The Zulqarnain Series and the Wall of Yajooj Majooj
The biography of the last messenger of Allah Almighty, Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). There is a person from early times, who was one of those who wrote the biography of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Muhammad Ibn e Ishaq, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. We also know him as Ibn Ishaq. Ibn e Ishaq belonged to the period of Tabi’een. During his life, he was with those, who learned directly from the companions of the Prophet (PBUH). But most of the scholars consider Ibn Ishaq also a Tabi’I, meaning he, Ibn Ishaq, received his education directly from the companions themselves. Ibn Ishaq is an authentic narrator. And he was most interested in what happened in the life of the Prophet (PBUH).
Because of his interest. Ibn Ishaq paid special attention to collecting various events and traditions of his life.
Because of this passion of Ibn Ishaq, the first, huge book written on Seerah came into existence, which was called Sirat Rasul ALLAH and Narration of ibn Ishaq.
Almost all the historians who wrote Islamic history and almost all the commentators who wrote the commentary of the Qur’an have shown full confidence in this book of Ibn Ishaq.
They have taken narrations from this book. And big personalities in the Islamic history, like Ibn Jarir, Ibn Khuldun, and Tabri have quoted many events in their literature, from this book.
Many incidents have been quoted from this book and this book served as a very solid milestone for all the books of Seerah.
There are many important events mentioned in this book. We would like to tell you one of those events.
After Hazrat Hamza, the uncle of Prophet (SAW), converted to Islam, people in the Quraysh tribes began to accept Islam rapidly. This matter was of great concern to the chiefs of Quraysh.
So, they began consulting among themselves on how to halt Muhammad and his religion. After their consultation, they sent a message to the Prophet, saying, “The great leaders of your people are present in the Kaaba and they want to talk to you.”
When the Prophet reached the Kaaba and his conversation with them began, They said, “We have not seen anyone among the tribes of Arabs who treats his people the way you are treating us.” “You interfere in our religious affairs, you say bad things about our Gods, and then on the contrary, you call us infidels and call us polytheists.” “So, we want to know what is your ultimate goal?”
“If you want wealth, we will give you wealth. If you want a Kingdom. We will also accept you as one of the Arab leaders. If you suffering from any disease (Allah Forbid), we are ready to treat you.
After hearing all these things, the Prophet (PBUH) replied, “I do not desire the wealth of your people, nor do I seek Kingship. I am a messenger of Allah, sent to convey His commandments and His words to you.”
When the Quraish heard his answer, they were sure that now Muhammad (PBUH) is not going to listen to anything we say.
So, from this point onwards Quraish started being aggressive, and they said: “O Muhammad, if you are truly messenger of Allah, then you know that the area of Mecca is very small, there are no big buildings here, and there is no water here, then you should ask your God that remove the mountains so that Mecca becomes a big city.”
“Ask your God to resurrect Qusayy ibn Kilab from among the elders of Makkah so that he may bear witness to your Prophethood.”
“Ask your God to give you treasures of gold and jewels so that others may see your glory.”
“And then maybe we will believe in your claim to be a Prophet.”
Upon this Prophet (PBUH) said “It is very easy for Allah to fulfill the demands you are making.” “But Allah did not tell me to ask Him for such supplications.”
After hearing this answer from him, Quraish became angrier. And the asked, “Muhammad, did your God don’t know that we would call you like this? Did he not know that we would ask you these things? Did he not teach you how to answer us?” “Rather, we think that instead of God, the monk in Yamama is teaching you all these things.” “Muhammad, we wanted to try to convince you, we offered you wealth and wealth, but you are not ready to listen, so now either you kill us or we will not let you live.”
You must be able to imagine how aggressive the leaders of Makkah had become by reaching this point. So, one of the leaders stood up and said, “O Muhammad, must bring Allah before us to testify about your Prophethood, until then we will not believe that you are a Prophet.”
Then another leader stood up and this time it was Abdullah bin Rabi’ah, who was also the cousin of Prophet (PBUH). He said; “O Muhammad, we will not believe that you are a prophet until you start climbing a ladder in the sky or until you bring angels from the sky.”
When these chiefs around the Ka’ba started showing so much aggression and the Prophet (PBUH) saw that they were not ready to listen to a single word, then he got up and left.
