Dhul-Qarnayn and the Alexander Romance: Difference between revisions

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<metadesc>The story of Dhul-Qarnayn (Zul-Qarnain or Zulqarnain) from the Qur'an (Koran) and its relation to the  romance (legend, folklore) of Alexander the Great</metadesc>
[[File:Alexander the Great.jpg|right|thumb|180px|Alexander the Great depicted with horns on a silver tetradrachm of Lysimachos, circa 297-281 B.C.]]
[[File:Alexander the Great.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Alexander the Great depicted with horns on a silver tetradrachm of Lysimachos, circa 297-281 B.C.]]
This article discusses the story of [[Dhul-Qarnayn]] from the [[Qur'an]] and its relation to the Alexander romance.
==Introduction==
==Introduction==


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).  While he is never mentioned explicitly by name, the story is clearly based upon a legendary account of [[w:Alexander the Great|Alexander the Great]].  For centuries, most Muslim historians and Qur'anic commentators endorsed the identity of Dhul-Qarnayn as Alexander, though some also proposed alternatives. In recent years, this identification of Dhul-Qarnayn has become particularly problematic and controversial for Muslim scholars, as historians have gradually discovered that the historical Alexander was a Greek pagan who fashioned himself as a god. This has prompted many Muslim apologists to create and advance alternative theories that identify  Dhul-Qarnayn as other prominent historical kings, most notably Cyrus the Great.  These alternative theories have major deficiencies and fall short of the strong parallels between the Qur'anic story and legends of Alexander that date to the early 7th century.
Although there are some who consider '''Dhul-Qarnayn''' mentioned in {{Quran|18|86}} to be one of the Persian kings, Darius the Great or Kyros, most scholars believe it to be referring to [[Alexander the Great]], since ''Dhul-Qarnayn'' means the "two-horned one", and Alexander the Great was depicted on widely circulating coins with two horns on his headgear. There is also evidence that Alexander the Great was called ''Tre-Qarnayia'' in Aramaic, which means "the two horned-one".


It is very likely that the [[Qur'an]] was influenced by the so-called "Alexander Legend", part of the "Alexander Romance", since the journeys of the two-horned one to the setting and rising places of the sun, and the enclosing of Gog and Magog in the Qur'an closely match the records of the same episode in the Alexander Legend.


==Background==
==Gog and Magog==


===Historical vs Legendary Alexander===
=== Gog and Magog in the Bible ===


What is overlooked by almost all Muslim apologists when discussing the identify of Dhul-Qarnayn <ref> Lone, Amar Ellahi.  [http://www.understanding-islam.com/q-and-a/sources-of-islam/who-is-the-prophet-zulqarnain-5247 understanding-islam.com].  He seems completely unaware of the Alexander Legends of the 4th-7th century and focuses on a historical account of Alexander.</ref> <ref>Khoramshahi, Baha'eddin. "Zolqarnain; Cyrus the Great in Qur'an".  [http://www.iranchamber.com/history/articles/zolqarnain_cyrus_quran.php iranchamber.com]. Rejects Alexander based solely on his historical identity. </ref> <ref>Jan, Khalid.  "Why Zul-Qarnain of the Qur’an is not Alexander the great?" [http://www.answering-christianity.com/quran/5701.htm answering-christianity.com]. Give a good background on the historical Alexander and why he's not a fit to the Qur'anic story.  Shows no knowledge of Alexander legends. </ref> is that the story in the Qur'an is not based on an historically accurate account of Alexander III of Macedon (356–323 BC).  Instead, it is based entirely upon legendary stories of Alexander which bare little resemblance to the Alexander of history.  In particular, the Qur'an parallels a Syriac Christian legend where Alexander is portrayed as a monotheistic king who awaits the second coming of the Messiah and the end of the world <ref name="Budge">Budge, Sir Ernest Alfred Wallis, "The History of Alexander the Great, Being the Syriac Version of the Pseudo-Callisthenes, Volume 1", The University Press, 1889;  Full text at [http://books.google.com/books/about/The_History_of_Alexander_the_Great_Being.html?id=_14LmFqhc8QC books.google.com]</ref>.
The first account of the legend of Gog and Magog can be found in the Book of Ezekiel in the [[Taurat|Old Testament]] of the Bible. According to this prophetical account, Gog and Magog will arrive at a later time in an apocalyptical scenario.  


{{Quote|1=[http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ezekiel%2038:1-6;&version=31; Ezekiel 38:1-6]|2= 1. The word of The Lord came to me, saying,<BR>2. Son of man, set your face toward Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him,<BR>3. and say, Thus says the Lord The Lord: Behold, I am against you, Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal: <BR>4. and I will turn you about, and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you forth, and all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed in full armor, a great company with buckler and shield, all of them handling swords; <BR>5. Persia, Cush, and Put with them, all of them with shield and helmet;<BR>6. Gomer, and all his hordes; the house of Togarmah in the uttermost parts of the north, and all his hordes; even many peoples with you.}}


It has been well understood for many centuries that legendary accounts of Alexander's life began shortly after his death in 323 BC.  These were popular across most of Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, Persia and even India and China.  In the subsequent centuries after his death, the historical accounts of Alexander were largely forgotten and legendary accounts of his deeds and adventures replaced them in popular folklore.  It is these legendary depictions of Alexander that would have been known in the 7th century and not the historically accurate accounts of his life.  It wasn't until the Renaissance in the 16th century that the first historical accounts of Alexanders life were rediscovered and investigated.
Gog and Magog are also mentioned in the Revelation of John, but the background is totally different and there seems to be no relationship between the two records.


===Oral Tradition===
{{Quote|1=[http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2020:6-9;&version=31; Revelation of John 20:6-9]|2= 6. Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over these, the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and will reign with him one thousand years. <BR>7. And after the thousand years, Satan will be released from his prison, <BR>8. and he will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to the war; the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.<BR>9. They went up over the breadth of the earth, and surrounded the camp of the saints, and the beloved city. Fire came down out of heaven from God, and devoured them.}}


Some Muslims may object to the literary link between the Qur'anic story and the legendary Alexander story on the basis that Muhammad was not a literate man and could not have read the Alexander legend.  Muhammad's ability to read, however, is irrelevant to the inclusion of the story in the Qur'an as most stories in ancient communities were shared orally.  Since the vast majority of people in 7th century Arabia and the Middle East were illiterate, most stories were passed on through word of mouth.  It is through this telling and re-telling of stories that this legend likely came to be known by the author of the Qur'an.
=== Gog and Magog according to the Alexander Legend===


==Parallel to the Syriac Christian Legend==
When Alexander the Great died on June 10, 323 BC, legends about his life arised soon after. The first collections of the so-called Alexander Romance were written in Greek can be dated to the 3<sup>rd</sup> century. Later versions were written in many languages including Armenian, Georgian, Persian, Arabic, Turkish, Hebrew, Serbian, Slavonic, Romanian, Hungarian, German, English, Italian, and French. Farther east, a late Mongol version is also extant.


In 1889, the renowned scholar and philologist, [[w:E. A. Wallis Budge|Sir Ernest Alfred Wallis Budge]], translated five Alexander stories from Syriac manuscripts into English. One of these stories was a Christian legend that detailed the exploits of Alexander, the son of Philip the Macedonian, and how he traveled to the ends of the world, made a gate of iron, and shut behind it the Huns so they might not come forth to spoil the land <ref name="Budge"/>.  The parallels between this story and the story of Dhul-Qarnayn in the Qur'an are detailed below.
Within an early 7<sup>th</sup> century version of the Alexander Romance, we have the famous Syriac legend about Alexander. It has been known since 1890 thanks to Theodore Nöldeke that there is a very close similarity between the account in the Qur’an of Dhu’l Qarnayn and this Alexander Legend. It was written in Syriac, probably around 630 AD, but incorporates older traditions such as that of the iron gate built by Alexander dating to at least the time of the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus in the 1<sup>st</sup> century AD<ref>Van Bladel, Kevin, “The Alexander legend in the Qur‘an 18:83-102″, In The Qur’ān in Its Historical Context, Ed. Gabriel Said Reynolds, p.181, New York: Routledge, 2007(See Flavius Josephus, The Wars of the Jews, Book VII, Chapter VII, Verse 4)</ref> and journeys to the rising and setting place of the sun from the Epic of Gilgamesh.<ref>Van Bladel 2007 op. cit. p.176 & p.197, note 6


===Two Horns===
See  [http://www.ancienttexts.org/library/mesopotamian/gilgamesh/tab9.htm The Epic of Gilgamesh, Tablet IX] - ancienttexts.org


Alexander in the Syriac legend is explicitly described as having horns on his head. An Ethiopic variation of the story exclusively refers to Alexander as "the two horns" <ref name="Budge"/>.  Coins depicting Alexander with ram horns on his head were first minted shortly after his death.  By the 1st century BC, silver coins depicting Alexander with ram horns were used as the primary currency in Arabia.  Imitation coins were issued by an Arab ruler named Abi'el who ruled in the south-eastern region of the Arabian Peninsula and other minting of these coins occurred throughout Arabia for another thousand years <ref> "The impact of Alexander the Great’s coinage in E Arabia" at [http://web.archive.org/web/20040603181636/www.culture.gr/nm/presveis/Pages/museum/13/p1302.html culrute.gr].</ref>.  This connection of Alexander with two-horns was widely known across the region at the time.
and [http://www.ancienttexts.org/library/mesopotamian/gilgamesh/tab1.htm The Epic of Gilgamesh, Tablet I] - ancienttexts.org.</ref>


