Gog and Magog
They ask thee concerning Zulqarnain. Say:
“I will rehearse to you something of his story.” Verily, we established his power on earth, and We gave him the ways and the means to all ends. 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 Zulqarnain! Thou hast authority, either to punish them or to treat them with kindness.”
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. 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.”
Then he followed 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. He left them as they were: he completely understood what was before him.
Then he followed another way, until, when he reached a tract between two mountains, he found, beneath them, a people who scarcely understood a word. They said, “O Zulqarnain! The Gog and Magog people do great mischief on earth: shall we then render thee tribute in order that thou might erect a barrier between them and us?”
He said, “The power in which my Lord has established me is better than tribute. Help me therefore with strength and labor: I will erect a strong barrier between you and them. 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.” Thus were they made powerless to scale it or to dig through it. 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. And We shall present Hell that day for Unbelievers to see, all spread out—Unbelievers whose eyes had been under a veil from remembrance of Me, and who had been unable even to hear.
Do the Unbelievers think that they can take My servants as protectors besides Me? Verily, We have prepared Hell for the Unbelievers for their entertainment.
Say: “Shall we tell you of those who lose most in respect of their deeds? Those whose efforts have been wasted in this life, while they thought that they were acquiring good by their works?”
They are those who deny the Signs of their Lord and the fact of their having to meet Him (in the Hereafter): vain will be their works, nor shall We, on the Day of Judgment, give them any weight. That is their reward—Hell—because they rejected Faith, and took My Signs and My Messengers by way of jest.
As to those who believe and work righteous deeds, they have, for their entertainment, the Gardens of Paradise, wherein they shall dwell forever: no change will they wish for from them. Say: “If the ocean were ink (wherewith to write out) the words of my Lord, sooner would the ocean be exhausted than the words of my Lord, even if we added another ocean like it for its aid.”
Say: “I am but a man like yourselves, (but) the inspiration has come to me, that your God is One God. Whoever expects to meet his Lord, let him work righteousness, and, in the worship of his Lord, admit no one as partner.” (S: 18, V: 83–110)
A dream of Daniel has been mentioned in the Old Testament, in which he witnesses the kingdoms of Media and Persia as a big ram with two horns. Zulqarnain literally means Lord of Two Qarns. Qarn may mean: a horn as in the case of a ram or bull; in a metaphorical sense, as in English, the horns of a crescent or the horns of a kingdom or territory; two portions at opposite ends; a summit; a lock of hair; a crest worn by eastern kings on their diadems; referring to time—an epoch and age, a generation.
The most popular interpretation of Zulqarnain is Alexander the Great (356–323 BC). But according to some, it was Persian conqueror Cyrus in 549 BC, who conquered Babylon soon after the conquest of Media (Aljabal) and Lydia (Asia Minor). His conquests were spread from Sindh to present-day Turkmenistan, Egypt and Libya, and on the other side up to Thrace and Macedonia, and in the north, the territory of his kingdom reached Caucasia and Khwarazm. The entire civilized world was under his rule.
In the west, his empire stretched up to Asia Minor and all the coasts of Syria, and in the east, it extended up to Balkh. Gog and Magog were tribes of the Caucasian Mountains, situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. Many stories have become famous about Gog and Magog, which portray them as imaginary mythological creatures. One such story is that at the end of the limits of the land, on one side of the inaccessible mountains lived the Gog and Magog, and on the other side lived people of virtue and piety. Gog and Magog crossed these mountains through difficult terrain and attacked the noble people. When Zulqarnain preached monotheism to those noble people, they told him about Gog and Magog and requested his help. When he inquired, he was told that on one of the mountains lived the children of Gog and on the other one lived the children of Magog. They were the descendants of the son of Noah, Yafith.
One such unbelievable story is that some of these people are very tall and some are very dwarf. They have such large ears that they dangle on the ground. They spread one ear on the ground and cover themselves with the other when they sleep. They are uncivilized and live like animals. They do not know God, nor do they acknowledge Him as God. Upon hearing about their invasions and attacks, Zulqarnain ordered the construction of an iron wall between the two mountains, making it impossible for them to cross. To make an insurmountable wall, large sheets of iron were piled on one another in the valley between the mountains, and molten lead was poured upon them.
“Then he followed another way, until, when he reached a tract between two mountains, he found, beneath them, a people who scarcely understood a word. They said, ‘O Zulqarnain! The Gog and Magog people do great mischief on earth. Shall we then render thee tribute in order that thou might erect a barrier between them and us?’
