The Dajjaal

There are over fifty scholarly comments on the meaning of the word Maseeh (Messiah). They said that this word is applied both to the Truthful One [True Messiah, i.e., ‘Eesa (Jesus)] and to the misleading liar [the “antichrist” or Dajjaal]. The Messiah is the Truthful One, ‘Eesa ibn Maryam (Jesus the son of Mary), the Messiah of guidance, who healed those who were born blind and lepers, and brought the dead to life by Allah’s Leave. The false messiah (al‐maseeh al‐dajjaal) is the liar who leads people astray, the messiah of misguidance who will tempt people by means of the signs that he is given, such as bringing down rain, reviving the earth to bring forth vegetation, and other “miracles.”
So Allah has created two messiahs, who are opposites of one another. The scholars said that the reason why the Dajjaal is called maseeh (a “messiah”) is because one of his eyes is mamsooh (lit. “wiped”; smooth or abraded, i.e., he will be blind or defective in one eye). Or it was said that it is because he will survey or travel throughout the earth (yamsah) in forty days… The former view is more correct, because of what was said in the hadeeth narrated by Muslim (no. 5221) from Anas ibn Maalik, who said: “The Messenger of Allah (r) said: ‘The Dajjaal will be blind ( mamsooh) in one eye, and between his eyes will be written ‘kaafir’…’”.