldn't be done. But what she said was, she goes, we musicians, we have a role to play.

I'm sick and tired, this is what she said, I want you to listen carefully. I'm sick and tired of people following rules and order, following rules and order, correct? And I want people to get out of these rules and orders and do what they want to do. So I'm going to promote this relationship of woman with woman, right? And as time went on, it became normal, isn't that correct? Normal.

There's lots of things now that if you went 15 years back, they were so abnormal, am I right? Now, they're normal. I told you I'm a teacher. Students now, Muslims, Muslims, she's wearing the hijab, the brother goes and prays, everything.

But they have boyfriends and girlfriends. And they think, what's the big deal? It's normal. Do you know friends like that? Boyfriend, girlfriend, they say it's normal.

I got my little brother, okay, when I used to pick him up, when it was a long time ago, I'm talking 20, 25 years ago. I used to pick him up from kindergarten. Do you have kindergarten here? Kindergarten? It's the school you go to before you go to prep.

Do you have prep? Sure. It's my kindergarten here in the UK. Nursery.

Okay, nursery. Good. So he was only four years old.

He used to go to the nursery. And I used to go and pick him up on my bike. I used to dink him, put him on there.

Do you have that word dink? I'm from Australia, guys, so correct me, I'm trying to say. So I used to put him on the bike and take him home. So one day I pick him up, he's only four years old.

And he says to me, wait, wait, wait, where are you going? He goes, I'm looking for Jessica. Who's Jessica? He goes, gets Jessica, she comes up to him and he hugs her and carries her up. But the way he carried her was not normal.

And he kissed her right on the lips. I smacked him on the head and said, come over here, what's wrong with you? You don't go kiss a girl like that. And he said to me, she's my girlfriend.

I said, do you know what girlfriend means? He goes, yeah, like today the teacher got us and all the students, they sat there and then they said, okay, today we're going to make each boy have a girlfriend. So your girlfriend to my brother is Jessica and your girlfriend is so and so. Do you know what I'm trying to say? I'm trying to say that there are things long time ago were not normal.

And then somehow people say things. And in the minds of young people, as you grow up, you start to believe that they're actually very, very normal. Did you know that? In Norway, there's an article that I read that there are people protesting, they're going to the government to say if they can marry their pets.

Wallahi. And there are other people in Texas, in America and other places. They are saying to legalize something called pedophilia with children.

And there are others who are saying we want to legalize incest. Brothers and sisters marrying each other. Brothers, do you know what I'm trying to tell you here? I'm trying to talk to you about the Dajjal.

The Greatest Trial of All Time

But before I talk about the Dajjal, did you know that things are going to happen before the Dajjal comes? You see, deception. Deception, which is to mix truth with lies and make people believe it and make it so hard to disbelieve it. That doesn't happen overnight.

Listen to this hadith of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - ṣallá-llāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) first. Let me just share with you this hadith. 1400 years ago, the Prophet peace be upon him said, the Dajjal from the time of Adam (عليه السلام - ʿalayhis-salām) to the end of time, from the time of Adam to the end of time, this entire world, he said there is no bigger trial, fitna, than the trial of Dajjal.

(Sahih Muslim and other collections)

All the way from Adam (عليه السلام - ʿalayhis-salām) time to the end of time, everything that's happened in the world, Dajjal is the biggest trial that's going to come to the people. Now before the Dajjal can come, at the moment the Dajjal is tied up somewhere. I'll tell you the story soon.

He's tied up somewhere. He's not allowed to come out yet. Do you know why? The ulama said, do you know why he's tied up for now? He's been tied up allahu alam how long? Because a road, a path is being prepared for him to come so that he can be accepted immediately.

Alright, I'm going to tell you how he's going to be accepted and why. And it will make sense inshallah. The Dajjal is the one eyed, the liar, the deceiver.

For him to deceive the people so good and to be the biggest trial, the people would have already gotten used to deception already. We have to live in a time of what we can call in Arabic Dajjal, a time of deception, so that the real deceiver can come and it's all set up for him. Do you understand? I see Muslims themselves now today moving away from the real deen and making up their own beliefs.

We see them all the time. Some of them they say, you know, I think prayer is what you think prayer should be. There are still some Muslims, they call themselves Muslims, I don't call them Muslims.

They say, we only believe in what the Qur'an says, but we don't believe anything the Prophet peace be upon him said. They're called the Qur'aniyun, the Qur'anites. You know what they do? They bring you the verse about Salat, and they say, well, the Qur'an doesn't say exactly how to pray.

So we get to make up the way we want to pray. Do you understand? Because with the Qur'an, if you just follow just the verses, because the verses, they're just like headings, and the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him explains them. You understand? So now if you just take the Qur'an, you can get any verse and you can make up anything you want out of it.

