Haqiqatul-Wahi (The Philosophy of Divine Revelation) — Page 51
CHAPTER III 51 dead man, even though the age of Haḍrat Īsā has been affixed at 120 years according to the aḥādīth. Have those 120 years not elapsed yet? Similarly, on account of their misunderstanding, they created a dis- crepancy between the Holy Quran and the aḥādīth, because the indi- vidual who is called Dajjal [the Antichrist] in the aḥādīth is designated as Satan by the Holy Quran, for it quotes Satan as saying: قَالَ انْظُرُفَ إِلَى يَوْمِ يُبْعَثُونَ. قَالَ إِنَّكَ مِنَ الْمُنْظَرِينَ ! Meaning that, Satan pleaded to the Divine Majesty to be granted res- pite until the dead, whose hearts have died, are revived. God said: You are given respite till that time. Thus the Dajjāl who is mentioned in the aḥādīth is none other than the Satan who will be slain in the Latter Days. This is exactly what is recorded in the Book of Daniel as well as in some aḥādīth. As Christianity is the perfect manifestation of Satan, Sūrah al-Fatihah makes no mention of Dajjāl, but prescribes supplication for refuge with God against the evil of the Christians. Had the Dajjal been some other mischief-maker, God would have said in the Holy Quran J [and not the path of the Dajjāl] instead of 2. The verse: 198199 إلَى يَوْمِ يُبْعَثُونَ 3 does not mean the physical resurrection, because Satan is alive only as long as human beings are alive. But, of course, Satan does not do anything of his own self; rather, he operates through his agents. And these very people, who deify a human being, are those agents. Since they constitute a group, they have been called Dajjal, because the word dajjal in the Arabic language also connotes a group. 1. Sūrah al-A'rāf, 7:15–16 [Publisher] 2. And those who have not gone astray (Surah al-Fatiḥah, 1:7). [Publisher] 3. Till the day they will be raised up (Sūrah al-A'rāf, 7:15). [Publisher]