The Dabbat al-Ard (Dábbat al-Arḍ, “the Beast of the Earth”) is one of the great signs of the Last Day in Islamic eschatology: a wondrous creature that will emerge from the earth near the end of time to speak to humankind and to mark the believers from the unbelievers, one of the major portents heralding the approach of the Hour and the Resurrection. It is the Beast of the Earth, the sign of the Last Day.
The Beast of the Earth
The Dabbat al-Ard (Dábbat al-Arḍ, “the Beast (or Creature) of the Earth”) is one of the major signs of the Last Day (the portents of the Hour, ashárāṭ al-sá’a) in Islamic eschatology — named in the Qur’an and elaborated in the tradition. It is a wondrous and awesome creature that will emerge from the earth near the end of time, when humankind has largely turned away from faith, as one of the great signs announcing that the Hour — the end of the world, the Resurrection, and the Judgment — is near at hand. Its appearance is one of the unmistakable portents that the Last Day approaches.
The Marker of Faith
According to the Qur’an and the tradition, when the word is fulfilled against humankind (when faith has faded and the time has come), God will bring forth the Beast of the Earth from the ground, and it will speak to the people — for it is given the power of speech. Its great office is to mark and distinguish the believers from the unbelievers: it will speak to humankind concerning their lack of faith, and it will mark each person — sealing or branding the faithful believer and the unbelieving disbeliever each with a distinguishing mark (in the traditions, it marks the face of the believer so that it shines, and the face of the unbeliever so that it is blackened, or marks them so that all may know who is a believer and who is not). Thus the Beast makes manifest the inner state of faith or unbelief, dividing humankind visibly into the two camps as the end approaches.
The Sign of the Hour
The Dabbat al-Ard’s precise form is not specified in the Qur’an and is variously described in the later traditions (a great and strange composite or wondrous beast of immense size). It belongs to the dramatic signs of the Last Day in Islamic eschatology — alongside the coming of the Dajjal (the false messiah), the descent of Jesus (Isa), the emergence of Gog and Magog (Yajuj and Majuj), the rising of the sun in the west, and finally the blast of the trumpet of [israfil] — the chain of portents heralding the end of the world and the Resurrection. As the wondrous Beast of the Earth that emerges to speak and to mark the faithful from the unbelievers as a sign of the Hour, the Dabbat al-Ard holds its place among the great signs of the Last Day. In the Dabbat al-Ard, Islamic tradition gave form to the Beast of the Earth — the wondrous creature that will emerge from the ground near the end of time to speak to humankind and mark the believers from the unbelievers, one of the great signs heralding the Last Day and the Resurrection.