"Truly We established him in the land, and gave him the means to all things. So he followed a means, till when he reached the place of the setting sun, he found it setting in a murky spring, and there he found a people. We said, 'O Dhu'l-Qarnayn! Thou mayest punish, or thou mayest treat them well.' He said, 'As for the one who has done wrong, we shall punish him. Then he shall be brought back to his Lord, whereupon He will punish him with a terrible punishment. But as for the one who believes and works righteousness, he shall have a reward, that which is most beautiful, and we shall speak unto him that which is easy from our command.'"
Quran 18:84-88
We're continuing our exploration al-Kahf, the 18th surah, usually rendered as "The Cave," and the journeys of Alexander the Great (or maybe Cyrus the Great), known as Dhu'l-Qarnayn in the Quran. Again, Alexander is represented as a very godly individual, which doesn't normally align with our historical understanding of the actual historical Alexander's personality. Truthfully, this sounds like a story that Alexander might have told as he entered a new region, although not necessarily a story that Alexander would have believed, or a story that would have independently been reported about him. It is very interesting that Alexander says: "But as for the on who believes and works righteousness . . ." This is one of the over fifty times when belief and righteous deeds are linked in the Quran, and it, as we knows, plays a central role in Islamic thought. Finally, the "place of the setting sun" brings us another liminal space, which plays such a key role in this surah.
Quran 18:84-88
We're continuing our exploration al-Kahf, the 18th surah, usually rendered as "The Cave," and the journeys of Alexander the Great (or maybe Cyrus the Great), known as Dhu'l-Qarnayn in the Quran. Again, Alexander is represented as a very godly individual, which doesn't normally align with our historical understanding of the actual historical Alexander's personality. Truthfully, this sounds like a story that Alexander might have told as he entered a new region, although not necessarily a story that Alexander would have believed, or a story that would have independently been reported about him. It is very interesting that Alexander says: "But as for the on who believes and works righteousness . . ." This is one of the over fifty times when belief and righteous deeds are linked in the Quran, and it, as we knows, plays a central role in Islamic thought. Finally, the "place of the setting sun" brings us another liminal space, which plays such a key role in this surah.
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