He said, ‘The power in which my Lord has established me is better than tribute. Help me therefore with strength and labor: I will erect a strong barrier between you and them. 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.’
(S: 18, V: 92–96)
Some fifty years before Cyrus, Nebuchadnezzar reigned in Babylon. Babylonians worshipped idols, and Nebuchadnezzar was considered the greatest god. It was his right to inflict punishment upon any kingdom he deemed appropriate. He attacked Jerusalem three times and treated the Palestinians like cattle. Josephus, the Jewish historian, writes: Even the most cruel butcher would not treat the sheep so mercilessly, which he takes to the slaughterhouse, as Nebuchadnezzar treated the Children of Israel.
Babylon had grown even stronger after the fall of the Assyrians, and no kingdom around her had the courage or strength to face her. After the fall of Jerusalem, King Nebuchadnezzar died, and Belshazzar, who was tyrannical and self-seeking, became king. He was not as brave or courageous as his predecessor. Daniel, one of the slaves from Israel, had risen to the position of a councilor in the Babylonian court due to his wisdom and knowledge. He tried to stop Belshazzar from his tyrannical approach many times. When he saw that his words had no effect, he dissociated himself from the court.
According to the Book of Daniel in the Old Testament, Belshazzar, upon the instigation of the queen, commanded that wine be served in the golden and silver vessels that Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple of Jerusalem. During the feast, Belshazzar saw a hand writing an inscription above the candlestick on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace. The king saw the hand and became deeply troubled. The mysterious hand wrote: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. The king asked for the interpretation from royal astrologers and soothsayers, but no one could explain the words. Daniel interpreted this writing, saying, “God has numbered thy kingdom and finished it. Thou art weighed in the balances and found wanting. Thy kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”
Babylonians were looking for a way to rid themselves of their tyrant ruler. Some chiefs approached Cyrus and requested his help in getting rid of Belshazzar. Cyrus invaded Babylon as promised.
In those days, no city had such strong defenses as Babylon, but the people of the city and the governor assisted him in entering. He entered the city, Belshazzar was killed, and Darius the Median took the kingdom. Thus, the prophecy of Daniel came true.
Darius had various inscriptions engraved upon mountain rocks to leave his marks on history and inform future generations of his and his predecessor’s achievements, governance, and beliefs. According to these inscriptions, Cyrus was a pious king who believed in one God, unlike the ancient Magi religion of Persia.
Ali (RA) stated that Zulqarnain was neither a prophet nor an angel. He was a human being who adored God, and so God adored him.
Abdullah bin Abbas (RA) said, “Zulqarnain was a pious and kind king. God liked his deeds and praised him in His Last Book, the Holy Quran. He was indeed a great conqueror and a successful king.”
When Cyrus, conquering city after city, reached a point in the east where the limits of the civilized world ended, he encountered a people who did not know how to erect even a tent, let alone a building, and lived like wild animals. Nobody understood the language they spoke.
Even opponents and enemies praised the justice of Cyrus. The Old Testament also testifies that he was God-fearing and helped the Israelites only to free them from the tyrannical rule of the Babylonians. He commanded the reconstruction of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem for the worship of One God only.
When people said to him, “O Zulqarnain! The Gog and Magog do great mischief on earth. Shall we then render thee tribute in order that thou might erect a barrier between us and them?”
He said, “That which God has granted me is better than tributes. As a ruler, it is my duty to protect my subjects from their enemies. To impose any tax on you for that would not be fair. The treasures God has given me are sufficient for this work. You only need to extend hard work and labor to complete it.”
After constructing the wall, Zulqarnain said, “I have constructed this wall as strong as was humanly possible for me, but it will not stand eternally. It will turn into dust when the promise of my God is fulfilled. The promise of God is indeed true. Everything except my Lord must come to an end.”
This story also tells us that Zulqarnain, whose greatness is recounted here, was not only a conqueror and ruler but also a staunch believer in One God and the Hereafter. He was a man of virtuous principles, believed in justice, and was very caring and kind to his subjects. He was not haughty and proud like other tyrant rulers of the world.
Once, His Divine Grace Qalandar Baba Auliya (RA), speaking about Gog and Magog, said, “Chinese tribes are the progeny of Gog and Magog, and a time would come when China would rule over the world and enjoy supreme sovereignty. It means that this nation would become economically so developed and strong that it would have control all over the world, and great empires would bow before her.”