Deception, ghuroor, has always been the tool of Shaytaan. It began with the promise that he made after he became accursed, upon not bowing to Adam (AS), mentioned in Surah A'raaf:

قَالَ فَبِمَآ أَغْوَيْتَنِى لَأَقْعُدَنَّ لَهُمْ صِرَٰطَكَ ٱلْمُسْتَقِيمَ

he (shaytaan) said, “Now that You have made me go astray, I will certainly sit for them (in ambush) on Your straight path.

ثُمَّ لَـَٔاتِيَنَّهُم مِّنۢ بَيْنِ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَمِنْ خَلْفِهِمْ وَعَنْ أَيْمَـٰنِهِمْ وَعَن شَمَآئِلِهِمْ ۖ وَلَا تَجِدُ أَكْثَرَهُمْ شَـٰكِرِينَ

Then I will come upon them from their front side and from their behind, and from their right and from their left. You will not find most of them grateful.

So shaytaan lies in ambush for us, as we attempt the straight path, his effort is to distract & divert us from it in every way he can, to make us ungrateful of the favors of Allah ﷻ, and to lead us away from good deeds and ultimately to kufr, which is the extreme opposite of shukr.

How will he do this? Through deception, ghuroor & dajl

In Surah Nisa, Allah ﷻ explains his method to us:

يَعِدُهُمْ وَيُمَنِّيهِمْ ۖ وَمَا يَعِدُهُمُ الشَّيْطَانُ إِلَّا غُرُورًا

he (Shaytaan) makes false promises to them and arouses false hopes in them. But he does not promise them anything (in reality) except delusion (ghuroor)

What is ghuroor?

Linguistically, ghurūr is the type of deception that succeeds because the victim is negligent or caught off guard. It describes an illusion where something looks beautiful, safe, or long-lasting on the outside (like the material attractions of worldly life), but is actually empty or fleeting on the inside. It relies on the victim tricking themselves into a false sense of security. dajl, however, is a different type of deception, which I will explain later in this article ان شاء الله ﺗﻌﺎﻟﯽٰ....

The first effort of ghuroor was made by iblees, on the first human beings, Adam (AS) and Hawa (AS).

They had been granted entry into paradise, while Shaytaan was rejected and accursed.

So he bided his time, waiting for the moment when they would forget what they were told about Shaytaan by Allah ﷻ, that he was an enemy to Adam (AS) and his wife Hawa (AS).

Insaan, by nature, is forgetful, Allah ﷻ Himself says that Adam (AS) had forgotten, in verse 115 of Surah Taha:

وَلَقَدْ عَهِدْنَآ إِلَىٰٓ ءَادَمَ مِن قَبْلُ فَنَسِىَ وَلَمْ نَجِدْ لَهُۥ عَزْمًا ١١٥

We had given a directive to ’Ādam earlier, then he forgot, and We did not find in him a firm resolve.

In Tafseer Mazhari, one tafseer of 'a firm resolve' has been given that, he did not intend purposely to disobey the order of Allah ﷻ in this instance, which further gives support that Adam (as) had forgotten and therefore made a lapse in judgment, since a Nabi is protected from committing a sin. (وقيل : معنى الآية لم نجد له عزما أي قصدا على اكل الشجرة بل أكل ناسيان يعني لم يكن له عقد قلب على إمضاء المعصية، ولم نجد عن كان من أفعال القلوب بمعنى العلم فله عزما مفعول)

How did shaytaan do this?, it was a plan that he enacted from long before, knowing and understanding the makeup of a human being, and when the time came, he told them that 'should i not show you the tree of eternity?' and made an oath to them that if they ate from the tree, they would live forever and enjoy the benefits of paradise for eternity. While Adam (As) and Hawa (AS) were definitely content and happy in Jannah, they were not previously told that they would stay there forever, this was the key for shaytaan, the angle, to play on their fear of one day being deprived of Jannah, to take advantage of their lapse in memory that he was their enemy and they were forbidden from eating of it, and their human nature and desire, and make them believe, through taking a false oath that he was their well wisher, that eating from the tree would allow them to live forever, in Jannah.

This is how ghuroor upon insaan began, and it has continued ever since. It was not fathomable at that time that a false oath could ever be taken, shaytaan took advantage of the nature of insaan, the forgetfulness, and the wishes of the nafs, to deploy his ghuroor, and what was the outcome?

Adam (AS) and Hawa (AS) were taken out of the very place that shaytaan promised they would enjoy!!!

This is the purpose of ghuroor, to beguile you into believing something which is completely untrue, to fool you into relying on something that cannot be relied upon, to give you false hopes in something that will never materialise, to use the desires of your nafs against you to make you falter and be fooled.

