Dhu al-Qarnayn

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Dhu al-Qarnayn in Islamic calligraphy

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Dhu al-Qarnayn, (Arabic: ‫ذو ْٱل َقرْ َنيْن‬ Ḏū al-Qarnayn, IPA: [ðuː‿l.qar.najn], lit.: "He of the
Two Horns"), also spelled Zu al-Qarnayn, appears in the Quran, Surah Al-Kahf
(18), Ayahs 83-101 as one who travels to east and west and erects a wall between
mankind and Gog and Magog (called Ya'juj and Ma'juj).[1] Elsewhere the Quran tells
how the end of the world would be signaled by the release of Gog and Magog from
behind the wall, and other apocalyptic writings report their destruction by God in a
single night would usher in the Day of Resurrection (Yawm al-Qiyāmah).[2]
Early Muslim commentators and historians assimilated Dhu al-Qarnayn to several
figures, among them Alexander the Great, the Parthian king Kisrounis,[3] the South-
Arabian Himyarite king Sa'b Dhu Marathid, and the North-Arabian Lakhmid king al-
Mundhir ibn Imru al-Qays.[4] Some have argued that the origins of the Quranic story
lies in the Syriac Alexander Legend,[5] but others disagree citing dating
inconsistencies and missing key elements. [6][7] Some modern Muslim scholars are in
favor of identifying him with Cyrus the Great.[8]

Contents

 1Quran 18:83-101
 2Later literature
 3People identified as Dhu al-Qarnayn
o 3.1Alexander the Great
o 3.2Cyrus the Great
o 3.3Others
 4See also
 5References
 6Sources
 7Further reading
Quran 18:83-101[edit]

The Caspian Gates in Derbent, Russia, part of the defence systems built by the Sassanid Persians, often
identified with the Gates of Alexander.

The story of Dhu al-Qarnayn is related in Surah 18 of the Quran, al-Kahf ("The

Cave"). According to Muslim accounts, this chapter was revealed to Muhammad
when his tribe, Quraysh, sent two men to discover whether the Jews, with their
superior knowledge of the scriptures, could advise them on whether Muhammad was
a true prophet of God. The rabbis told them to ask Muhammad about three things,
one of them "about a man who travelled and reached the east and the west of the
earth, what was his story". "If he tells you about these things, then he is a prophet,
so follow him, but if he does not tell you, then he is a man who is making things up,
so deal with him as you see fit." (Verses 18:83-98).
The verses of the chapter reproduced below show Dhu al-Qarnayn traveling first to
the Western edge of the world where he sees the sun set in a muddy spring, then to
the furthest East where he sees it rise from the ocean, and finally northward to a
place in the mountains where he finds a people oppressed by Gog and Magog:

Verse Abdullah Yusuf Ali Pickthall

They will ask thee of Dhu'l-Qarneyn. Say: "I

They ask thee concerning Zul-qarnain Say, "I
18:83. shall recite unto you a remembrance of
will rehearse to you something of his story."
him."

Verily We established his power on earth,

Lo! We made him strong in the land and
18:84 and We gave him the ways and the means to
gave him unto every thing a road.
all ends.

18:85 One (such) way he followed, And he followed a road

18:86 Until, when he reached the setting of the Till, when he reached the setting-place of the
sun, he found it set in a spring of murky sun, he found it setting in a muddy spring,
 water: near it he found a people: We said:
and found a people thereabout. We said: "O
"O Zul-qarnain! (thou hast authority), either
Dhu'l-Qarneyn! Either punish or show them
to punish them, or to treat them with
kindness."
kindness."

He said: "Whoever doth wrong, him shall we
punish; then shall he be sent back to his
18:87
Lord; and He will punish him with a
punishment unheard-of (before).
He said: "As for him who doeth wrong, we
shall punish him, and then he will be brought
back unto his Lord, Who will punish him with
awful punishment!"

"But whoever believes, and works

"But as for him who believeth and doeth
righteousness, he shall have a goodly
18:88 right, good will be his reward, and We shall
reward, and easy will be his task as we order
speak unto him a mild command."
it by our command."

18:89 Then followed he (another) way. Then he followed a road

Until, when he came to the rising of the sun,

Till, when he reached the rising-place of the
he found it rising on a people for whom We
18:90 sun, he found it rising on a people for whom
had provided no covering protection against
We had appointed no shelter therefrom.
the sun.

(He left them) as they were: We completely

18:91 So (it was). And We knew all concerning him.
understood what was before him.

