Dhul-Qarnayn

Dhul-Qarnayn (Arabic: ذو القرنين ḏū al-qarnayn, IPA: [ðuːlqarˈnajn]), literally "He of the Two Horns" or "He of the two centuries" ^[1] is a figure mentioned in the Qur'an, the sacred scripture of Islam, where he is described as a great and righteous ruler who built a long wall that keeps Gog and Magog from attacking the people who he met on his journey to the east (i.e., the rising of the sun). According to a classical interpretation, the name is due to his having reached the two 'Horns' of the Sun, east and west, where it rises and where it sets" during his journey.^[2]

The identification of Dhul-Qarnayn in historical context is not clear, and therefore this subject has generated various theories. In modern scholarship the character is usually identified as Alexander the Great,^[3] who is ascribed similar adventures in the Alexander romance.^[4] The same opinion is held in traditional Islamic scholarship.^[5] In other modern scholarship the character is usually identified as Cyrus the Great^[6] Some modern scholars also identify the character as Byzantine emperor Heraclius, who was celebrated by his contemporaries as a "second Alexander" and whose Persian campaign had inspired the Alexander romance.^[7]

Name

Arabic "Dhul-Qarnayn" (Arabic: ذو القرنين‎, ḏū al-qarnayni) literally translates to "possessor of the two horns". "Dhu" (Arabic: ذو‎, ḏū) means "owner".

Qur'anic narrative

The story of Dhul-Qarnayn appears in sixteen verses of the Qur'an, specifically verses 18:83-98:

Verse	Abdullah Yusuf Ali	Pickthall
18:83	They ask thee concerning Zul-qarnain Say, "I will rehearse to you something of his story."	They will ask thee of Dhu'l-Qarneyn. Say: "I shall recite unto you a remembrance of him."
18:84	Verily We established his power on earth, and We gave him the ways and the means to all ends.	Lo! We made him strong in the land and gave him unto every thing a road.
18:85	One (such) way he followed,	And he followed a road
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."	Till, when he reached the setting-place of the sun, he found it setting in a muddy spring, and found a people thereabout. We said: "O Dhu'l-Qarneyn! Either punish or show them kindness."
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).	He said: "As for him who doeth wrong, we shall punish him, and then he will be brought back unto his Lord, Who will punish him with awful punishment!"
18:88	"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."	"But as for him who believeth and doeth right, good will be his reward, and We shall speak unto him a mild command."
18:89	Then followed he (another) way.	Then he followed a road
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.	Till, when he reached the rising-place of the sun, he found it rising on a people for whom We had appointed no shelter therefrom.
18:91	(He left them) as they were: We completely understood what was before him.	So (it was). And We knew all concerning him.
18:92	Then followed he (another) way.	Then he followed a road
18:93	Until, when he reached (a tract) between two mountains, he found, beneath them, a people who scarcely understood a word.	Till, when he came between the two mountains, he found upon their hither side a folk that scarce could understand a saying.
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?"	They said: "O Dhu'l-Qarneyn! Lo! Gog and Magog are spoiling the land. So may we pay thee tribute on condition that thou set a barrier between us and them?"
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:	He said: "That wherein my Lord hath established me is better (than your tribute). Do but help me with strength (of men), I will set between you and them a bank."
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."	"Give me pieces of iron" - till, when he had leveled up (the gap) between the cliffs, he said: "Blow!" - till, when he had made it a fire, he said: "Bring me molten copper to pour thereon."
18:97	Thus were they made powerless to scale it or to dig through it.	And (Gog and Magog) were not able to surmount, nor could they pierce (it).
18:98	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."	He said: "This is a mercy from my Lord; but when the promise of my Lord cometh to pass, He will lay it low, for the promise of my Lord is true."

