The antichrist will prevent the recognition of the Prophet Jesus (as) and Hazrat Mahdi (as) by deceiving people with various extraordinary powers

One of the features of the antichrist revealed in hadiths is that he will portray himself as a guide or even a prophet. This indicates that in organizing his evil the antichrist will appear to be acting in the name of Allah, as if he had a religious aim. (Allah knows the truth.) According to statements in hadiths, the antichrist will finally declare his so-called divinity (Surely Allah is beyond that). One of the hadiths on this subject reads:

When the antichrist appears ... everyone will IMAGINE HIM TO BE A GENUINE GUIDE and follow along behind him, then when he comes to Kufa he will continue his activities, AND WILL THEN CLAIM TO BE A PROPHET… And all rational people who see this will abandon him… He will then CLAIM TO BE DIVINE … And will even say, “I am Allah (Surely Allah is beyond that)”…
(Al-Tabarani related this from the companion bin Mu'tamar.) (Al-Barzanji, Al-Isha'ah li-ashrat al-sa'ah, p. 212)

In another hadith, this perversion of the antichrist’s is described thus:

He {the antichrist[ will first say, “I AM A PROPHET.” Yet there will be no prophet after me. He will then make a second claim, saying, “I AM YOUR LORD.” Although you will not see your Lord until you die. (Sunan Ibn Majah, 4077)

As is clear from the information provided in the hadiths, the antichrist will reveal himself by degrees (Allah knows the truth.) His basic idea is that of his alleged divinity. Yet since he thinks that it might spoil his plans if he were to openly declare this right from the outset, he will slowly indoctrinate people with the idea. For that reason he will first declare himself to be a guide, then a prophet, and then allegedly divine.

In all these stages the antichrist will act with the suggestions of satan. Our Prophet (saas) has revealed that satan is the antichrist’s friend and helpmate, and that the antichrist will receive assistance from satan and his friends during his struggle based on falsehood. Our Prophet (saas) has also stated that the antichrist will spread the lie that he is a supposed deity with the help and support of satan:

... SATANS WILL SAY TO HIM, “TELL US WHAT YOU WANT, AND WE WILL DO IT.” And he will say, “Go, and tell people that I am their Lord,” and will disperse them in all directions... (Al-Barzanji, Al-Isha'ah li-ashrat al-sa'ah, pp. 212-213)

We are informed in the hadiths that in declaring his supposed divinity the antichrist will employ various deceptive techniques, assisted by satan, and that he will possess a number of extraordinary powers. According to these hadiths, in announcing the perversion that he is a so-called deity the antichrist will portray himself as resurrecting the dead in order to confirm that claim. The hadiths list such information as causing society to believe in him by depicting himself as having brought dead camels back to life (Musnad, VI, 455-6), deceiving someone else by pretending to bring his mother and father back to life and saying that he would resurrect someone he had sawn in pieces back to life among the antichrist’s trickeries. Some of these hadiths read as follows:

One of his trials is this: He will ask a Bedouin, “Will you bear witness that I am your Lord if I bring your mother and father back to life?” And the Bedouin will say, “Yes,” at which two satans will appear to him in the form of his mother and father... (Sunan Ibn Majah, 4077)

He will ask, "If I kill this man and then bring him back to life, will you have any doubt about my claim to divinity?" (Sahih Bukhari, Vol. 15, p. 6981)

One trial of his is this: He will kill one person and cut him up with a saw. He will even cast the two parts of that person’s body in different places. He will then say [to the bystanders], “Look at that servant [I have slain]. I shall now bring him back to life…” (Sunan Ibn Majah, 4077)

As is indicated in all these hadiths, all these actions carried out by the antichrist are deceptions and fitnah aimed at mustering support and turning people away from Qur’anic moral values. Islamic scholars have described these tricks employed by the antichrist as “istidraj” in other words, “false miracles carried by unbelievers, worked by Allah to test people.” Only people who do not evaluate what they see in the light of the verses of the Qur’an and the hadiths of our Prophet (saas) can imagine these to be genuine miracles. Miracles are blessings bestowed on His righteous servants by Allah. All the trickeries performed by the antichrist, on the other hand, stem from characteristics given to the antichrist by Allah in order to test people. The life of this world is a sphere created as a test. In the End Times the fitnah and trickeries of the antichrist will also be a test for many people. While devout believers recognize the antichrist when they see such trickery and realize that he is the antichrist referred to in the hadiths, many people will be taken in by these deceptions.

In addition, Islamic scholars have noted that the antichrist may well employ such methods as hypnotism and the like in performing such tricks. (Allah knows the truth.) Bediuzzaman Said Nursi describes this characteristic of the antichrist:

The great antichrist will have hypnotic effects along the lines of spiritualism… This unbeliever who adopts worldly interests alone, will assault sacred values with an effrontery and courage born of his absolute godlessness. People unaware of the truth of the matter will regard this as an amazing dominion and bravery. (Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, Rays, pp. 513-515)

Bediuzzaman also describes this aspect of the antichrist elsewhere:

And the greatest of them, the antichrist, who will come to lead them, will manifest awesome wonders, a sort of spiritualism and hypnosis; he will go even further, and imagining his tyrannical, superficial rule to be a sort of dominicality, he will proclaim his godhead [surely Allah is beyond that]. It is clear just what foolish buffoonery it is for impotent man, who may be defeated by a fly and cannot create even a fly’s wing, to claim godhead... (Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, Letters, Fifteenth Letter, p. 55)

As stated by the Bediuzzaman in this passage, the antichrist may deceive a great many people who lack adequate information or whose faith is weak by means of deceptions such as hypnotism and displays of magic.

We are also told in verses from the Qur’an that unbelievers may use such methods from time to time. Pharaoh and his court accused the Prophet Moses (as) of sorcery and wanted him to face up to the greatest sorcerers of the age. They set what they thought was a cunning snare for the Prophet Moses (as), imagining that they could thus defeat him and that the believers around the Prophet Moses (as) would disperse. However, as with all the plots prepared by unbelievers, Allah turned Pharaoh’s trap against him. By Allah’s leave, the Prophet Moses (as) worked miracles against their magic, and this led those opposed to the prophet to believe in him. These people later became role models for all the faithful with their courage and honesty. This event is described as follows in verses:

The ruling circle of Pharaoh’s people said, “This is certainly a skilled magician who desires to expel you from your land, so what do you recommend?” They said, “Detain him and his brother and send out marshals to the cities, to bring you all the skilled magicians.” The magicians came to Pharaoh and they asked, “Will we receive a reward if we are the winners?” He said, “Yes, and you will be among those brought near.” They said, “Moses, will you throw first or shall we be the ones to throw?” He said, “You throw.” And when they threw, they cast a spell on the people's eyes and caused them to feel great fear of them. They produced an extremely powerful magic. (Surat al-A‘raf, 109-116)

As revealed in these verses, people opposed to the Prophet Moses (as) displayed a phenomenon that affected everyone watching, and even frightened them. The antichrist may influence people using a similar method, just as revealed in the story, and thus cause people to believe in his false power. (Allah knows the truth.) However, we must not forget that no matter how much people are influenced by these tricks of the antichrist’s and no matter how much they fall under his influence, the truth will emerge and all the antichrist’s stratagems will, by Allah’s leave, be destroyed.