There are Muslims now in Australia, in Sydney and Melbourne, there's also in America, I don't know about the UK, but there are Muslim so-called Imams, who say that being homosexual is allowed in Islam, it's Halal, it's

legal, and they do gay marriages and everything, you know, in the name of Islam. All right, but you want to be gay, go ahead and be that. But don't come in and twist the Qur'an, the Qur'an says it's Haram, it's forbidden.

So does Christianity and Judaism, you know, it's known. But what I'm saying is, there is a time when even some people who dress like Imams will make you believe in a different religion than Islam, and they will call it Islam. Do you know what I'm saying? So it's deception.

Shaytan's Role in Preparing for the Dajjal

And the Shaitaan helps the Dajjal. Do you know that the Shaitaan, Iblis, the head of the Shaitaan, right from the beginning when Adam (عليه السلام - ʿalayhis-salām) was created he said something so interesting. He goes, You know the people who follow the children of Adam? You know the children of Adam? Those who are Muslim, those who follow your book, oh Allah, I am going to go to their religion, I'm going to sit waiting for them at their religion, and I'm going to make them believe a different religion.

I will make them practice their religion the wrong way. One example is I'm going to make them show off. So when they come to pray, they're only doing it to please the people, right? I'm going to make Imams out of them who just want to bring people to them so he can show off and look like he's in charge of a big group.

I want to make people who, they want to just be part of a group, like gangs, in the name of Islam, but they're not really sincere. The Shaitaan is going to come up. I'm sorry I spoke about the Imams, we are all Imams inshallah.

But I'm going to say, brothers and sisters, that the Shaitaan is going to deceive even some Imams. He'll deceive you, he'll deceive me. Why? In preparation for the Dajjal.

Now the reason I said Imam is because of this, get ready. All the deception has to happen because when the Dajjal comes out, he doesn't call himself an Imam, you know what he calls himself? He calls himself Prophet Isa himself. He calls himself Prophet Isa.

The Prophet's Vision of the True Messiah and the False Messiah

The Dajjal calls himself, I am Prophet Isa. But he's lying. Listen to what the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - ṣallá-llāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) said. He said, one night, he was going on Isra'ul Ma'raj, you know Isra'ul Ma'raj, the story? Okay. So he said, Jibreel (عليه السلام - ʿalayhis-salām) took me to the Kaaba, and I was praying at the Kaaba. This hadith is in Sahih Muslim for whoever wants to see it.

(Sahih Muslim)

Lots of the hadiths are in Muslim Bukhari. There's heaps, heaps, heaps. You can read them up and see all the hadiths about it.

He says, he took me in front of the Kaaba, and then after I finished, I looked to my right or left, and I see a young man. His hair is nice and long. It comes up to his shoulders.

It's neither too straight nor too wavy. And it looks like water is on it, but it doesn't really have water. So he's got really beautiful, silky, shiny hair.

And his face, his features is dark, which means he's got dark features. And he had two people with him that he was putting his hands on their shoulders. And I liked the way he looked.

So I asked Jibreel, who is that? And Jibreel said, that is your brother Isa (عليه السلام). Isa ibn Maryam, the real Isa. He goes, then I looked to the other side, and I saw another young man. And this young man, he was one of the biggest sizes that I've ever seen.

He wasn't tall, but he was just big. And his hair was very coarse, very rough hair, right? And one of his eyes, the right eye, it was bulging like a grape, but the black part, the iris inside, it's like a sultana. He can't see from it.

It's gone. So he can't see from it. It's blind from the right eye.

And the left eye, he also called it in another hadith, he says it's a'war as well. A'war means it's deformed. A'war doesn't mean blind, it means deformed.

So you're going to see a hadith, which Prophet Isa (عليه السلام) said, his right eye is deformed, sometimes he'll say his left eye is deformed. What it means is that the right eye, he cannot see from it, mutfi'ah, he doesn't see it. And the left eye also looks unusual.

It's got like a piece of meat under it, and it doesn't look normal. I think it even has a different colour, but he can see from it. So both his eyes are deformed.

They don't look normal. But one, the right eye can't see from it, the left eye can see from it. That's why he's called an a'war al-dajjal, the one with the deformed eyes.

It doesn't necessarily mean the one-eyed dajjal. You know how sometimes they put on the movies a big, what do you call it, cyclops. You know the cyclops, with one big eye here? Yeah, he's seen them on Lord of the Rings, big cyclops.

So it's just something connecting with the young ones. So he's got a big eye. That's not what the dajjal looks like.

The dajjal, he sees with one eye, which is the left, but both his eyes are deformed, okay? So Prophet Isa (عليه السلام) is describing him to us so well. Anyway, he says, and he had two people and he was, you know, leaning on their shoulder. And Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said, oh Jibreel, who is that? And he said, that is al-Masih al-Dajjal.

