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Dhul-Qarnayn (Arabic ذو القرنين, also transcribed Dhu'l-Qarnein, Zul-Qurnayn, Zul-Qarnain, Zul-Qarneyn, Zul-Qarnayn, etc.) is a figure who was well-known in the lore of the early medieval dwellers of the Arabian Peninsula, and is mentioned in the Qur'an, the sacred scripture of Islam. Dhul-Qarnayn is regarded by some Muslims as a prophet. The Qur'an indicates that the people, during Muhammad's time, already knew tales of a person of great power by the name of Dhul-Qarnayn.

Some Muslims scholars of Islam identified the character of Dhul-Qarnayn with the ancient Greek conqueror Alexander the Great. Even some modern Muslim scholars identified Dhul-Qarnayn with Alexander the Great. It is not clear why exactly these Muslim scholars identified Dhul-Qarnayn with Alexander the Great. Orientalist scholars, studying ancient Christian legends about Alexander the Great, independantly came to the conclusion that Dhul-Qarnayn is an ancient epithet for Alexander the Great. As a result, the identity of Dhul-Qarnayn has become a matter of great controversy in modern times.

Dhul-Qarnayn in the Qur'an

Very little is written about Dhul-Qarnayn in the original sources of Islam, but he features prominently in the Qur'an, the sacred scripture believed by Muslims to have been revealed by God to Muhammad. He is commonly regarded as one amongst the prophets of Islam, but does not feature nearly as prominently in the Qur'an as prophets such as Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and other well-known Biblical stories. For this reason, there is uncertainty in Islam as to whether he is a prophet of Islam or only a person of power who was favored by God. The story of Dhul-Qarnayn appears in sixteen verses of the Qur'an, specifically verses 18:83-98:

Dhul-Qarnayn in early Islamic literature

The earliest mention of Dhul-Qarnayn, outside the Qur'an, is found in the works of the earliest Muslim historian and hagiographer, Ibn Ishaq, which forms the main corupus of the Sira literature. Ibn Ishaq's Sira reports that the eighteenth chapter of the Qur'an (which includes the story of Dhul-Qarnayn) was revealed to Muhammad by God on account of some questions posed by the Jewish Rabbis residing in the city of Medina (the town from which Muammad began his rule) - the verse was revealed during the Meccan period of Muhammad's life. According to Ibn Ishaq, Muhammad's tribe, the powerfull Quraysh, were greatly concerned about their tribesman who had started claiming prophethood and wished to consult Jewish Rabbis about the matter. The Quraysh sent two men to the Jewish Rabbis of Medina, reasoning that the Rabbis had superior knowledge of the scriptures and about the prophets of God. The two Quraysh men described their tribesman, Muhammad, to the Rabbis. The Rabbis told the men to ask Muhammad three questions:

"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.'"

The famous story, in the Sira, goes that when Muhammad was informed of the three questions from the Rabbis, he declared that he would have the answers in the morning. However, Muhammad did not give the answer in the morning. For fifteen days, Muhammad did not answer the question. Doubt in Muhammad began to grow amongst the people of Mecca. Then, after fifteen days, Muhammad recieved the revelation that is Surah Al-Kahf ("the Cave"), the eighteenth chapter of the Qur'an. Surah Al-Kahf mentions the "People of the Cave," a strange story about some young men in ancient times who slept in a cave for many years. Surah Al-Kahf also mentions the Ruh, or soul/spirit. Finally, the surah also mentions "a man who travelled a great deal and reached the east and the west of the earth" - namely, Dhul-Qarnayn.