The Alexander Legend begins with Alexander expressing his desire to explore the ends of the Earth. It then has Alexander saying that God has given him horns on his head and he asks for power over other kingdoms. After collecting seven thousand iron and brass workers from Egypt, he goes to the fetid sea at the end of the Earth. He makes some evildoers go to the shore of the fetid sea, and they die. He and his men go to the window of heaven into which the sun sets between the fetid sea and a bright sea (although it does not say that the sun actually sets into this sea). The place where the sun rises is over the sea and the people who live there must flee from it and hide in the sea. The story then describes how Alexander<ref>Alexander, not the sun, as was incorrectly translated by A. W. Budge according to Van Bladel (Van Bladel 2007 op. cit. p. 198, note 12)</ref> prostrates before God and travels through the heavens at night to the place where the sun rises. He then visits some mountains and the sources of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers. Next it has Alexander coming to some people who tell him about the Huns within the Northern mountains (Gog, Magog and other kings are listed). He offers to build an iron and brass gate to close up the breach between the mountains, does so and prophesises that God will destroy the gate at the end of the world and the Huns will go forth through it. Next there is a battle with the Persians and their allies after they were told of his gate. It then ends with Alexander worshiping in Jerusalem and his death in Alexandria.<ref>A. W. Budge (trans.), “A Christian Legend Concerning Alexander” in The History Of Alexander The Great Being The Syriac Version Of The Pseudo-Callisthenes, pp. 144-158, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1889</ref><ref>Budge's translation of the Syriac version and the much of the rest of the book can be viewed online at: [http://books.google.com/books?id=5VI8AAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover#PRA3-PA144,M1 The History Of Alexander The Great Being The Syriac Version Of The Pseudo-Callisthenes] - Google books preview</ref><ref>His translation is also quoted in full at [http://www.answering-islam.org/Books/Budge/alexander.htm A Christian Legend Concerning Alexander] - answering-islam.org</ref>


{{Quote|The History of Alexander the Great, Being the Syriac Version|
Kevin Van Bladel sums up the correspondence with the Qur’an passage in his recent article:
And king Alexander bowed himself and did reverence, saying, "0 God, Lord of kings and judges, thou who settest up kings and destroyest their power, I know in my mind that thou hast exalted me above all kings, and thou hast '''made me horns upon my head''', wherewith I might thrust down the kingdoms of the world; |pg 146 <ref name="Budge"/>}}


===Established with Power===
{{Quote||Thus, quite strikingly, almost every element of this short Qur’anic tale finds a more explicit and detailed counterpart in the Syriac Alexander Legend. In both texts the specific events are given in precisely the same order. Already earlier several cases of specific words that are exact matches between the Syriac and the Arabic were indicated. The water at the place where the sun sets is “fetid” in both texts, a perfect coincidence of two uncommon synonyms (Syraic Saryâ and Arabic hami’a).<ref>Van Bladel 2007 op. cit. p181</ref>}}


At the beginning of the Christian legend, Alexander says a prayer to god that he might be given power from heaven to rule over the kingdoms of the earth.  The Qur'anic story, speaking from the perspective of god, says that he has given Alexander power on earth.
=== Gog and Magog according to the Qur'an ===


{{Quote|The History of Alexander the Great, Being the Syriac Version|
The account of Alexander the Great in the Qur'an can be found in the Surah of the Cave and starts at verse 18:86:
'''Give me power from thy holy heavens that I may receive strength greater than [that of] the kingdoms of the world''' and that I may humble them, and I will magnify thy name, O Lord, for ever, and thy memorial shall be from everlasting to everlasting, and I will write the name of God in the charter of my kingdom, that there may be for Thee a memorial always.|pg 146 <ref name="Budge"/>}}


{{Quote|{{Quran|18|84}}|Verily '''We established his power on earth''', and We gave him the ways and the means to all ends.}}
{{Quote|{{Quran|18|86}}|Until, when he reached the setting of the sun, he found it set in a spring of murky water: Near it he found a People: We said: "O Zul-qarnain! (thou hast authority,) either to punish them, or to treat them with kindness." }}


===Journey to the Fetid Sea===
Surprisingly, Alexander the Great is regarded as a righteous follower of God who punishes disbelievers and promises reward for the believers:


The first destination for the hero in both the Syriac and Qur'anic stories is a place near the setting of the sun. The Christian legend explicitly identifies this location as [[w:Oceanus|Oceanus]], a mythical sea believed to encircle a [[flat earth]].  In both accounts, the water is described as being muddy or fetid.
{{Quote|{{cite quran|18|87|end=88|style=ref}}|87. He said: "Whoever doth wrong, him shall we punish; then shall he be sent back to his Lord; and He will punish him with a punishment unheard-of (before). <BR>88. "But whoever believes, and works righteousness,- he shall have a goodly reward, and easy will be his task as We order it by our Command."}}


{{Quote|The History of Alexander the Great, Being the Syriac Version|
Then, he reaches the place where the sun rises:
"As to the thing, my lord, which thy majesty (or thy greatness) desires to go and see, namely, upon what the heavens rest, and what surrounds the earth, the terrible seas which surround the world will not give thee a passage'; because there are eleven bright seas, on which the ships of men sail, and beyond these there is about ten miles of dry land, and beyond these ten miles '''there is the fetid sea''', Oceanus (the Ocean), which surrounds all creation.


And they put ships to sea and sailed on the sea four months' and twelve days, and they arrived at the dry land beyond the eleven bright seas.|pg 145, 147 <ref name="Budge"/>}}
{{Quote|{{Quran|18|90}}|Until, when he came to the rising of the sun, he found it rising on a people for whom We had provided no covering protection against the sun.}}


{{Quote|{{Quran-range|18|85|86}}|One (such) way he followed, until, when he reached the setting of the sun, he found it set in a spring of '''murky water''': Near it he found a People: We said: "O Zul-qarnain! (thou hast authority,) either to punish them, or to treat them with kindness."}}
He meets people who let him build a barrier made of iron to protect themselves from the barbarians of Gog and Magog:


Dr. Kevin Van Bladel, professor of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, states in his comparison of the two stories, that the water at the place where the sun sets is 'fetid' in both texts, a coincidence of two uncommon synonyms (Syriac saryâ, Arabic hami'a) <ref name="VanBladel"> Van Bladel, Kevin, “The Alexander legend in the Qur‘an 18:83-102″, in "The Qur’ān in Its Historical Context", Ed. Gabriel Said Reynolds, New York: Routledge, 2007.  Full text at  [http://books.google.com/books?id=DbtkpgGn4CEC&pg=PA175 books.google.com] </ref>. Similar connections can be found in Islamic poetry contemporary to the time of Muhammad. [[w:Ibn Ishaq|Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq ibn Yasār ibn Khiyār]] recorded many pre-Islamic Arabic poems in his Sirat Rasul Allah (Biography of Muhammad);  This included a poem about Dhul-Qarnayn that he claims was composed by a pre-Islamic king of ancient Yemen.  Here we can see that the sun sets into a pool of water that is described as being both muddy and fetid, a perfect linking of the two adjectives in both the Qur'anic and Syriac stories.
{{Quote|{{cite quran|18|93|end=97|style=ref}}|93. Until, when he reached (a tract) between two mountains, he found, beneath them, a people who scarcely understood a word. <BR>94. They said: "O Zul-qarnain! the Gog and Magog (People) do great mischief on earth: shall we then render thee tribute in order that thou mightest erect a barrier between us and them? <BR>95. He said: "(The power) in which my Lord has established me is better (than tribute): Help me therefore with strength (and labour): I will erect a strong barrier between you and them: <BR>96. "Bring me blocks of iron." At length, when he had filled up the space between the two steep mountain-sides, He said, "Blow (with your bellows)" Then, when he had made it (red) as fire, he said: "Bring me, that I may pour over it, molten lead." <BR>97. Thus were they made powerless to scale it or to dig through it.}}


{{Quote|The Life of Muhammad: A Translation of Ibn Ishaq's Sirat Rasul Allah|
After its completion, Alexander predicts that God will destroy the barrier at a certain time for an apocalyptic scenario:
Conquered kings thronged his court, East and west he ruled, yet he sought Knowledge true from a learned sage. He saw where the sun sinks from view, In a '''pool of mud and fetid slime'''|<ref> Ibn Ishaq; Guillaume, Alfred, ed. (2002) [?-767 AD]. The Life of Muhammad: A Translation of Ibn Ishaq's Sirat Rasul Allah. Oxford University Press. pp. 138–140. ISBN 978-0-19-636033-1.</ref>}}


===Punishment of Wrongdoers===
{{Quote|{{cite quran|18|98|end=100|style=ref}}|98. He said: "This is a mercy from my Lord: But when the promise of my Lord comes to pass, He will make it into dust; and the promise of my Lord is true." <BR>099. On that day We shall leave them to surge like waves on one another: the trumpet will be blown, and We shall collect them all together.<BR>100. And We shall present Hell that day for Unbelievers to see, all spread out,-}}


The Qur'anic story next gives the reader a rather cryptic speech by Dhul-Qarnayn where he says that "whoever does wrong" will be and sent back to the Lord (i.e. killed).  The Syriac legend gives a much fuller account; it explains that Alexander asked for criminals to be sent to the shore of the fetid sea to test a rumor that anyone who approaches the sea dies. When the prisoners drop dead, Alexander notes that it's good that those 'already guilt of death should die'. Not only is there a direct parallel between the stories, but the Syriac legend helps makes sense of the short and cryptic Qur'anic version of the story.
Therefore, we have many confirmations that the story of Gog and Magog in the Qur'an derives from the Alexander Legend, a mythical account about Alexander the Great. This fact alone raises doubts and questions concerning the record in the Qur'an. However, even if this were not the case, the interpretation of the Qur'an contains many contradictions.


