The old men, the natives of the country, said to the king: "Yea, by your majesty, my lord the king, neither we nor our fathers have been able to march one step in it, and men do not ascend it either on that side or on this, for it is the boundary which God has set between us and the nations within it" Alexander said, "Who are the nations within this mountain upon which we are looking? The theory that Dhul-Qarnayn is some other figures such Cyrus the Great has little evidence in its favor compared to the overwhelming evidence that the story is actually based on a legendary version of Alexander. It is at the east base of Mount Kazbek, between vertical walls of rock 1800 m/5900 ft in height, the pass today traverses this mountain range at altitudes of up to 3,000 metres (9,800 ft), it is marked below. How Alexander the Great ended up in the Quran". After constructing the barrier, the Syriac legend says that it is very difficult to penetrate and the Huns will not be able to dig under it. ", Travel to the Valley between Two Mountains, Dhul-Qarnayn as Alexander in Islamic Sources, Turning-point of Alexander as Dhul-Qarnayn, Encyclopedia of Islam Volume IV E. J. Bril 1997, p. 127, "The impact of Alexander the Great’s coinage in E Arabia" at, Van Bladel, Kevin, “The Alexander legend in the Qur‘an 18:83-102″, in. Dhul Qarnayn was a pious man and a God-fearing waliy who owned vast lands stretching from east to west. Alexander founded cities, declared himself a god and the son of a god, solved the famous Gordian knot, initiated a new chapter in the history of civilizational exchange and spread Greek Hellenic culture far and wide. In 1889, the renowned scholar and philologist, Sir Ernest Alfred Wallis Budge, translated five Alexander stories from Syriac manuscripts into English. They said, ‘O Dhu’l-Qarnayn! The other is the "Life of Alexander" and two orations "On the Fortune or the Virtue of Alexander the Great" , by the Greek historian and biographer Plutarch of Chaeronea. Here is a very clear connection of Alexander to an iron gate and the tribes of Magog being prevented from plundering the land. order that you might erect a barrier between us and them?’. The author then conveys an odd and cryptic detail that the people living there have "no covering protection against the sun"; however, it gives no further explanation as to what that means. then the one who is in charge of them says, “Go back, we will dig again Dhul-Qarnayn, translated as “the possessor of the two horns,” is a legendary king mentioned in Chapter 18 of The Quran, Sura al-Kahf (“The Cave”). Stories from Quran The Boy and the King Part I. He said: “I am going to tell you what will happen later in the time of wrath, because the vision concerns the appointed time of the end. Dhu’l-Qarnayn who is mentioned in the Qur’aan lived at the time of Ibraaheem (peace be upon him), and it is said that he became Muslim at the hands of Ibraaheem (peace be upon him)... https://islamqa.info/amp/en/answers/22029 But I did not understand what … In his comments on Derbent, Yusuf Ali mentions, that "there is no iron gate there now, but there was one in the seventh century, when the Chinese traveler Hiouen Tsiang saw it on his journey to India. In effect, the story of Dhul-Qarnayn in the Qur'an is simply another example of the widespread inclusion of Alexander folklore into the stories and traditions of the religious groups in the Middle East. When his army first invaded Asia, Alexander dedicated the lands of his conquests to the gods. However, the legendary Alexander is a perfect fit. Both stories record Alexander proclaiming this in a speech. They used to spread mischief on earth, so Allaah gave Dhul-Qarnayn the power to build a barrier to detain them. From "Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series", Vol. Omrani Rekavandi, H., Sauer, E., Wilkinson, T. & Nokandeh, J. All of this will happen before the Day of Resurrection and after the Dajjal, as we will explain when discussing the Ayat: (and As-Sur [the trumpet] will be blown.) Parallels to the ancient Epic of Gilgamesh and the Biblical story of Gog and Magog can be clearly identified in the story as well. Dhul-Qarnayn lived during the time of Hz. After his death, Alexander apparently left instructions in his will for a monumental temple to Athena be built at Troy. [22] Shortly after his visit to the oracle, Alexander began to identify himself as the son of Zeus-Ammon and often referred to Zeus-Ammon as his true father. Its main meanings are horn and century. erect between you and them a barrier. These included the "Anabasis Alexandri" or "the Campaigns of Alexander" by Arrian. They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city he loves. The first destination for the hero in both the Syriac and Qur'anic stories is a place near the setting of the sun. Alexander may have been bisexual, and