METHODOLOGY FOR STUDY OF THE QUR'AN
by Sheikh Imran Nazar Hosein
Pax Qarnain – the enigmatic third journey
After describing the two journeys to West and East, and thus answering the question overtly posed by the Jewish Rabbis, the Qur’ān then proceeded to describe a third journey which was the real target of the question, although it had not been overtly posed by the Rabbis. It was while describing the third journey that Sūrah al-Kahf mentioned, for the first time, the names of Gog and Magog. Their release into the world would herald a major Sign of the Last Day. Knowledge of the Signs of the Last Day is a subject that lies beyond the reach of human intellect. Indeed such knowledge cannot but be the exclusive preserve of the Prophets of Allah Most High. The Sūrah informs us that, in his third journey, Dhūl Qarnain came upon a people living in a pass between two mountain ranges. This has to be a pass in-between the Caucasus range of mountains which stretch from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea. (See my book entitled An Islamic View of Gog and Magog in the Modern World for a detailed exposition of this subject).
They complained to him about Gog and Magog’s Fasād in their territory. They requested him to build a barrier that could contain Gog and Magog and thus protect them. They were prepared to pay Dhūl Qarnain to build the barrier for them.
Gog and Magog are two communities of human beings who, according to Nabī Muhammad (s) are descended from Nabī Nūh (i.e., Noah (a)). As mentioned above, they are agents of Fasād. But the blessed Prophet went on to disclose a communication from Allah Most High reported in His direct speech (Hadīth al-Qudsi) to the effect that, “I have created creatures of Mine (i.e., Gog and Magog) so powerful that none but I can destroy them.” (Sahih Muslim). With their invincible power they can thus destroy peace on earth. Hence their conduct is the opposite to that of Dhūl Qarnain.
Dhūl Qarnain built a barrier of blocks of iron and coated it with molten copper. The barrier blocked the entire pass like a dam, and as a consequence, Gog and Magog were contained since they could neither penetrate nor scale the barrier. He then declared the construction of the barrier, and the consequent containment of Gog and Magog, to be a manifestation of Divine Mercy. But he went on to disclose that Allah Himself would destroy the wall and release Gog and Magog into the world at a time of the Last Age. The Sūrah concluded with a description of what the world would witness when Gog and Magog are released into the world:
“On that day We shall leave them to surge l ike 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.”
(Qur’ān, al-Kahf,18:99-101)
When Gog and Magog are eventually released into the world (in the Last Age) mankind would witness the emergence of a world-order that would be the opposite of what Truth would have delivered to mankind. Mankind would witness power in the hands of those who have no faith in Allah Most High. Instead of using power to liberate the oppressed and to punish the oppressor, that essentially godless age would witness power used to oppress (in particular) those who have faith in Allah Most High and whose conduct is righteous. We have argued in our book entitled ‘Jerusalem in the Qur’ān’ (see Ch. 10) that Allah Most High released Gog and Magog into the world during the lifetime of Nabī Muhammad (s). The Qur’ān provided believers with a momentous sign by which they would not only have concrete evidence of the release of Gog and Magog, but more than that, they would have the evidence that the world was now in the control of Gog and Magog. They would thus be able to identify Gog and Magog as the ruling power in the world. This is located in the reference to Gog and Magog in Sūrah al-Anbiyāh:
“But there is a ban on a town which We have destroyed: that they (the residents) shall not return – until Gog and Magog are let through (their barrier) and they swiftly spread out in every direction.”
“But there is a ban on a town which We have destroyed: that they (the residents) shall not return – until Gog and Magog are let through (their barrier) and they swiftly spread out in every direction.”
(Qur’ān, al-Anbiyāh, 21:956).
When Gog and Magog have been released and, in addition, “have spread out in every direction”, then at that time the people of the town who were punished by Allah Most High, and had been banished from their town (which was destroyed by Allah Most High), would be brought back to that town. There is only one such town (which was destroyed by Allah Most High) which is mentioned in the Ahādīth pertaining to Gog and Magog, and it is Jerusalem. (See pp. 91-92 for the Hadīth). Since no other town (destroyed by Allah Most High) other than Jerusalem is mentioned in the Ahādīth pertaining to Gog and Magog, we have come to the conclusion that the town mentioned in Sūrah al-Anbiyāh (verse 95 and 96) above can only be Jerusalem. From this conclusion and identification of the town, now emerges the implication that the return of the Jews to the Holy Land was made possible through the intervention of Gog and Magog. In other words, the Judeo-Christian Zionist Euro-world order that now rules the world from Washington is the world-order of Gog and Magog.
The Qur’ān proceeded to warn that when these events take place the world would witness the countdown to the Last Day:
“Then will the true warning (of the Day of Accounts) draw close (to fulfillment): then behold! (on that day) the eyes of the Kuffār will stare in horror: Ah! Woe to us! We were indeed heedless of this; nay, we were truly wicked!”
(Qur’ān, al Anbiyāh, 21:98)
(NB: A Kāfir is not someone who declines to accept Islam. Rather he is someone who knowingly rejects the claim of the Qur’ān to be the Word of the One God, and rejects the claim of Muhammad (s) to be His Prophet, and then adopts a posture of hostility to the Qur’ān, to the Prophet and to his message.)
When Gog and Magog are released they would ‘spread out in every direction’. This indicates that with their invincible power they will take control of the whole world and that, for the first time in history, one set of people would rule all of mankind. That is precisely our present world. The world order of Gog and Magog would be one of Fasād (i.e., oppression and wickedness). Sūrah al-Kahf has described the two defining characteristics of the Fasād of that world order as being the opposite of the two defining characteristics of the world order of Dhūl Qarnain.
to be continued .....
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