Wa-itha waqaAAa alqawlu AAalayhim akhrajna lahum dabbatan mina al-ardi tukallimuhum anna annasa (surah Naml: 82)

Tafseer Tafheem-ul-Quran by Syed Abu-al-A'la Maududi

(27:82) And when the time of the fulfilment of Our Decree approaches them, *100 We shall bring forth a beast for them from the earth, which will speak to them (about this) that the people did not believe in Our Revelations. *101

Wa izaa waqa`al qawhu `alaihim akhrajnaa lahum daabbatam minal ardi tukal limuhum annan naasa kaanoo bi aayaatinaa laa yooqinoon

*100) That is, "...when Resurrection which they are being promised will approach."
*101) According to Ibn `Umar, this will happen when there remains no one in the world to command the people to do good and forbid them to do evil. Ibn Marduyah has reported a Hadith on the authority of Abu Said Khudri; according to which the latter heard the same thing from the Holy Prophet himself. This shows that when man gives up the duty of exhorting others to do good and forbidding them to do evil, AIIah will bring forth a beast to serve as the final warning just before Resurrection. This, however, is not clear whether it will be just one beast, or a particular species of beasts, who will spread all over the earth. The words daabbat-an-min-al-ard might contain both the meanings. In any case, what it will say will be: "The people did not believe Allah's Revelations in which Resurrection was foretold. Now the same Resurrection is about to come; Iet everyone know that what Allah said was true". The sentence, "The people did not believe in Our Revelations", is either a part of the beast's own speech, or Allah's narration of its words. If these are its own words, the word "Our" will be understood in the style of an official who speaks on behalf of his government and not on his personal behalf. In the second case, since Allah is narrating the beast's words, He has used "Our Revelations" in the normal sense. As to the time and occasion of the appearance of this beast, the Holy Prophet has said: "The sun will rise in the west and the beast will suddenly appear in the open daylight. Whichever of these signs appears first, it will be closely followed by the other." (Muslim) In the other traditions related in Muslim, Ibn Majah, Tirmidhi, Musnad Ahmad, etc. the Holy Prophet foretold that the signs of Resurrection-emergence of the Anti-Christ (Dajjal), appearance of the beast, smoke and the rising of the sun in the west -will appear one after the other. As for the nature, general appearance, place of appearance and other details about the beast, contradictory traditions have been reported, which only cause confusion and are not relevant to the object for which this thing has been mentioned in the Qur'an. As regards the beast's speaking to human beings in a human language, this will be a manifestation of the power of Allah, Who can give the power of speech to anything He pleases. He will give this power only to a beast before the event of Resurrection, but when Resurrection will have taken place, each limb of man-his ears, his eyes, even his skin-will speak out and give evidence in the Court of Allah, as has been clearly stated in Ha Mim As-Sajdah: 20-21: "Then, when all will have reached there, their ears and their eyes and their very skins will bear witness against them concerning what they had been doing in the world. They will say to their skins, "Why have you borne witness against us?' They will reply, `The same God Who has given speech to everything has given us speech'."