Unveiling the Lifespan of this Ummah Beyond the Year 1000: Refuting the Fabrication That the Prophet Does Not Remain in His Grave a Thousand Years

the forty years between the two blasts, and the blast of resurrection would be blown before the completion of the thousand years. I deemed it exceedingly improbable that such discourse could issue from a scholar of his caliber, yet I disliked explicitly refuting him out of scholarly deference toward him. Thus I said: "This is something with which I am unacquainted." The questioner then urged me to compose a treatise on the matter, but I did not grant him his desire. Instead, I said: "Make the rounds among the people, for there are those who puff out their cheeks, claiming they can debate me, denying my claim to ijtihad and singular scholarly preeminence at the turn of this century, imagining they can oppose me, and mobilizing against me crowds who, if he and they were gathered upon a single plain and a single breath were blown upon them, would become scattered dust." So the aforementioned questioner circulated among the people, approaching everyone who remembered and everyone who forgot, seeking out those of courage and might, yet he found no one capable of dispelling his confusion; and the remainder of the year elapsed in that state.

And the question was like a virgin whose seal none had broken, nor had any daring soul ventured to lift her veil; whenever anyone sought to draw near to her, she resisted and refused, and whenever anyone's soul whispered to him to stretch forth his hand toward her, it was severed. Whoever heard this question found no door to knock upon except my door, and people conceded that none could unveil it after my tongue save one: my book. Thus seekers flocked to me seeking its disclosure, and visitors implored me to author a work embellished by its exquisite exposition. I responded to their request and opened for them a fresh watering spring, from which they might drink once or repeatedly as they pleased; and I titled it: "al-Kashf 'an Mujawazat Hadhihi al-Ummah al-Alf" (The Unveiling Regarding this Ummah's Surpassing the Thousand-Year Mark). First, I state: that which the transmitted traditions indicate is that the lifespan of this Ummah exceeds one thousand years, yet the excess will not reach five hundred years. This is because it has been transmitted through multiple routes that the total duration of the world is seven thousand years, and that the Prophet (ﷺ) was sent in the latter part of the sixth millennium. It is also reported that the Dajjal will emerge at the turn of a century, and Isa (as) will descend and slay him, thereafter remaining on earth for forty years; that mankind will abide for one hundred and twenty years after the sun rises from the west; and that forty years intervene between the two trumpet blasts. These amount to an indispensable two hundred years. Now, only one hundred and two years remain of the thousand, yet up to this moment the sun has not risen from the west; nor has the Dajjal emerged - whose emergence precedes the western sunrise by two years following Isa's descent; nor has the Mahdi appeared, whose appearance precedes the Dajjal by seven years; nor have the signs that precede the Mahdi's appearance transpired. Nor is it any longer possible for the Dajjal to emerge anytime soon, because he will only emerge at the turn of a century, preceded by preparatory events spanning many years. Thus, the earliest plausible scenario is that his emergence might occur at the turn of the thousandth year - meaning not delayed to a century thereafter. How then could anyone imagine that the Hour will be established before the completion of one thousand years? This is utterly impossible. Even if the emergence of the Dajjal were to coincide with the turn of the millennium - which some scholars posited as a possibility - the world would endure after him for more than two hundred years, namely the two hundred years already mentioned, plus the remaining period between the emergence of the Dajjal and the rising of the sun from