While Allah ﷻ on the other hand, promises you that which is a reality and certainty. That by going against your nafs, and adhering to His commands, and not being swayed and tempted by the deceptions of the world, you will gain His pleasure and be entered into the real paradise where you will live forever, without any worry or difficulty.

Shaytaan has been making these plans and machinations from that time, he has armies of jinn and men that go around the world and do it on his behalf, deceiving and beguiling, taking advantage of forgetfulness and lapses, whispering ideas and thoughts into the hearts using the tools available to him.

When a person remembers Allah ﷻ, keeps the company of the pious, seeks the guidance of the ulama and adheres to it against the desires of their nafs, recites Quran, engages in enjoining good and forbidding evil, then he/she is protected, but it is also inevitable that every human being lapses and commits sins at times, but remember that Allah ﷻ is the oft-forgiver, so at that time a person should seek forgiveness and make tauba and turn back to Allah ﷻ.

When a person lapses, shaytaans next effort is to create despondency, to make them feel that they are useless and there is no hope for them, so that they can fall further into sin, but know that Allah's ﷻ mercy is infinite, Allah ﷻ loves to forgive his servants, so never become despondent and always keep turning back to Allah ﷻ, even if you commit the sin 100 times a day.

A time is now upon us however where the deception is no longer just the waswasa of shaytaan, we have been told about the time when we will not only face ghuroor, but we will face dajl, and these two are very different forms of deception.

The word dajjāl comes from the root dajala, which historically meant "to smear or coat a camel with tar". It means to cover up the truth completely by painting a false reality over it. Dajjāl is an intensive form (hyperbole), meaning "the arch-deceiver" or "the ultimate liar." It implies actively mixing truth with falsehood so aggressively that the truth becomes entirely hidden and impossible to distinguish.

With ghuroor, a person can be shown the truth of the matter, they can be reminded and they can realize the deception when they look carefully, but this is not the case with dajl. For ghuroor we have been repeatedly warned by Allah ﷻ not to fall into it, and we have been asked rhetorically in Quran, what is deceiving us, making ghuroor on us, as a question to wake us up and not be deceived, not to let the ghuroor affect us, but dajl is different.

dajl is such a deception that cannot be seen through, it is so effective that one cannot make out the reality from the falsehood, this is why the instruction of Nabi ﷺ is NOT to face Dajjaal, because a person with strong Imaan, thinking that he will be able to counter Dajjal's arguments, will try to do so, and will return without Imaan because of the doubts that Dajjaal put in his heart.

Ghuroor is a passive temptation through worldly desires, wealth, status, and passing pleasures. But dajl is an active aggressive campaign of deception through massive, terrifying trials, false appearances and fake "miracles"

Falling into deception through ghuroor requires a lapse and forgetfulness, falling into deception through dajl can happen to a person with strong Imaan without any lapse or forgetfulness. This is why the sahaba (RA) were actually afraid and concerned of the emergence of Dajjaal, because they understood what dajl is.

In fact, it is reported in Musnad Ahmad that, Ayesha (RA) narrates that:

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ entered where I was, while I was weeping. He asked me, “What makes you cry? I said, “O Messenger of Allah, I thought of the Dajjāl, and so I cried. ”The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “If the Dajjāl emerges while I am still alive, I will suffice for all of you against him. But if the Dajjāl emerges after me, then (know that) indeed your Lord, Mighty and Majestic, is not a'war. He (dajjaal) will emerge among the Jews of Isfahan, and will proceed until he reaches Madinah. He will encamp on its outskirts. At that time Madinah will have seven gates, and at every entrance there will be two angels. The wicked people of Madinah will then go out to join him, until he reaches al-Shām, at Ludd in Palestine.” Then ʿĪsā عليه السلام will descend and kill him. Thereafter, ʿĪsā عليه السلام will remain on the earth for forty years, as a just leader and an equitable ruler.

Protection from ghuroor and dajl are not the same. In this hadeeth we see that Nabi ﷺ gave the appearance and actions of Dajjaal as signs to be aware of, because it will be impossible to realize and distinguish from truth and falsehood in that time, due to the heavy form of deception that he will practice and put over the people. It is not enough to only know of him, we should know firstly that if someone appears a'war, making claims and performing miracles, then this cannot be our Rabb, this cannot be Allah ﷻ

The Physical Meaning of a'war (Defect in Both Eyes)

A'war does not mean Dajjaal has only one eye, linguistically, a'war means 'impaired'. According to various ahadeethj, Dajjal has defects in both of his eyes, making his entire face noticeably flawed:

• One eye will be completely blind and flat (smooth like a floating grape).

• The other eye will be protruding and covered by a thick flap of skin, heavily distorting his appearance.

   

  Therefore, he is a'war because his sight and facial features are deeply damaged and imperfect. 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).

