Mystery of Zul-Qarnain

This Monday morning started with a YM chat with Izza Aripin. She was telling me that she watched two movies over the weekend, one on King Arthur and another on Alexander the Great. I will not touch on King Arthur in today's blog entry (I'll let Izza do that in her blog entry). Rather I'll touch on the other king, Alexander the Great.

Many people have often asked who was this Alexander the Great? Was he Iskandar Zul-Qarnain, the king mentioned in the Quran?

Some people believe that Alexander and Iskandar were one and the same, i.e. the king who was known in many cultures as "Iskandar Zul-Qarnain" or "Iskandar Kumara" or "Alexander the Great." This king was known as "Zul-Qarnain" because he wore a head piece with two horns. "Zul-Qarnain" means "two horns." Those who agree that Alexander was Iskandar make a linkage to their names. Iskandar is actually al-Sikandar in Arabic, which is equivalent to Alexander in Greek. There are also some arguments that are put forward to show that Iskandar Zul-Qarnain was the cousin of Nabi Khidir a.s.

Now, there are also those who believe that Alexander and Iskandar were two different people. They note that the characters attributed to Alexander and Iskandar were very different. They also note that the conquest led by Alexander was from the West to the East, while Iskandar was from the East to the West. Those who hold to this view say that Iskandar Zul-Qarnain in actuality was the Persian Emperor, Cyrus.

Something of interest: Even the Indians have a legend on Iskandar Zul-Qarnain. The legend depicts a Hindu God with two horns called "Skanda." You can read more about this here but read it with a pinch of salt.

Trying to figure out whether Alexander was the same person as Iskandar is an interesting topic for discussion, and an endless one at that. I will not go into this, but I'd like to share with everyone that it is the verses in the Quran on Iskandar Zul-Qarnain that piqued my interest to look at Islam and science.

They said: "O Zul-Qarnain! The Gog and Magog (people) do great mischief on earth: Shall we then render thee tribute in order that thou mightest erect a barrier between us and them?" He said: "(The power) in which my Lord has established me is better (than tribute): Help me therefore with strength (and labour): I will erect a strong barrier between you and them. Bring me blocks of iron." At length, when he had filled up the space between the two steep mountain-sides, he said, "Blow (with your bellows)." Then, when he had made it (red) as fire, he said: "Bring me, that I may pour over it, molten lead." Thus were they made powerless to scale it or to dig through it.

[Surah al-Kahfi (18): 94-97]

There have been discussions as to where the barrier that blocked the movement of Gog and Magog (Ya'juj and Ma'juj) is located. This is what got me interested in Islam and science. I studied chemistry, and one of the things that I learnt is that if you combine two metal elements, you will get an alloy. An alloy's characteristic is stronger compared to a metal element.

That is essentially what Iskandar Zul-Qarnain did. He combined liquified iron with molten lead. Iron and lead are both metal elements. When combined, these two metal elements would form an alloy. I realised this about 10 years ago. It is then I knew that there are many more secrets in the Quran waiting for us to discover, and that is why I looked into the issue of Islam and science.

Anyway, coming back to Iskandar Zul-Qarnain, if you're looking for the barrier that blocked Ya'juj and Ma'juj, go look for an alloy barrier.