A-O-A perhaps this topic has been exhausted but i just want to know whether we are supposed to take the following sybolically or literally?
Ubadah ibn Saamit radiyallahu anhu narrates that the Last Prophet
(peace & blessings be upon him) *said, ‘I have explained Dajjal to you, but I fear that you might not have understood. Maseeh-ud-Dajjal will be short and his legs will be crooked. The hair on his head will be extremely twisted. He will have one eye, while his other eye will be flat. It will be neither deep, nor protruding.’ Those who obey the Dark Messiah will enter his Paradise (and thus enter Hell), and those who denounce him will enter his Hell (and so shall in reality be entering Paradise). He will travel by means of a gigantic mule, at impossible speeds. He will cause droughts and famine upon those who reject him. But the remembrance of the true Lord will satiate "
“themhttp://www.inter-islam.org/faith/dajjal.htm”
At best I would, very cautiously, consider it symbolic…
Please consider the meaning of Dajjal: DJL - if you consider the john-doe root Faa-Ayn-Laam (he did), then the grammatical operator would make it Fa’'aal, exemplifying “Doer” in its complete and proper sense. The root DJL means to smear with black tar (dark) so Dajjaal means “He who completely covers something with darkness” or, in the apocryphal sense, the opposite of “He who completely illuminates”… in other words, the Maseeh-ad-Dajjal would be translated as the Anti-Messiah. This fictional character has trickled into Islamic tradition through Christian traditions, especially the Syriac Apocalypces.
My take is that some is literal, some is symbolic.
Maseeh-ud-Dajjal will be short and his legs will be crooked. The hair on his head will be extremely twisted. He will have one eye, while his other eye will be flat. - So he's short, bent-legged, curly haired, one eyed. Maybe he's injured, or maybe he has a medical condition leading to some physical deformity (the legs and eye). Seems plausibly literal to me.
Those who obey the Dark Messiah will enter his Paradise (and thus enter Hell), and those who denounce him will enter his Hell (and so shall in reality be entering Paradise). - This seems literal too; backed by other hadiths which imply that he will appear to have miraculous powers that are used to deceive people.
He will travel by means of a gigantic mule, at impossible speeds. - I think this could be symbolic - it could refer to a vehicle like a car, truck, or something. Given that nothing remotely like a car or truck existed back then, this could be a way of explaining in timeless language how we will travel. The speed at which a modern car moves would have seemed impossible 1400 years ago.
He will cause droughts and famine upon those who reject him. But the remembrance of the true Lord will satiate " - Again, I think this is literal, because the powers of the Dajjal will make some believe he is the Messiah. Those who oppose him would suffer and only those who accept him would seem to prosper.
My take is that some is literal, some is symbolic.
Maseeh-ud-Dajjal will be short and his legs will be crooked. The hair on his head will be extremely twisted. He will have one eye, while his other eye will be flat. - So he's short, bent-legged, curly haired, one eyed. Maybe he's injured, or maybe he has a medical condition leading to some physical deformity (the legs and eye). Seems plausibly literal to me.
Those who obey the Dark Messiah will enter his Paradise (and thus enter Hell), and those who denounce him will enter his Hell (and so shall in reality be entering Paradise). - This seems literal too; backed by other hadiths which imply that he will appear to have miraculous powers that are used to deceive people.
He will travel by means of a gigantic mule, at impossible speeds. - I think this could be symbolic - it could refer to a vehicle like a car, truck, or something. Given that nothing remotely like a car or truck existed back then, this could be a way of explaining in timeless language how we will travel. The speed at which a modern car moves would have seemed impossible 1400 years ago.
He will cause droughts and famine upon those who reject him. But the remembrance of the true Lord will satiate " - Again, I think this is literal, because the powers of the Dajjal will make some believe he is the Messiah. Those who oppose him would suffer and only those who accept him would seem to prosper.
JazakAllah......you saved my time, my understanding is the same regarding this hadith.
