Muslim narrated from Naafi‘ ibn ‘Utbah who said: The Messenger of Allah صَلىَّ اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمْ said:
“You will attack Arabia and Allah will enable you to conquer it, then you would attack Persia and He would make you to conquer it. Then you would attack Rome and Allah will enable you to conquer it, then you would attack the Dajjal and Allah will enable you to conquer him.” (Sahih Muslim 2900)
It was also narrated by Ibn Maajah as follows:
“You will fight the Arabian Peninsula and victory will be granted by Allah. Then you will fight the Romans and victory will be granted (by Allah). Then you will fight Dajjal and victory will be granted (by Allah).” Jabir said: “Dajjal will not appear until you have fought the Romans.” (Sunan Ibn Majah 4091)
I heard the Messenger of Allah صَلىَّ اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمْ say: “you will make a secure peace with the Byzantines, then you and they will fight an enemy behind you, and you will be victorious, take booty, and be safe. You will then return and alight in a meadow with mounds and one of the Christians will raise the cross and say: The cross has conquered. One of the Muslims will become angry and smash it, and the Byzantines will act treacherously and prepare for the battle. (Sunan Abi Dawud 4292) Grade: Sahih (Al-Albani)
Abu Huraira reported Allah’s Messenger صَلىَّ اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم as saying: The Last Hour would not come until the Romans would land at al-A’maq or in Dabiq. An army consisting of the best (soldiers) of the people of the earth at that time will come from Medina (to counteract them). When they will arrange themselves in ranks, the Romans would say: Do not stand between us and those (Muslims) who took prisoners from amongst us. Let us fight with them; and the Muslims would say: Nay, by Allah, we would never get aside from you and from our brethren that you may fight them. They will then fight and a third (part) of the army would run away, whom Allah will never forgive. A third (part of the army) which would be constituted of excellent martyrs in Allah’s eye, would be killed and the third who would never be put to trial would win and they would be conquerors of Constantinople. And as they would be busy in distributing the spoils of war (amongst themselves) after hanging their swords by the olive trees, the Satan would cry: The Dajjal has taken your place among your family. They would then come out, but it would be of no avail. And when they would come to Syria, he would come out while they would be still preparing themselves for battle drawing up the ranks. Certainly, the time of prayer shall come and then Jesus (peace be upon him) son of Mary would descend and would lead them. When the enemy of Allah would see him, it would (disappear) just as the salt dissolves itself in water and if he (Jesus) were not to confront them at all, even then it would dissolve completely, but Allah would kill them by his hand and he would show them their blood on his lance (the lance of Jesus Christ). (Sahih Muslim 2897)
Ahmad (21981) narrated from ‘Abdullah ibn Hawaalah al-Azdi that the Messenger of Allah صَلىَّ اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمْ said: “You will be enabled to conquer Syria, Byzantium and Persia, or Byzantium and Persia, until one of you will have such and such number of camels, and such and such number of cattle and of sheep, until one of you will be given one hundred dinars and will not be content with it.”
It was also narrated by al-Haakim (8309); he classed it as Saheeh, and adh-Dhahabi agreed with him.
Muslim (2899) narrated that ‘Abdullah ibn Mas‘ood said: The Hour will not begin until shares of inheritance are not distributed and there is no rejoicing over war booty. An enemy will gather against the people of Islam and the people of Islam will gather against them. Then he gestured with his hand like this in the direction of Syria. I said: Do you mean the Byzantines? He said: Yes. He said: During this fighting there will be a great retreat. The Muslims will send out a detachment to fight to the death and not return unless they are victorious. They will fight until night intervenes, then both sides will go back, neither having prevailed, and that detachment will have been wiped out. Then the Muslims will send out a detachment to fight to the death and not return unless they are victorious. They will fight until night intervenes, then both sides will go back, neither having prevailed, and that detachment will have been wiped out. Then the Muslims will send out a detachment to fight to the death and not return unless they are victorious. They will fight until evening comes, then both sides will go back, neither having prevailed, and that detachment will have been wiped out. Then on the fourth day, the rest of the Muslims will charge at them (the enemy), and Allah will decree that the enemy be routed, and they will fight a battle the like of which has never been seen. If a bird were to fly over their flanks, it would not reach the end of them before falling down dead.