{{Quote|The History of Alexander the Great, Being the Syriac Version|
== Contradictions in the Qur'an ==
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?" They said to him, "We have thirty and seven '''men in bonds who are guilty of death'''." And the king said to the governor, "Bring hither '''those evil doers'''." And they brought them, and the king commanded them and said, "Go ye to the shore of the fetid sea, and hammer in stakes that ships may be tied thereto, and prepare everything needful for a force about to cross the sea." And the men went, and came to the shore of the sea. Now Alexander thought within himself, "If it be true as they say, that everyone who comes near the fetid sea dies, '''it is better that these who are guilty of death should die'''," and when they had gone, and had arrived at the shore of the sea, '''they died instantly'''. |pg 147-148<ref name="Budge"/>}}


{{Quote|{{Quran|18|87}}|He said: "'''Whoever doth wrong, him shall we punish'''; then shall he be sent back to his Lord; and He will punish him with a punishment unheard-of (before).}}
The Qur'an refers to Alexander the Great as a holy man in an [[Islam|Islamic]] sense. However, according to many sources he not only believed in polytheism, but was also addicted to [[alcohol]] and never committed to Islam. This can in general also be said about the kings Kyros and Dareios.


===Sun Rises on People with No Cover===
But there are also contradictions against science. Did Alexander (or Kyros or Dareios) really find the [[Dhul-Qarnayn and the Sun Setting in a Muddy Spring|places where the sun arises and disappears]]? This is impossible.


After leaving the muddy sea, The Qur'an tells us that Dhul-Qarnayn travels to the east where the sun rises.  The author then conveys a rather 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.  Again, the Syriac legend not only has an expanded, parallel account but it helps clarify the Qur'anic story.  We are told that the people who live near the location where the sun 'enters the window of heaven' (i.e. rises above the [[flat earth]]) must seek cover because the sun is much closer to the ground and it's rays burn the people and animals there.
But this quote also clearly reveals that the knowledge of the author of the Qur'an in regards to the sun and space was influenced by contemporary literature and does not agree with modern science.  


{{Quote|The History of Alexander the Great, Being the Syriac Version|
Moreover, the account does not agree with history. There is no place on earth where the iron walls built by Alexander (or Kyros or Dareios) can be found and there is also no evidence that Gog and Magog ever existed.
So the whole camp mounted, and Alexander and his troops went up between the fetid sea and the bright sea '''to the place where the sun enters the window of heaven'''; for the sun is the servant of the Lord, and neither by night nor by day does he cease from his travelling. The place of his rising is over the sea, and the people who dwell there, when he is about to rise, flee away and hide themselves in the sea, that they be not burnt by his rays; and he passes through the midst of the heavens to the place where he enters the window of heaven; and wherever he passes there are terrible mountains, and those who dwell there have caves hollowed out in the rocks, and '''as soon as they see the sun passing [over them], men and birds flee away from before him and hide in the caves''', for rocks are rent by his blazing heat and fall down, and whether they be men or beasts, as soon as the stones touch them they are consumed.|pg 148<ref name="Budge"/>}}


{{Quote|{{Quran-range|18|89|90}}|Then followed he (another) way, Until, when '''he came to the rising of the sun''', he found it rising on a people for whom We had '''provided no covering protection against the sun'''. }}
== Conclusions ==


===Travel to the Valley between Two Mountains===
The story about Alexander the Great, his journeys to the setting and rising places of the sun and his barrier against Gog and Magog in the Qur'an are obviously derived from a version of the Alexander Legend, which was popular in the region at that time. Being a legend rather than a historical account, the story in the Qur'an contains many contradictions against history and science.


On his final journey, the Qur'an tells us that Dhul-Qarnayn traveled to a valley between two mountains.  The Syriac legend tells us that Alexander heads north and likewise arrives at a plain between mountains.  Here he sets up his camp near a mountain pass.
==See Also==


{{Quote|The History of Alexander the Great, Being the Syriac Version|
{{Hub4|Dhul-Qarnayn|Dhul-Qarnayn}}
And Alexander said, " Let us go forth by the way to the north "; and they came to the confines of the north, and entered Armenia and Adarbaijan and Inner Armenia And they crossed over the country of TurnAgios, and BethPardia, and Beth-Tekil, and Beth-Drubil, and Beth-Katarmen, and Beth-Gebul, and Beth-Zamrat Alexander passed through nil these places; and '''he went and passed mount Musas and entered a plain''' which is Bahi-Lebta, and '''he went and encamped by the gate of the great mountain.''' |pg 149<ref name="Budge"/>}}
{{Hub4|Cosmology|Cosmology}}


{{Quote|{{Quran-range|18|92|93}}|Then followed he (another) way, Till, when '''he came between the two mountains''', he found upon their hither side a folk that scarce could understand a saying. }}
==External Links==


===Gog and Magog Spoil and Ravage the Land===
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_the_Great Alexander the Great]
[[File:Gogmagogmap.JPG|right|thumb|250px|12th century map by the Muslim geographer Al-Idrisi (south up). "Yajooj" and "Majooj" (Gog and Magog) appear in Arabic script on the bottom-left edge of the Eurasian landmass, enclosed within dark mountains. Note that the earth is encircled by water that corresponds to the ocean at the end of the world in the Alexander Legend.]]
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_romance Alexander Romance]
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_the_Great_in_the_Qur'an Alexander the Great in the Qur'an]


The Syriac legend then states that Alexander meets with people who live near the mountain pass.  These natives tell of a tribe, the Huns, who live beyond the pass.  These Huns spoil and ravage in the land and then return back to their lands on the other side of the mountain.  The legend explicitly identifies the first two kings of this tribe as Gog and Magog, the exact same and specific names used in the Qur'anic account.
==References==
 
{{reflist}}
{{Quote|The History of Alexander the Great, Being the Syriac Version|
Alexander said, "This mountain is higher and more terrible than all the mountains which I have seen." 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 natives of the land said, " They are the Huns." He said to them, " Who are their kings?" The old men. said: "'''Gog and Magog'''..."
 
Alexander said to the natives of that country," '''Have they come forth to spoil in your days?'''" The old men answered and said to the king: "May God establish thy kingdom and thy crown, my lord the king! These fortresses which have been overturned in our lands and in the lands of the Romans, have been overthrown by them; by them have these towers been uprooted; '''when they go forth to spoil, they ravage the land''' of the Romans and of the Persians, and then they enter their own territory." |pg 149-150, 152<ref name="Budge"/>}}
 
{{Quote|{{Quran|18|94}}|They said: "O Zul-qarnain! the '''Gog and Magog (People) do great mischief on earth''': shall we then render thee tribute in order that thou mightest erect a barrier between us and them?"}}
 
===Build a Barrier===
 
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.  Both stories record Alexander proclaiming this in a speech.
 
{{Quote|The History of Alexander the Great, Being the Syriac Version|
When Alexander had heard what the old men said, he marveled greatly at the great sea which surrounded all creation; and Alexander said to his troops, " Do ye desire that we should do something wonderful in this land?" They said to him, "As thy majesty commands we will do." The king said, "'''Let us make a gate of brass and close up this breach'''."|pg 153<ref name="Budge"/>}}
 
{{Quote|{{Quran|18|95}}|He said: "(The power) in which my Lord has established me is better (than tribute): Help me therefore with strength (and labour): '''I will erect a strong barrier between you and them'''}}
 
===Made of Iron and Brass===
 
Another striking similarity between the two stories is that the wall will be made of both iron and brass.  Here the Qur'anic translators use different words for the second metal: "lead" (Yusif Ali), "copper" (Pickthall), "brass" (Shakir) but the connection with the Christian legend is apparent.
 
{{Quote|The History of Alexander the Great, Being the Syriac Version|
And Alexander commanded and fetched three thousand smiths, workers in iron, and three thousand men, workers in brass And '''they put down brass and iron''', and kneaded it as a man kneads when he works clay. Then they brought it and made a gate, the length of which was twelve cubits and its breadth eight cubits. And '''he made a lower threshold from mountain to mountain''', the length of which was twelve cubits;|pg 153<ref name="Budge"/>}}
 
{{Quote|{{Quran|18|96}}|"'''Bring me blocks of iron'''." At length, when '''he had filled up the space between the two steep mountain-sides''', He said, "Blow (with your bellows)" Then, when he had made it (red) as fire, he said: "Bring me, that I may pour over it, '''molten lead [brass]'''."}}
 
===Cannot be Breached===
 
After constructing the barrier, the Christian legend says that it is very difficult to penetrate and the Huns won't be able to dig under it.  A similar phrase is used in the Qur'an to convey that the barrier is very difficult to pass.
 
