Another piece of information indicated in the hadiths, is, as already stressed in earlier sections, that the antichrist will have very wide material resources and that his dominion will be very powerful, and that these will keep people away from religious moral values in the End Times. The antichrist will use this power and these resources to fight believers. The struggle in question will be a very multi-faceted one. In the same way that the antichrist will attempt to weaken and wear believers down psychologically, he will also put physical pressure on them. This intense pressure by the antichrist will be one of the main reasons why people stay away from the Prophet Jesus (as) and Hazrat Mahdi (as). Indeed, it is revealed in the Qur’an that in addition to oppressing believers verbally and bad behavior, unbelievers may also put physical pressure on them:
… You will hear many abusive words from those given the Book before you and from those who are idolaters… (Surah Al ‘Imran, 186)
When those who disbelieve were plotting against you to imprison you or kill you or expel you… (Surat al-Anfal, 30)
The great Islamic scholar Bediuzzaman also states that the antichrist’s power and dominion will be based on violence and oppression:
... Because both dajjals employ the severest despotism, the greatest tyranny, and the maximum violence and terror, they appear to have vast power. (Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, Rays / The Fifth Ray - Second Station, p. 116)
Elsewhere, Bediuzzaman describes how the antichrist will pressurize the Islamic world and inflict difficult and hard days on devout Muslims:
... noxious and awesome persons like Sufyan and the antichrist will come to rule over the godless at the end of time, and exploiting the greed, discord and hatred amongst the Muslims and mankind, they will need only a small force to reduce humanity to anarchy and the vast world of Islam to slavery. (Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, Letters, The Twenty Second Letter)
"... noxious and awesome persons like Sufyan and the antichrist will come to rule over the godless at the end of time…": At that time, the End Times, individuals such as the antichrist and the Sufyan (the negative power, who, according to the hadiths, will appear in the Islamic world and strive against Hazrat Mahdi [as]) who will harm people and direct them towards evil, will also unite unbelievers and hypocrites against Muslims and will act as their leaders.
“... exploiting the greed, discord and hatred amongst the Muslims and mankind, they will need only a small force to reduce humanity to anarchy and the vast world of Islam to slavery.”: The antichrist will benefit from people’s desires and hypocrisy in order to turn them from the truth. This will lead to strife and corruption on Earth. The Islamic world will be the grouping most affected by this state of affairs. The antichrist will particularly target Muslims and inflict pressure and violence on them.
There can be no possible doubt that those who submit to and have faith in Allah know, by His leave, that Allah creates everything befalling them and that there are most auspicious aspects to them. Their faith and trust in Allah endows them with a sense of security, no matter what circumstances they may find themselves in.
However, this climate established by the antichrist will bring concern and fear to those who do not submit to Allah and who do not fear Him as they ought. These people may fear the violence of the antichrist in such a climate and thus keep their distance from the Prophet Jesus (as) and Hazrat Mahdi (as). They may fear that, “If we join the Prophet Jesus (as) and Hazrat Mahdi (as) we will draw the violence of the antichrist onto our own heads.” Indeed, these people may go even further than just avoiding the Prophet Jesus (as) and Hazrat Mahdi (as) themselves, and may also try to keep their children and families away from them. They may fear pressure from those people who are deceived by the antichrist into turning away from religious moral values and who harbor hostility towards true believers.