Traditional exegesis (tafsir)

According to Tafsir ibn Kathir by Ibn Kathir, a widely used 14th-century commentary on the Qur'an:

The Quraysh sent An-Nadr bin Al-Harith and `Uqbah bin Abi Mu`it to the rabbis in Al-Madinah, and told them: `Ask them (the rabbis) about Muhammad, and describe him to them, and tell them what he is saying. They are the people of the first Book, and they have more knowledge of the Prophets than we do.' So they set out and when they reached Al-Madinah, they asked the rabbis about the Messenger of Allah. They described him to them and told them some of what he had said. They said, `You are the people of the Tawrah and we have come to you so that you can tell us about this companion of ours.' They (the rabbis) said, `Ask him about three things which we will tell you to ask, and if he answers them then he is a Prophet who has been sent (by Allah); if he does not, then he is saying things that are not true, in which case how you will deal with him will be up to you. Ask him about some young men in ancient times, what was their story for theirs is a strange and wondrous tale. Ask him about a man who travelled a great deal and reached the east and the west of the earth. What was his story And ask him about the Ruh (soul or spirit) – what is it If he tells you about these things, then he is a Prophet, so follow him, but if he does not tell you, then he is a man who is making things up, so deal with him as you see fit.[1]

According to Maududi's conservative 20th century commentary:

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-Qarnain? 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. Allah, however, not only gave a complete answer to their questions but also employed the three stories to the disadvantage of the opponents of Islam in the conflict that was going on at that time at Makkah between Islam and un-belief.[2]

12th century map by the Muslim scholar 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, at a location corresponding roughly to Mongolia. This is a reference to the story of Dhul-Qarnayn in the Qur'an.

Possible identity

Alexander the Great

Main article: Alexander in the Qur'an

Cyrus the Great

Main article: Cyrus the Great in the Qur'an

Differences Between Alexander the Great and Dhul-Qarnayn

The suggestion that Dhul-Qarnayn is Cyrus the Great is supported by some of the Quranic commentaries (Tafsir) and Islamic scholars such as Allameh Tabatabaei (in his Tafsir al-Mizan)^[8], Allameh Tehrani ^[6], Syed Ahmed Khan (known interpreter of the Quran), Abul Kalam Azad (Minister of Culture, India, in Majma' al-Bayan), and Dr. Baha-ed-Din Khorramshahi. Mohammad Ebrahim Bastani Parizi the historian, also deny that Dhul-Qarnayn was Alexander the Great.^[9] They tend to suspect that Dhul-Qarnayn was Cyrus the Great, the King and founder of Achaemenid empire. They provide strong evidence, including artifacts, stone carving palaces and graves. Some of their reasons are:

1. In the carved stone that can still be seen up to now show Cyrus with his crown with two horns.^[9]
2. According to the Quran, God's grace be with him and with it, Cyrus was the first king (several hundred years before Alexander the Great) who conquered most of Europe and Asia.^[9]
3. Cyrus (as Dhul-Qarnayn) was a monotheist and worshipped the God, but Alexander the Great had many gods.^[9]
4. In the Quran, Dhul-Qarnayn noted that the journey begins to the west and then to the east before the road to the other (the North), which coincided with the start the expedition of Cyrus the Persian conquest in the West to Lydia in Asia Minor and then turned to the east until the Makran and Sistan (Scythian) prior to capturing the Northeast Europe near the Balkan.^[9]
5. Expedition of Cyrus proceeded with the conquest of Lycia, Cilicia and Phoenicia, and they use the techniques of wall construction is not used anymore by the Greeks at that time.^[9]
6. According to the Quran, Alexander travel easier and more chance for Cyrus, he could end the expedition was that in 542 BC, before returning to Persia, while Alexander was still in war mission when he died.^[9]
7. Alexander didn't built dams, there are just some fictional stories about this but there's not any historical document about it.^[9] (Look at Strabo's Geography for more information)^[8]
8. Besides, Alexander also said to be as generous as it is said Alexander drinking alcohol and partying often, and also have a man, Hephaestion, as a lover.^[9][8][10]

Azad also rejected what it already belongs to Qahtaan Arabic Yemen, on the basis that the question of the Jews by the Prophet was with a view to embarrass him, even if the Arabs of Quraish were aware of it and asked what was miraculous.^[9][8][10]

Azad builds his theory on the basis that the origin of the name "Dhul-Qarnayn" comes from the name stated in the Torah is "Haqqərānayim" which is launched by the name of the Jews to Cyrus, to show tolerance to them when his predecessors had been unjust to them.^[9][10][11]

