Dhū al-Qarnayn’s Journey to the West

Dhū al-Qarnayn made use of the material and spiritual means and resources that God placed at his disposal, and undertook three journeys, so as to gain mastery over the west and the east of the world of that day. His first journey was towards the west of the earth: making use of the means and providing the instruments, he set out towards the setting of the sun,(77) until he reached its setting-place (the shores of Africa), and saw that the sun was sinking into a muddy spring, and found a people near it: “So he followed a means, until, when he reached the setting of the sun, he found it setting in a muddy spring, and found near it a people”. The word “ḥattā” is connected to an omitted verb, sāra (he travelled); that is, he travelled until he reached the setting of the sun.(78)

What is meant by “the setting of the sun” is the last inhabited land of that time in the western region, where Dhū al-Qarnayn saw a people; for the land that humanity speaks of today was perhaps not inhabited, or not known, at that time. Many countries and cities lie on the far side of the oceans, and the people of that era considered the end of the world to be the edge of the oceans; but now, with the advance of human knowledge, many other regions on the far side of the oceans have become known. Likewise, the West and the East in the verses under discussion do not include the polar region, which has six months of night and six months of day, since these regions were not known at that time; rather, what is meant are the inhabited regions in which the sun rises and sets daily.

It is worth noting that the story of Dhū al-Qarnayn took place in the Middle East, and since the Pacific Ocean lies in the far west and had not yet been discovered at that time, the nearest western sea that Dhū al-Qarnayn reached on his journey to the west of the earth is the equatorial region of the North Atlantic Ocean (the shores of Africa), which for the inhabitants of the Middle East lies to the north-west, and for the United States of America to the north-east.

In any case, when Dhū al-Qarnayn reached the shores of Africa (the equatorial region of the North Atlantic Ocean), he became certain that there was no one beyond the water; or that if there were, there was no access to them: neither could he go there for conquest, nor could they lead an army to this side of the water.