Takhrij Hadith 1953: "He asked Fatimah bint Qays,…"

He asked Fatimah bint Qays, the sister of al-Dahhak ibn Qays, who was among the first emigrants: "Narrate to me a hadith you heard from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and do not attribute it to anyone other than him." She said: "If you wish, I will." He said to her: "Yes, narrate to me." She said: "I married Ibn al-Mughirah, who was one of the finest young men of Quraysh at that time. He was struck down in the earliest jihad alongside the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). When I became a widow, 'Abd al-Rahman ibn 'Awf proposed to me, among a group of the Companions of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) also proposed to me on behalf of his freed slave, Usamah ibn Zayd. I had been told that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: 'Whoever loves me, let him love Usamah.' "When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) spoke to me, I said: 'My affair is in your hands, so marry me to whomever you wish.' He said: 'Move to Umm Sharik's house.' Umm Sharik was a wealthy woman of the Ansar, very generous in spending in the cause of Allah, and guests would stay with her. I said: 'I will do so.' He said: 'Do not do so. Umm Sharik is a woman who has many guests, and I dislike that your headscarf should fall off, or that your garment should uncover your shins, and the people should see of you something you dislike. Rather, move to your cousin 'Abdullah ibn 'Amr ibn Umm Maktum,' who was a man of Banu Fihr, the Fihr of Quraysh, from the same clan as hers. So I moved to his house. "When my waiting period ('iddah) ended, I heard the call of the herald of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) announcing: 'Prayer is to be held in congregation!' So I went out to the mosque and prayed with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and I was in the row of women that is behind the men. When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) finished his prayer, he sat on the minbar, smiling, and said: 'Let every person stay where he prayed.' Then he said: 'Do you know why I have gathered you?' They said: 'Allah and His Messenger know best.' "He said: 'By Allah, I have not gathered you out of desire or out of fear. I have gathered you because Tamim al-Dari was a Christian man; he came, pledged allegiance, and accepted Islam, and he told me a story that agrees with what I used to tell you about the Antichrist, the Dajjal. He told me that he had sailed on a sea vessel with thirty men of Lakhm and Judham, and the waves tossed them about for a month at sea. Then they came ashore at an island in the sea, around sunset. They sat in the small boats and entered the island, and a beast met them, very hairy, so covered in hair 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 eager to hear your news."' "He (Tamim) said: 'When she mentioned a man to us, we feared she might be a she-devil. So we hurried until we entered the monastery, and there was the largest man we had ever seen in build, and the most tightly bound, with his hands fastened to his neck and iron between his knees and his ankles. We said: "Woe to you! What are you?" He said: "You have been able to learn my news, so tell me: who are you?" They said: "We are people of the Arabs. We boarded a sea vessel and found the sea in turmoil; the waves tossed us about for a month, then we came ashore at this island of yours and sat in its small boats. We entered the island, and a beast met us, very hairy, so that its front could not be told from its back because of all the hair. We said: 'Woe to you! What are you?' It said: 'I am al-Jassasah.' We said: 'What is al-Jassasah?' It said: 'Make for this man in the monastery, for he is eager to hear your news.' So we came to you in haste, frightened of her, and not sure that she was not a she-devil." "'He said: "Tell me about the date palms of Baysan." We said: "What about them do you ask?" He said: "I ask you about its palms: do they bear fruit?" We said: "Yes." He said: "It will soon be that they do not bear fruit." He said: "Tell me about the Lake of Tiberias." We said: "What about it do you ask?" He said: "Does it have water?" They said: "It has abundant water." He said: "Its water will soon disappear." He said: "Tell me about the spring of Zughar." They said: "What about it do you ask?" He said: "Is there water in the spring, and do its people farm with the water of the spring?" We said: "Yes, it has abundant water, and its people farm with its water." "'He said: "Tell me about the Prophet of the unlettered people: what has he done?" They said: "He has left Mecca and settled in Yathrib." He said: "Have the Arabs fought him?" We said: "Yes." He said: "How did he deal with them?" So we told him that he had prevailed over those of the Arabs near him and that they had obeyed him. He said to them: "Has that indeed happened?" We said: "Yes." He said: "It is better for them that they obey him. "'And I will tell you about myself: I am the Messiah, and I will soon be permitted to go out. Then I will go out and travel through the land, and I will not leave a single town without descending upon it within forty nights, except Mecca and Tayyibah, both of which are forbidden to me. Every time I try to enter one of them, an angel meets me with a drawn sword in his hand, barring me from it, and at every entrance to it there are angels guarding it."'" She said: "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) then struck the minbar with his staff and said: 'This is Tayyibah, this is Tayyibah, this is Tayyibah,' meaning Medina. 'Did I not tell you about that?' The people said: 'Yes.' 'The story of Tamim pleased me because it agreed with what I used to tell you about him, and about Medina and Mecca. Indeed, he is in the Sea of Sham, or the Sea of Yemen. No, rather he is from the direction of the east; he is from the direction of the east; he is from the direction of the east,'" and he gestured with his hand toward the east. She said: "So I memorized this from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)."