User talk:Zora/Dhul

Dhul-Qarnayn (Arabic ذو القرنين, also transcribed Dhu'l-Qarnein, Zul-Qurnayn, Zul-Qarnain, Zul-Qarneyn, etc.) is a figure mentioned in the Qur'an, the sacred scripture of Islam. He is said to have been a great and righteous ruler who built a long wall that keeps Gog and Magog from attacking the peoples of the West.

Alexander the Great -- or not?
The identity of Dhul-Qarnayn has become a matter of great controversy in modern times.

Medieval scholars of Islam identified Dhul-Qarnayn as the ancient Greek conqueror Alexander the Great. The early Muslim historian Ibn Hisham wrote, "Dhu al-Qarnain is Alexander the Greek, the king of Persia and Greece, or the king of the east and the west, for because of this he was called Dhul-Qarnayn [meaning, 'the two-horned one']..." Some modern Islamic scholars also identify Dhul-Qarnayn with Alexander the Great; for example, in the appendix of his famous translation of the Qur'an, Yusuf Ali argues for such an identification. Secular, academic scholars of the Qur'an also agree that Dhul-Qarnayn is an ancient epithet of the historical Alexander the Great.

If the Quranic references to Dhul-Qarnayn are to be construed as references to Alexander the Great, however, then those references are clearly folklore rather than history. Alexander the Great is not known to have built such a wall. Moreover, Dhul-Qarnayn has been revered by Muslims as a prophet which -- if he is the pagan and homosexual Alexander -- is scandalous.

For the many Muslims who believe that the Qur'an is perfect and infallible, this is a challenge to belief. Current Muslim orthodoxy posits that earlier interpreters were wrong, and that Dhul-Qarnayn is not Alexander, but another ruler, unknown to history.

A similar challenge is posed by Quranic stories of Abraham, Jesus, and other figures from the Judeo-Christian tradition, stories that contradict the accounts given in the Torah and the New Testament. Muslim exegetes account for these differences by postulating that it is the Jewish and Christian traditions that are corrupt, not the Qur'an. Secular scholars argue out that, just as in the case of Dhul-Qarnayn, these historical references reflect what was believed to be true in 7th century Arabia, not actual historical fact.

Interpretation of the Qur'an as a 7th century document and not an infallible divine text is a variation upon higher criticism, the academic pursuit that, starting in the 19th century, has posed a similar challenge to a fundamentalist interpretation of the Christian and Jewish sacred texts.

What the Qur'an says about Dhul-Qarnayn
From the Qur'an (Chapter 18):


 * [83] They ask thee concerning Zul-qarnain Say, "I will rehearse to you something of his story."
 * [84] Verily We established his power on earth, and We gave him the ways and the means to all ends.
 * [85] One (such) way he followed,
 * [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."
 * [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."
 * [89] Then followed he (another) way.
 * [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.
 * [91] (He left them) as they were: We completely understood what was before him.
 * [92] Then followed he (another) way,
 * [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.
 * [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."

Muslim veneration of Dhul-Qarnayn


Early Muslim scholars identified the Dhul-Qarnayn of the Qur'an with Alexander the Great. In the following centuries, Dhul-Qarnayn was often (if not always) regarded by Muslims as a Prophet of Islam.

The Persian Alexander legend is known as the Iskandarnamah. Persian writers told stories in which Alexander's mother was a wife or concubine of Darius II, making him the half-brother of the last Achaemenid shah, Darius III. Muslim writers wove these legends into their meditations upon Dhul-Qarnayn.

By the 12th century writers such as Nezami Ganjavi were writing epic poems about Alexander, holding him up as the model of the ideal statesman or philosopher-king.

Reasons to identify Dhul-Qarnayn with Alexander the Great
Alexander the Great was an immensely popular figure in the classical and post-classical cultures of the Mediterranean and Near East. Almost immediately after his death a body of legend began to accumulate about his exploits and life which, over the centuries, became increasingly fantastic as well as allegorical. Collectively this tradition is called the Alexander Romance and features such vivid episodes as Alexander ascending through the air to Paradise or journeying to the bottom of the sea in a glass bubble.

The Alexander Romance was incorporated into various Jewish and later Christian legends, from whence it passed to Arabia and Muhammad -- or so say the secular historians.

Jewish legends
In the Jewish tradition Alexander was initially a figure of satire, representing the vain or covetous ruler who is ignorant of larger spiritual truths. Yet their belief in a just, all-powerful God forced Jewish interpreters of the Alexander tradition to come to terms with Alexander's undeniable temporal success. Why would a just, all-powerful God show such favor to an unrighteous ruler? This theological need, plus acculturation to Hellenism, led to a more positive Jewish interpretation of the Alexander legacy.

In its most neutral form this was typified by having Alexander show deference to either the Jewish people or the symbols of their faith. In having the great conqueror thus acknowledge the essential truth of the Jews' religious, intellectual, or ethical traditions, the prestige of Alexander was harnessed to the cause of Jewish ethnocentrism. Eventually Jewish writers would almost completely co-opt Alexander, depicting him as a righteous gentile or even a believing monotheist.

Christian legends
The Christianized peoples of the Near East, inheritors of both the Hellenic as well as Judaic strands of the Alexander Romance, further embellished the Alexander legend until in some stories he was depicted as a near-saint, a monotheist Believing King (contrary to known historical facts).

The two-horned one
The Arabic name "Dhul-Qarnayn" literally means "the two-horned one." Alexander the Great was often depicted with the horns of Amon. The coins pictured above show a horned Alexander. One of the coins was minted in 2nd century Arabia, showing that the legend was current there long before Muhammad.

