God’s Establishing of Dhū al-Qarnayn

The Noble Qur’an speaks of two groups who are established in the land – while preserving the degrees of establishment and the levels of power:

1) Those who, under the slogan “Indeed, whoever gains the upper hand today has prospered”,(66) have gained power over the earth, and whose works are corruption and the spreading of corruption. They are the ones who, when they enter a town, ruin it and make its honoured people humbled, and who always act in this way: “Indeed kings, when they enter a town, ruin it and make the most honoured of its people the most humbled; and thus do they do”.(67)

2) Those who have become powerful in the land on the basis of divine establishment, and whose works are righteousness and reform and centred on faith and piety. They are the ones who establish prayer, give zakat, enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong: “Those who, if We establish them in the land, establish prayer, give zakat, enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong”.(68)

Dhū al-Qarnayn is one of the instances of this group, for God the Glorified deems his affair great, speaks of him with approval, and says: We gave him power in the land: “Indeed We established him in the land”.

In the following verses, too, He speaks of his decisions and of how he dealt with people: in answer to the divine question, he said that we will destroy their oppressors, who are people of corruption and of spreading corruption, and treat the righteous believer well; and we impose nothing on people.

According to some commentators, establishment (tamakkun) in the land is the power to dispose of the land at will, as an owner does. It is sometimes said that tamakkun is a verbal noun derived from makān (place), and that its mīm is one of the root letters of the word; so tamkīn in the land means to settle firmly and give stability, in such a way that no obstacle or hindrance can separate it from the land.(69)