while no ancient sources state that Alexander had homosexual relationships, many historians have speculated that Alexander's relationship with Hephaestion, his life long friend and companion, was of a romantic nature. They have wide faces and small eyes. Fortresses and walls have been built at this location probably dating back thousands of years. The story begins in verse 83 by stating that someone has asked Muhammad about the story of Dhul-Qarnayn: The "they" in question is often identified as Jews, or sometimes generally as the People of the Book, living near Mecca who use the question as a test of Muhammad's prophet-hood. Ma’jooj are doing great mischief in the land. Proponents of this theory, however, pre-suppose that the Qur'an is relaying an accurate, historical story and thus never take into consideration the possibility that the story is based on myth and folklore. If you are human, leave this field blank. Dhul Qarnayn Summary Worksheet. Fremantle, G. Lewis and W.G. [Dhul-Qarnayn] said, "This is a mercy from my Lord; but when the promise of my Lord comes, He will make it level, and ever is the promise of my Lord true." The denial of Alexander's identity as Dhul-Qarnayn is the denial of a common heritage shared by the cultures which shape the modern world--both in the east and the west. MORAL:TRIAL OF POWER. In his commentary, Maududi all but admits as much: When we compare this to the legendary version of Alexander, who not only built a wall against Gog and Magog but made it of iron and bronze, we have the final piece of evidence that the Legendary Alexander is the person identified as Dhul-Qarnayn in the Qur'an and not Cyrus. The trope about Alexander damming up Gog and Magog till the end of the world is clearly mythical, feeding into established Judeao-Christian tropes on the end of the world, and has no basis in history or archaeology as there is no giant iron wall anywhere on the earth which is containing an entire nation of people. Alexander was a bloodthirsty vain and tyrant king, who himself thought of god. St. Jerome, an early church father, writes about rumors of attacks against Jerusalem by invaders from the north. Eventually he comes to the twin peaks of Mount Mashu at the end of the earth, from where the sun rises. [4] This connection of Alexander with two-horns was widely known across the region at the time. Dhul-Qarnayn (Arabic for "the two-horned") is mentioned in the Qur'an. However, the horns are extremely small and difficult to identify. Similar stories of Alexander pre-date both the Qur'an and Syriac legends by many centuries including folklore found in earlier Christian and Jewish writings. The Jewish historian Josephus (37-100 CE), records in his two books legendary stories of Alexander that were known to the Jews of the first century. The Qur’aan has told us how the barrier was built and Thus, the story of Dhul-Qarnain holds both a historical and spiritual significance and hence, warrants particular focus in research. Allamah Abu Abd Allah al-Zanjani, Mahliqa Qara'i (trans. Ernestine Holmes Ismaeel Dhul-Qarnayn Research contributor at eShaykh.com Bettye Hendricks Hosts African American Inspiration on WFLT 1420 AM every Saturday at 10:00 a.m. barrier. As-Sur, as explained in the Hadith, is a horn that is blown into. As these three questions and the stories involved concerned the history of the Christians and the Jews, and were unknown in Hijaz, a choice of these was made to test whether the Holy Prophet possessed any source of the knowledge of the hidden and unseen things. (peace and blessings of Allaah [Dhul-Qarnayn] said, “This is a mercy from my Lord; but when the promise of my Lord comes, He will make it level, and ever is the promise of my Lord true.” (98) And We will leave them that day surging over each other, and [then] the Horn will be blown, and We will assemble them in [one] assembly. Browse, Search, and Listen to the Holy Quran. I have uploaded a video to more than one account and I do not know the passwords of those accounts. Ogden, Daniel (2009). Zondervan 1971. Surah al-Kahf, the eighteenth chapter of the Holy Quran, narrates at length an account of Dhul-Qarnain – the one with two centuries. Category Archives: Week 22-23 – Story of Dhul Qarnain. In recent years, this identification of Dhul-Qarnayn has become particularly problematic and controversial for Muslim scholars, as the Qur'an's understanding of Alexander differs remarkably from the image of him in history as a Greek pagan who fashioned himself as a god. Ed. them will say, “Go back, we will dig again tomorrow, in sha Allah.” This time he Ya’jooj and Ma’jooj are digging every day until they can almost see sunlight, 461 members in the CritiqueIslam community. grow fat from their flesh.”, Umm Habeebah bint Abi Sufyaan reported from Zaynab bint man with two-horns), proponents of this theory have