THE GATE

In the course of giving a lesson from history and a warning for the future the Qur'an mentioned a great personality and a powerful nation in Sura 18. The great personality is called Zul-Qarnain, and the powerful nation is called Gog and Magog.

According to the above Qur'anic passage Zul-Qarnain built a huge structure from iron and lead to stop the multitudes of Gog and Magog from coming out to cause havoc and destruction to their nearest neighoubers.

This structure must have been gigantic in size, for was built between two mountains. It was very strong that the multitude of Gog and Magog were unable to dig through it or to climb it. Thus the numerous millions of Gog and Magog were locked behind this structure until God's appointed time before the Day of Resurrection as the following Qur'anic verse confirms:

So there is a time in the future where the millions of Gog and Magog will be let through the barrier that Zul-Qarnain built and they will cause a lot of destruction to the mankind.

Both Sahih Muslim and Bukhari mentioned Gog and Magog:

And the following Hadith was mentioned in the course of certain warnings about the Dajjal and the promise of the appearing of Jesus before the Last Hour:

We can see from the above Hadiths that the people of Gog and Magog do exist right now, that they will be let loose before the Resurrection Day and that the number of the army of Gog and Magog must be so extremely large that they drank all the water of the lake of Tiberias in one go. From all the above the barrier that Zul-Qarnain had built must be of gigantic proportions to keep these people to this day.

With so many references to that strong and huge barrier Muslim explorers began looking for it.

Ibn Kathir informs us in his commentary that:

Ibn Khurdabih (846 A.D.) gives the following account of Sallaam's expedition, who was sent to report on the Iron Gate by Khalif Wathiq.

Was this the gate that was mentioned in the Qur'an? Was this gate sufficient to block the hoards of Gog and Magog? Sallaam single handed with his knife managed to scrape out as much as half a drachm with his little knife. Could not the multitudes of Gog and Magog dig the whole thing out of existence in one day? The Qur'anic description of the structure is that it is so strong and impregnable that they can not even dig it or scale it.

Yusuf Ali mocks the brains of his readers in the following words:

Notice that Yusuf Ali says "There is no iron gate there now". Whatever happened to this massive structure that is mentioned in the Qur'an and the Hadith and was seen by an army of Muslims and it was at least made of two doors each 50 cubits broad by 75 cubits high, and 5 cubits thick? And what of the Qur'anic verse (Q. 21:96-97) that says that the gate will remain till the time of the end, just before the Last Day?

More radically we have to ask whether there ever was a dam and a gate that enclosed the people of Gog and Magog behind the mountains at any time.

Blocking a gap between two mountains is huge task. Such a structure would have been by far larger than the greatest of all the pyramids. Had the Qur'an spoken of the pyramids, no questions would have be raised. Most people have seen a movie, a photo, or even a documentary showing the pyramids. However, when the Qur'an speaks of such a huge and massive structure that blocked the way of the millions of Gog and Magog, all that Yusuf Ali can provide us with in way of evidence is the testimony of people from days gone by and the huge gate itself has gone with the wind.

Can you imagine anyone giving as the only evidence for the existence of these pyramids a traveller's claims to have seen them in the seventh century although there is not even a trace left of those pyramids now?

Had there been a dam and an iron gate as described by the Qur'an, that site would attract millions of people to see. And with the imprisoned people of Gog and Magog behind them, that would have been also a constant physical reminder of the coming judgement of God and the Last Day as it was written in the Qur'an:

So where did the story of this dam and the iron gate and Gog and Magog come from?

The story came from a legend, a myth that has no historical reality, called the "Romance of Alexander". Telling these kinds of legends was a popular pastime of ancient people. It is equivalent to movies nowadays.

Other versions have sprung up since then. Here is one version of those legends. From Carl Muller's edition of the "Pseudo-Callisthenes", in Cod. B (III, cap. 29 ed. Didot, p. 112 seq.) the report about Gog and Magog appears as follows:

There are many versions of these legends, and it was only natural for people to look for this monumental dam and gate. The following sums up the disappointment and the folly for such endeavours:

Dear reader, forget about the legends for the time being. Suppose there were no legends and that the Qur'an did not borrow the story from a legend.

The facts are this: The Qur'an mentioned a huge impregnable structure that will last to the end of times, but this structure is no where to be found. It does not exist and did not exist. The absence of this colossal structure brings to question the validity of the Qur'an.

God gave us eyes to see. He placed two of them, not in the head of another so that this other person might see for us, but God placed our eyes in our own heads so that we could see for ourselves. Likewise He gave us a brain to think, He placed it in our own heads, not in the head of another person, so that he might do the thinking for us. So let us use our own eyes and our own brains to find the truth for ourselves. God will not judge us according to what others saw and thought but He will judge us according to what we saw and what we thought.