In another hadith, he actually said something else. He said, Isa ibn Maryam is al-Masih al-Sadiq, or al-Siddiq, which means the Masih, which means the Messiah, but he is the truthful Messiah. And then he turned to the

actual dajjal and he said, that's the, he's also the Messiah, he said Messiah, but he is the lying Messiah.

And Masih has several meanings. The ulama gave it 30 different meanings, maybe even 40 or 50. But one of the main meanings means, for dajjal, comes from Masih, which means his eye is wiped off, he can't see from it.

Other scholars also said, which is also correct, said Masih meaning he will travel the entire world, or spread out through the world. You understand what I'm saying? So this is the name of Isa (عليه السلام) the real one is the name of dajjal, but Masih, the liar, and Masih, the truthful one. You get it? Al-Dajjal is the deceiving liar.

Where the Dajjal Will Emerge and Who Will Follow Him

So, when the dajjal comes out, the world is ready for him. Now check this out. He said that he will come out from a place called Asbahan, or Asfahan today we call it, Asbahan, which is now today in Iran, and he said that he will come out with 70 Jewish people following him.

(Sahih Muslim and other collections)

It doesn't mean that right now the Iranians are going to follow him, or that the Jews of Iran, it could mean that the place where Jews used to live in that time, from that place, 70 people will follow him. Because in another hadith Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said to us that the majority of the people of the world will follow him and believe him. And he said among them are the Jews, number one, and I'll explain to you why the Jews.

Number two, he said Al-Ajam, Al-Ajam means the foreigners, and usually it means the Romans, so most of the Christians will follow him. And then he said, and a mixture of people, a mixture of different people, among them are the uneducated nomad people, desert people, who don't have much education, and subhanallah, I'm just quoting the hadith, he said, and also a lot of women will follow him. Which is quite interesting to tell us, because in the social media today, social media world, isn't it a really fake world? Is it a fake world or not? So much filters, so many people who think that by getting so many likes that they're somehow important now, you can show yourself, excuse me for the expression, you can show yourself licking the tongue of a dog, and you'll have so many likes from it.

The more stupid you do things, the more people give you likes, and the more people copy you. And that's what's happening, right? Social media is a really fake lying world. It makes you think that you're important, but you're not, based on a few likes, and no one really cares.

And that's dajjal, that's all of it, right? Filtering yourself to make you look like you're something you're not. Unfortunately, this is just my opinion, that we see young people, a lot of people, everybody actually, going on social media, and we see a lot of our sisters who focus too much on their appearance, and wanting that attention. As I said, I'm a teacher, and they love that attention, and the boys like to look.

And they don't understand that a lot of these men, a lot of these boys want to use and abuse them, right? And all they want, a lot of them, is I just want attention. They don't think like the boys, right? And they get deceived. A lot of the young girl students, they ask me this, and when I speak to them, tell them, listen, this is what the men are thinking, you know? You don't have to show yourself, because you think that they're really interested in you.

They're just interested in your body, or something else. So don't let them be like that. And if you want to do something, you know, if you want to test any guy, go up to him, if he's using you, and say to him, you know, the way you want, what you want from me, would you want from your sister? I said that to one student, and she said to me, oh my gosh, she came back crying, and says, he's not really interested in me, he wouldn't want it for his sister.

And I said to him, well, if he doesn't want that for his sister, then you're not valuable to him, you are trash, you're rubbish. The day when he treats you as valuable as his own sister, then it really means that he really is interested in you. By the way, they're only 15 years old, they're just hatching out of the egg.

What the hell is a 15 year old going to do? I said, wait till you get married one day, inshaAllah. Marriage is halal. It's okay to like her, but you've got to keep things halal.

Why the Jews and Christians Will Follow the Dajjal

Anyway, this is all part of the Dajjals, you know, coming. Anyway, the Jews will follow the Dajjal, why? Because the Jews, they didn't believe that Isa (عليه السلام) really came. Remember, they believed that he's an imposter.

Isa (عليه السلام) remember in the Qur'an, he said the truth Isa (عليه السلام) lifted him. They didn't crucify him, nor did they kill him, they killed someone else. Now the Jews who became Jews later on, they were the ones in the Children of Israel who wanted to kill Isa (عليه السلام) and they boasted, they said, we killed him, we killed him.

That's in the Qur'an. And they became the Jews. And what they're saying right now is, they're saying the true Messiah is yet to come.

"And they did not kill him, nor did they crucify him; but another was made to resemble him to them."

We are waiting for him. So they didn't believe in the true Isa (عليه السلام) and they didn't believe in Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم). So who are they waiting for now? They're waiting for Isa (عليه السلام) to come. Guess who they're going to get? They're going to get the Dajjal.