The 14th century scholar of Islam Ibn Kathir, reknowned for this In his tafsir (exegesis) of the Qur'an, mentioned (in regards to Dhul-Qarnayn) Ibn Ishaq's story about the Rabbis and their three questions. Ibn Kathir further elaborated on the meaning of the story of Dhul-Qarnayn. In particular, Ibn Kathir contended that the verses about Dhul-Qarnayn do not imply that the Sun literally sets into a sea:

"(Until, when he reached the setting place of the sun,) means, he followed a route until he reached the furthest point that could be reached in the direction of the sun's setting, which is the west of the earth. As for the idea of his reaching the place in the sky where the sun sets, this is something impossible ... (he found it setting in a spring of Hami'ah) meaning, he saw the sun as if it were setting in the ocean. This is something which everyone who goes to the coast can see: it looks as if the sun is setting into the sea but in fact it never leaves its path in which it is fixed."

Ibn Ishaq's original works were lost and only preserved in copy by Ibn Hisham, another early Muslim historian. Ibn Hisham collected Ibn Ishaq's Sira and added his notes to it; in regards to Dhul-Qarnayn, Ibn Hisham noted:

"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 ..." The theme, amongst Islamic scholars, of identifying Dhul-Qarnayn with Alexander the Great appears to have originated here. Why Ibn Hisham made this identification is not entirely clear. Muslim philosophers, such as al-Farabi, Avicenna, and al-Kindi (who were scholars of the Greek schools of philosophy) enthusiastically embraced the concept of Dhul-Qarnayn being an ancient Greek king. They stylized Dhul-Qarnayn as a Greek philosopher-king.

Similarities to Alexander the Great

Orientalists, studying ancient Christian legends about Alexander the Great, have come to conclude that the Qur'an's stories about Dhul-Qarnayn closely parallel certain legends about Alexander the Great found in ancient Christian writings. There is some archeological evidence to identify the Arabic epiteth "Dhul-Qarnayn" with Alexander the Great. There is also a long history of monotheistic religions coopting the historical Alexander. This leads to the theologically controversial conclusion that these legends are the source of the story of Dhul-Qarnayn in the Qur'an.

Historical background on religious Alexander legends

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.

As the Alexander Romance persisted in popularity over the centuries, it was assumed by various neighboring peoples. Of particular significance was its incorporation into Jewish and later Christian legendary traditions. 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. The Christianized peoples of the Near East, inheritors of both the Hellenic as well as Judaic strands of the Alexander Romance, further theologized Alexander until in some stories he was depicted as almost a saint. The Christian legends turned the ancient Greek conqueror Alexander III into Alexander "the Believing King", implying that he was a believer in monotheism (contrary to known historical facts). Indeed, "At Memphis Alexander sacrificed to Apis (one of the Egyptian idols) and was crowned with the traditional double crown of the Pharaohs; the native priests were placated and their religion encouraged," and later "Alexander consulted the god (Amon) on the success of his expedition," and "On the Hyphasis Alexander erected twelve altars to the twelve Olympian gods."

The two-horned one

• Silver tetradrachm (ancient Greek coin) issued in the name of Alexander the Great, depicting Alexander with the horns of Amon (242/241 BC, posthumous issue)
• Imitation silver tetradrachm issued in the name of the Arab chieftain Abi’el, minted at the site of Mleiha in southeastern Arabia around 200 BC. This coin is an imitation based on coin types of Alexander the Great Imitation silver tetradrachm issued in the name of the Arab chieftain Abi’el, minted at the site of Mleiha in southeastern Arabia around 200 BC. This coin is an imitation based on coin types of Alexander the Great

The Arabic epithet "Dhul-Qarnayn" literally means "the two-horned one." Alexander the Great was often depicted as one possessing horns, in particular the horns of Amon. Ancient Greek coins minted in the name of Alexander the Great depict Alexander with the distinctive horns of Amon on his head. The influence of Alexander the Great spread even to the coinage of ancient Arabia; in the late 2nd century BC, silver coins depicting Alexander with ram horns were used as a principal coinage in Arabia and were issued by an Arab ruler by the name of Abi'el who ruled in the south-eastern region of the Arabian Peninsula

The reason that Alexander the Great was depicted with the horns of Amon in ancient Greek coinage is that in ancient Egypt Alexander was received as the son of the ancient Egyptian god Amon, and the god Amon was depicted as ram-headed. Alexander then styled himself as the son of Amon; "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

In the Qur'an

The Qur'an describes a story about Dhul-Qarnayn building a gate near the "rising place of the Sun," between two mountains, in order to enclose the Gog and Magog people who "do great mischief in the earth." The relevant passages from Qur'an state:

"...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 ... Then followed he (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 Dhul-Qarnayn! The Gog and Magog (people) do great mischief on earth: Shall we then render thee tribute in order that thou mightiest erect a barrier between us and them. 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: 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." (Qur'an 18:90-98).

