I have read two different hadiths that depict something different. Likewise, in one of the hadiths, Prophet Muhammad, sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam, said that the Antichrist was born in a Jewish Family, and in another hadith, he said that he was born into the Khawaarij (Kharijites). How do you explain this; will he be from the Jews or from Khawaarij?

All perfect praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

We have not come across a hadeeth which identifies the parents of the Antichrist, neither in terms of family lineage nor in terms of their religion.

However, he will come out in a village called Yahoodiyyat Asbahan (the village of the Jews of Isfahan). Some scholars mentioned that he is a Jew.

As-Saffaareeni said in Lawaami’ Al-Anwaar Al-Bahiyyah:

“Imaam Ahmad reported with an authentic chain of narration from Anas ibn Maalik, may Allah be pleased with him, that the Prophet said, ‘The Antichrist will come out from Yahoodiyyat Asbahan.’ Abu Nu’aym said that the Yahoodiyyah [which means Jewish] was one of the villages of Asbahan. It was called Yahoodiyyah because it was inhabited by the Jews, and it continued to be so until the time of Ayyoob ibn Ziyaad, the emir of Egypt at the time of Al-Mahdi ibn Al-Mansoor Al-‘Abbaasi; then the Muslims inhabited it, and part of it remained inhabited by the Jews.

The conclusion of the statement of Ibn Hajar is that the correct view is that the Antichrist is a person other than Ibn Sayyaad, and the author of Al-Ishaa’ah agreed with him, even if Ibn Sayyaad is like him in being one-eyed, being from the Jews, and residing in Yahoodiyyat Asbahan.”

Similarly, we did not come across a hadeeth that shows that the Antichrist is from the Khawaarij; rather, some ahaadeeth state that the Kharijites will meet him when he appears.

Ibn ‘Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, narrated that the Prophet said, “There will emerge people who will recite the Quran, but it will not go beyond their collarbones. Whenever a group of them appears, they will be cut off (i.e. killed).” Ibn ‘Umar said, “I heard the Messenger of Allah say, ‘Whenever a group of them appears, they will be killed – (he repeated it more than twenty times – until the Antichrist emerges among them.’” [Ibn Maajah; Al-Albaani and Al-Arna‘oot classified it as Hasan (good)]

Shaykh Ar-Raajihi said in Sharh Sunan Ibn Maajah,  “It means that the Kharijites will continue to exist until later times and that they will continue to exist until the time at which the Antichrist will emerge.”

Allah knows best.