Dear reader, do you think that a dam and a gate of any size will stop any nation from scaling up the surrounding mountains? Primitive people have been climbing mountains since the dawn of civilisation. Besides, with satellites we have mapped out every inch of planet earth. Where are these millions that are locked up behind the mountains? The whole story as mentioned in the Qur'an does not fit the simple facts of life. It indeed belongs to the realm of fairyland.

That does not mean there is no God and no day of judgement. On the contrary, there is a faithful God that can be trusted and a day of judgement coming. You can read about the true God and His true mercy in the Book called the Bible. The Book that God sent before the Qur'an.


QAF

The Qur'an tells us that Zul-Qarnain shut in Gog and Magog behind the gate he built and that they will not be able to get out until the end time. What is the geography of the world that enabled Alexander to shut these nations behind one gate? How could Zul-Qarnain with one gate shut in those nations?

The answer comes from the legends. In description of the mountain that enclosed Gog and Magog the legend tells us:

And

So there is a mountain that surrounds the whole earth with a little gap in it. But then there are the sea that surrounds the whole world after the mountain. When Zul-Qarnain closed the gap with his gate Gog and Magog are thus shut in between the sea and the mountain. The Legend gave Gog and Magog the best piece of real estate in the whole world. This shows some erroneous knowledge with the geography of the earth on the part of the Qur'an, and that Mohammad was not inspired by God in writing this sura.

THE PROMISE

The Qur'an tells us that the gate Zul-Qarnain built will remain closed until the end time just before the "promise of my Lord comes to pass". The commentators agreed that the "promise of my Lord" is the day of Resurrection.

According to the Qur'an near the resurrection day the gate will be turned to dust and Gog and Magog will be let loose.

Where did that concept come from?

In the Discourse Composed by Mar Jacob upon Alexander we read:

The parallels between the story of Zul-Qarnain and the Legend concerning Alexander the Great are too numerous they point to one conclusion: The story concerning Zul-Qarnain in the Qur'an has come from the Legends concerning Alexander the Great.


References:
1. Sahih Muslim, Book 40, Number 6931.
2. Sahih Bukhari, Volume 9, Book 88, Number 249.
3. Sahih Muslim, Book 40, Number 7016.
4. Sahih Muslim, Book 40, Number 7015.
5. Ibn Kathir, commenting on Q. 18:92-96.
6. C.E. Wilson "The Wall of Alexander Against Gog and Magog; and the Expedition Sent out To Find it by the Khaliph Wathiq, in 842 A.D." Hirth Anniversary Volume, Asia Major, London: Probsthain and Co, 1922, pp. 593-595.
7. The Holy Qur'an, Translation and Commentary by Yusuf Ali, Appendix 7, page 762 (1983).
8. Iskandarnamah - A Persian Medieval Alexander-Romance, Translated by Minoo D. Southgate, Columbia University Press, New York, 1978. p201.
9. C.E. Wilson "The Wall of Alexander Against Gog and Magog; and the Expedition Sent out To Find it by the Khaliph Wathiq, in 842 A.D." Hirth Anniversary Volume, Asia Major, London: Probsthain and Co, 1922, pp. 577-579.
10. Alexander's Gate, Gog and Magog, and the enclosed nations, Andrew Runni Anderson, the Medieval Accademy of America, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1932, pp.103,104. 11. "A Discource Composed by Mar Jacob upon Alexander, the Believing King, and upon the Gate which he made against Gog and Magog", In The History of Alexander the Great Being the Syriac Version of the Pseudo-Callisthenes. Translated by E.A. W. Budge, 1889, pp.177-178.
12. "A Discource Composed by Mar Jacob upon Alexander, the Believing King, and upon the Gate which he made against Gog and Magog", In The History of Alexander the Great Being the Syriac Version of the Pseudo-Callisthenes. Translated by E.A. W. Budge, 1889, pp.166-168.
13. "A Discource Composed by Mar Jacob upon Alexander, the Believing King, and upon the Gate which he made against Gog and Magog", In The History of Alexander the Great Being the Syriac Version of the Pseudo-Callisthenes. Translated by E.A. W. Budge, 1889, p.186.
14. "A Discource Composed by Mar Jacob upon Alexander, the Believing King, and upon the Gate which he made against Gog and Magog", In The History of Alexander the Great Being the Syriac Version of the Pseudo-Callisthenes. Translated by E.A. W. Budge, 1889, p.188.


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