Haqiqatul-Wahi (The Philosophy of Divine Revelation) — Page 622
622 HAQIQATUL-WAḤI-THE PHILOSOPHY OF DIVINE REVELATION مِّنْ كُلِّ حَدَبٍ يَنْسِلُونَ Therefore, the interpretation that some part of the earth will be dom- inated by the Christians while another part will be dominated by the Dajjāl during the advent of the Promised Messiah, loses all credibility. Perhaps a counter reply to this may be voiced that first the Christians will dominate and then the Dajjal will break the Cross and in the end the Messiah will kill the Dajjal, but this is a belief that has never been entertained by any sect from among the entire body of Muslim sects to this very day. On the contrary, we find written in Ṣaḥiḥ Bukhārī that it is the Promised Messiah, and not the Dajjāl, who will break the Cross. 2 5. 2 When we turn to the aḥādīth for a resolution of this dispute, we find that the very same Şaḥiḥ Muslim which makes mention of the Dajjal, also testifies that the Promised Dajjāl shall issue forth from a church, or in other words, will emerge from among the Christians. Thus, Sahih Muslim pronounces the Christian missionaries to be the Dajjal. And circumstantial evidence also testifies in favour of this point of view and clearly shows that the last mischief that appeared-due to which hundreds of thousands of Muslims turned apostate-is none other than the mischief of Christianity, of which we are all eyewit- nesses. Hence, it is evident that the difference here is nothing more than semantics. The mischief that Ṣaḥīḥ Bukhārī designates as the mis- chief of the Cross and declares the Promised Messiah to be the breaker of the Cross, Sahih Muslim designates that very mischief to be the mis- chief of the Dajjal and refers to 'the breaking the Cross' as ‘the killing of the Dajjal'. And when we turn to the Holy Quran-the arbiter of all 1. They shall hasten forth from every height (Surah al-Anbiya', 21:97). [Publisher] 2. The aḥadīth also indicate that, at the time of the Promised Messiah, Christians would have spread all over the world. (Author)