And what will he say, I am? I am Isa (عليه السلام) . You know that? But he's lying. The true Isa (عليه السلام) comes afterwards and he will kill the false Messiah. But there's another Shaykh talking about it, Inshallah, I'll leave it for him.

The Christians will follow the Dajjal, why? Because they believe that Isa (عليه السلام) is going to come back. So do we. But they don't know about the Dajjal as we know about him.

Now the Christians believe that Jesus is the son of God. And they also call Jesus God. Isn't that correct? They call him God.

So it's not going to be hard for the Dajjal to convince them that he is Jesus Christ. Guess what else he's going to say after that? The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) says he will stay among the people in the world for 40 mornings, 40 days. The first day is as long as a year, the second day as long as a month, the third day as long as a week, and the rest of them normal.

(Sahih Muslim)

This hadith is in Sahih Muslim too. And he will stay for 40 days. In the beginning he'll tell the people, I am Isa, the son of Mary.

And the people start following. And they follow him because he also shows miracles. That's why he calls them, he calls them miracles.

The False Miracles of the Dajjal

But Allah gave him certain trials. For example, the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) told us that he will get to a mountain, a hill, and he will order all of its treasures to come out, and the treasures will be found very easily, as if they're serving him. He will order clouds to come and unite, and he will make the rain fall in lands that don't grow.

And the people look and they go, oh wow, oh wow, he gave us crops, he gave us, truly he is the son of God maybe. They start believing he's Jesus Christ. And he starts doing all these things. The people who don't follow him, they live in hardship, in misery. They're going to get hungry, they're going to get thirsty. It's very, very hard on them.

So the rest start following him. After a few days, what does he say? He says, I am God. I am your Lord.

I am God. It's not going to be hard for them to believe that he is God. They just saw all these beautiful miracles apparently.

First he goes, I am Jesus. And the Christians already say that Jesus is God. He's part of the Trinity.

It's not going to be hard. They understand what's happening. Now the whole world is getting prepared for that.

Isn't that correct? Luxury. People now are used to luxury so much. They want things easy.

We call them first world problems. They're going to follow Dajjal very easily because it's going to give them luxury. It's going to give them all this stuff.

And we now, in this world today, what is happiness? Everyone wants to be happy, happy, happy. But the places they're looking for to be happy is materialistic. You know what materialistic means? Cars, looks, muscles, money, luxury, all that stuff, right? Social media, all that is called materialism.

It doesn't make you happy. It's fake happiness. The Dajjal will come and it will give you that fake happiness so it will be easy for you to want it because the people start thinking this is happiness.

People now also don't believe in God much. A lot of atheists are happening. So when Dajjal comes around and gives them this, it's easy for them to believe in him, right? So you can see Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) is warning us not to be part of that.

How to Protect Ourselves from the Dajjal

Right now, work on yourself. Then he said to the Muslims, he said, I will tell you how to stay away from him. One of the ways is to recite the first ten verses of Surah Al-Kahf all the time, but I just want to make a little point about that.

I'm sick and tired of seeing young Muslims and even older ones who all we do is we focus on memorizing, memorizing, memorizing, but we don't focus on trying to understand. You know, something as simple as let's try and understand what it is. Let's try and see what it's actually saying to us.

What is saying? You know, do you know what it's telling you, for example, something as small as that? So you can teach a cocky or a parrot how to memorize the Qur'an, but it's not going to get hasanat for it if it doesn't know what it's saying. You can teach it how to swear, but it's not going to get sins because it doesn't know what it's saying. Now, of course, you get rewards for memorizing the Qur'an, but we also need to understand what the message is in order for ourselves to save ourselves from these harms.

So anyway, reading the first ten verses of Surah Al-Kahf saves you. Then the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said, between his forehead, like when you see the Dajjal, he goes, everyone who can read or can't read will recognize it. Between his two eyes, so here, there is the word kafir or kufr, which means disbeliever.

(Sahih Muslim and Sahih al-Bukhari)

And disbeliever in Arabic, like kafir doesn't just mean disbeliever. There is an actual meaning for kafir. And kafir means literally, literally, to cover up the truth or to cover up something.

Did you know that? Did you know that? Kafir is an Arabic word before Islam. It says the farmers are kuffar. Farmers, the ones who plant, they used to call them kuffar.

But kuffar means they used to put the seed and cover it with soil. So the word kuffar came out, which means you know the truth but you hide it and you show something else. The Dajjal is kafir, which means he is showing you the wrong thing.

Okay? And what will happen is that the Muslims will recognize it and stay away. It will be very, very hard for them. And then Dajjal will roam the earth.

Closing Reflection

May Allah protect us from the trials of the Dajjal. May Allah grant us knowledge and understanding of our religion. May Allah strengthen our iman and protect us from deception in all its forms. May Allah guide our youth and protect them from the trials of this world.

End of Khutbah