Why these rumours spread — and what the hadiths really say
In WhatsApp groups and late-night YouTube sermons, a story is making the rounds. Elon Musk, the tech billionaire who wants to colonize Mars, is being called Al-Masīh ad-Dajjāl — the False Messiah foretold in Islamic tradition. Screenshots of hadiths, shaky translations, and edited clips of Musk talking about brain chips or humanoid robots are offered as “proof.”
But step back for a moment. Are these claims rooted in any sahīh (authentic) hadith? Or are we watching another example of how fear, technology, and religion collide in the digital age?
What the authentic hadiths actually say
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) described Dajjāl in several rigorously authenticated narrations:
He will be a human man, blind in one eye, with the word kāfir written between his eyes.
He will emerge from the East, between Syria and Iraq.
His era will last forty days — one like a year, one like a month, one like a week, and the rest like normal days.
He will perform false miracles: bringing rain, reviving the dead, commanding the earth to yield crops.
He will claim divinity, demanding worship.
He will be killed by Prophet ʿĪsā (Jesus) near Lod (modern-day Lydda in Palestine).
These narrations appear in Sahih al-Bukhari, Sahih Muslim, Sunan Abu Dawood, and Jamiʿ at-Tirmidhi. Hadith scholars across centuries — from Imam an-Nawawi to Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani — agreed that the Dajjāl is a real future person, not a metaphor, and that his appearance will be accompanied by unmistakable, supernatural events.
None of the hadiths mention an inventor, an engineer, or a billionaire with a rocket company.
Why Musk fits the myth in people’s minds
Still, it’s easy to see why the comparison sticks.
Musk builds self-driving cars, launches rockets, wants to implant chips in the brain, and speaks of merging humans with AI. To a generation raised on apocalyptic imagery, that sounds frighteningly close to “controlling minds” and “commanding creation.”
Add to that the unease in Muslim societies about surveillance, automation, and digital control — and suddenly, Musk becomes the face of a prophecy.
But similarity is not evidence. The hadiths don’t predict “who” the Dajjāl is by profession or nationality. They warn us of a fitnah (trial) of deception — one that confuses truth and falsehood, faith and technology, miracles and illusion.
The danger of naming names
Islamic scholars, classical and modern, have warned repeatedly against identifying living individuals as Dajjāl. Shaykh Ibn Baz called it “a baseless claim.” Mufti Taqi Usmani described such attributions as “reckless and religiously unsound.”
Every century has had its rumours: Napoleon, Hitler, the British Empire, television, the Internet, even the COVID vaccine — all have been labelled Dajjāl by someone. The pattern is psychological: whenever human power grows beyond comprehension, believers project it onto an ancient warning.
But that isn’t scholarship. It’s anxiety dressed as theology.
What the hadiths actually want from us
The Prophet (pbuh) didn’t tell us to hunt for the Dajjāl in Silicon Valley.
He told us to seek refuge from his trial in every prayer.
He told us to memorize the first ten verses of Surah al-Kahf.
He told us to stay firm in faith when confronted by illusions that feel like truth.
Those instructions are timeless. Whether the deception comes through false miracles or through algorithmic persuasion, the principle is the same: protect your conscience, not your conspiracy folder.
The real test of our times
Maybe Musk’s story is not about prophecy at all. Maybe it’s about power — about how quickly technology outpaces morality. When machines start predicting our choices, people look for spiritual explanations. “It must be Dajjāl.”
But the true lesson of those hadiths is humility. The Dajjāl will fool billions because they crave wonder without wisdom. They will believe in anyone who gives them control over the world.
If anything, that prophecy speaks to us — the users, the believers, the scrollers — more than to the billionaire building rockets.
In short:
Elon Musk is not the Dajjāl.
But the fear that makes people think he might be?
That’s the real warning.
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📎 Sources:
Sahih al-Bukhari, Book 88 (Fitan), 1881–1882
Sahih Muslim, Book 54, 2937–2948
Sunan Abu Dawood, 4311–4319
Sharh an-Nawawi ʿala Sahih Muslim
Islam Q&A 82643; Yasir Qadhi, The Dajjal in Light of Authentic Hadiths (2017)
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