{{Quote|The History of Alexander the Great, Being the Syriac Version|
He fixed the gate and the bolts, and he placed nails of iron and beat them down one by the other, so that '''if the Huns came and dug out the rock which was under the threshold''' of iron, even if footmen were able to pass through, '''a horse with its rider would be unable to pass''', so long as the gate that was hammered down with bolts stood.|pg 153<ref name="Budge"/>}}
 
{{Quote|{{Quran|18|97}}|Thus were they made powerless to '''scale it or to dig through it'''}}
 
===Destroyed at the End of Times===
 
An often overlooked aspect of the story of Dhul-Qarnayn is that it ends with a prophetic prediction of the wall being destroyed and the tribes of Gog and Magog surging and destroying everything in their path.  In particular, it notes that this will occur on the day of Judgement when the "trumpet is blown" and the people of the world are gathered together to account for their sins.  The Christian legend also ends with a similar prophecy that likewise occurs when the nations have been gathered together at the end of times.
 
{{Quote|The History of Alexander the Great, Being the Syriac Version|
And '''the Lord will gather together the kings and their hosts''' which are within this mountain, and they shall all be assembled at His beck, and shall come with their spears and swords, and shall stand behind the gate, and shall look up to the heavens, and shall call upon the name of the Lord,"saying, 'O Lord, open to us this gate.'  And the Lord shall send His sign from heaven and '''a voice shall call on this gate, and it shall be destroyed and fall''' at the beck of the Lord, and it shall not be opened by the key which I have made for it. And a troop shall go through this gate which I have made, and a full span shall be worn away from the lower threshold" by the hoofs of the horses which with their riders '''shall go forth to destroy the land by the command of the Lord''';|pg 154<ref name="Budge"/>}}
 
{{Quote|{{Quran|18|97}}|
He said: "This is a mercy from my Lord: But when the promise of my Lord comes to pass, '''He will make it into dust'''; and the promise of my Lord is true." On that day We shall leave them to surge like waves on one another: the trumpet will be blown, and '''We shall collect them all together'''.}}
 
 
The explicit connection with the destruction of the wall and the end of times is further explained in the classic Qur'anic tafsir by Ibn Kathir.
 
{{Quote|Tafsir Ibn Kathir Ch 18  |(We shall leave some of them to surge like waves) meaning mankind, on that day, the day when the barrier will be breached and these people (Ya'juj and Ma'juj) will come out surging over mankind to destroy their wealth and property.  As-Suddi said: "That is when they emerge upon the people." 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.) As-Sur, as explained in the Hadith, is a horn that is blown into. The one who will blow into it is (the angel) Israfil, peace be upon him, as has been explained in the Hadith quoted at length above, and there are many Hadiths on this topic.| <ref> Tafsir Ibn Kathir.  Ch 18: "The Barrier restrains Them, but It will be breached when the Hour draws nigh". Full text at [http://www.qtafsir.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2700&Itemid=73 qtafsir.com] </ref>}}
 
===Summary===
 
After seeing the numerous and explicit connections between the Qur'an and the Christian Legend, it is easy to agree with Van Bladel who summaries the parallels between the two stories.
 
{{Quote|The Alexander legend in the Qur‘an 18:83-102|
Thus, quite strikingly, almost every element of this short Qur'anic tale finds a more explicit and detailed counterpart in the Syriac Alexander Legend.  In both text the related events are given in precisely the same order.
 
As it is, the correspondences shown earlier are still so exact that it is obvious in comparison that the two texts are at least connected very closely.  They relate the same story in precisely the same order of events using many of the same particular details.|pg 182<ref name="VanBladel"/>}}
 
==Dating the Alexander Legend==


The parallels between the Christian Legend and the Qur'an are obvious and striking and both accounts are clearly telling the same story.  After establishing this fact, we must now determine the dependency between the two stories.  Is the Qur'anic story based on the Christian story? Is the Christian story based on the Qur'an? Are both dependent upon earlier stories? In order to determine the answer to those questions, we must look at scholarly works that date both the Qur'anic account, the Syriac Legend, and prior Alexander folklore.
[[Category:Qur'an]]
 
[[Category:Non-Muslims]]
 
While the Syriac Christian story tells a specific version of the [[w:Alexander Romance|Alexander Romance]], many aspects of this legend draw from earlier materials.  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. Parallels to the ancient Epic of Gilgamesh and the Biblical story of Gog and Magog can be clearly identified in the story as well.
 
===Epic of Gilgamesh===
 
One of the earliest and most influential stories, the Epic of Gilgamesh was written sometime before 2000 BCE. In one of the tablets of his many adventures, Gilgamesh travels far to the east, to the mountain passes at the ends of the earth.  Here he slays monstrous mountain lions, bears and other wild animals. Eventually he comes to the twin peaks of Mount Mashu at the end of the earth, from where the sun rises.  Here is finds a large gate, guarded by scorpion-people who protect the sun and forbidden anyone to enter through the gate without their permission. <ref>Epic of Gilgamesh Tablet IX.  Full text: [http://www.ancienttexts.org/library/mesopotamian/gilgamesh/tab9.htm ancienttexts.org] </ref>
 
 
It is in this very ancient mythology, that we have the basic outline of the adventure found in the Qur'an and the Alexander legends :  a powerful hero, who travels from west to east, the setting and rising of the sun, two mountains and a gate.
 
===Early Jewish Legends===
 
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.  In his first book, the Antiquities of the Jews, he mentions that the tribes of Magog are called the Scythians by the Greeks.  In his second book, the Wars of the Jews, he further details that these people are held behind a wall of iron that has been built by Alexander the Great.  In this legend, Josephus relates that Alexander allows the tribes of Magog to come out from behind the wall and create havoc in the land.  Here we see a very clear connection of Alexander to an iron gate and the tribes of Magog being prevented from plundering the land.  This shows that local folklore already contained the basic backbone of the Alexander story almost six centuries before the story found in the Qur'an.
 
{{Quote|The Antiquities of the Jews|
'''Magog''' founded those that from him were named Magogites, but who are by the Greeks called '''Scythians'''.|Book I, Ch6, v1 <ref>Josephus, Flavius. "The Antiquities of the Jews". circa 90 CE. Full text at [http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2848/2848-h/2848-h.htm#link2HCH0006 gutenberg.org] </ref>}}
 
{{Quote|The Wars Of The Jews|
Now there was a nation of the Alans, which we have formerly mentioned some where as being '''Scythians''' and inhabiting at the lake Meotis. This nation about this time laid a design of falling upon Media, and the parts beyond it, in order to plunder them; with which intention they treated with the king of Hyrcania; for he was master of that '''passage which king Alexander [the Great] shut up with iron gates'''. This king gave them leave to come through them; so they came in great multitudes, and fell upon the Medes unexpectedly, and plundered their country|Book VII, Ch7, v4 <ref>Josephus, Flavius.  "The Wars Of The Jews". circa 90 CE. Full text at [http://www.ccel.org/j/josephus/works/war-7.htm ccel.org]</ref>}}
 
===Early Christian Legends===
 
As early as the 399 CE, local stories of Alexander building a wall against the Huns had made their way into Christian writings as well.  St. Jerome, an early church father, writes about rumors of attacks against Jerusalem by invaders from the north.  He explicitly refers to these invaders as Huns who live near the gate that was built by Alexander.
 
{{Quote| Letters of St. Jerome  | 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 '''the gates of Alexander keep back the wild peoples''' behind the Caucasus); and that, speeding here and there on their nimble-footed horses, they were filling all the world with panic and bloodshed.|Letter 77 <ref> Jerome. Letter 77 in "Letters of St. Jerome". 399 CE. Full text at [http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3001077.htm newadvent.org].</ref>}}
 
===Gog and Magog in the Bible===
 
The story of Gog and Magog being let loose at the end of the world, on Judgement Day, can be found in the Book of Revelation in the Christian Bible. We are told that they will swarm across the earth and surround the "camp of God's people" who have been gathered together in the "city he loves" (namely Jerusalem). This writing dates to the second half of the 1<sup>st</sup> century.<ref>Kenneth Gentry. ''Before Jerusalem Fell'', ISBN 0-930464-20-6. Powder Springs, Georgia: American Vision, 1989.</ref><ref>Robert Mounce. ''The Book of Revelation'', pg. 15-16. Cambridge: Eerdman's. Full text at [http://books.google.com/books?id=6FAookts4MUC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=&f=false Books.google.com]</ref>
 
{{Quote|Revelation 20:7-9|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. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them.|<ref name="NIV">New International Version of the Bible.  Zondervan 1971. [http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2020&version=NIV Rev 20:7-19], [http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Daniel%208:2-7&version=NIV Dan 8:2-7] </ref> }}
 
===Dating the Syriac Christian Legend===
 
The Alexander Legend was composed by a Mesopotamian Chrisitan probably in Amid or Edessa. It was written down in 629-630 CE after the victory of the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius over the Sasanian king Khusrau Parvez.  Dr. Reinink, a Near East philogist and scholar, highlights the political agenda of the legend which is clearly written as a  piece of pro-Byzantine propaganda.  The purpose of the legend was probably to win the separated Syrian Christians back to a union with the church at Constantinople <ref> "Gog and Magog in Early Eastern Chrisitan and Islamic Sources". Ed Emeri Van Donzel, Andrea Schmidt. 1981.  pg 18. Full text at [http://books.google.com/books?id=PtxOXRlPMA0C books.google.com]. </ref>.
 
