Zul-Qarnain

Zul-Qarnain

Dhu al-Qarnayn, (Arabic: ذُو ٱلْقَرْنَيْن, romanized: Ḏū l-Qarnayn, IPA: [ðuː‿l.qarˈnajn]; lit. "The Two-Horned One") appears in the Quran, Surah Al-Kahf (18), Ayahs 83–101 as one who travels to east and west and sets up a barrier between a certain people and Ya'juj and Ma'juj. Elsewhere the Quran tells how the end of the world will be signaled by the release of Gog and Magog from behind the barrier. Other apocalyptic writings predict that their destruction by God in a single night will usher in the Day of Resurrection (Yawm al-Qiyāmah).The majority of modern scholars and Islamic commentators identify Dhu al-Qarnayn with Alexander the Great. Early Muslim commentators and historians variously identified Dhu al-Qarnayn, most notably as Alexander the Great and as the South Arabian Himyarite king al-Ṣaʿb bin Dhī Marāthid. Some modern scholars have argued that the origin of the Quranic story may be found in the Syriac Alexander Legend, but others disagree.

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