In the Christian legends

The Alexander Romance includes the Christian legend of the Caspian Gates, also known as Alexander's wall, built by Alexander the Great to enclose the Gog and Magog hoard. Several variations of this legend can be found. In the legend, Alexander the Great builds a gate of iron between two mountains, at the end of the flat Earth, to prevent the armies of Gog and Magog from attacking. This legend about Alexander is remarkably similar to the story of Dhul-Qarnayn found in the Qur'an. An historian notes that:

"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 Syriac version of the Christian legend describes a supposed letter from Alexander to his mother, wherein he writes:

"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).

Several people in history have searched for Alexander's Gate, and legends about the gate itself grew;

"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 Qur'an

In the Qur'an, Dhul-Qarnayn encloses the Gog and Magog hoard behind a mighty gate between two mountains, preventing the Gog and Magog from invading the Earth. The Qur'an also explains that in the end times, the God will destroy this gate, allowing the Gog and Magog hoard to ravage the Earth;

"Thus were they were 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 ..." (Qur'an 18:98) and "...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)

In the Christian legends

In the Syriac version of the Christian legends, Alexander the Great encloses the Gog and Magog hoard behind a mighty gate between two mountains, preventing the Gog and Magog from invading the Earth. In addition, it is written in the Christian legend that in the end times God will cause the Gate of Gog and Magog to be destroyed, allowing the Gog and Magog hoard to ravage the Earth;

"The Lord spake by the hand of the angel, ...The gate of the north shall be opened on the day of the end of the world, and on that day shall evil go forth on the wicked ... The earth shall quake and this door which thou hast made be opened ... and anger with fierce wrath shall rise up on mankind and the earth ... shall be laid waste ... And the nations that is within this gate shall be roused up, and also the host of Agog and the peoples of Magog shall be gathered together. These peoples, the fiercest of all creatures."

In order to understand the legend of the Caspian Gates, that is in order to understand how a single gate between two mountains could prevent the Gog and Magog hoard from invading the world, one must understand that the Christian legend was written in a time when most people believed that the flat Earth theory is true. The Earth was described as being flat and surrounded by great mountains, and these mountains were in turn surrounded by some land followed by a treacherous, fetid ocean sea. It is this tract of land between the mountains and the ocean sea that Alexander enclosed Gog and Magog, so that they could not cross the mountains and invade the Earth. The legend describes "the old wise men" explaining this geography and cosmology of the Earth to Alexander, and then Alexander subsequently setting out to enclose Gog and Magog behind a mighty gate between a narrow passage at the end of the flat Earth:

"The old men say, "Look, my lord the king, and see a wonder, this mountain which God has set as a great boundary." King Alexander the son of Philip said, "How far is the extent of this mountain?" The old men say, "Beyond India it extends in its appearance." The king said, "How far does this side come?" The old men say, "Unto all the end of the earth." And wonder seized the great king at the council of the old men ... And he had it in his mind to make there a great gate. His mind was full of spiritual thoughts, while taking advice from the old men, the dwellers in the land. He looked at the mountain which encircled the whole world ... The king said, "Where have the hosts come forth to plunder the land and all the world from of old?" They show him a place in the middle of the mountains, a narrow pass which had been constructed by God ..." (pp.177-178).

