Spotlight On Islam

7 Qur’an Stories That Collapse Under Scrutiny

5. Dhul-Qarnayn and the Wall Against Gog and Magog (Surah 18:83–98)

Intro: A king travels to the ends of the Earth, finds the sun setting in a muddy spring, and builds a giant iron wall to trap mythical tribes. Literal geography and physics break down.

Dhul-Qarnayn and the Iron Wall: Qur’anic Pseudo-History and Apocalyptic Folklore

The Qur’an presents Dhul-Qarnayn as a mighty ruler who traveled to the edges of the Earth and built an iron barrier to trap Gog and Magog — chaotic tribes destined to reemerge near the end of days. Found in Surah al-Kahf (18:83–98), the tale is steeped in myth, riddled with geographic absurdities, and uncritically adopted from earlier apocalyptic legends. Despite Muslim attempts to historicize the figure (often equating him with Alexander the Great), the story collapses under scrutiny.

📖 The Verses: Qur’an 18:83–98

“They ask you about Dhul-Qarnayn. Say, I will recite to you about him a report. Indeed, We established him upon the earth, and We gave him to everything a way.” (18:83–84)

“Until, when he reached the setting of the sun, he found it setting in a spring of black mud...” (18:86)

“Until, when he reached [a pass] between two mountains, he found beside them a people who could hardly understand speech.” (18:93)

“So he constructed between them a barrier of iron and molten copper.” (18:95–96)

🌍 Geographic and Scientific Absurdities

1. The Sun Setting in a Muddy Spring?

Literal reading suggests a flat-Earth cosmology.
Tafsir al-Tabari and al-Qurtubi take it literally: Dhul-Qarnayn saw the sun disappearing into a black, muddy spring.[1]
Scientifically nonsensical — the sun doesn’t “set” into anything.

2. Who Were Gog and Magog?

Biblical and extra-biblical apocalyptic entities.
Seen in Jewish, Christian, and Zoroastrian literature.
Qur’anic story reflects the Syriac Alexander Romance, not history.

🧱 The Iron Wall: Fantasy Construction

Construction:

Dhul-Qarnayn pours molten copper over iron to seal a mountain pass.
No historical or archaeological evidence exists for this wall.
Al-Tabari, Ibn Kathir, and others describe it as massive and impenetrable — yet Gog and Magog are supposed to breach it “when the promise of my Lord comes.”[2]

Tafsir Ibn Kathir:

Accepts literal account.
Adds legends about the wall being north of China, possibly near the Caspian Sea.[3]
Attributes Gog and Magog’s release to signs of the Day of Judgment.

Problem:

If this wall ever existed:

Where is it?
Why do we have no record?
Why did early Muslim commentators fabricate details from Christian lore?

🧾 Dhul-Qarnayn = Alexander the Great?

Many early Islamic scholars (and Western Orientalists) identified Dhul-Qarnayn with Alexander the Great:

Qur’an says Dhul-Qarnayn worshipped Allah.
Alexander was a pagan Greek, not a monotheist.
The Alexander Romance (3rd–4th century CE) includes a journey to the ends of the Earth and building a barrier to hold back wild tribes — clear parallels.

The Qur’an’s account borrows narrative structure from the Romance, strips the Hellenistic details, and adds an Islamic veneer.

🚩 Theological and Historical Failures

1. Adoption of Apocalyptic Myth

Gog and Magog (Ya'juj and Ma'juj) are mythological, not historical.
They appear in eschatological Christian texts centuries before the Qur’an.

2. No Moral or Legal Lessons

The story doesn't convey ethical teachings — just geographical marvels and end-times terror.

3. Historical Fiction as Revelation

The narrative reads more like fantasy adventure than divine truth.

📚 References

Al-Tabari, Tafsir Jami’ al-Bayan, on 18:86
Ibn Kathir, Tafsir al-Qur’an al-‘Azim, on Surah al-Kahf
The Syriac Alexander Romance, Pseudo-Callisthenes
Nöldeke, T. (1860). Geschichte des Qorāns
The Holy Qur’an, 18:83–98 (Sahih International)