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The Beast of the Earth (Arabic:دابّة من الأرض,romanized: Dābbah min al-Arḍ, as mentioned in the Quran), also called "The Dabbah" is a creature mentioned inSurahAn-Naml:Ayat 82 of theQuran and associated with the day of judgment. For this reason, the Beast of the Earth is often mentioned ineschatological writings as a sign ofJudgement Day close to the event of the sun rising in the west. The Quran does not offer details about the nature of the Beast of the Earth, but various interpretations have linked it to monsters fromTurkic mythology.
The Beast is mentioned inSurahAn-Naml:
And when the Word is fulfilled against them (the unjust), we shall produce from the earth a beast to (face) them: He will speak to them, for that mankind did not believe with assurance in Our Signs.
— Quran Al-Naml (The Ant):82[1]
Inhadiths, the Beast of the Earth is further described. It is said that it will carry theSeal of Solomon and theStaff of Moses.[2][3] Some argue that it will emerge from a crack in theKaaba orthe hills of Safa among others.[3] It is described as a combination of different beasts and animals.[3]
In the early period of Islam, descriptions of the Beast of the Earth were sparse. Only later more interpretations of the Beast emerged.[3] One of the main features is that it will put a seal to distinguish the believers from the disbelievers,[3] reminiscent, yet not identical, to theBible.[4] About a creature "worst of the beasts" ("Sharra al dawabbi شر الدواب"), due to their spiritual inability to hear and see despite their physical ability to do so, it was interpreted as the embodiment of attachment to the material world, sharing similarities withCentral Asian mythological creatures (likewise composed of parts of several different animals) and symbolizes the material world.[5]
According to themedievalSunnitheologianFakhr al-Din al-Razi, there is nothing mentioned inhadith reports attributed to the Islamic prophetMuhammad about the nature of this creature, but it is mentioned in narrations circulating the time of hissuccessors.Wahb ibn Munabbih stated that such a "beast" spoke to the people ofSodom from under the earth.[6]
According toAbdul-Rahman al-Sa'di, several Hadiths have mentioned the creature will emerge during the end of times.[7]
The majority of contemporary Islamic scholars accept the traditional exegesis of the Beast of the Earth, theDābbat al-Arḍ as a literal creature who will appear in the end times.Umar Sulaiman Al-Ashqar was of the opinion that the creature would appear after another extraordinary event had occurred during the end of times - namely the sun rising from the west - citing in support of his contention the traditional exegesis ofAl-Hakim al-Nishapuri.[8]
However, another interpretation, backed byMuhammad Ali, holds that this Beast is related tomaterialistic tendencies, and thus theDābbat does not appear at the end of the world, but rather will doom a given nation or society.[9] According to Omar Ahmad it is a person emerging from worldly pursuits who will lay the foundation of Islam in the West as he will speak to people and that means he is a human saint-like entity and Islam will spread with his sword which is a pen to him[10] Yet another interpretation, promoted byUnited Submitters International, is that the Creature of the Earth is acomputer, since the materials of which it is composed are of synthetic earthly origin.[11] A related idea, based on the rise ofartificial intelligence, suggests that an AI might be able to awaken humans to their spiritual peril, reminding them of how far they have strayed from righteousness and belief in their Creator.[12]
