A devil in the palm trees of Medina... Was Abdullah bin Sayyad the Antichrist?!

“No prophet was sent but to warn his one-eyed liar nation, except that he is one-eyed, and that your Lord is not one-eyed, and between his eyes it is written: An infidel.”

(Sharif hadith)

The seriousness of the issue of the Antichrist in the Islamic conception lies in the fact that it is linked to the events of the end of all human history, and that it is one of the ten major signs that reveal - according to this perception - the approaching of the promised day, the day of conquest, defeat and resurrection, and the end of human life on earth for people to meet their fate;

Either heaven or hell.

The Antichrist, although not mentioned in the Noble Qur’an, was mentioned extensively in the authentic hadiths of the Prophet in the highest degrees of authenticity, and it is a revelation that is revealed, and the second source of Islamic legislation. -may God be pleased with him-: “No prophet was sent but to warn his one-eyed liar nation, except that he is one-eyed, and that your Lord is not one-eyed, and between his eyes it is written: An infidel.”[1]

And the Prophet, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, did not tire of warning his companions of the fitnah of this antichrist against all of humanity, as he brings tools that the mind cannot believe, and people feel that he is a god, so he confuses them with their religion, and leads groups of them to misguidance and disbelief in God either out of desire, or in fear and exhaustion. And tortured, the Messenger of God - may God’s prayers and peace be upon him - said: “The Antichrist is one-eyed in the left eye, has curly hair (i.e. a lot of hair), with him is heaven and fire, his fire is paradise, and his garden is fire,” as Imam Muslim narrated in his Sahih.

And from his trials and abilities is that he comes upon the people, “so they call upon them, and they believe in him and respond to him, then he commands the sky and it rains, and the earth, and it sprouts, and its flock of them (their sheep and camels) goes as long as it was in swarm, and it is full of sacrifices, and he stretches it with kinks. They have nothing of their money in their possession, and he passes by the ruins and says to it: Take out your treasures, and its treasures follow him like the eagles of bees”[2], as the Prophet - may God’s prayers and peace be upon him - said.

The Antichrist, then, has a dangerous influence on the people who see with him an alleged paradise and a blazing fire, with the ability to enrich and impoverish them in the blink of an eye, not to mention that the demons submit to him under his command and his prohibition, and his speed in moving in the earth, and his discovery of its treasures and wealth effortlessly, so he calls them and they follow him as they fly Bees, and that is a great trial, behind which the antichrist aims only to make people disbelieve in the Lord of the worlds, and for this reason it is one of the signs of the great resurrection in Islam.

But what is remarkable and strange is that during the time of the Prophet - may God’s prayers and peace be upon him - he was found in one of the Jewish neighborhoods in Medina, a boy who was close to a dream, the Prophet was hot about his news, and throughout his life he was constantly testing him. -may God be pleased with him- swears by God that he is the Antichrist, so the Prophet does not deny him his oath, that is Abdullah bin Sayyad or Ibn Sayed the Jew, that eccentric boy.

Was Ibn Sayed the Antichrist?

And what did he say to the Companions after his conversion to Islam when they were still skeptical about it?

And how did his son later become one of the senior followers of his time?

The Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, and Ibn Sayyad

The father of Abdullah bin Sayyad was from the Jews of Medina, and he did not know who translated for him and dealt with his history from which branch of the Jews or the Arabs he was.

Because of this ignorance in knowing the truth of his lineage, Ibn Sayyad and his father used to claim that they were from Bani Shuhayb Ibn al-Najjar from the tribes of Khazraj, one of the two trees of Medina with their Aws peers, but Bani al-Najjar were rejecting this claim. God, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, are not among them.” So the testimony of Bani al-Najjar was accepted among them, and Ibn Sayyad and his sons became saying after that: We are “allies of Bani Malik bin al-Najjar (the Khazrajji),” as Ibn Saad (d. 230 AH) mentions in “Tabaqat al-Kubra” [ 3].

Afraid, you will not pass your destiny.

Omar, may God be pleased with him, said: Let me, O Messenger of God, strike his neck.

The Prophet, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, said: If it is him, you will not have power over him.

The Prophet tested Ibn Sayyad’s predictions of whether he truly knows the unseen, and he hid the word “dukhan” for him, so Ibn Sayyad said: “Al-Dukh.” He realized that a demon or a genie would help him in this matter, so he said to him, “Oh! The people are yours, and then Umar wanted to get rid of him so that it would not be a trial for the people, so the Prophet - may God’s prayers and peace be upon him - refused that. There is no value in killing him and no benefit.

But that did not prevent the Prophet - may God’s prayers and peace be upon him - from following up on his news, and knowing his truth from time to time. He heard something from Ibn Sayyad before Ibn Sayyad saw him, so the Prophet, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, saw him lying down.. Umm Ibn Sayyad saw the Messenger of God, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, pious (disguised) by palm trunks. This is Muhammad (may God’s prayers and peace be upon him), so Ibn Sayyad rose up (and got up), so the Prophet, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, said: “If you had left him between” [5], that is, if you had not called out to him, his secret would have been revealed and his order would be revealed to the Prophet - may God’s prayers and peace be upon him.

