In the Quran this man, Dhul Qarnain (Q. 18:83) is portrayed as a prophet of allah, a ruler, who travels the earth in search of people to punish for not obeying allah’s command (Q 18:87). The Quran further says he traveled so far he actually reached the setting place of the sun where he discovered that the sun sets in a pool of muddy water (Q. 18:86).
As his adventures
continues, Dhul Qarnain encounters some people who employed him to build a wall; a big wall to separate them from some really bad people who would want to hurt them.
Sura 18:92-98
92 Then he followed (another) way. 93 Until, when he reached between two mountains, he found before them a people who scarcely understood a word. 94 They said: “O Dhul-Qarnayn! Verily, Ya’juj and Ma’juj are doing great mischief in the land. Shall we then pay you a tribute in order that you might erect a barrier between us and them” 95 He said: “That in which my Lord had established me is better. So help me with strength, I will erect between you and them a barrier.” 96 “Give me Zubar of iron;” then, when he had filled up the gap between the two mountain-cliffs, he said: “Blow;” then when he had made them (red as) fire, he said: “Bring me Qitran to pour over them.” 97 So they could not scale it or dig through it. He said: “This is a mercy from my Lord, but when the promise of my Lord comes, He shall Dakka’ (level) it down to the ground. And the promise of my Lord is ever true.
So here we have in great details the wall Dhul Qarnain built: A metallic wall between two mountains to prevent some ruthless civilization from crossing over. At the start of this write-up I said this story of Dul Qarnian attracts a lot of questions because of its testable nature which possess a lot of doubt to the objective enquirer. At the end of the narrative, the Quran says the wall he built will only be destroyed when the promise of Allah (that is, before the end of time and after the coming of the Islamic version of anti-christ (Dajjal)) comes. Only then will these ruthless people trapped behind the wall be allowed to break free.
Tafsir ibn Kathir explains
So they (Ya’juj and Ma’juj) could not scale it or dig through it.
This indicates that they could not penetrate it or dig through it.
Imam Ahmad recorded that Zaynab bint Jahsh, the wife of the Prophet said,
“The Prophet woke from sleep, and he was red in the face.
He said
La ilaha illallah! Woe to the Arabs from the evil that has approached (them). Today a hole has been opened in the barrier of Ya’juj and Ma’juj like this.
and he made a circle with his index finger and thumb. I (Zaynab) said, `O Messenger of Allah, will we be destroyed even though there will be righteous people among us?’
As-Suddi said:
“That is when they emerge upon the people.”
All of this will happen before the Day of Resurrection and after the Dajjal, as we will explain when discussing the Ayat:
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The question anyone would ask is: since the promise of allah haven’t come yet, where then can we locate this wall? According to the Quran, there are still people trapped behind the wall, so where can we locate these civilization?
Great walls cannot be hidden. The great wall of china is made entirely of earth and it is an eye saw, a marvel to tourists. If indeed Dhul Qarnain built a metal wall then it shouldn’t be hard to find. So Muslims, why haven’t we found your metal wall yet. Or should we presume that yet again, Muhammad and allah made it all up?
One of the greatest dilemma among Muslim scholars today is the mention of a man called Dhul Qarnain. Just as other Quran characters, this man also have his story narrated in the Quran. Yet he remains unpopular among Muslims. The reason being that no learned Muslim want to talk about him. And they don’t talk about him because his story narrated in the Quran seems very fictional and raises a lot of questions.