Commentary
The nature of the beast coming out of the earth, and its time and place
It is reported in Musnad of Ahmad on the authority of Sayyidna Hudhaifah ؓ that the Holy Prophet ﷺ said that the Doomsday would not come until you witness ten signs of it. They are:
(1) Appearance of the sun from the west.
(2) Dukhan (Smoke).
(3) Dabba-tul-ard, i.e the beast coming out of the earth
(4) Coming out of Ya’ juj and Ma’ juj.
(5) Descent of Sayyidna ` Isa (علیہ السلام) .
(6) Dajjal.
7, 8, 9) Three lunar eclipses together - one in the west, second in the east and the third in the peninsula of Arabia.
10) A fire, that will emerge from the Gulf of Aden and drive every one towards the plain of mahshar; wherever people will stop for the rest at night, the fire will also stop there, and will drive them again the next day. (Muslim, Tirmidhi)
This hadith has informed us of the emergence of such an animal close to Doomsday that will talk to human beings. The Tannin of the word Dabbah indicates that this animal will be extra-ordinary. This animal will not be born by the normal way of propagation; instead, it will emerge from the ground all of a sudden. There is an allusion in this hadith that the emergence of this animal would be one of the very last signs, after which the Doomsday will follow soon. Ibn Kathir has reported in a lengthy hadith on the authority of Sayyidna Talhah ibn 'Umar through Abu Dawud Tayalisi that this beast will emerge in Makkah from the mount of Sara, and after cleaning the dust from its head will reach at a point between the Black Stone (Al-Hajar-al-Aswad) and the Station of Ibrahim (Magam Ibrahim). Seeing this creature , people will start running helter-skelter. Only one group of people will stay behind. Then the beast will make their faces glitter like stars. After that it will go out in the world, and put a sign of infidelity on the face of every infidel. No one will be able to get out of its grasp. It will recognize every believer and the infidel (Ibn Kathir). And Muslim Ibn Hajjaj has reported on the authority of Sayyidna ` Holy Prophet ﷺ that he had heard the Holy Prophet ﷺ saying, which he did not forget, that among the last signs of the Doomsday the first would be the rising of the sun from the west, and after that Dabbah would come out. Out of the two signs whichever appears first, the Doomsday will follow soon. (Ibn Kathir)
Shaikh Jalaluddin Mahalli (رح) has said that after the appearance of Dabbah the obligation of inviting others to good deeds and forbidding them from the evils will cease to apply, and no infidel would convert to Islam after that. This statement is inferred from many ahadith and the statements of Sahabah. (Mazhari). Ibn Kathir has related many a things about the appearance and activities of Dabbah, most of which are not trustworthy. Therefore, only that much should be trusted and believed which is contained in the Qur'an and authentic ahadith. Anything beyond that should be discarded, as it is neither of any value nor benefit.
As for the question as to what this Dabbah will converse with people, some commentators are of the view that it will communicate what is stated in the Qur'an, that is أَنَّ النَّاسَ كَانُوا بِآيَاتِنَا لَا يُوقِنُونَ (that the human beings did not believe in Our verses). It will communicate the message on behalf of Allah Ta` ala that ` Many did not believe Our verses before this'. It would mean that now the time has come that every one would believe, but then it would be too late, because it would not be acceptable then. Sayyidna Ibn ` Abbas ؓ ، Hasan Al-Basri, Qatadah رحمۃ اللہ علیہما ، have reported, which is corroborated by a narration of Sayyidna also, that the Dabbah will converse with people normally, as people do among themselves (Ibn Kathir).