===Dating the Qur'anic Verses===
 
According to Muslim scholars, Al-Kahf (The Cave) was generally revealed in Mecca, except verse 28 and verses 83-101 which were revelated at Medina <ref>Allamah Abu Abd Allah al-Zanjani. "The History of the Quran". Translated from the Persian by Mahliqa Qara'i. Pg 34.  Full text at [http://tanzil.net/pub/ebooks/History-of-Quran.pdf tanzil.net] </ref>.  Based on this information, we can date the story of Dhul-Qarnayn, contained in verses 83-101, sometime after the Hijra in June 622 CE and before Muhammed's death in June 632 CE; a more specific date is difficult to ascertain with any certainty.  Since the community of Muslims in Mecca were far from well known outside of Arabia, the possibility of their story influencing Christians in Syria is extremely remote.  The Syriac work also contains no references to the Arabic phrases used in the Qur'anic account, which would be expected if the Syrian story was using that as it's source <ref name="VanBladel"/>.  While the timelines are tight, it is clear that the composition of the Syriac Christian Legends fits into the timeline of the Qur'anic revelation and likely pre-dates it.
 
===Spread of the Syriac Legend to Arabia===
 
The popularity of the Syriac legend of Alexander is evidenced by its inclusion in other works soon after its composition. The "Song of Alexander", composed a few years later but before the Arab conquest of Syria sometime between 630 CE and 636 CE. The Syriac apocalypse, "De Fine Munid" composed between 640 CE and 683 CE and the "Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius" composed around 692 CE.<ref name="VanBladel"/> Since the work was composed as a piece of propaganda, its intentional dissemination makes sense of its rapid adoption and popularity in the region. This would have included Christian Arabs of the [[w:Ghassanids|Ghassanid]].  It is even possible that early Muslim followers heard the story of the Syrian legend during their [[w:Battle of Mu'tah|raids on Mu'ta]] on the borders of Syria around September 629 CE.<ref name="VanBladel"/>
 
===Summary===
 
It should be clear that all the major elements of the Alexander story were in place by the 4th century, predating both the Qur'anic and the Syriac Christian account by hundreds of years.  The strong, point-by-point connection between the story of Dhul-Qarnayn and prior legends is undeniable. In effect, the story of Dhul-Qarnayn in the Qur'an is simple another examply of the widespread inclusion of Alexander folklore into the stories of the religions of the Middle East.  Rebecca Edwards, in a address to the American Philological Association in 2002, sums this up nicely:
 
{{Quote|Two Horns, Three Religions. How Alexander the Great ended up in the Quran |Alexander's association with two horns and with the building of the gate against Gog and Magog occurs much earlier than the Quran and persists in the beliefs of all three of these religions Judaism, Christianity and Islam. 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. | <ref>Edwards, Rebecca. "Two Horns, Three Religions. How Alexander the Great ended up in the Quran". American Philological Association, 133rd Annual Meeting Program (Philadelphia, 5 January 2002)</ref>}}
 
==Dhul-Qarnayn as Alexander in Islamic Sources==
 
 
While the Qur'an and Hadith never explicitly identify Dhul-Qarnayn as Alexander, a number of Islamic scholars and commentators have endorsed this view.  This was especially true in the early centuries after the founding of Islam when the legends of Alexander were still widely known and popular.  In more recent years, some prominent scholars have also supported the connection between Alexander and Dhul-Qarnayn of the Qur'an.
 
===Early Islamic Scholars===
 
The Sirat Rasul Allah of Ibn Ishaq, circa 761 CE, mentions that Dhul-Qarnayn was of Egyptian and Greek origins, a pretty good description of Alexander who came from Macdeonia in Greece and conquered Egypt.
 
{{Quote|Ibn Ishaq's Sirat Rasul Allah|
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.| <ref>Ibn Ishaq; Guillaume, Alfred, ed. (2002).  "The Life of Muhammad: A Translation of Ibn Ishaq's Sirat Rasul Allah". Oxford University Press. pp. 138–140. ISBN 978-0-19-636033-1.</ref>}}
 
 
Tafsir al-Jalalayn, a classical Sunni tafsir of the Qur'an, composed by Jalal ad-Din al-Mahalli in 1459 CE explicitly identifies Dhul-Qarnayn as Alexander.
 
{{Quote|Tafsir al-Jalalayn|And they, the Jews, question you concerning '''Dhū’l-Qarnayn, whose name was Alexander'''; he was not a prophet. Say: ‘I shall recite, relate, to you a mention, an account, of him’, of his affair.| <ref>Tafsir al-Jalalayn, trans. Feras Hamza. Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought, Amman, Jordan.  See full at [http://altafsir.com/Tafasir.asp?tMadhNo=0&tTafsirNo=74&tSoraNo=18&tAyahNo=83&tDisplay=yes&UserProfile=0&LanguageID=2 altafsir.com] </ref>}}
 
 
Other influential Tafsir author who endorsed the identify of Alexander is the Indian scholar [[w:Shah Waliullah|Shah Waliullah]] (1763 CE). <ref>Shah Waliullah (1763) "Al-Fawz al-Kabir fi Usul al-Tafsir". Islamic Book Trust 2013.  pg 27.  Partial text [http://books.google.com/books?id=jbVWRp56XxsC books.google.com] </ref>
 
===Modern Islamic Scholars===
 
Probably the most prominent modern scholar to defend the fidelity between Dhul-Qarnayn and Alexander the Great is the famous Qur'anic translator Abdullah Yusuf Ali.  Yusuf Ali gives an extremely 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.
 
{{Quote|The Noble Quran's Commentary |Personally, '''I have not the least doubt that Dhu al Qarnayn is meant to be Alexander the Great''', the historic Alexander, and not the legendary Alexander, of whom more presently.  My first appointment after graduation was that of Lecturer in Greek history.  I have studied the details of Alexander's extraordinary personality in Greek historians as well as in modern writers, and have since visited most of the localities connected with his brief but brilliant career. Few readers of Quranic literature have had the same privilege of studying the details of his career.  It is one of the wonders of the Quran, that, spoken through an Ummi's (illiterate) mouth, it should contain so many incidental details which are absolutely true.    |Appendix 6, page 738 <ref name="YusufAli"> Sheikh Abdullah Yusuf Ali. The Noble Quran's Commentary. Appendix 6, page 738.  Full text at [http://www.answering-christianity.com/iron_gates.htm answering-christianity.com]. Text is buried in the article, need a cleaner source.</ref>}}
 
==Reconstructing the Historical Alexander==
 
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. This included information about Alexander as a polytheist, Zeus worshiping pagan and insight into his personal and sexual preferences.  Such historical facts about Alexander the Great became well known only after the Renaissance period (1300-1600 CE) when Greek documents from the 2nd century were rediscovered. 
 
 
These included the "Anabasis Alexandri" or "the Campaigns of Alexander" by Arrian.  It is generally considered the most important source on Alexander the Great.  Written in the 2nd century, it gives a detailed history of Alexander's military complains and is based on early sources that are now lost.  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.  This work detailed much of Alexander's personal life, desires, motivations, and other personal insights <ref name="Plutarch">Plutarch (1919). Perrin, Bernadotte, ed. Plutarch, Alexander. Perseus Project. Retrieved 6 December 2011.  Full text at [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0243 perseus.tufts.edu] </ref>.
 
===Polytheism===
 
It should come as no surprise that Alexander the Great was a polytheist who believed in the pantheon of Greek gods.  This would have been the dominant religious belief at the time of the 4th century BCE in Macedon Greece and throughout most of the Mediterranean.  When his army first invaded Asia, Alexander dedicated the lands of his conquests to the gods. He visited the Oracle at Delphi and sought prophecies about his future.  After his death, Alexander apparently left instructions in his will for a monumental temple to Athena be built at Troy. <ref> Roisman, Joseph; Worthington, Ian (2010). A Companion to Ancient Macedonia. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 1-4051-7936-8.  Full text at [http://books.google.com/books?id=lkYFVJ3U-BIC book.google.com]</ref>
 
===Son of Zeus-Ammon===
[[File:Zeus Ammon.png|right|thumb|250px|A terracotta cast of Zeus Ammon with ram horns. 1st century CE.  Alexander is depicted with similar ram horns in coins as a reference to his diety. ]]
 
Alexander appears to have believed himself a deity, or at least sought to deify himself <ref>Green, Peter (2007). Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic Age. London: Phoenix. ISBN 978-0-7538-2413-9.</ref>. Olympias, his mother, always insisted to him that he was the son of Zeus <ref name="Plutarch"/>, a theory apparently confirmed to him by the oracle of Amun at Siwa in Lybia.<ref name="Plutarch"/> 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.  This god, an amalgamation of both the Greek god [[w:Zeus|Zeus]] and the Egyptian god [[w:Amun|Ammon]] was often depicted with ram horns on his head.  Subsequent currency depicted Alexander adorned with similar rams horn as a symbol of his divinity. <ref>Dahmen, Karsten (2007). The Legend of Alexander the Great on Greek and Roman Coins. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 0-415-39451-1.</ref>
 
===Personal Relationships and Sex Life===
 
Alexander had two wives : Roxana, daughter of a Greek nobleman, and Stateira II, a Persian princess and daughter of Darius III of Persia. He fathered at least two sons, Alexander IV of Macedon with Roxana and Heracles of Macedon from his mistress Barsine <ref name="Plutarch"/>. Alexander's sexuality has been the subject of speculation and controversy.  While no ancient sources stated 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. <ref>Ogden, Daniel (2009). "Alexander's Sex Life". In Heckel, Alice; Heckel, Waldemar; Tritle, Lawrence A. Alexander the Great: A New History. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 1-4051-3082-2.</ref>.  Alexander may have been bisexual, which in his time was not considered controversial nor unusual <ref>Sacks, David (1995). Encyclopedia of the Ancient Greek World. Constable & Co. ISBN 0-09-475270-2.</ref> and he likely had access to many concubines.
 
