*“Tamīm’s story pleased me because it confirms what I have been telling you about the Dajjāl and about Medina and Mecca. He is in the Sea of Syria or the Sea of Yemen—no, rather he is in the direction of the * East! What is it but the East! What is it but the East!” (And he pointed toward the East.)
Sahih Muslim 2942a
https://sunnah.com/muslim:2942a
Sunan Abi Dawud 4326
Narrated Fatimah bint Qays:
I heard the caller of the Messenger of God (ﷺ) announce: “The prayer is to be gathered.” So I went out and prayed with the Messenger of God (ﷺ). After he finished the prayer, he sat on the pulpit smiling, and said:
“Let everyone remain in their place of prayer.”
Then he said:
“Do you know why I have gathered you?”
They replied: “God and His Messenger know best.”
He said:
“I did not gather you out of fear or hope (i.e., for some emergency), but rather because Tamim al-Dari, who was formerly a Christian, came and pledged allegiance and embraced Islam. He told me something that agrees with what I’ve been telling you about the Dajjal (Antichrist).
He said he sailed in a sea vessel with thirty men from the tribes of Lakhm and Judham. They were tossed by the waves for a month at sea, until they landed on an island at sunset. They sat in the nearest boat and entered the island, where they were met by a beast covered in thick hair.
They said: ‘Woe to you! What are you?’
It said: ‘I am al-Jassasah (the Spy). Go to that man in the monastery, for he is eager to hear your news.’
Tamim said: ‘When it mentioned a man, we were afraid it was a devil. So we quickly went to the monastery and found there the largest man we had ever seen, strongly bound, his hands tied to his neck…’”
(The Prophet continued to narrate the story.)
Tamim said that the chained man asked them about the palm trees of Baysan, about the spring of Zughar, and about the unlettered prophet—and then declared:
“I am the Messiah (al-Masih), and it is nearly time for me to be allowed to go forth.”
The Prophet then said:
“Indeed, he is in the sea of Syria or the sea of Yemen. No! Rather, he is in the direction of the East! What is it but the East!” (He repeated this twice and pointed toward the East.)
Fatimah said: “I memorized this from the Messenger of God.”
Sunan Abi Dawud 4326
https://sunnah.com/abudawud:4326
See also:
https://sunnah.com/tirmidhi:2253
https://sunnah.com/abudawud:4325
Dajjal is One-Eyed
It was narrated that Hudhaifah said: The Messenger of Allah said: ‘I know what the Dajjal will have with him. He will have two flowing rivers, one that appears to the eye to be clear water, and one that appears to the eye to be flaming fire. If anyone sees that, let him go to the river which he thinks is fire and close his eyes, then lower his head and drink from it, for it is cool water. The Dajjal has one blind eye, with a layer of thick skin over it, and between his eyes is written “disbeliever,” which every believer will read, whether he is literate or illiterate.’
Sahih Muslim 2934b
https://sunnah.com/muslim:2934b
Anas b. Malik reported that Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) said: Dajjal is blind of one eye and there is written between his eyes the word” Kafir”. He then spelled the word as k. f. r., which every Muslim would be able to read.
Sahih Muslim 2933c
https://sunnah.com/muslim:2933c
Ibn Umar reported that Allah’s Messenger made a mention of Dajjal in the presence of the people and said: Allah is not one-eyed and behold that Dajjal is blind of the right eye and his eye would be like a floating grape.
Interestingly, the New Testament scholar Dennis MacDonald discovered a similar parallel in Mark 5, which mimics the same story as the one in the Odyssey.
Here are MacDonald’s 6 criteria for literary mimesis:
Accessibility: Homer was everywhere.
Analogy: Others also copied Odyssey.
Density: Many parallels, not just that they travelled by boat.
Order/Sequence: Same order, scene-by-scene.
Distinctiveness: common words, common rare details, e.g, swine, numbers, a nude cave-man.