But after he left, a very big chief rose up and said, “Now I have lost my patience.”
“Muhammad destroyed our religion and split us, but still we tried to reconcile with him, but now I have lost my patience. “And now I promise before Allah that tomorrow when they come to the Kaaba for prayer and prostrate, then I will also be waiting for him with a big stone.” “And after I finish him, I give you permission to take me as your chief if you wish, and if you wish to hand me over to Banu Hashim so that they may take Muhammad’s revenge from me.”
And the name of this chief was Amr bin Hisham, meaning Abu Jahl. Now the next day when Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) reached Masjid Haram i.e. Kaaba and started praying. So, according to his promise, Abu Jahl also took a rock and started waiting for him to go into prostration. And when the Prophet (PBUH) prostrated himself, he also went forward, but at that moment the rock fell from his hands and he himself immediately fell back. When later asked about the incident, he recounted, “As I approached Muhammad, a massive snake resembling a raging camel suddenly appeared before me, frightening me.”
When Abu Jahl had told this incident, a strange thing happened. Among the leaders of Makkah stood a man named Nazar bin Harith, a very experienced and a very clever man. He who had traveled to many countries knew the stories of the kings of the Persian Empire and was also a very eloquent person.
One of his habits was that when the Prophet (PBUH) were narrating the stories of prophets and other nations, he used to stand there and say that I have better stories than him. And then this person used to tell the stories of Rustam and Isfandiar and the Persian kings.
And this was the chief for whom the sixth verse of Surah Luqman was revealed. Saying, “There are some people who like low talk so that they can deceive people and make them laugh, and for them is the worst punishment.”
He was the person for whom it has been mentioned in Surah al-Mutafifin that, “When our verses are recited to him, he says that these are legends of the past.”
On the contrary, wherever the word “mythology” is mentioned in the Holy Qur’an, it is usually about Nazar bin Harith, because he always used to say that these are stories of old people and stories, and I know better stories than them.
Now Nazar bin Harith stood up and said to the rest of the chiefs “Look, you people don’t think that you’re so much better than Muhammad, when he was young, you used to call him righteous and trustworthy, you believed in everything he said”
“Now when he has claimed Prophethood, sometimes you call him a liar, sometimes a poet and sometimes you call him a scryer.” “Chiefs of Makkah, listen to me carefully. I have traveled to many countries.”
“Where I have seen ascetics and earls, I have also seen poets and then I have also seen Muhammad.” “And I can tell you this much that Muhammad is neither a magician nor a scryer nor is he a poet.” “So my advice is that you consider Muhammad and if you want him to be defeated, act with a lot of understanding and wisdom.”
And it was at that time that after this dangerous analysis of Nazar Bin Harith, these chieftains wanted to resort to wisdom and understanding to defeat him.
And then they decided that we would send our most experienced and wise men, namely Nazar bin Harith and Uqbah bin Abi Mu’id, to the Ihbar Jews of Madinah, i.e. the Jewish scholars of top knowledge among the Jews.
So that when these two top people met the top Jewish scholars, they asked the them those things that Muhammad had no answer to. When these two leaders reached the Jews of Akhbar, their scholars said, “We have three questions for you to ask Muhammad, which no one but the Prophet will be able to answer.”
And those were three questions, one of which was related to Zul-Qarnain.
The person who made three journeys۔
There was a purpose behind telling you this whole incident and that is to let you know that the reason for asking these three questions was not just to hear a story.
Because Nazar bin Harith used to tell stories too. The real thing was that the chiefs of Makkah had seen, they knew that neither they were able to lure the Prophet(PBUH) with wealth nor they were able to attack him. Because there is a force that makes their hands numb, stones fall from their hands. And then they decided to challenge the Prophet(PBUH) on a very intellectual level. What we say in today’s language is that those people wanted to have a fair fight with the Prophet(PBUH). And for this contest they were so desperate that they sent their top leaders to the top scholars of the Jews to ask such top questions that no one but the questioner could answer.
The answers to these three questions are so profound that even the Jewish scholars said that no one can give you the answers to these three questions except a prophet.
