Chapter on the Dajjal: His Deceptions, the Descent of Isa (as), and Slaying Him at the Gate of Ludd

and then the second mudaf. This marks the conclusion of the Sheikh's (rh) words. The Prophet's (ﷺ) description: "(He is a young man with extremely curly hair [shabbun qatat])" is pronounced with fat-hah on both qaf and ta', signifying hair of severe kinkiness, vastly different from pleasing waviness. The Prophet's (ﷺ) statement: "(He will emerge from a tract between the Levant and Iraq [khallatan bayna al-Sham wa al-'Iraq])" is recorded in the manuscripts of our region with the dotted kha' and lam both with fat-hah and the ha' nunated ("khallatan"). Al-Qadi stated that the famous reading is "hallata" with the undotted ha' and a fat-hah on ta' without nunation, said to mean facing that direction or opposite it. In Kitab al-'Ayn, al-hallah denotes a rugged, rocky terrain. He added that some narrated it as "hallahu" with dammah on lam and a pronominal ha', meaning his descent and arrival. He noted that al-Humaydi likewise recorded it in al-Jam' bayna al-Sahihayn. He further mentioned that al-Harawi recorded it as "khallatan" with the dotted kha' and doubled lam, both with fat-hah, explaining it as the land lying between the two territories. This is the end of what al-Qadi reported. What he cited from al-Harawi is what appears in our regional manuscripts and in the regional copies of al-Jam' bayna al-Sahihayn, and it is the reading preferred by the author of Nihayat al-Gharib, who interpreted it as the road between the two regions. His phrase: "(wreaking havoc right and wreaking havoc left ['atha yaminan wa 'atha shimālan])" is with the undotted 'ayn and three-dotted tha', both with fat-hah, which is a past tense verb. Al-'ayth denotes corruption, or the most extreme form of rapid corruption; one says "'atha ya'ithu". Al-Qadi mentioned that some narrated it as "'athin" with kasrah on tha' and nunated, as an active participle, bearing the same meaning. As for the Prophet's (ﷺ) statement: "(one day like a year, one day like a month, one day like a week, and the rest of his days like your ordinary days)", the scholars said that this hadith is to be understood upon its literal meaning: these three days are genuinely elongated to the exact duration mentioned in the hadith, as evidenced by his clarifying words: "and the rest of his days are like your days."