Beast of the Earth

The Beast of the Earth (دابة الأرض Dābbat al-Arḍ), in Muslim eschatology, 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]

Although The Beast is appeared in a Hadith compiled by Al-Tirmidhi in the book of Jami' Al-Tirmidhi, it is graded Da'if (weak).^[2]

Narrated Abu Hurairah:

that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: "A beast will emerge from the earth. With it shall be the ring of Sulaiman (Solomon) and the staff of Musa (Moses). It will brighten the face of the believer, and stamp the nose of the disbeliever with the ring, such that when the people gather to eat, it will be said to this one: 'O believer! and to that one: 'O disbeliever!'"

— Jami' Al-Tirmidhi; English: Vol. 5, Book 44, Hadith 3187; Arabic: Book 47, Hadith 3490^[3]

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.

There also exists other ahadith which mention the beast along with others signs of the approaching final hour, namely the sun rising from the west. The following hadith have been classed as sahih (strong):

It was narrated from ‘Abdullah bin ‘Amr that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said:

“The first signs to appear will be at the rising of the sun from the west and the emergence of the Beast to the people, at forenoon.’” 'Abdullah said: "Whichever of them appears first, the other will come soon after." 'Abdullah said: "I do not think it will be anything other than the sun rising from the west."

Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) as saying:

Hasten in performing these good deeds (before these) six things (happen): (the appearance) of the Dajjal, the smoke, the beast of the earth, the rising of the sun from the west, the general turmoil (leading to large-scale massacre) and death of masses and individuals.

Narrated Abu Huraira:

Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said, "The Hour will not be established until the sun rises from the West: and when the people see it, then whoever will be living on the surface of the earth will have faith, and that is (the time) when no good will it do to a soul to believe then, if it believed not before."

`Abdullah b. `Amr reported:

I committed to memory a hadith from Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) and I did not forget it after I had heard Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) as saying: The first sign (out of the signs of the appearance of the Dajjal) would be the appearance of the sun from the west, the appearance of the beast before the people in the forenoon and which of the two happens first, the second one would follow immediately after that.

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