The Messenger of Allah ﷺ told us, "Dajjal will emerge from a land in the east called Khurasan. He will be followed by people whose faces look like hammered shields."
حدثنا رسول الله ﷺ قال: الدجال يخرج من أرض بالمشرق يقال لها: خراسان يتبعه أقوام كأن وجهوهم المجان المطرقة.
Reported by Tirmidhi (2237), Ibn Majah (4072), Ahmad (12), and Hakim (4/527), all through the hadith of Rawh bin Ubada, who said, Saeed bin Abu Aruba narrated to us, from Abu Tayah, from Mughira bin Sabi, from Amr bin Hurayth, from Abu Bakr Siddiq, who related it.Tirmidhi said, "This is a hasan gharib hadith. Abdullah bin Shawzab also reported it from Abu Tayah, and we do not know it except through the hadith of Abu Tayah." Hakim said, "Its isnad is sahih."I say, its isnad is hasan because of Mughira bin Sabi. Ajli and Ibn Hibban both deemed him trustworthy, and Barqani transmitted from Daraqutni that he said, "A Kufan whose reports are accepted as evidence." Saeed bin Abu Aruba's memory became mixed up later in life, but Rawh bin Ubada's report from him was made before this happened, and moreover it was corroborated, as Tirmidhi stated.As for his statement, "He will emerge from a land in the east called Khurasan," this refers to the eastern direction from the Arabian Peninsula. It has come in the hadith of Nawas bin Saman, found in Muslim (2937), "He will emerge from a passage between Syria and Iraq," and here "passage" means a route. There is no contradiction between the two reports, for he will emerge from Khurasan and then enter the Hijaz, passing through Iraq and Syria because of the abundance of turmoil found there.