pointed to reliefs found at the tomb of Cyrus in Pasargadae, Iran. Messie ; Deuxième venue ; Israfil ; Mahdi ; Dajjal ; Muhammad ; Al-Qa'im ; Sufyani ; Yajuj et Majuj - Événements - Mort ; Résurrection ; Jugement dernier ; juif . The walls near Derbent were built with the Caspian sea as one border. When Allaah wishes to send them against the Oxford University Press. Alexander in the Syriac legend is described as having horns on his head. In fact, the Qur’an relates three incidents in this Surah, and the story of Dhul-Qarnayn is one of them. QuranicNames.com is the largest, most detailed and most authentic Islamic baby name site on the Internet. The gargantuan conquests of Alexander the Great, streching from Macedonia in the West to the river Indus in the East, left an indelible mark on all the regions where his troopers trode. They said to him, "As thy majesty commands we will do." said: "Gog and Magog...". Another attempt to connect Cyrus to Dhul-Qarnayn comes from an analysis of the events that prompted the revelation of the Qur'anic story in the first place. In Soorat al-Kahf, Allaah has told us the story of the Muslim king and the Cerca lavori di Dhul qarnayn islamqa o assumi sulla piattaforma di lavoro freelance più grande al mondo con oltre 19 mln di lavori. While the Syriac texts available relate a more or less specific version of the Alexander Romance, many aspects of this legend draw from earlier materials. Derbent, a city on the other side of the Caspian Sea from the Great Wall of Gorgon is located just north of the Azerbaijani border. Frashokereti ; Saoshyant ; Interreligieux . “The Messenger of Allaah so it is a barrier made from iron and molten copper. "Two Horns, Three Religions. Ya’jooj and These were: (1) Who were "the Sleepers of the Cave"? This was especially true in the early centuries after the founding of Islam when the legends of Alexander were still widely known and popular. that the barrier which was built is not metaphorical or imaginary, but is a physical Al-Athram narrated, with his isnaad from Abu’z-Zubayr, who said: I asked Jaabir about a slave marrying his mistress, and he said: A woman came to ‘Umar ibn al-Khattaab, when we were in al-Jaabiyyah. 138–140. In addition, the story speaks of a giant wall built by Dhul-Qarnayn to hold back the nations of Gog and Magog, yet yoday, there is no such giant wall of iron and brass between two mountains that is holding back a tribe of people; it likely never existed and was originally a legendary embellishment of the original Alexander legend. A man who used to purvey stories of the foreigners, which were handed down among them, told me that Dhul-Qarnayn was an Egyptian whose name was Marzuban bin Mardhaba, the Greek. Ismaeel Dhul-Qarnayn has an extensive educational background in cultural studies as well as involvement in cultural awareness programs in both national and international concentrations. After speaking with the people about Gog and Magog, Alexander says he will build a barrier (a wall or dam) between the people and the tribes that harass them. Yusuf Ali gives a detailed defense of the Alexander theory in the Appendix of his commentary on the Qur'an, including assertions that the Qur'an accurately depicts an historical account of Alexander and not a legendary one. Title: Ratings. Shall we then pay you a tribute in Many differing theories were proposed on the identity of Zhul-qarnayn by Islamic scholars throughout the ages. what materials were used, so it is not right to say that it is a metaphorical or imaginary Also narrated by Anas who said that the Prophet said, “Al-Khidr is in the seas and Elijah is on land and the two of them gather each night at the dam built by Dhul Qarnayn as a barrier between the people and Gog and Magog. Give me pieces (blocks) of iron,’ then, when he had filled up the dealt with this nation in Soorat al-Kahf will know for sure that they exist and They said, “O Dhul-Qarnayn, indeed Gog and Magog are [great] corrupters in the land. In other words, he cannot represent Alexander the Great: "That man was neither godly, nor righteous, nor generous towards subjected nations; moreover, he did not build a wall", Modern Muslim Koran Interpretation: (1880 - 1960), p. 32. For centuries, most Muslim historians and Qur'anic commentators endorsed the identity of Dhul-Qarnayn as Alexander, though … In reply the Imam stated that Allah has sent One lakh and twenty four thousand Prophets in the world. Discovering Islam Team. The Quran narrates the story of how Allah establishes Dhul-Qarnayn as a powerful ruler on earth and allows the king the freedom to do with his subjects as he pleases. (2002) [?