==Cyrus the Great==
 
Clearly, recent historical and archaeological evidence points to the real Alexander of Macedon as a polytheistic pagan who fashioned himself after Greek and Egyptian gods. The more recent questions about Alexander's sexuality and personal relationships also raises serious problems for anyone who believes he was a follower of Islam.  Based on this information, some Muslim apologists have constructed alternative theories to the identify of Dhul-Qarnayn.  The most prominent alternative theory among modern Muslims is that Dhul-Qarnayn was [[w:Cyrus the Great|Cyrus the Great]] of [[w:Persian Empire|Persia]]. This theory has been advanced by  [[w:Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi|Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi]] <ref name="Maududi">{{cite web|url= http://www.islamicstudies.info/result.php?sura=18&verse=83|title= Tafsir Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi - Tafhim al-Qur'an|publisher= |series= Surah 18 Ayah 83|author= Maududi|date= 1972|archiveurl= http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.islamicstudies.info%2Fresult.php%3Fsura%3D18%26verse%3D83&date=2013-11-22|deadurl=no}}</ref>, [[w:Abul Kalam Azad|Maulana Abul Kalam Azad]] <ref name="Azad"> Baljon , Johannes Marinus Simon. "Modern Muslim Koran Interpretation: (1880 - 1960)". pg 32-33. 1961. Full text at [http://books.google.com/books?id=IOEUAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA33 books.google.com].  Relates a typical defense by Azad of the Cyrus theory by explaining first why Alexander should be rejected based on the historical Alexander and not the legendary one. </ref>, [[w:Allameh Tabatabaei|Allameh Tabatabaei]],<ref>Allameh Tabatabae. Tafsir al-Mizan Vol 26 </ref>, and [[w:Naser Makarem Shirazi|Naser Makarem Shirazi]] <ref>Naser Makarem Shirazi. Bargozideh Tafseer-i Nemuneh, Vol 3, p69</ref>.
 
 
It is important to note that these rejections of Alexander as Dhul-Qarnayn are primarily motivated by theological concerns and are not based on any convincing evidence.  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.  Proponents of this theory, however, pre-suppose that the Qur'an is relaying an accurate, historical story and thus never even consider the option that the story is based on myth and folklore.
 
===Embarrassment of Alexander as Dhul-Qarnayn===
 
In the first few centuries after the founding of Islam, there was little controversy in identifying Dhul-Qarnayn as Alexander.  As we have seen above, the Jews and Christians of the time had likewise incorporated Alexander stories into their theology and traditions.  Alexander's deeds and exploits were almost universally admired among the three Abrahamic religions.  However this slowly changed after the Renaissance in the 16th century when proper archaeological and historical methods were first applied to the life of Alexander the Great.
 
 
Once an accurate picture of the historical Alexander emerged, Christians easily discarded their legends of Alexander as a believing king.  Since these accounts were not present in the Bible, rejecting Alexander as a Greek pagan held no theological consequences for them.  Muslims, on the other hand, are forced to defend these accounts because the stories found their way into the Qur'an.  While some Muslims have embraced Alexander and rejected modern scholarship around his historical identify <ref>A brief defense of Alexander against Cyrus by a Muslim apologist at [http://www.answering-christianity.com/king_cyrus.htm answering-christianity.com] </ref>, most Muslim apologists have gone the other way and decided to accept that Alexander was a pagan but reject his association with Dhul-Qarnayn.  In a strange twist of historic irony, Christian apologists now use this identification of Alexander as a monotheists as a polemic against Islam <ref> "Alexander the Great, a Muslim?" at [http://www.answering-islam.org/Quran/Contra/h004.html answering-islam.org]. </ref>.
 
===Rejection of Alexander===
 
Since most early Muslim scholars and commentators believed that Dhul-Qarnayn was Alexander, any defense of the Cyrus theory is first obligated to state why Alexander should be rejected from consideration <ref name="Azad"/>.  Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, one of the first to advance the theory of Cyrus, gives a typical justification for his rejection of Alexander by appealing to the historical man as an unrighteous polytheist:
 
 
{{Quote|Modern Muslim Koran Interpretation: (1880 - 1960)|When treating the Dhul-Qarnayn story, Azad beings by setting forth that it follows from verse 82/83 that the hero's epithet was familiar to the Jews, being an expression used by the questioners.  Then, he must have been a righteous (see verse 86/87) and godly (see verses 87/88, 94/95 and 97/98) sovereign.  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"|pg 32 <ref name="Azad"/>}}
 
 
Clearly, the apologist assumes that the only possible connection to Alexander must be to the historical man.  On this basis, it is easy to agree that the historical Alexander is not portrayed in the Qur'anic story, as he doesn't fit the description at all.  However, the legendary Alexander is a perfect fit.  He is portrayed as a godly and righteous man, he shows generosity to the people harassed by the Huns, and he explicitly builds a wall of iron and brass.  While these legendary stories were popular in the 7th century, they are virtually unknown outside of academic circles today.  The apologist is simply ignorant of these facts and never presents the option that these verses are about a legendary figure.
 
===Two Horns===
[[File:Cyrushorns.jpg|right|thumb|220px|Sketch of a relief of Cyrus.]]
 
In order to connect Cyrus to the [[w:Epithet|epithet]] Dhul-Qarnayn (i.e. man with two-horns), proponents of this theory have pointed to reliefs found at the tomb of Cyrus in Pasargadae, Iran.  In these depictions of Cyrus, a set of horns can be seen at the bottom of an elaborate head dress.  However, the horns are extremely small and difficult to identify.  When you compare this to the prominent placement of horns in Alexander coins and the depiction of Zeus-Ammon, upon which the Alexander coins are based, the horn on the Cyrus relief pale by comparison. We have no other physical engravings or any other archaeological evidence that connects Cyrus with the epithet "two horns".
 
===Questions from the People of the Book===
 
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.  The story begins in verse 83 by stating that someone has asked Muhammad about the story of Dhul-Qarnayn:
 
 
{{Quote|{{Quran|18|83}}|'''They ask thee''' concerning Zul-qarnain. Say, "I will rehearse to you something of his story."}}
 
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
 
{{Quote|The Meaning of the Qur'an, Introduction to Chapter 18|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. These were: (1) Who were "the Sleepers of the Cave"? (2) What is the real story of Khidr? and (3) What do you know about Dhul-Qarnayn? 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.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.usc.edu/org/cmje/religious-texts/maududi/introductions/mau-18.php|title= Tafsir Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi - Tafhim al-Qur'an|publisher= |author= Maududi|date= 1972 |series= Introduction to Chapter 18|archiveurl= http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.usc.edu%2Forg%2Fcmje%2Freligious-texts%2Fmaududi%2Fintroductions%2Fmau-18.php&date=2013-11-22|deadurl=no}}</ref>}}
 
Apologists then argue that the identity of Dhul-Qarnayn must have been well known to the Jews and should therefore be found in the Bible. However, no justification is ever given as to why only the Bible is considered and not other literature used by Jews and Christians of the 7th century.  This includes the Talmud, apocryphal books, and other non-canonical writings.  In fact, this very account refers to another non-canonical story, [[w:Seven Sleepers|the Sleepers of the Cave]], which is a 5th century legend popular in both Syria and Arabia.  This story is not found in the Bible and therefore provides definitive proof that the people questioning Muhammad relied on extra-Biblical material for their questions.
 
 
Another detail about this account, that is completely ignored by Islamic scholars, is that Muhammad is not asked to simply identify Dhul-Qarnayn.  If that were the case, he could have given a one sentence answer such as "he is Alexander" or "he is Cyrus".  No, he is asked to relate a ''story'' about Dhul-Qarnayn.  In this context, it is assumed that everyone at the time is familiar with this person, but they are quizzing Muhammad on the details of Dhul-Qarnayn's deeds.  In order for the People of the Book to know the "right" answer to that question, they must already know the details of this story.  This story doesn't appear anywhere in the Bible; but it does occur, point-by-point and detail-by-detail in the Alexander legend.  Therefore, they must be using the Alexander legend as their source for the "right" answer.
 
 
Again, the Muslim apologists are simply ignorant of the wide range of scriptures and stories considered authoritative by Jews and Christians of the 7th century.  They project a modern understanding of the cannon of scripture back upon the people of that time.  When we consider that the Alexander legends were incorporated into the writings and theology of the Jews and Christians in Syria and Arabia, it's easy to see why it should be included as the most likely source of these questions.
 
