Abu Sa'id Khudri reported:
Ibn Sa'id said to me somethhing for which I felt ashamed. He said: I can excuse others; but what has gone wrong with you, O Companions of Muhammad, that you take me as Dajjal? Has Allah's Apostle (may peace be upon him) not said that he would be a Jew whereas I am a Muslim and he also said that he would not have children, whereas I have children, and he also said: veryly, Allah has prohibited him to enter Mecca whereas I have performed Pilgrimage, atid. he went on saying this that I was about to be impressed by his tallk. He (however) said this also: I know where he (Dajjal) is and I know his father abd I mother, and it was said to him: Won't you feel pleased if you would be the same person? Thereupon he said: If this offer is made to me, I would noT resent that.
Jazakallahu khair for the hadith. Do you have the source for it? I would be interested to see if there are any other references to this. I had assumed he would not be considering he is chained on an Island in a cave for ages, so not sure when he would have had the opportunity to go become one.
'Amir Ibn Sharahil Sha'bi Sha'b Hamdan reported that he asked Fatima bint Qays, the sister of Dahhak Ibn Qays, who was one of the first Muhajirat, "Tell me a Hadith which you heard directly from the Prophet with no narrator in between." She said, "I can tell you if you like." He said, 'Yes, please tell me," she said, "I married Ibn al-Mughirah, who was one of the best of the youth of Quraysh in those days. But he fell in the first Jihad on the side of the Prophet. "When I became a widow, 'Abd al-Rahman Ibn 'Awf, one of the companions of the Prophet sent me a proposal of marriage. The Prophet also sent me a proposal of marriage on behalf of his freedman Usamah Ibn Zayd. I had been told that the Prophet had said, 'He who loves me should also love Usamah.' When the Prophet spoke to me, I said, 'It is up to you: marry me to whomever you wish.' "The Prophet said, 'Go and stay with Umm Sharik.' Umm Sharik was a rich Ansari (Muslim originally from Madina) woman, who spent much in the way of Allah and entertained many guests. I said, 'I will do as you wish.' Then he said, 'Don't go. Umm Sharik has many guests, and I would not like it if your head or leg were to become uncovered accidentally and people saw something you would not wish them to see. It is better if you go and stay with your cousin 'Abdullah Ibn 'Amr Ibn Umm Maktum' ('Abdullah was of the Banu Fihr of Quraysh, the same tribe as that to which Fatima belonged).
"So I went to stay with him, and when I had completed my 'Iddah (period of waiting), I heard the Prophet's announcer calling for congregational prayer. I went out to the mosque, and prayed behind the Prophet. I was in the women's row, which was at the back of the congregation. When the Prophet had finished his prayer, he sat on the pulpit, smiling, and said, 'Everyone should stay in his place.' Then he said, 'Do you know why I had asked you to assemble?' The people said, 'Allah and His Messenger know best.' "He said, 'By Allah, I have not gathered you here to give you an exhortation or a warning. I have kept you here because Tamim al-Dari, a Christian man who has come and embraced Islam, told me something which agrees with that which I have told you about the Dajjal. He told me that he had sailed in a ship with 30 men from Banu Lakhm and Banu Judham. The waves had tossed them about for a month, then they were brought near to an island, at the time of sunset. They landed on the island, and were met by a beast who was so hairy that they could not tell its front from its back.
They said, "Woe to you! What are you?" It said, "I am al-Jassasah." They said, "What is al-Jassasah?" It said, "O people, go to this man in the monastery, for he is very eager to know about you." Tamim said that when it named a person to us, we were afraid lest it be a devil." Tamim said, 'We quickly went to the monastery. There we found a huge man with his hands tied up to his neck and with iron shackles between his legs up to the ankles. We said, "Woe to you, who are you?" He said, "You will soon know about me. Tell me who you are."
We said, "We are people from Arabia. We sailed in a ship, but the waves have been tossing us about for a month, and they brought us to your island, where we met a beast who was so hairy that we could not tell its front from its back. We said to it, "Woe to you! What are you? and it said , "I am al-Jassasah." We asked, "What is al-Jassasah?" and it told us, "Go to this man in the monastery, for he is very eager to know about you." So we came to you quickly, fearing that it might be a devil.'
"The man said, "Tell me about the date-palms of Baysan.' We said, 'What do you want to know about them?" He said, 'I want to know whether these trees bear fruit or not.' We said, 'Yes.' He said, 'Soon they will not bear fruit.' Then he said, "Tell me about the lake of al-Tabariyyah [Tiberias, in Palestine].' We said, 'What do you want to know about it?" He asked, 'Is there water in it?' We said, 'There is plenty of water in it.' He said, 'Soon it will become dry.' Then he said, 'Tell me about the spring of Zughar.' We said, 'What do you want to know about it?' He said, 'Is there water in it, and does it irrigate the land?" We said, 'Yes, there is plenty of water in it, and the people use it to irrigate the land.' "Then he said, "Tell me about the unlettered Prophet ' what has he done?' We said, 'He has left Makkah and settled in Yathrib.' He asked, 'Do the Arabs fight against him?' We said, 'Yes.' He said, 'How does he deal with them?' So we told him that the Prophet had overcome the Arabs around him and that they had followed him. He asked, 'Has it really happened?' We said, 'Yes.' He said, 'It is better for them if they follow him. Now I will tell you about myself. I am the Dajjal. I will soon be permitted to leave this place: I will emerge and travel about the earth. In 40 nights I will pass through every town, except Makkah and Madina, for these have been forbidden to me. Every time I try to enter either of them, I will be met by an angel bearing an unsheathed sword, who will prevent me from entering. There will be angels guarding them at every passage leading to them.'
Fatima said, "The Prophet striking the pulpit with his staff, said: 'This is Tayyibah, this is Tayyibah, this is Tayyibah, [ie Madina]. Have I not told you something like this?' The people said, 'Yes.' He said, 'I liked the account given to me by Tamim because it agrees with that which I have told you about the Dajjal, and about Makkah and Madina. Indeed he is in the Syrian sea or the Yemen sea. No, on the contrary, he is in the East, he is in the East, he is in the East' and he pointed towards the East. Fatima said: I memorised this from the Prophet." (Muslim).