A Discussion of the Narrations

1) Occasion of Revelation (Shaʾn-i Nuzūl)

ʿAlī ibn Ibrāhīm said: When the Messenger of God (s.a.w.) told them the story of Moses, his young man, and Khiḍr, they said: Then tell us about the one who roamed the East and the West – who was he, and what is his story? So God revealed: “And they ask you about Dhū al-Qarnayn. Say: I will recite to you a mention of him”.(36)

Note:

a) The narrations about Dhū al-Qarnayn – both the narrations of the Ahl al-Sunnah from the Prophet (s.a.w.) and those of the Shīʿah from the Ahl al-Bayt (a.s.) – differ astonishingly from one another in every detail of the story, and taken together they are not free of interpolation, fabrication and exaggeration. Some of the points on which they differ are as follows:

One. On the person of Dhū al-Qarnayn: according to most narrations he was human; some narrations regard him as a heavenly angel; and according to some reports his mother was human and his father of the angels.(37)

Two. On his rank and station: most hadiths count him among the righteous servants of God; some call him a muḥaddath, one to whom an angel spoke; and a group regard him as a divine prophet.(38)

Three. On the name of Dhū al-Qarnayn.(39)

Four. On the reason he was named Dhū al-Qarnayn.(40)

Five. On when he lived: according to some narrations he lived after Noah (a.s.), according to others in the time of Abraham (a.s.), and according to still others in the time of Prophet David (a.s.).(41)

Six. On the length of his rule.(42)

b) These narrations are single-transmitter reports (khabar wāḥid). Even assuming their authority, in matters like these – which are neither doctrinal nor practical – a report that is reliable is trustworthy to the extent of its reliability and may be attributed to the Lawgiver; in some of them, however, signs of weakness in text and chain are evident, and they cannot be attributed to the sharīʿah.

2) The Reason for the Name Dhū al-Qarnayn

From the Prophet (s.a.w.): He was named Dhū al-Qarnayn because he roamed the two qarns of the world.(43)

From ʿAlī (a.s.): … He was named Dhū al-Qarnayn only because he called his people, and they struck him on his qarn, and he was absent from them; then he returned to them and called them, and they struck him with the sword on his other qarn. And among you there is one like him.(44)

Note:

a) “The two qarns of the world” in the first narration means the east and west of the world.

b) According to the second narration, he was a servant beloved of God who called people to God, and the people struck him on the head twice.(45)

c) “And among you there is one like him” refers to the Commander of the Faithful ʿAlī (a.s.) himself, for his blessed head was struck twice: once on the day of Khandaq at the hand of ʿAmr ibn ʿAbd Wudd, and again at the hand of the accursed Ibn Muljam, which ended in his martyrdom.(46)

3) The Spiritual Station of Dhū al-Qarnayn

From al-Aṣbagh ibn Nubātah, who said: Ibn al-Kawwāʾ stood up before the Commander of the Faithful ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (a.s.) while he was on the pulpit, and said to him: O Commander of the Faithful! Tell me about Dhū al-Qarnayn – was he a prophet or an angel? … He (a.s.) said to him: He was neither a prophet nor an angel, nor were his two horns of gold or silver. Rather, he was a servant who loved God, so God loved him; he was sincere towards God, so God was sincere towards him… .(47)

From Abū ʿAbd Allāh (a.s.) [in a long hadith in which he (a.s.) says]: … Then a group came to him of those who make a show of asceticism and invite people to join them in the taqashshuf they practise… .(48) Tell me, where do you stand on Solomon son of David (a.s.)… then Dhū al-Qarnayn (a.s.), a servant who loved God, so God loved him, folded up the means for him, and gave him dominion over the easts and wests of the earth. He spoke the truth and acted by it, and we have found no one who faulted that.(49)

Note:

a) In the last narration, Imām Ṣādiq (a.s.), by citing examples such as Prophet Solomon (a.s.) and Dhū al-Qarnayn, argues against the Ṣūfīs and refutes their way.

b) Most narrations indicate that he was human; but some narrations state that he was a heavenly angel whom God sent down to earth and to whom He gave every kind of means and instrument.(50) According to another report, his mother was human and his father of the angels(51); but apparently these statements carry no weight.

c) Another narration from Imām Ṣādiq (a.s.) names Dhū al-Qarnayn as one of the two believing kings of the earth: “From Muḥammad ibn Khālid, with his chain of transmission traced back to Abū ʿAbd Allāh (a.s.), who said: The kings of the whole earth are four: two believers and two unbelievers. The two believers are Solomon son of David (a.s.) and Dhū al-Qarnayn, and the two unbelievers are Nimrod and Nebuchadnezzar.”(52)

d) According to the Master, ʿAllāmah Ṭabāṭabāʾī (q.s.), the denial of prophethood and of angelhood in the narration of the Commander of the Faithful (a.s.) answers those who, relying on narrations, have called him a prophet or one of the angels.(53)

4) Identifying Dhū al-Qarnayn as a Roman Youth

In Qurb al-Isnād by al-Ḥimyarī, with his chain of transmission to Mūsā ibn Jaʿfar (a.s.) [in a long hadith in which the signs of the Prophet (s.a.w.) are mentioned; it includes]: Among them is that a group of Jews came to him and said to Abū al-Ḥasan, my grandfather: Ask leave for us to see your cousin so that we may question him. ʿAlī (a.s.) went in to him and told him. The Prophet (s.a.w.) said: What do they want from me? I am one of the servants of God; I know nothing except what my Lord has taught me. Then he said: Let them in. They came in, and he said: Will you ask me about what you came for, or shall I tell you? They said: Tell us. He said: You came to ask me about Dhū al-Qarnayn. They said: Yes. He said: He was a youth from the people of Rūm; then he became king, and he came to where the sun rises and where it sets, and then he built the barrier there. They said: We bear witness that this is so.(54)

Note: Lack of confidence that such narrations were actually issued also weakens the ground for relying on their content.

5) ʿAlī (a.s.), the Dhū al-Qarnayn of the Islamic Ummah

From al-Riḍā ʿAlī ibn Mūsā, from his father Mūsā ibn Jaʿfar, from his father Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad, from his father Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī, from his father ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn, from his father al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī, from his father ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (a.s.), who said: The Messenger of God (s.a.w.) said: Every community has a ṣiddīq and a fārūq; the ṣiddīq and fārūq of this community is ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib. He is its ark of salvation and its gate of ḥiṭṭah, and he is its Yūshaʿ, its Shamʿūn and its Dhū al-Qarnayn.(55)

Note: The good fortune of Dhū al-Qarnayn, of course, lies in this: that his name and attribute were applied to the Commander of the Faithful (a.s.), and were thereby blessed.