Beast of the Earth

The Beast of the Earth (دابة الأرض Dabbat al-Ardḍ), in Muslim belief, will be one of the signs of the coming of the Last Day. This creature will appear after the sun arises in the west. The phrase appears in the Qur'an, in Sura An-Naml. The term also appears in the hadith, which expands upon the activities of the beast. The Qur'an mentions that the Beast will address the unbelievers and admonish them for their lack of attention towards God. The following is the purport of the Qur'anic verse that has been discussed:

And when the Word is fulfilled against them (the unjust), we shall produce from the earth a beast to (face) them: He will speak to them, for that mankind did not believe with assurance in Our Signs.

— Qur'an, sura 27 (An-Naml), ayat 82^[1]

The Beast is mentioned to have the Staff of Moses and the Seal of Solomon. It will strike the face of the disbelievers with the ring of Solomon; “He is destined for Hell” will be written on his forehead, and his face will blacken and it will brighten the face of the believer with the staff of Moses and “He is destined for Paradise” will be written on his forehead. ^[2]

As it is seen, when the Beast emerges, people will start to believe, but belief will not be accepted anymore because of the emergence of the major signs.

In al-Qurtubi's book Tadhkirah, the beast is described:

Ibn Jurayj reported that Ibn al-Zubayr described the beast and said, "Its head is like the head of a bull, its eyes are like the eyes of a pig, its ears are like the ears of an elephant, its horns are like the horns of a stag, its neck is like the neck of an ostrich, its chest is like the chest of a lion, its color is like the colour of a tiger, its haunches are like the haunches of a cat, its tail is like the tail of a ram, and its legs are like the legs of a camel. Between each pair of its joints is a distance of twelve cubits."

See also

• The Beast (Revelation)

References