18:92 Then followed he (another) way. Then he followed a road

Until, when he reached (a tract) between Till, when he came between the two
18:93 two mountains, he found, beneath them, a mountains, he found upon their hither side a
people who scarcely understood a word. folk that scarce could understand a saying.

They said: "O Zul-qarnain! the Gog and

They said: "O Dhu'l-Qarneyn! Lo! Gog and
Magog (people) do great mischief on earth:
Magog are spoiling the land. So may we pay
18:94 shall we then render thee tribute in order
thee tribute on condition that thou set a
that thou mightest erect a barrier between
barrier between us and them?"
us and them?"

18:95 He said: "(The power) in which my Lord has He said: "That wherein my Lord hath
established me is better (than tribute): help established me is better (than your tribute).
 me therefore with strength (and labour): I
Do but help me with strength (of men), I will
will erect a strong barrier between you and
set between you and them a bank."
them:

"Bring me blocks of iron." At length, when he

"Give me pieces of iron" - till, when he had
had filled up the space between the two
leveled up (the gap) between the cliffs, he
steep mountain sides, he said, "Blow (with
18:96 said: "Blow!" - till, when he had made it a
your bellows)" then, when he had made it
fire, he said: "Bring me molten copper to
(red) as fire, he said: "Bring me, that I may
pour thereon."
pour over it, molten lead."

Thus were they made powerless to scale it or And (Gog and Magog) were not able to
18:97
to dig through it. surmount, nor could they pierce (it).

He said: "This is a mercy from my Lord: but
when the promise of my Lord comes to pass,
18:98
He will make it into dust; and the promise of
my Lord is true."
He said: "This is a mercy from my Lord; but
when the promise of my Lord cometh to
pass, He will lay it low, for the promise of my
Lord is true."

On that day We shall leave them to surge
like waves on one another: the trumpet will
18:99
be blown, and We shall collect them all
together.
And on that day we shall let some of them
surge against others, and the Trumpet will
be blown. Then We shall gather them
together in one gathering.

And We shall present Hell that day for On that day we shall present hell to the
18:100
Unbelievers to see, all spread out,- disbelievers, plain to view,

(Unbelievers) whose eyes had been under a Those whose eyes were hoodwinked from
18:101 veil from remembrance of Me, and who had My reminder, and who could not bear to
been unable even to hear. hear.

A minority[citation needed] of Muslim commentators argue Gog and Magog here refers to
some barbaric North Asian tribes from pre-Biblical times which have been free from
Dhu al-Qarnayn's wall for a long time. [9] "Qarn" also means "period" or "century", and
the name Dhu al-Qarnayn therefore has a symbolic meaning as "He of the Two
Ages", the first being the mythological time when the wall is built and the second the
age of the end of the world when Allah's shariah, the divine law, is removed and Gog
and Magog are to be set loose.[10] Modern Islamic apocalyptic writers, holding to a
literal reading, put forward various explanations for the absence of the wall from the
modern world, some saying that Gog and Magog were the Mongols and that the wall
is now gone, others that both the wall and Gog and Magog are present but invisible.
[11]
Later literature[edit]
Dhu al-Qarnayn the traveller was a favourite subject for later writers. In one of many
Arabic and Persian versions of the meeting of Alexander with the Indian sages.
The Persian Sunni mystic and theologian Al-Ghazali (Abū Ḥāmid Muḥammad ibn
Muḥammad al-Ghazālī, 1058–1111) wrote of how Dhu al-Qarnayn came across a
people who had no possessions but dug graves at the doors of their houses; their
king explained that they did this because the only certainty in life is death. Ghazali's
version later made its way into the Thousand and One Nights.[12]
The Sufi poet Rumi (Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī, 1207-1273), perhaps the most
famous of medieval Persian poets, described Dhu al-Qarnayn's eastern journey. The
hero ascends Mount Qaf, the "mother" of all other mountains, which is made of
emerald and forms a ring encircling the entire Earth with veins under every land. At
Dhu al-Qarnayn's request the mountain explains the origin of earthquakes: when
God wills, the mountain causes one of its veins to throb, and thus an earthquake
results. Elsewhere on the great mountain Dhu al-Qarnayn
meets Israfil (the archangel Raphael), standing ready to blow the trumpet on the Day
of Judgement.[13]
The Malay-language Hikayat Iskandar Zulkarnain traces the ancestry of several
Southeast Asian royal families, such as the Sumatra Minangkabau royalty,[14] from
Iskandar Zulkarnain,[15] through Raja Rajendra Chola (Raja Suran, Raja Chola) in
the Malay Annals.[16][17][18]