And in response to all this incident, Surah Al-Kahf was revealed in which the three questions of the Jews were answered.
After knowing all these events and the background of the revelation of Surah Kahf, you now understand how important these questions were to the Jews and the great leaders of Mecca.
First question, “Tell us about the person who traveled east and west?”
The second question, “Tell us about those people who went missing?”
And the third question, “Tell us about the soul. What the reality of the soul is?”
And here I formally begin the series that is written on one of these three questions.
About the person who traveled to the East and the West. This episode Zul-Qarnayn begins with verse 83 of Surah Kahf. And before I discuss this incident with you in great detail, I want to tell you this incident once in the words of Surah Kahf.
And I want you to read this carefully because this entire blog is based on the complete journey of Zul-Qarnayn.
And this incident of Zul-Qarnayn begins with verse 83 of Surah Kahf.
“These people are asking you about the incident of Zul-Qarnayn. You say, ‘I will read you a little about it’.”
“We gave him power in the earth and gave him the means of everything.”
“He went on a path until he reached the place of sunset.”
“And saw the sun setting into a fountain of black mud.”
“And near that, he saw a nation.”
“We told Zul-Qarnayn that if you want, give them caste or if you want, then adopt a better attitude towards them.”
He said, “We will punish whoever does wrong and then he will return to his Lord and He will punish him too.”
“And those who believe and do righteous deeds will have the best reward and We will also order it easy.”
“Then he turned to another path.”
“When he reached the place where the sun was rising, we saw that it was rising over a nation such that We did not place any flight between them. And we were fully aware of it.”
“He was again on a path.”
“Until he reached between two obstacles.”
“And in front of him he saw the people who were not even close to understanding his language.”
They said, ‘O Zul-Qarnayn, Yajuj and Majuj are wreaking havoc in the land, so should we fix some expenses for you so that you put a barrier between us and them?’
He said, ‘What my Lord has given me is much better than that.’
‘You only help me with force and I put a strong barrier between you and them.’
‘You bring me sheets of iron.’
When he leveled it between the two peaks, he said ‘Blow’
Until it was on fire, then he said, ‘Bring the molten copper.
‘So that I would put it on top of it, so that they, Yajuj and Majuj, neither they could climb on top of it, nor they could have pierced it.’
Zul-Qarnayn said, ‘This is the mercy of my Lord and when the promise of my Lord comes, then He will fulfill it and indeed the promise of my Lord is true.’
“We will leave some of them like waves on others and the trumpet will be blown and we will gather them all together in one place.”
Up to this point the episode is completed from verses 83 to 99.
But did you consider that Zul-Qarnayn had said one thing in this incident? (Surah Kahf 18:98) He said. “When the promise of my Lord comes, He will destroy this wall.” That is, a time will come or has come that this wall had to fall and after its fall Yajuj and Majuj were to be freed.
And one more verse regarding their liberation is given in Surah Anbiya.
That “When Yajuj and Majuj will be loosed, they will come running from every height.”
So far, I have told you the incident of Zul-Qarnayn in the words of the Holy Quran, which was very easy to understand. But, in fact, this incident raises many questions.
Who was Zul-Qarnayn, what time was he living, where was he traveling?
Which was the place, where Zul-Qarnayn saw the sun setting in the mud?
Who were those people living in the mud by the setting sun?
What was the place where there was no place to seek shelter from the sun?
Who are these Yajuj and Majuj? and what was the place where they used to create mischief?
Which was the place where Zul-Qarnayn built his famous wall?
Today we can explore every corner of the world by satellite. So why do we not see this wall anywhere?
How and why will this wall be broken?
And if Yajuj and Majuj are behind the wall, how will they be seen coming down from the heights after being freed?
Starting today, I am going to take you on a journey just like Zul-Qarnayn. Tracing the journey of Zul-Qarnayn, I will also take you to a place where the sun sets in the mud. Tracing Zul-Qarnayn’s journey, we will also see a place where there is nothing to avoid the sun. While tracking Zul-Qarnayn, I will also show you the wall that he built. And also, to the Yajuj and Majuj behind this wall. And I will also show you what our world will look like when they are freed.
And within the next Parts, I am going to take you with me once again on the journey of Zul-Qarnayn.