The rising of the Sun from the fetid sea

In the Qur'an

A peculiar aspect of the story about Dhul-Qarnayn, in the Qur'an, is that it describes Dhul-Qarnayn travelling to the "the rising place of the Sun" and the "setting place of the Sun." Dhul-Qarnayn also finds a people living by the "rising place of the Sun," and explains that these people have no shelter from the Sun:

"Then he 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 murky spring:

"... 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 ..." (Qur'an 18:86)

It may not be clear what these verses refer to. Ancient Muslim exegeses of the Qur'an, known as the tafsir (such as the tafsirs of Jalalan, Baidawi, Zamakhshari, Ibn Kathir, and Al-Tabari) understood these verses of the Qur'an to be literal descriptions of a cosmology of the universe wherein the Earth is flat and wherein the Sun rises and sets into a sea that is surrounding the flat Earth . The cannonical hadith literature also contains a passage that, when taken literally, implies a similar cosmology (as shall be seen, this passage is remarkably similar to one found in the Christian legends about Alexander):

Narrated Abu Dharr: "Once I was with the Prophet in the mosque at the time of sunset. The Prophet said, 'O Abu Dharr! Do you know where the sun sets?' I replied, 'Allah and His Apostle know best.' He said, 'It goes and prostrates underneath (Allah's) Throne; and that is Allah's Statement:— And the sun runs on its fixed course for a term (decreed). And that is the decree of All-Mighty, the All-Knowing...'"

In the Christian legends

Perhaps unsurprisingly, an almost identical discourse is found in the Syriac Christian legends about Alexander the Great. The Christian legend about Alexander explains that when the Sun sets into the fetid sea, it enters into heaven and immediately bows down in obedience to God, In the legend, Alexander travels to the fetid sea at the end of the Earth. As mentioned the previous subsection, this legend was understood strictly from a flat Earth theory point of view. The legend explained that "the old, wise men" told Alexander that at the ends of the flat Earth is a sea in which the Sun rises from the west and in which the Sun sets in the east. The waters of this sea were imagined as being fetid place and intensely hot from the heat of the Sun when it rose from the waters. Upon hearing about this cosmology from the wise men, the legendary Alexander sets out to the end of the flat Earth and witnesses the Sun rising from the fetid sea. According to the Christian legend, at this place, where the Sun risies out of a terrible sea, Alexander found a people who have no shelter from the Sun which is literally rising out of an intensely hot sea;

" 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 heaven 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 , men and birds flee away from before him and hide in the caves ... And when the Sun enters the window of heaven, he straight away bows down and makes obeisance before God his Creator; and he travels and descends the whole night through the heavens, until at length he finds himself where he rises ... 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." (p.148.)

Alexander's travels

The Qur'anic and Christian legendary accounts both have it that Alexander the Great travelled to the ends of the Earth, in particular to the place on the Earth where the Sun sets (the west) and the place on the Earth where the Sun rises (the east). This allegory served the legendary accounts not only to convey the "old wise men's" belief that the Earth is flat and surrounded by an ocean sea, but also served to convey the exaggerated theme of Alexander's great exploits as a conqueror. In the context of the flat Earth theory, travelling to the places of the setting and rising of the Sun would imply having travelled accross the entire world. However, many modern Muslims insist that the Qur'an's descriptions of Dhul-Qarnayn travels are just allegorical references to Alexander's travels towards the east and the west, and do not imply Dhul-Qarnayn travelled to the ends of a flat Earth. In any case, the historical facts are that Alexander the Great's conquests and travels never extended westward from his native Macedonia. Nor did Alexander travel to the eastern extent of the world. Indeed, Alexander's conquests eastward came to an abrupt end at the Hyphasis river, which runs through India; as he approached the Hyphasis, Alexander's army mutinied, refusing to go farther in the tropical rain and Alexander's travels never went further east than that. Stories about Alexander's travels to the eastern and western extents of the world are regarded by historians as a factually incorrect legendary tradition, which built up over centuries throughout the lands conquered by Alexander and beyond, after his death.

