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Dhul-Qarnayn and the Alexander Romance: Difference between revisions
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Dhul-Qarnayn and the Alexander Romance (view source)
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{{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."}} | {{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."}} | ||
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 [http://books.google.com/books?id=DbtkpgGn4CEC&pg=PA175 "The Qur’ān in Its Historical Context"], Ed. Gabriel Said Reynolds, New York: Routledge, 2007.</ref> Similar connections can be found in Islamic poetry contemporary to the time of Muhammad. Muhammad ibn Ishāq ibn Yasār ibn Khiyār recorded many pre-Islamic Arabic poems in his [[Sirat Rasul Allah]] (Biography of Muhammad); This included a poem | 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 [http://books.google.com/books?id=DbtkpgGn4CEC&pg=PA175 "The Qur’ān in Its Historical Context"], Ed. Gabriel Said Reynolds, New York: Routledge, 2007.</ref> Similar connections can be found in Islamic poetry contemporary to the time of Muhammad. Muhammad ibn Ishāq ibn Yasār ibn Khiyār recorded many pre-Islamic Arabic poems in his [[Sirat Rasul Allah]] (Biography of Muhammad); This included a poem which mentions Dhul-Qarnayn at the end and which Ibn Ishaq 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|The Life of Muhammad: A Translation of Ibn Ishaq's Sirat Rasul Allah| | {{Quote|The Life of Muhammad: A Translation of Ibn Ishaq's Sirat Rasul Allah|Dhu'l-Qarnayn before me was a Muslim<BR /> | ||
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>}} | Conquered kings thronged his court,<BR /> | ||
East and west he ruled, yet he sought<BR /> | |||
Knowledge true from a learned sage.<BR /> | |||
He saw where the sun sinks from view,<BR /> | |||
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>}} | |||
Similarly, a poem attributed to Hāssan b. Thābit, who was a contemporary of Muhammad and employed by him as a poet, reads as follows: | |||
{{Quote|Poem attributed to Hāssan b. Thābit<ref>Hāssan b. Thābit quoted in R. A. Nicholson (transl.), A Literary History of the Arabs, p. 18, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1907</ref>|Ours the realm of Dhu ’l-Qarnayn the glorious,<BR /> | |||
Realm like his was never won by mortal king.<BR /> | |||
'''Followed he the sun to view its setting'''<BR /> | |||
'''When it sank into the sombre ocean-spring;'''<BR /> | |||
Up he clomb to see it rise at morning,<BR /> | |||
From within its mansion when the East it fired;<BR /> | |||
All day long the horizons led him onward,<BR /> | |||
All night through he watched the stars and never tired.<BR /> | |||
Then of iron and of liquid metal<BR /> | |||
He prepared a rampart not to be o’erpassed,<BR /> | |||
Gog and Magog there he threw in prison<BR /> | |||
Till on Judgement Day they shall awake at last<BR />}} | |||
===Punishment of Wrongdoers=== | ===Punishment of Wrongdoers=== | ||