Other ahadeeth indicate that he will be blind or defective (mamsooh) in the right eye. This eye will be neither prominent nor sunken, and will look like a floating grape. His left eye will be covered with a thick piece of flesh growing at the edge of his eye. Written between his eyes will be “Kaaf faa’ raa’ (K-F-R)”, in separate (Arabic) letters, or “kaafir” letters joined. This will be read by every true Muslim, literate or illiterate.

Most people picture Dajjaal as having only one eye, already they are deceived with his very basic description, then how will he be recognized easily?

Secondly, we should know of the places that he will 'emerge' from, and there are a few places that are mentioned, these are not contradictory, but rather it is possible that at different occasions he will be noticed from these different places along his movement and appearances, so one should be wary. In this hadeeth 'the jews of Isfahan' are mentioned. Isfahan is a town in Iran, and other ahadeeth also indicate that Dajjaal will emerge from this region. So if you hear of or see someone emerging from this region, with an army of followers, claiming to be saviours of Islam, or Isa (AS) or the Mahdi, then know that this is actually the Dajjaal.

- Know that the Mahdi will be recognized in Makkah Mukarrama, and this will be confirmed after the army that comes to destroy him is swallowed in the earth between Makkah and Madinah, he will NOT emerge from Iran

- Know that Isa (AS) wil descend in Damascus, he will not change the shariat, he will not come as a Nabi, but as a follower, he will NOT emerge in Iran

- Neither Mahdi nor Isa (AS) will encamp outside Madinah and attract people to join them.

Both will fight against Dajjaal and his army and Isa (AS) will kill Dajjaal at the gates of Ludd in Palestine.

Unfortunately the reality is that many muslims will definitely be deceived by the Dajjaal, they will lose their Imaan completely.

Dajjaal will have fire and water, but his water will be fire and his fire will be water, but this will not be discernible, as it is not possible to resist the deception of Dajjaal, except whom Allah ﷻ protects, that is why Nabi ﷺ instructed us to flee from him and not to face him:

عن عِمْرَان بْن حُصَيْنٍ قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ مَنْ سَمِعَ بِالدَّجَّالِ فَلْيَنْأَ عَنْهُ فَوَاللَّهِ إِنَّ الرَّجُلَ لَيَأْتِيهِ وَهُوَ يَحْسِبُ أَنَّهُ مُؤْمِنٌ فَيَتَّبِعُهُ مِمَّا يَبْعَثُ بِهِ مِنْ الشُّبُهَاتِ

‘Imran ibn Husayn reported: The Messenger of Allah, ﷺ said, “Whoever hears news of the Dajjaal, let him flee from him. By Allah, a man will go to him considering himself a true believer, but will instead follow him because of doubts he will present.” Sunan Abī Dāwūd 4319

We are already living in the time of 'dajl': a time in which things can be presented before us in such a convincing manner that it has become impossible to differentiate reality from falsehood.

The modern tools of AI, have reached a stage where they can, so to speak, “bring the dead back to life” — recreating the face, voice and movements of a person who has died and making them appear to speak again. This even has a name, 'digital resurrection' and it is being used and marketed to people to cope with grief and for funeral activities etc, where the dead person can be spoken to on a screen, and even appear in a holograph

AI can generate photographs of events that never happened, imitate the voice of almost any person, and produce videos of people apparently saying and doing things they never said or did. The images and videos can now be so realistic that an ordinary person may have no reliable way of distinguishing them from genuine recordings. In fact, the problem has gone even further: we have reached a point where even when something is completely real, people are no longer certain that it is real. Perhaps one of the most common questions asked when an extraordinary photograph, recording or video appears today is this: “Is this AI?” 

Reality itself has become suspect. The distinction between what the eyes see and what actually occurred is rapidly disappearing. Studies now show that AI-generated faces, images and voices are more convincing than the real thing. In one study, AI faces were judged as human 65.9% of the time, compared with 51.1% for real faces. Another study found that AI faces were rated as more trustworthy than real ones

This is the era of 'dajl' that we are in right now, and all of this is going to be made comfortable for us, and then used by Dajjaal to create doubts in our hearts and take us away from Imaan. We are already informing these AI tools about our innermost secrets, ideas, feelings and thoughts, which will be used against us to create those very doubts. That is the angle that will be used, you miss you father who passed away?, so Dajjaal will use that against you. You have a secret fear or liking for something? Dajjaal will use it against you.

You are being profiled, every website visit, every google search, every ai query, your full conversation history, think about it......

This is the endgame, and if we try to resist the deception, then Dajjaals other given powers, which are not part of his 'dajl', his deceptive ability, will be used to place difficulty on the people of Imaan, the people who Allah ﷻ has allowed to see his deception and reject it.

