Appearance
Who Was Dhū al-Qarnayn?
وَيَسْـَٔلُونَكَ عَن ذِى ٱلْقَرْنَيْنِ ۖ قُلْ سَأَتْلُوا۟ عَلَيْكُم مِّنْهُ ذِكْرًا
“And they ask you about Dhū al-Qarnayn. Say: I will recite to you a mention of him.” (18:83)
The question
Who was Dhū al-Qarnayn, whose travels and barrier against Gog and Magog the Qur’an recounts: Alexander of Macedon, Cyrus the Great, or someone else?
Views answered: Fakhr al-Rāzī · al-Ālūsī · ʿAllāmah Shaʿrānī
Jawādī Āmulī’s argument
Āyatullāh Jawādī Āmulī notes that nearly thirty identifications have been put forward and none rests on firm proof. He sets out, among others, Fakhr al-Rāzī’s Alexander of Macedon, with al-Rāzī’s own objection from Alexander’s discipleship to Aristotle, which he shows conflicts with what al-Rāzī elsewhere says of Aristotle; al-Ālūsī’s and Mullā Ṣadrā’s answer to that objection; and ʿAllāmah Shaʿrānī’s Alexander the believer. He does not decide between them, but lays down what any identification must establish from history: the Qur’an’s Dhū al-Qarnayn was a believer guided by God’s word, acted by His command rather than as a conqueror who ruins towns, and treated East and West alike.
Views compared
The views are given as al-Tasnim reports them. Each point opens al-Tasnim at that place.
1. Alexander of Macedon Read →
Fakhr al-Rāzī
Of three views (Alexander; a Ḥimyarite king named by Abū Rayḥān; an unknown righteous servant) he accepts Alexander: history knows no one else who ruled East and West and built the famous barrier. But he notes a strong objection: Alexander followed Aristotle, whose school cannot be judged true.Jawādī Āmulī
Al-Rāzī’s judgment on Aristotle does not agree with what he himself relates in al-Maṭālib al-ʿĀliyah: that Aristotle’s students would go to his grave when a problem was hard, and it would be solved.2. The Aristotle objection answered Read →
al-Ālūsī; Mullā Ṣadrā
If Dhū al-Qarnayn was Aristotle’s student, he need not have shared his views. Mullā Ṣadrā held that Aristotle was a worshipper and a monotheist who believed the world was created in time.Jawādī Āmulī
Reports both without objection, after his remark on al-Rāzī.3. Alexander, the believer Read →
ʿAllāmah Shaʿrānī
Dhū al-Qarnayn is Alexander of Macedon, known to the Jews for taking Jerusalem without bloodshed; from Aristotle he learned monotheism and the soul’s survival, so believed in the Resurrection (18:87). This is the most evident and best-known view.Jawādī Āmulī
Reports it at length; Alexander remains one of the two best-known views.Jawādī Āmulī
Nearly thirty identifications have been proposed, from Arab, Roman, Iranian and Chinese history, and none rests on firm proof. Whoever identifies him with Cyrus or Alexander must establish from history what the Qur’an says of him: a believer guided by God’s word, directly or through the prophet of his time; one who acted by God’s command and was not among the kings who ruin towns (27:34); and one who treated the peoples of East and West alike. Read →Reading guide
Each step opens al-Tasnim at that point.