In Old Testament

Main article: Daniel 7

In Arabic translations of the Old Testament, the word "Dhul Qarnayn" (Hebrew: Ba'al Haqqərānayim בעל הקרנים) appears once in the Old Testament, in the Book of Daniel 8:20:

أَمَّا الْكَبْشُ الَّذِي رَأَيْتَهُ ذَا الْقَرْنَيْنِ فَهُوَ مُلُوكُ مَادِي وَفَارِسَ

Translation (New International Version): The two-horned ram that you saw represents the kings of Media and Persia.Daniel 8:20

References

1. ^ English-Arabic Dictionary
2. ^ Tafsir ibn Kathir, English Translation, Quran 18:84
3. ^ William Montgomery Watt: al-Iskandar, in: Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd ed., Vol. IV, 1997, p. 127
4. ^ Rudi Paret: Der Koran. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart, Germany, 2005, ISBN 3-17-018990-5, p. 318
5. ^ "Alexander the Great". Oxford Islamic Studies Online. http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t125/e113?_hi=0&_pos=5. 
6. ^ ^{a b} Ma'arefat Al-Maad - Ma'ad Shanasi, موقع المتقين.
7. ^ V. Popp, K.-H. Ohlig: Der frühe Islam. Eine historisch-kritische Rekonstruktion anhand zeitgenössischer Quellen. Schiler Verlag, 2nd ed., 2010, p. 36
8. ^ ^{a b c d} ذوالقرنين و اثبات پيامبري كورش، از خلال: ترجمه‌ی تفسير‌الميزان، محمد‌حسین الطباطبائی، ترجمه: محمد‌باقر موسوی همدانی، تهران: دارالعلم، 1385، - جلد 13، صص523-544
9. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k} کوروش کبیر یا ذوالقرنین، ابو الکلام آزاد ترجمه : دکتر محمدابراهیم باستانی پاریزی، تهران: نشر کورش، 1375
10. ^ ^{a b c} مجمع البیان فی تفسیر القرآن، ابو‌علی فضل‌الله بن‌الحسن الطبرسی، تهران: وزارت فرهنگ و ارشاد اسلامی، 1380
11. ^ متن تفسیر نمونه، آيت‌الله ناصر مکارم شيرازی، محمد‌رضا آشتيانی [و ديگران، تهران: دار‌الکتب الاسلاميه، 1387، کتابخانه اهل البیت علیهم‌السلام]

Bibliography

• Bietenholz, Peter G. (1994). Historia and fabula: myths and legends in historical thought from antiquity to the modern age. Brill. http://books.google.com.au/books?id=ZFjXaCAWoOUC&pg=PA62&lpg=PA62&dq=Bietenholz+Historia+and+fabula&source=bl&ots=jWwMpOo82A&sig=AhyAv80oPI5Zni4DPv0x3TTNx0Y&hl=en&ei=F8rDTZezH42GvAPyzIibAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBkQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false. 

• Wheeler, Brannon (2006). "Alexander". In Josef W. Meri, Jere L. Bacharach. Medieval Islamic civilization. Oxford University Press. http://books.google.com/books?id=H-k9oc9xsuAC&pg=PA29&dq=Dhu+al-qarnayn&hl=en&ei=w4D0TaOaJYPGvQPjjIXMBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CDwQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=Dhu%20al-qarnayn&f=false. 

Publication

1. ^ Alexander the Great, p. 37, Richard Stoneman, Routledge, 1997.
2. ^ A. Shapur Shahbazi, 'Iranians and Alexander', American Journal of Ancient History n.s. 2 (2003), 5-38
3. ^ The Wars of the Jews, VII, vii, Flavius Josephus.
4. ^ The Antiquities of the Jews, I, vi, Flavius Josephus.
5. ^ Sahih Bukhari, English Translation, Hadith number 6326
6. ^ Kathir, 2002. Tafsir Ibn Kathir. Surah Al-Kahf. Electronic web-only document last updated October 26, 2002. Tafsir.com. Extracted on September 22, 2010 from http://www.tafsir.com/default.asp?sid=18&tid=29908