In the ahadeeth it comes that those who reject will arise the next morning in a state that they will not have anything of wealth. How will this happen? Dajjaal in addition to his deceptive abilities will also be in control of the monetary system, the electronic currencies and cryptocurrencies, so it will be easy for him and his system to turn it off for you if you don't obey....and if you dont have animals, and grow your own food, you will be at the mercy of his system, the food and monetary chains that already exist today.

Today the dajl is coming from the angle of deen. Remember that the person of Imaan who faces Dajjaal will lose his Imaan because of shubuhaat, the 'doubts', or doubtful matters, that Dajjal will create in him.

Ghuroor is from the angle of dunya, because a persons nafs is inclined towards dunya, wealth, status, women, pleasures etc.

But dajl will not come from this angle, it comes from the angle of deen. That is why we see today such things as re-interpretation of deen according to one's own nafs, interest being made 'halal' by different names, the same with insurance, so called 'islamic banking', shia-sunni unity calls, interfaith ideology, feminism, liberalism and the list goes on.

These are all dajl attacks that create shubuhaat in even the strong mu'min and result in a person eventually leaving the fold of Islam once they believe in these ideologies against the clear verses and correct interpretation of Quran, and once they begin to regard what is haram as halal and vice versa.

The established Sunnah has been abandoned and even ridiculed in favour of the modern Western way of life. Polygyny is vehemently opposed, while illicit relationships and sexual freedom are increasingly normalised.

Modest dress is described as backward, while exposing the body is called 'liberation'.

Free mixing between men and women is treated as progress, while Islamic boundaries are portrayed as 'extreme'.

The beard, the niqab and other outward signs of the Sunnah are mocked, yet every changing fashion imported from popular culture is eagerly copied.

Riba has become so normal that avoiding interest is treated as 'unrealistic', while extravagant debt and consumerism are accepted as part of ordinary life.

Large weddings filled with waste and display are celebrated, while a simple nikah in accordance with the Sunnah is considered embarrassing.

Children are taught to question every religious restriction, but are expected to accept the values of modern culture without question.

Obedience to parents, modesty, restraint, simplicity and contentment are increasingly seen as outdated, while individual desire, self-expression and material success are treated as the highest goals.

The Ulama, who are the inheritors of the Prophets, are increasingly mocked, dismissed and attacked whenever their rulings do not suit people’s desires. Instead of asking, “What does Allah require of me?”, many now go fatwa shopping—moving from scholar to scholar, website to website, until they find an opinion that allows what they already wanted to do. Even when a clear ruling is given, some alter the wording, hide parts of it, quote only what suits them, or present it to others in a way that changes its meaning. The ilm is respected only when it agrees with the nafs and is 'entertaining'; but when it challenges our lifestyle, desires or interests, the aalim is suddenly called outdated, extreme or out of touch and his motives are questioned. In this way, the goal is no longer to submit one’s desires to the Deen, but to search for a version of the Deen that submits to one’s desires.

The power of seeing and recognising Dajjal, and being protected from his dajl will be only from what Nabi ﷺ advised us:

Recitation and memorisation of Surah Kahf. It imparts a nur,a light to the person, which extends from him/her to the heavens until the next jumuah, for the one who reads it on jumuah.

Fleeing and avoiding him. Don't be fooled to think that his fitnah is ordinary ghuroor, it is aggressive dajl. A person of strong Imaan will lose his imaan if he attempts to confront Dajjaal. We see today the amount of debaters on social media, many of whom are very skilled and doing good work and making people aware of the truth, but even such good debaters will fail when confronted by Dajjaal. The advice is to protect your Imaan by fleeing from Dajjaal, not by confronting him.

عَنْ أُم شَرِيكٍ عَنْ النَّبِيِّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ قَالَ لَيَفِرَّنَّ النَّاسُ مِنْ الدَّجَّالِ فِي الْجِبَالِ قَالَتْ أُمُّ شَرِيكٍ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ فَأَيْنَ الْعَرَبُ يَوْمَئِذٍ قَالَ هُمْ قَلِيلٌ

2945 صحيح مسلم كتاب الفتن وأشراط الساعة باب في بقية من أحاديث الدجال

Umm Sharik (RA) reported: The Prophet, ﷺ, said, “The people will flee from the Dajjaal into the mountains.” She said, “O Messenger of Allah, where will the Arabs be on that day?” The Prophet ﷺ said, “They will be few.” Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2945

Ulama have said that one meaning of the arabs being "qaleel" is that they will be weak and powerless at that time, unable and not willing to stand up for the haqq and protect the ummah from oppression. Is this not the time we are living in?

May Allah ﷻ protect and save us and our progeny from the fitnah of Dajjaal. Aameen