Muslim veneration of Alexander the Great

As it has been noted, the early Muslim scholars identified the Dhul-Qarnayn of the Qur'an with Alexander the Great. In the centuries that followed, Dhul-Qarnayn was often (if not always) thought of by Muslims as a Prophet of Islam. Early Islamic civilization would produce its own legendary traditions about Alexander the Great, particularly in Persia.

With the Muslim-Arab conquest of Persia, the Alexander Romance found its way to an honored place in Persian literature—an ironic outcome considering pre-Islamic Persia's hostility to the national enemy who not only destroyed the glorious Achaemenid Empire, but was also directly responsible for centuries of Persian domination by Hellenic and quasi-Hellenic foreign overlords. Islamic Persian accounts of the Alexander legend, known as the Iskandarnamah, combined the Pseudo-Callisthenes material about Alexander, some of which is found in the the Qur'an, with Sasanid Persian ideas about Alexander the Great. Persian sources on the Alexander legend devised a mythical genealogy for him whereby his mother was a concubine of Darius II, making him the half-brother of the last Achaemenid shah, Darius III, probably in order to justify his domination of the old Persian Empire. Alexander is also blamed for ending the golden age of Zoroastrianism by seizing and destroying the original golden text of the Zend Avesta by throwing it into the sea. By the 12th century such important writers as Nezami Ganjavi were making him the subject of their epic poems, and holding him up as the model of the ideal statesman or philosopher-king, an idea adopted from the Greeks and elaborated on by Muslim philosophers like al-Farabi. The Muslim traditions also held Alexander the Great to be the companion of Aristotle and the direct student of Plato (contrary to historical reality).

Theological controversy

Though some Muslim scholars have traditionally identified Dhul-Qarnayn with Alexander the Great, modern science and historical scholarship has lately made this position untenable. The factual details of the Alexander Romance, as included in the Qu'ran (Alexander's fantastic deeds as well as his implied monotheism), have no basis in historical fact - they are only repetitions of pseudo-religious Christian folklore that were written long before Islam. Alleging that the the Qur'an appears to borrow heavily from the Christian legend about Alexander the Great, and that therefore that Dhul-Qarnayn refers to Alexander, opens a pandora's box of controversies.

Modern historical studies on the life of Alexander the Great are the primary source of theological controversy in this matter. Modern historical scholarship has led most Christians to renounce Alexander the Great and the historically incorrect Christian legends about "Alexander, the Believing King." Modern historical studies prove that the historical Alexander the Great was not any kind of monotheist but was rather a Greek pagan (polytheist) who indulged in self-worship and ancient Egyptian idolatry, and is commonly believed to have been homosexual or bisexual. The personality of Alexander the Great was coopted by the legendary traditions of both Judaism and Christianity, which erroneously portrayed Alexander as "the Believing King" — a devout monotheist. It was in this Judeo-Christian context that the legends of Alexander the Great reached the Arabian Peninsula. Thus it is easy to understand the seemingly paradoxical inclusion of a pagan par excellence in the Qur'an's list of Islamic Prophets, but this is a matter of great controversy.