===Reference in the Bible===
 
While trying to link the phrase "two horns" to Cyrus in the Bible, the Apologists will cite a passage from Daniel 8 that mentions a ram with two horns:
 
{{Quote|Daniel 8:2-7|In my vision I saw myself in the citadel of Susa in the province of Elam; in the vision I was beside the Ulai Canal. I looked up, and there before me was '''a ram with two horns''', standing beside the canal, and the horns were long. '''One of the horns was longer than the other''' but grew up later. I watched the ram as it charged toward the west and the north and the south. No animal could stand against it, and none could rescue from its power. It did as it pleased and became great. As I was thinking about this, suddenly '''a goat with a prominent horn between its eyes came from the west''', crossing the whole earth without touching the ground. It came toward the two-horned ram I had seen standing beside the canal and charged at it in great rage. I saw it attack the ram furiously, striking the ram and shattering its two horns. The ram was powerless to stand against it; the goat knocked it to the ground and trampled on it, and none could rescue the ram from its power.<ref name="NIV"/>}}
 
The meaning of this prophetic vision is explained a few verses later; the identities of the two-horned ram and the one-horned goat are given:
 
{{Quote|Daniel 8:19-21|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.  '''The two-horned ram that you saw represents the kings of Media and Persia'''. The shaggy '''goat is the king of Greece''', and the large horn between its eyes is the first king.}}
 
On the one hand, the two-horned ram is associated with Persia and it conquering foes to the west, north ,and south is a reference to Cyrus leading Persia to become a great power in the region.  However, linking Cyrus explicitly to both of the "two horns" is problematic. First, the author of Daniel explicitly says that the ram represent two kings and not one specific king.  The implication is that Persia is the longer and newer of the two horns, since Persia was more powerful and rose in ascension later than Media.  The horn was a common metaphor for ruler or king in the Middle East, so this imagery is not unique to Persian kings or Cyrus the Great.  The clear explanation given in the text is that the ram represents the Persia-Media empire in general and not Cyrus in particular.  Since the ram was considered a symbol of Persia, this is not a unique depiction. <ref name="Guzik">Guzik, David. "Commentary on Daniel 8:1". "David Guzik's Commentaries on the Bible". Full text at [http://www.studylight.org/com/guz/view.cgi?book=da&chapter=008 studylight.org]. 1997-2003.</ref>
 
 
Another problem with identifying Cyrus as the ram is that the ram is defeated and disgraced by the goat. It's well known that Cyrus was responsible for freeing the Jews from slavery in Babylon <ref>Ezra 1:1-2</ref> and he is always portrayed favorably in the Bible.  In the book of Isiah, Cyrus is even called god's anointed <ref>Isiah 45:1</ref> which is the same word used for Messiah or Savior.  However, in this prophetic vision, the goat defeats the ram and tramples it, which is completely out of step with the way Cyrus is portrayed in the rest of Jewish scripture.  Again, this clearly shows that the Ram represents Persia as a whole and not Cyrus as an individual. 
 
 
We must also consider that Cyrus is mentioned explicitly by name 23 times <ref> Chron 36:22-33, Ezra 1:1-8, Ezra 3:7, Ezra 4:3-5, Ezra 5:13-17, Ezra 6:3,14, Isaiah 44:28, Isaiah 45:1,13, Daniel 1:21, Daniel 6:28, Daniel 10:1</ref> in the Bible including other parts of the book of Daniel; yet he is never given the epitaph of "Two Horns". If the Jews knew Cyrus by this epitaph then we should expect to see it mentioned in at least one of these verses.  When we consider that Alexander is explicitly said to have two horns in the Alexander legend, this lack of direct reference to Cyrus further weakens this theory.
 
 
In an ironic twist for the Muslim apologist, the horn on the goat is considered to be a reference to Alexander the Great.  The horn is explicitly called "the king of Greece" that comes form the west and charges to the east destroying everything in it's path; a basic summary of Alexander's conquest of the Persians.  Later in the chapter, we are told that the horn is broken (a reference to Alexander's death) and four horns appear in it's place (a reference to the four rulers that divided up Alexander's kingdom) <ref name="Guzik"/>. This again provides further evidence that the ram is not Cyrus, as Alexander lived three centuries after Cyrus and the two never fought each other on the battle field.
 
===Building a Wall===
 
We have no evidence that Cyrus the Great built large walls nor was famous for such deeds.  In his commentary, Maududi all but admits as much:
 
{{Quote| Tafsir Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi - Tafhim al-Qur'an|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. It is also known that strong bulwarks had been built in southern regions of Caucasia, though '''it has not been as yet historically established that these were built by Cyrus'''.|Introduction to Chapter 18 <ref name="Maududi"/>}}
 
 
When we compare this to the legendary version of Alexander, who not only built a wall against Gog and Magog but it was explicitly made 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.
 
==Historicity of the Story==
 
Another problem for Muslim apologists is the complete lack of physical evidence for the existence of this massive wall of iron and bronze that Dhul-Qarnayn supposedly built at the end of his final journey.  If this story is historically accurate then they should be able to point to the location of this large wall, between two mountains that is holding back a tribe of people bent on destroying the earth.
 
===Historical Claims in the Hadith===
 
The historical nature of the story is affirmed by the following Sahih Hadith by Bukhari which relates that Muhammed viewed this wall (here called a dam) holding back Gog and Magog as a real structure that was facing immanent demise.  In this account, he also reiterates that the wall's destruction will bring about death and destruction of the land when the tribes held behind it are let loose.
 
{{Quote|Sahih Bukhari Volume 009, Book 088, Hadith Number 249|
Bismillah-Hir-Rahman-Nir-Raheem
Narrated By Zainab bint Jahsh : That one day Allah's Apostle entered upon her in a state of fear and said, "None has the right to be worshiped but Allah! Woe to the Arabs from the Great evil that has approached (them). Today a hole has been opened in the dam of Gog and Magog like this." The Prophet made a circle with his index finger and thumb. Zainab bint Jahsh added: I said, "O Alllah's Apostle! Shall we be destroyed though there will be righteous people among us?" The Prophet said, "Yes, if the (number) of evil (persons) increased."|<ref> Sahih Bukhari Volume 009, Book 088, Hadith Number 249. Afflictions and the End of the War. Full text at [http://www.hadithcollection.com/sahihbukhari/121-Sahih%20Bukhari%20Book%2088.%20Afflictions%20and%20the%20End%20of%20the%20War/7799-sahih-bukhari-volume-009-book-088-hadith-number-249.html hadithcollection.com]. Sahih Muslim also records this Hadith. </ref>}}
 
===Great Wall of Gorgan===
 
The [[w:Great Wall of Gorgan|Great Wall of Gorgan]] is sometimes offered as a possible candidate for the wall built by Dhul-Qarnayn.  Made of clay from the local soil, the wall is called the Red Snake due to the color of its bricks.  The wall is 195 km (121 mi) long and interspersed with forts.  It covers an area between the Caspian Sea and the mountains of northeastern Iran. Dr. Kiani, who led an archaeological team in 1971, believed that the wall was built during the Parthian Empire (247 BCE–224 CE), and that it was restored during the Sassanid era (3rd to 7th century CE).<ref>
Omrani Rekavandi, H., Sauer, E., Wilkinson, T. & Nokandeh, J. (2008), [http://www.archaeology.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1555&Itemid=27 The enigma of the red snake: revealing one of the world’s greatest frontier walls], ''Current World Archaeology'', No. 27, February/March 2008, pp. 12-22.[http://www.shc.ed.ac.uk/staff/academic/esauer/pubs/iranian_walls.pdf PDF 5.3 MB].</ref>
 
 
Obviously, this wall cannot be same as the one described in the story of Dhul-Qarnayn for a number of reasons.  First, it is made of bricks not iron and brass.  It also doesn't cover an area between two mountains.  The story in the Qur'an says that the wall built by Dhul-Qarnayn holds back a tribe but this wall in northern Iran isn't holding back anyone; it is in a state of disrepair.  The Qur'an also says the wall of iron won't be destroyed until the day of judgement; unless the Muslim apologist is willing to admit that this Qur'anic prophecy has failed then this can't be the wall described in Surat 18.  Finally, even it's earliest dating of 247 BC puts it almost three centuries after the reign of Cyrus the Great (576–530 BC) and almost a century after Alexander the Great (356–323 BC).
 
===Caspian Gates of Derbent===
 
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.  Historically, it occupied one of the few passages through the Caucus mountains and it has often been identified with the word 'gate'.  Fortresses and walls have been built at this location probably dating back thousands of years. The historical Caspian Gates were not built until the reign of Khosrau I in the 6th century, long after Alexander, but they likely were attributed to him in the following centuries. The immense wall had a height of up to twenty meters and a thickness of about 3 meters when it was in use.
 
 
This wall can't be the same as the one in the Qur'an because it is not built between two mountains.  The walls near Derbent were built with the Caspian sea as one border. 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.  He saw two folding gates cased with iron hung with bells " <ref name="YusufAli"/>. Again, if this gate is the same as the one in the Qur'anic story then the apologist must admit that the revelation of the gate holding back Gog and Magog must have failed since they did not rampage over the nations nor bring about judgement day.  Besides, the solitary claim of single eye witness from the 7th century is spurious at best.  We should expect a massive structure would have left copious amounts of archaeological evidence, instead all we have are rumors and folktales.
 
==Conclusion==
 
In summary, the overwhelming preponderance of the evidence supports that:
 
* The story in the Qur'an parallels a medieval Syriac Christian legend of Alexander; it portrays him as a believing king who traveled the world and built a barrier of iron which holds back the tribes of Gog and Magog until judgement day.
* Almost every major element of the Quranic story can be found in Christian and Jewish folklore that dates hundreds of years prior to the time of Muhammad.
* Most early Muslim commentators and scholars identified Dhul-Qarnayn as Alexander the Great, and some modern ones do too.
* Historical and Archaeological evidence has revealed that the real Alexander was a polytheistic pagan who believed he was the literal son of Greek and Egyptian gods.
* The theory that Dhul-Qarnayn is Cyrus the Great has little evidence in it's favor compared to the overwhelming evidence that the story is actually based on a legendary version of Alexander.
* Today, there is no giant wall of iron and brass between two mountains that is holding back a tribe of people; it likely never existed.
 
 
From all of this we can conclude that the story of Dhul-Qarnayn is a myth about Alexander the Great and it has no basis in history nor reality.
 