The Prophet, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, once asked him about “the soil of Paradise, and he said: Darmakah (that is, like flour) is white, pure musk. The Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, said: He spoke the truth.”

The Prophet - may God’s prayers and peace be upon him - asked him again, "What do you see? He said: I see a throne on the water. The Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, said: You see the throne of Satan on the sea. And what do you see? He said: I see two truthful and liars, or liars and truthful: The Messenger of God, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, said: He was overwhelmed, let him go.”[7]

The strangeness of Ibn Sayyad and the skepticism of the Companions

These experiences aroused the Prophet and his companions, and it seems that his matter did not reveal a revelation from heaven to the Prophet - may God’s prayers and peace be upon him-. He had sent me to his mother, he said, “Ask her how much she carried him.” So I came to her and asked her, and she said, “I carried him for twelve months.” Then he sent me to her and said: “Ask her about his cry when he was born.” He said: “I went back to her and I asked her, and she said, “The boy’s cry, son of a son.” Shahr"[8], and perhaps his mother was a liar who wanted to create more confusion and mystery about her son.

It seems that Abu Dharr - may God be pleased with him - by following the steps of the boy Ibn Sayyad or Ibn Sayed and his news, saw in him strange things that contradict people's natures and customs, so he used to say to those who asked him: "Because I swear ten times that Ibn Sayed is the Antichrist, I love it more than to swear once." One is that he does not have it” [9].

Before him, Omar Ibn Al-Khattab and Abdullah Ibn Jaber used to swear by God in front of the public and in front of the Prophet - may God’s prayers and peace be upon him- that he is an antichrist “and the Prophet, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, did not deny him,” as Al-Bukhari narrates in his Sahih [10].

Perhaps the oath of these great companions before the Prophet - may God’s prayers and peace be upon him - and on top of them was Omar Ibn Al-Khattab because of the abilities of this young boy to tell things that could not be issued by those of his age, but the strangest thing is that Abdullah Ibn Omar Ibn Al-Khattab one day stopped him On some of the roads of Medina, he said something that made him angry: So he swollen until he filled the rails, so Ibn Umar entered upon Hafsa (his sister, the wife of the Prophet, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him) and he had reached her. The Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, said: “The Antichrist will only come out of his wrath by making her angry.”[11]

The son of a fisherman complains about his condition!

Ibn Sayyad swelled up and turned into something like a huge balloon due to Ibn Umar’s anger at him, and his blocking of the road, something that made it the talk of the hour at that time, and strongly resurrected people’s doubts about it.

But Ibn Sayyad embraced Islam, married and had children, and it seems that the great suspicion of the people of Medina and their fear of him made him express what was in his chest complaining to one of the companions, Abu Saeed Al-Khudri - may God be pleased with him -.

Are you not the most knowledgeable of people about the hadith of the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace?

Has not the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, said: He is an infidel (i.e., the Antichrist), and I am a Muslim?

Is it not that the Messenger of God, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, said: He is sterile and has no children, and I left my son in Medina?

Or is it not that the Messenger of God, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, said he should not enter Medina or Mecca.

I came from Medina and I want Mecca?

Abu Saeed Al-Khudri said: I almost excused him (and was convinced of what he said).

Then he said: By God, I know him (the Antichrist), his birth and where he is now.

He said: I told him: “Fuck you the rest of the day.”[12]

Ibn Sayyad convinced Abu Sa`id al-Khudri of his faith and his conversion to Islam, citing signs that contradict the characteristics of the antichrist that the Prophet - may God bless him and grant him peace - told them. except a man of two;

Either he is the antichrist himself, or a demon or a genie informs him of the unseen;

So, Abu Saeed was afraid of him and moved away.

However, what is striking is that Ibn Sayyad succeeded a son named Umarah bin Abdullah bin Sayyad, who was one of the great followers and distinguished scholars in Madinah. Anas (the imam of the madhhab) does not give anyone precedence over him in merit.”[13]

And Imam Al-Nawawi quotes Imam Abdul Ghani Al-Maqdisi, the author of “Al-Ikmal” that “the building of this is trustworthy.

Strange in life and death!

And just as the Companions differed and doubted about Ibn Sayyad even after the death of the Prophet - may God’s prayers and peace be upon him-, the disagreement passed to the scholars after them. “His story is a problem, and his matter is suspect, whether he is the famous Antichrist or someone else, and there is no doubt that he is an antichrist from the hen.” The scholars said: The apparent hadiths are that the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, was not revealed to him that he was the Antichrist or someone else, but rather the characteristics of the Antichrist were revealed to him, and he was In Ibn Sayyad there are possible clues, so the Prophet, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, was not certain that he was the Antichrist or someone else.”[15]

Here ends our story with Ibn Sayyad, that man who sometimes seemed to people to be the antichrist in his morals and qualities, and at other times he seemed to be a pious believer. He repented after his conversion to Islam and his son became one of the senior followers as we saw, but despite that he remained suspicious of the people of Medina, led by the senior companions and followers until they differed over his death, some of them say that he died and people prayed for him, and some of them say that he was lost in the famous battle of Al-Hurra in which he faced The people of Medina had the armies of Yazid bin Muawiyah in the year 63 AH. Ibn Sayed or Ibn Sayyad was strange in his life and strange in his death!

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