Messianic Age is 40 Years

بِسۡمِ اللّٰہِ الرَّحۡمٰنِ الرَّحِیۡمِ

In the Name of Allah, the Rahman, the Merciful

الصلاة والسلام عليك يا سيدي يا رسول الله

Salutations and peace upon you, my master, Apostle of Allah

My Master, the Holy Prophet Muhammad صلي الله عليه وآله وسلم said about the Messiah Jesus عليه السلام:

وَيُهْلِكُ الْمَسِيحَ الدَّجَّالَ فَيَمْكُثُ فِي الأَرْضِ أَرْبَعِينَ سَنَةً ثُمَّ يُتَوَفَّى فَيُصَلِّي عَلَيْهِ الْمُسْلِمُونَ

"He will destroy the Antichrist [al-Masih al-Dajjal] and remain in the Earth forty years. Then he will die and the Muslims shall pray over him."

(Sunan Abi Dawud, #4324)

That the Messianic Age is forty years has been hinted at in the Psalms: "Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil." (Psalm 90:15, KJV)

This is an allusion to the "affliction" of forty years in which the Israelites wandered in the wilderness during the Exodus, as mentioned in Deuteronomy 8:3. According to the Talmud:

תניא ר' אליעזר אומר ימות המשיח ארבעים שנה

"Rabbi Eliezer says that the Messiah will live for forty years." (Sanhedrin 99a)

But according to another Hadith:

فَيَطْلُبُهُ فَيُهْلِكُهُ ثُمَّ يَمْكُثُ النَّاسُ سَبْعَ سِنِينَ لَيْسَ بَيْنَ اثْنَيْنِ عَدَاوَةٌ ثُمَّ يُرْسِلُ اللَّهُ رِيحًا بَارِدَةً مِنْ قِبَلِ الشَّأْمِ فَلاَ يَبْقَى عَلَى وَجْهِ الأَرْضِ أَحَدٌ فِي قَلْبِهِ مِثْقَالُ ذَرَّةٍ مِنْ خَيْرٍ أَوْ إِيمَانٍ إِلاَّ قَبَضَتْهُ

"He [Jesus] will search for him [the Dajjal] and destroy him then the people will remain for seven years without any enmity between two. Then Allah will send a cool wind from the direction of the Levant so that none remains upon the face of the Earth in whose heart is a grain's measure of good or faith except that He will seize him." (Sahih Muslim)

Here the apparent contradiction with the former Hadith quoted from Abu Dawud is that the Messianic Age is being described as seven years instead of forty. However, upon deep reflection I conclude that the Hadith in Sahih Muslim does not explicitly say that the Messianic Age is a mere seven years, rather that for seven full years there will not be any rancor in the hearts of any two individuals for each other. But the figure of forty years appears to be more correct. King David is said to have reigned for forty years (2 Samuel 5:4; 1 Kings 2:11) and likewise his son King Solomon (1 Kings 11:42; 2 Chronicles 9:30). Forty years was the duration the land had peace during the time of various Judges (Judges 3:11; 5:31; 8:28). As for the figure of seven years, that is incidentally the duration of the Mahdi's rule:

يَمْلِكُ سَبْعَ سِنِينَ

"He will reign seven years" (Sunan Abi Dawud)