==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

Revision as of 12:27, 23 November 2013

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Alexander the Great depicted with horns on a silver tetradrachm of Lysimachos, circa 297-281 B.C.

Introduction

Although there are some who consider Dhul-Qarnayn mentioned in Quran 18:86 to be one of the Persian kings, Darius the Great or Kyros, most scholars believe it to be referring to Alexander the Great, since Dhul-Qarnayn means the "two-horned one", and Alexander the Great was depicted on widely circulating coins with two horns on his headgear. There is also evidence that Alexander the Great was called Tre-Qarnayia in Aramaic, which means "the two horned-one".

It is very likely that the Qur'an was influenced by the so-called "Alexander Legend", part of the "Alexander Romance", since the journeys of the two-horned one to the setting and rising places of the sun, and the enclosing of Gog and Magog in the Qur'an closely match the records of the same episode in the Alexander Legend.

Gog and Magog

Gog and Magog in the Bible

The first account of the legend of Gog and Magog can be found in the Book of Ezekiel in the Old Testament of the Bible. According to this prophetical account, Gog and Magog will arrive at a later time in an apocalyptical scenario.

1. The word of The Lord came to me, saying,
2. Son of man, set your face toward Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him,
3. and say, Thus says the Lord The Lord: Behold, I am against you, Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal:
4. and I will turn you about, and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you forth, and all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed in full armor, a great company with buckler and shield, all of them handling swords;
5. Persia, Cush, and Put with them, all of them with shield and helmet;
6. Gomer, and all his hordes; the house of Togarmah in the uttermost parts of the north, and all his hordes; even many peoples with you.
Ezekiel 38:1-6

Gog and Magog are also mentioned in the Revelation of John, but the background is totally different and there seems to be no relationship between the two records.

6. Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over these, the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and will reign with him one thousand years.
7. And after the thousand years, Satan will be released from his prison,
8. and he will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to the war; the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
9. They went up over the breadth of the earth, and surrounded the camp of the saints, and the beloved city. Fire came down out of heaven from God, and devoured them.
Revelation of John 20:6-9

Gog and Magog according to the Alexander Legend

When Alexander the Great died on June 10, 323 BC, legends about his life arised soon after. The first collections of the so-called Alexander Romance were written in Greek can be dated to the 3rd century. Later versions were written in many languages including Armenian, Georgian, Persian, Arabic, Turkish, Hebrew, Serbian, Slavonic, Romanian, Hungarian, German, English, Italian, and French. Farther east, a late Mongol version is also extant.

Within an early 7th century version of the Alexander Romance, we have the famous Syriac legend about Alexander. It has been known since 1890 thanks to Theodore Nöldeke that there is a very close similarity between the account in the Qur’an of Dhu’l Qarnayn and this Alexander Legend. It was written in Syriac, probably around 630 AD, but incorporates older traditions such as that of the iron gate built by Alexander dating to at least the time of the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus in the 1st century AD[1] and journeys to the rising and setting place of the sun from the Epic of Gilgamesh.[2]

The Alexander Legend begins with Alexander expressing his desire to explore the ends of the Earth. It then has Alexander saying that God has given him horns on his head and he asks for power over other kingdoms. After collecting seven thousand iron and brass workers from Egypt, he goes to the fetid sea at the end of the Earth. He makes some evildoers go to the shore of the fetid sea, and they die. He and his men go to the window of heaven into which the sun sets between the fetid sea and a bright sea (although it does not say that the sun actually sets into this sea). The place where the sun rises is over the sea and the people who live there must flee from it and hide in the sea. The story then describes how Alexander[3] prostrates before God and travels through the heavens at night to the place where the sun rises. He then visits some mountains and the sources of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers. Next it has Alexander coming to some people who tell him about the Huns within the Northern mountains (Gog, Magog and other kings are listed). He offers to build an iron and brass gate to close up the breach between the mountains, does so and prophesises that God will destroy the gate at the end of the world and the Huns will go forth through it. Next there is a battle with the Persians and their allies after they were told of his gate. It then ends with Alexander worshiping in Jerusalem and his death in Alexandria.[4][5][6]

Kevin Van Bladel sums up the correspondence with the Qur’an passage in his recent article:

Thus, quite strikingly, almost every element of this short Qur’anic tale finds a more explicit and detailed counterpart in the Syriac Alexander Legend. In both texts the specific events are given in precisely the same order. Already earlier several cases of specific words that are exact matches between the Syriac and the Arabic were indicated. The water at the place where the sun sets is “fetid” in both texts, a perfect coincidence of two uncommon synonyms (Syraic Saryâ and Arabic hami’a).[7]

Gog and Magog according to the Qur'an

The account of Alexander the Great in the Qur'an can be found in the Surah of the Cave and starts at verse 18:86:

Until, when he reached the setting of the sun, he found it set in a spring of murky water: Near it he found a People: We said: "O Zul-qarnain! (thou hast authority,) either to punish them, or to treat them with kindness."
Quran 18:86

Surprisingly, Alexander the Great is regarded as a righteous follower of God who punishes disbelievers and promises reward for the believers:

87. He said: "Whoever doth wrong, him shall we punish; then shall he be sent back to his Lord; and He will punish him with a punishment unheard-of (before).
88. "But whoever believes, and works righteousness,- he shall have a goodly reward, and easy will be his task as We order it by our Command."
Qur'an 18:87-88

Then, he reaches the place where the sun rises:

Until, when he came to the rising of the sun, he found it rising on a people for whom We had provided no covering protection against the sun.
Quran 18:90

He meets people who let him build a barrier made of iron to protect themselves from the barbarians of Gog and Magog:

93. Until, when he reached (a tract) between two mountains, he found, beneath them, a people who scarcely understood a word.
94. They said: "O Zul-qarnain! the Gog and Magog (People) do great mischief on earth: shall we then render thee tribute in order that thou mightest erect a barrier between us and them?
95. He said: "(The power) in which my Lord has established me is better (than tribute): Help me therefore with strength (and labour): I will erect a strong barrier between you and them:
96. "Bring me blocks of iron." At length, when he had filled up the space between the two steep mountain-sides, He said, "Blow (with your bellows)" Then, when he had made it (red) as fire, he said: "Bring me, that I may pour over it, molten lead."
97. Thus were they made powerless to scale it or to dig through it.
Qur'an 18:93-97

After its completion, Alexander predicts that God will destroy the barrier at a certain time for an apocalyptic scenario:

98. He said: "This is a mercy from my Lord: But when the promise of my Lord comes to pass, He will make it into dust; and the promise of my Lord is true."
099. On that day We shall leave them to surge like waves on one another: the trumpet will be blown, and We shall collect them all together.
100. And We shall present Hell that day for Unbelievers to see, all spread out,-
Qur'an 18:98-100

Therefore, we have many confirmations that the story of Gog and Magog in the Qur'an derives from the Alexander Legend, a mythical account about Alexander the Great. This fact alone raises doubts and questions concerning the record in the Qur'an. However, even if this were not the case, the interpretation of the Qur'an contains many contradictions.

Contradictions in the Qur'an

The Qur'an refers to Alexander the Great as a holy man in an Islamic sense. However, according to many sources he not only believed in polytheism, but was also addicted to alcohol and never committed to Islam. This can in general also be said about the kings Kyros and Dareios.

But there are also contradictions against science. Did Alexander (or Kyros or Dareios) really find the places where the sun arises and disappears? This is impossible.

But this quote also clearly reveals that the knowledge of the author of the Qur'an in regards to the sun and space was influenced by contemporary literature and does not agree with modern science.

Moreover, the account does not agree with history. There is no place on earth where the iron walls built by Alexander (or Kyros or Dareios) can be found and there is also no evidence that Gog and Magog ever existed.

Conclusions

The story about Alexander the Great, his journeys to the setting and rising places of the sun and his barrier against Gog and Magog in the Qur'an are obviously derived from a version of the Alexander Legend, which was popular in the region at that time. Being a legend rather than a historical account, the story in the Qur'an contains many contradictions against history and science.

See Also

  • Dhul-Qarnayn - A hub page that leads to other articles related to Dhul-Qarnayn
  • Cosmology - A hub page that leads to other articles related to Cosmology

External Links

References

  1. ↑ Van Bladel, Kevin, “The Alexander legend in the Qur‘an 18:83-102″, In The Qur’ān in Its Historical Context, Ed. Gabriel Said Reynolds, p.181, New York: Routledge, 2007(See Flavius Josephus, The Wars of the Jews, Book VII, Chapter VII, Verse 4)
  2. ↑ Van Bladel 2007 op. cit. p.176 & p.197, note 6 See The Epic of Gilgamesh, Tablet IX - ancienttexts.org and The Epic of Gilgamesh, Tablet I - ancienttexts.org.
  3. ↑ Alexander, not the sun, as was incorrectly translated by A. W. Budge according to Van Bladel (Van Bladel 2007 op. cit. p. 198, note 12)
  4. ↑ A. W. Budge (trans.), “A Christian Legend Concerning Alexander” in The History Of Alexander The Great Being The Syriac Version Of The Pseudo-Callisthenes, pp. 144-158, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1889
  5. ↑ Budge's translation of the Syriac version and the much of the rest of the book can be viewed online at: The History Of Alexander The Great Being The Syriac Version Of The Pseudo-Callisthenes - Google books preview
  6. ↑ His translation is also quoted in full at A Christian Legend Concerning Alexander - answering-islam.org
  7. ↑ Van Bladel 2007 op. cit. p181
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