-767 AD]. Additionally, the solitary claim of a single eye witness from the 7th century is suspect at best. The account commences from verse 86 and continues from that point onwards. While these legendary stories were popular in the 7th century, they are virtually unknown outside of academic circles today. He said: "This is a mercy from my Lord: But when the promise of my Lord comes to pass. Van Bladel in his book sums up the relation between the Qur'an and the Romance: Thus, quite strikingly, almost every element of this short Qur'anic tale finds a more explicit and detailed counterpart in the Syriac Alexander Legend. The Sirat Rasul Allah of Ibn Ishaq, circa 761 CE, mentions that Dhul-Qarnayn was of Egyptian and Greek origins, a fairly good description of Alexander who came from Macedonia in Greece, conquered Egypt, named a city after himself in Egypt and declared himself a god there. Mafruha Mowrin Hossain and Dhul-Qarnayn. This Surah was sent down in answer to the three questions which the mushriks of Makkah, in consultation with the people of the Book, had put to the Holy Prophet in order to test him. Li Hong ; Zoroastrien . Even with Cyrus some of the dates seem “inadequate”. So may we assign for you an expenditure that you might make between us and them a barrier?” He said, “That in which my Lord has established me is better [than what you offer], but assist me with strength; I will make between you and them a dam. Islamqa writes: Ya’juj and Ma’juj – two disbelieving tribes from among the sons of Adam. While legendary accounts of Alexander's life dominated Europe and the Middle East for almost two thousands years, eventually more historical biographies about his life were unearthed. Tafsir Ibn Kathir, "The Barrier restrains Them, but It will be breached when the Hour draws nigh", The Alexander legend in the Qur‘an 18:83-102, p. 182, The Antiquities of the Jews, Book I, Ch6, v1, Now there was a nation of the Alans, which we have formerly mentioned some where as being, For news came that the hordes of the Huns had poured forth all the way from Mæotis (they had their haunts between the icy Tanais and the rude Massagetæ; where. When Dhul-Qarnayn had conquered the West, Allah tested his immense power, “Until, when he reached the setting place of the sun, he found it setting in a spring of black muddy water. One of the most prominent modern scholars to defend the fidelity between Dhul-Qarnayn and Alexander the Great is the famous Qur'anic translator Abdullah Yusuf Ali. When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—and to gather them for battle. It was written down in 629-630 CE after the victory of the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius over the Sasanian king Khusrau Parvez. Another detail about this account is that the audience of the verse is not asked to simply identify Dhul-Qarnayn. Ibrahim and took lessons from Hz. Rafa’il, an honoured angel and friend of Dul Qarnayn, would visit him from time to time. They could not succeed because the barrier was so huge and smooth. This writing dates to the second half of the 1st century. necks, which will kill them. He fathered at least two sons, Alexander IV of Macedon with Roxana and Heracles of Macedon from his mistress Barsine. Most likely he was the historical Cyrus the Great. Woe to the Arabs from the Great evil that has approached (them). An Account of Dhu’l-Qarnayn Al-Qutb al-Rawandi mentions that his name was Ayaash, and that after Nuh he was the first ruler whose kingdom included (all) the countries of the east and west. However, linking Cyrus explicitly to both of the "two horns" is problematic. As we shall see, the claims of Cyrus the Great being Dhul-Qarnayn are far weaker than the obvious connection to the legendary stories of Alexander. It is popularly believed that Dhul-Qarnayn refers to Iskandar Dhul-Qarnayn or Alexander the Great of Macedonia. Stories from Quran Dhul-Qarnayn Part II. Historically, it occupied one of the few passages through the Caucus mountains and it has often been identified with the word 'gate'. As regards Gog and Magog, it has been nearly established that they were the wild tribes of Central Asia who were known by different names: Tartars, Mongols, Huns and Scythians, who 'had been making inroads on settled kingdoms and empires from very ancient times. The story of Dhul-Qarnayn (in Arabic ذو القرنين, literally "The Two-Horned One", also transliterated as Zul-Qarnain or Zulqarnain) is found in the 18th Surah of the Qur'an, al-Kahf (the Cave). He held sway over all kings and countries, and traveled far and wide in both East and West. He saw where the sun sinks from view, In a, The Life of Muhammad: A Translation of Ibn Ishaq's Sirat Rasul Allah, And Alexander and his troops encamped, and he sent and called to him the governor who was in the camp, and said to him, "Are there any men here guilty of death?" At the beginning of the Syriac legend, Alexander says a prayer to God that he might be given power from heaven to rule over the kingdoms of the earth. First, it is made of bricks not iron and brass.