Alexander was shown with horns because he was identified with the Egyptian horned god Amon. The rulers of Egypt had long based their claims to legitimacy upon divine descent. Alexander, as the conqueror of Egypt, had advanced a competing claim, that he was the son of Amon and thereby entitled to rule.


 * "He seems to have become convinced of the reality of his own divinity and to have required its acceptance by others ... The cities perforce complied, but often ironically: the Spartan decree read, 'Since Alexander wishes to be a god, let him be a god.'"

In the Alexander Romance, a Christian legend has it that, in one of his prayers to God, Alexander said, "O God ... Thou hast made me horns upon my heads" and the translator adds in a footnote that in the Ethiopic version of this legend, "Alexander is always referred to as 'the two horned,'" (p.146.)

The Caspian Gates
The Alexander Romance includes the Christian legend of the Caspian Gates, also known as Alexander's wall, built by Alexander to fence off the barbaric hordes of Gog and Magog. Several variations of this legend can be found. In the legend, Alexander the Great builds a gate of iron between two mountains to prevent the armies of Gog and Magog from attacking. This is precisely the story that the Qur'an tells of Dhul-Qarnayn.

One academic notes, "The episode of the building of the gate against Gog and Magog is found in the Christian legend concerning Alexander, and in the poetic version of Jacob of Serugh which was written not later than A.D. 521. The Koran was written over a century after this version." (p. 201).

A version of the Christian legend gives a supposed letter from Alexander to his mother:


 * "I petitioned the exalted Deity, and he heard my prayer. And the exalted Deity commanded the two mountains and they moved and approached each other to a distance of twelve ells, and there I made .... copper gates 12 ells broad, and 60 ells high, and smeared them over within and without with ... so that neither fire nor iron, nor any other means should be able to loosen the copper; since fire was put out against it, and iron was shattered. Within these gates, I made another construction of stones, each of which was eleven ells broad, 20 ells high, and 60 ells thick. And having done this I finished the construction by putting mixed tin and lead over the stones, and smearing .... over the whole, so that no one might be able to do anything against the gates. I called them the Caspian Gates. Twenty and Two Kings did I shut up therein." (pp.177-178).

When Alexander's Gate was accepted as history, then it seemed reasonable that historians and geographers should note its real-life location. Various accounts were current. One historian notes,


 * "The gate itself had wandered from the Caspian Gates to the pass of Dariel, from the pass of Dariel to the pass of Derbend, as well as to the far north; nay, it had travelled even as far as remote eastern or north-eastern Asia, gathering in strength and increasing in size as it went, and actually carrying the mountains of Caspia with it. Then, as the full light of modern day come on, the Alexander Romance ceased to be regarded as history, and with it Alexander's Gate passed into the realm of fairyland." (pp.103-104).

Gog and Magog
In the Christian legends, Alexander the Great builds a mighty wall and gate between two mountains, preventing the hordes of Gog and Magog from invading the Earth. In the Qur'an, Dhul-Qarnayn builds a mighty wall and gate between two mountains, preventing the hordes of Gog and Magog from invading the Earth.

Christian legend has it that in the end times, before the Judgement Day, the wall and gate will be destroyed and the barbarians will overwhelm the civilized world. The Qur'an also says that this will happen.


 * "...Until the Gog and Magog (people) are let through (the gate), and they swiftly swarm from every hill. Then will the True Promise draw nigh (of fulfilment). Then behold! The eyes of the Unbelievers will fixedly stare in horror ..." (Qur'an 21:96-97)

Reasons not to identify Alexander and Dhul-Qarnayn
Medieval Muslim scholars were happy to identify Alexander and Dhul-Qarnayn. Now that more is known of Alexander, many contemporary Muslims assert that the medieval scholars were mistaken and that Dhul-Qarnayn cannot be Alexander.

Some argue that we know nothing of Dhul-Qarnayn save what is found in the Qur'an, and that not enough information is there given to link Dhul-Qarnayn and Alexander -- or indeed any historical figure. 

Some have postulated an Alexander who lived 2000 years before Alexander the Great).

Other Muslim scholars, such as Maududi and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, have suggested that Dhul-Qarnayn is Cyrus the Great.

Yet other Muslims have suggested that Dhul-Qarnayn is the mysterious Tubba' of Yemen or Narmer.

Note re Alexander's wall and flat-earth theories
How can a single wall and gate prevent the barbarians from invading the civilized countries to the West? Most of the legends of Alexander's wall assume that the earth is a flat disk, surrounded by mountains.





The Qur'an's story of Dhul-Qarnayn also seems to imply a flat earth:


 * "Then he [Dhul-Qarnayn] followed a way until, when he reached the rising of the Sun, he found it rising upon a people for whom We had not appointed any veil to shade them from it ... " (Qur'an 18:89-90).

The Qur'an also describes Dhul-Qarnayn travelling to the place where the sun sets into a spring of a water:


 * "... Until when he [Dhul-Qarnayn] reached the setting of the Sun, he found it set in a spring of murky water. Near it he found a People. We said: "Dhul-Qarnayn! (Thou hast authority,) either to punish them or to treat them with kindness." (Qur'an 18:86)

Some Muslim exegeses of the Qur'an conclude that the divine book thus prescribes a belief in a flat earth.

Some Muslim scholars who accept the identification of Dhul-Qarnayn and Alexander nevertheless insist that the Qur'an's descriptions of Dhul-Qarnayn's travels are just allegorical references to Alexander's travels towards the east and the west, and do not imply that Dhul-Qarnayn travelled to the ends of a flat Earth. They argue that sophisticated Muslim scholars did not accept the flat earth theory -- in fact, Muslim mathematicians developed spherical trigonometry in order to calculate the qibla, or direction of Mecca, so that the daily prayers could be offered properly. Use of spherical trigonometry implies belief in a round earth.

For further discussion, see Islam and flat-earth theories.