Imam Ibn al-Muneer said: ‘Till this time the incident of gathering and attacking Rome in this huge number of soldiers has not happened yet. This matter has not taken place yet. In this Hadith there are glad tidings and warning at the same time to the Muslims. This Hadith also proves that the result will be in favor of the Muslims and the Muslim army will be much greater than it is now”. The Ahadith mentioned above are all correct.
In a rigorously authenticated hadith, we find details of these events, in which the Prophet صَلىَّ اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمْ described the Muslim army in those days, ‘They [the Muslims] will then fight and a third of the army would run away, whom Allah will never forgive. A third which would be constituted of excellent martyrs in Allah’s eye, would be killed, and the third who would never be put to trial would win and they would be conquerors of Constantinople’ [Sahih Muslim 2897]
There are two scholarly views. The view of most of the contemporary scholars is that this civilisation that we see now, with its technology and weapons, will all disappear, and that wars will go back to being fought on horseback and the weapons that will be used in them will be spears and swords, and what the Prophet صَلىَّ اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمْ spoke of is how it will really be. This is the view of Shaykh Muhammad ibn Saalih al-‘Uthaymeen رَحِمَهُ الله , Shaykh ‘Abd al-Muhsin al-‘Abbaad – in his audio commentary on the books of Sunnah – and Shaykh ‘Umar al-Ashqar, and others.
Among the texts of which the apparent meaning supports this view are the following:
It was narrated from Abu Hurayrah رَضِى اللهُ عَنْه that the Messenger of Allah صَلىَّ اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمْ said: “The Hour will not begin until the Byzantines camp at al-A‘maaq or Daabiq, and an army composed of the best people on earth at that time will go out from Madinah to meet them. When they arrange themselves in ranks, the Byzantines will say: Do not stand between us and those who took prisoners from us; let us fight them. The Muslims will say: No by Allah, we will never let you reach our brothers. Then they will fight them, and one third will flee, whose repentance will never be accepted by Allah; one third will be killed, and they are the best of martyrs before Allah; and one third will prevail and will never succumb to any fitnah, and they will conquer Constantinople. Whilst they are dividing the spoils, having hung their swords on the olive trees, the Shaytaan will shout out among them: The (false) messiah has taken your place among your families. So they will march, but that will be false news. When they reach Syria, he will emerge, and whilst they are still preparing for battle, drawing up their ranks, the iqaamah for prayer will be given and ‘Eesa ibn Maryam عَلَيْهِ ا لسَّلَام will descend and will lead them in prayer. When the enemy of Allah sees him, he will melt as salt melts in water. If he left him alone, he would still melt until he was destroyed, but Allah will kill him by his hand (i.e. Allah will cause him to be killed at the hand of ‘Eesa), and he will show them his blood on his lance.”
Al-A‘maaq and Daabiq are two places in Syria.
The hadeeth mentions the use of swords and lances (or spears) in fighting, and that will happen at the end of time.
- It was narrated that Ibn Mas‘ood رَضِى اللهُ عَنْه said in a hadeeth about the time of the Dajjaal :
The cry will reach them that the Dajjaal has taken their place among their offspring. So they will throw aside whatever is in their hands and will go there, sending ten horsemen ahead of them as scouts.
- It was narrated that Al-Nawaas ibn Sam‘aan said: The Messenger of Allah صَلىَّ اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمْ said: “The Muslim will use the bows, arrows and shields of Ya’jooj and Ma’jooj as firewood, for seven years.”
Shaykh ‘Umar Sulaymaan al-Ashqar رَحِمَهُ الله said, after quoting a number of hadeeths about this matter:
These hadeeths and many similar hadeeths indicate that this powerful civilisation which has invented all this huge arsenal of bombs and missiles will decline and disappear. It is most likely that it will destroy itself, and that humanity will once again go back to fighting on horseback, using spears, bows and arrows, and the like. And Allah knows best.