The fact that throughout the course of history some people have feared oppression and repression in their societies and avoided obeying messengers and living by the true faith is a state of affairs also revealed in the Qur’an. Yet that fear is a totally groundless one, because Allah protects those of His servants who fear, trust in and submit to Him alone, and will grant them success by His will. This fact is imparted in the Qur’an:
It is He Who sent His Messenger with guidance and the Religion of Truth to exalt it over every other religion, though the idolaters hate it. (Surat as-Saff, 9)
The Antichrist Will Prevent the Recognition of the Prophet Jesus (as) and Hazrat Mahdi (as) by Depicting Truth as Falsehood and Falsehood as Truth
One of the dictionary definitions of the word dajjal (antichrist) is “he who confuses truth and falsehood, who adorns the words to depict falsehood as truth.” Some of the hadiths that indicate that the antichrist portrays right as wrong, wrong as right, good as evil and evil as good, read:
Then the antichrist will come forth accompanied by a river and fire. He who falls into his fire will certainly receive his reward, and have his load taken off him, but he who falls into his river will have his load retained and his reward taken off him. (Sunan Abu Dawud, p. 4232)
He will also have Paradise and Hell with him. Though his Paradise will appear as Paradise, in reality it will be Hell, and likewise, though his Hell will appear like Hell, in reality it will be Paradise. (Sahih Muslim)
As stated in the hadiths, the values that the antichrist portrays as good will actually lead people to wickedness, and even to disaster, whereas the values he depicts as evil are actually things intended for the good and benefit of mankind. Since many people fail to interpret events in the light of the moral values of the Qur’an and the Sunnah of our Prophet (saas), they will imagine that the antichrist is actually calling them to what is good and will follow along behind him and turn their backs on those they should be following. However, the atmosphere of cruelty established by the antichrist will show them what a great error this is. For these reasons, our Prophet (saas) has warned people and told them to be aware that something the antichrist portrays as evil is actually good:
Antichrist would appear and there would be along with him water and fire and what the people would see as water that would be fire and that would burn and what would appear as fire that would be water and any one of you who would see that should plunge in that which he sees as fire for it would be sweet, pure water. (Sahih Muslim, Book 41, 7012)
Naturally, the area in which the antichrist will make the greatest use of this trickery will be in blackening the name of true believers. The Prophet Jesus (as) is a holy prophet referred to by our Lord in the Qur’an, one of the chosen in this world and in the Hereafter. Hazrat Mahdi (as) is a most holy individual whose superior virtues, justice, honesty, patience, submission, courage, reliability, affection and compassion represent a role model for everyone. Yet despite all this, according to the indications in the hadiths, the antichrist will attempt to portray these holy individuals and their auspicious actions as evil. He will engage in negative activities aimed at preventing people from following the Prophet Jesus (as) and Hazrat Mahdi (as). People with a less than adequate knowledge of Qur’anic moral values or those who do not fully abide by them may unknowingly fall under the influence of this propaganda spread by the antichrist, and may form baseless and false ideas regarding the Prophet Jesus (as) and Hazrat Mahdi (as).
The antichrist may also cooperate with people who were once alongside Hazrat Mahdi (as) but who subsequently turned from him, exhibiting a hypocritical character, in order to attain that end. Indeed, it is also revealed in the Qur’an that people with a hypocritical character cooperated with unbelievers in order to carry out activities against the believers. Despite the presence in their midst of a holy individual with such superior moral values as him, hypocrites in the time of the Prophet Muhammad (saas) nevertheless departed from him and cooperated with unbelievers against believers. The situation of these people is described as follows in the Qur’an:
As for those who have set up a mosque, causing harm and out of disbelief, to create division between the believers, and in readiness for those who previously made war on Allah and His Messenger, they will swear, “We only desired the best.” But Allah bears witness that they are truly liars. (Surat at-Tawba, 107)
One of the characteristics of these people is the way that despite exhibiting such an ugly attitude they were still able to tell the lie that “they had good intentions.” Just like these hypocrites, despite intending to spread evil in the world the antichrist will also maintain that he wishes the very best for people. There is no doubt that this is a great falsehood. The response that true believers will give to the antichrist’s call to a life far removed from religious morality, a life filled with immorality and evil is obvious. As revealed in the Qur’an:
Say: “Are we to call on something besides Allah which can neither help nor harm us, and to turn on our heels after Allah has guided us, like someone the satans have lured away in the earth, leaving him confused and stupefied, despite the fact that he has companions calling him to guidance, saying, ‘Come with us!’?” Say: “Allah's guidance, that is true guidance. We are commanded to submit as Muslims to the Lord of all the worlds.” (Surat al-An‘am, 71)
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