The identification of Dhul-Qarnayn with the Christian legends on Alexander also creates a controversy regarding the shape of the Earth, since one of the central themes of the Christian legend about Alexander is that is the earth is flat and is surrounded by mountains and a fetid sea into which the Sun sets. This is a scientific error, for it is known that the Earth is elliptical in shape, and is in the orbit of the Sun. This has lead to allegations, found in criticism of Islam, that the Qur'an's story about Dhul-Qarnayn implies a flat Earth; critics point out that reknowned, ancient scholars of Islam, such as Jalalan, Baidawi, Zamakhshari, Ibn Kathir, and Al-Tabari, all insisted (in relation to the story of Dhul-Qarnayn) that the Earth is flat, even though the idea that it is round was being promoted by scientists of their time. In this regard, criticism of Islam asserts that verse 36:40 of the Qur'an, which reads "It is not permitted to the Sun to catch up the Moon, nor can the Night outstrip the Day: Each swims along in (its own) orbit," reinforces the flat Earth theory and the belief that the phenomenon of night and day is caused by the orbit of the Sun through the heavens (when in fact science proves that the phenomenon of night and day is caused by the rotation of the Earth). Concerning this issue, the supreme religious authority of Saudi Arabia, in a textbook published in 1974, Shiekh Ibn Baaz, wrote, "If the earth is rotating as they claim, the countries, the mountains, the trees, the rivers, and the oceans will have no bottom and the people will see the eastern countries move to the west and the western countries move to the east." In 1993, Ibn Baaz issued a fatwa declaring, "The Earth is flat. Whoever claims it is round is an atheist deserving of punishment." The Shiekh's fatwa that the Earth is flat was quoted by the famous astronomer Carl Sagan in his book The Demon-Haunted World. However, Ibn Baaz later receded his claims, saying that the Earth is round (though he continued to assert a geocentric cosmology where the Earth is stationary).

The inclusion of pseudo-religious folklore, rooted in serious scientific and historical errors and derived from a pagan (polytheistic) legendary tradition, in the Qu'ran, challenges the core doctrine of Islamic theology. Ancient Muslim scholars of the Islam were unaware of such theological controversies, In modern times, some influential mainstream Muslims (such as Yusuf Ali) have endorsed the traditional Islamic view which identified Dhul-Qarnayn with Alexander the Great, despite the theological controversies that arise from such endorsement. Non-Muslim academics studying Islam have been unanimous in their view that there is overwhelming empirical evidence supporting the conclusion that Dhul-Qarnayn is none other than Alexander the Great. However, these theological controversies have made this position intenable in the opinions of many modern, intellectual Muslims. Some Muslims take the position that nothing about the identity of Dhul-Qarnayn is known except for solely what is in the Qur'an (in other words, they assert that there is no evidence linking the identity of Dhul-Qarnayn to a historical person). Other Muslim scholars, such as Maududi and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, have suggested that Dhul-Qarnayn is Cyrus the Great and not Alexander the Great, though the only apparent reasoning seems to be that both Cyrus and Alexander are commonly called "the Great." Other Muslims have suggested that Dhul-Qarnayn is the mysterious Tubba' of Yemen or Narmer. Apologists also have claimed that the Alexander referred to by Ibn Kathir is supposedly some other Alexander, who lived 2000 years before Alexander the Great) .

References

1. Encyclopaedia Britannica, Alexander III, 1971
2. "A Discource Composed by Mar Jacob upon Alexander, the Believing King, and upon the Gate which he made against Gog and Magog," in The History of Alexander the Great Being, the Syriac Version of the Pseudo-Callisthenes. Translated by E.A. W. Budge, 1889.
3. Iskandarnamah - A Persian Medieval Alexander-Romance, Translated by Minoo D. Southgate, Columbia University Press, New York, 1978.
4. "Alexander's Gate, Gog and Magog, and the enclosed nations," Andrew Runni Anderson, the Medieval Academy of America, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1932.
5. The Impact of Alexander the Great’s Coinage in East Arabia
6. Sahih Bukhari, English Translation, Hadith number 6326
7. "Jiryan Al-Shams Wa Al-Qammar Wa-Sukoon Al-Arz " by Sheikh Abdul 'Azeez ibn Abdullaah ibn Baaz, Islamic University of Medina, 1974, Medina, Saudi Arabia, p. 23
8. "Muslim Edicts take on New Force", by Yousef M. Ibrahim, The New York Times, February 12, 1995, p. A-14
9. "The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark", Carl Sagan, Ballantine, 1997, ISBN 0-345-40946-9, p. 325
10. Letter by Ibn Baaz

See also

• Prophets of Islam
• Alexander the Great
• Ba`al Hammon

External links

• pothos.org - Legends (Marco Polo) - mentions Alexander's Gate

• Islam
• Quran
• Alexander the Great