JERUSALEM IN THE QUR’AN
By Imran N. Hosein
PART ONE
Chapter 10
GOG AND MAGOG
IN THE QUR’AN AND HADITH
“They
said: "O Dhul-Qarnain! Gog and Magog (people) commit acts of corruption
and wickedness in (our) land. Can we pay
you a tribute (payment) in order that you might erect a barrier between us and
them (so that we can be protected from them and their wickedness)?”
(Qur’an, al-Kahf, 18:94)
Our teacher of blessed memory, Maulana Dr. Muhammad
Fadlur Rahman Ansari (ra), taught a very important lesson in connection with
the pursuit of knowledge – particularly when it pertains to the knowledge of Truth. He taught that the ‘part’ (of knowledge) should never be
studied apart from, or in isolation of, the ‘whole’ to which it belongs. Secondly, he taught that the proper
gathering of knowledge pertaining to a subject of study requires that it should
also be organized as a whole. But such is not possible unless one locates the
unitary principle that binds the parts together. He called that unitary
principle ‘the system of meaning’. It is that system of meaning that must be
discovered when we attempt to study the subject of Gog and Magog (Y’ajuj and
M’ajuj). Unless this method of study is adopted then the subject of Gog and
Magog is such that even the greatest of scholars can be misled.
The plain evidence
that emerges from the Qur’an and from no less than eight Ahadith
of Sahih Bukhari indicates that the release of Gog and Magog occurred in
the lifetime of the Prophet (sallalahu ‘alaihi wa-sallam), long before
the return of Jesus (‘alaihi al-Salam).
There are only two references to Gog and Magog (Y’ajuj and
M’ajuj) in the Qur’an. Our first effort must therefore be to
discover the principle of unity that links these two Qur’anic references to Gog
and Magog.
The first reference is in Surah al-Kahf and the second
is in Surah, al-Anbiyah. Here is the first reference:
“They said: O
Dhul-Qarnain! Gog and Magog commit Fasad (corruption, awesome oppression and
wickedness) in the Land. May we render you tribute (i.e., can we pay you
something) in order that you might erect a barrier between us and them (so that
we can be protected from them)?”
(Qur’an, al-Kahf, 18:94)
The very first
Qur’anic reference to Gog and Magog thus declares them to be essentially agents
of Fasad. The Prophet (sallalahu ‘alaihi wa-sallam) explained
that Gog was a community of human beings who had descended from Adam (‘alaihi
al-Salam). Similar was the case with Magog. The Hadith complements
the Qur’an to warn that Allah Most High endowed these human communities
comprised of agents of Fasad with such power that they are, by worldly
standards, invincible:
“It will be under such conditions that Allah
will reveal to Jesus these words: I have brought forth from among My
servants such people against whom none will be able to fight; you take
these people safely to Tur, and then Allah will send Gog and Magog and they
will swarm down from every slope (or spread out in every direction). The first
of them will pass the Lake Tiberias (i.e, the Sea of Galilee, also known as
Lake Kinneret) and drink out of it. And when the last of them passes, he will
say: There was once water here. Jesus and his companions will then be besieged
here (at Tur, and they will be so hard pressed) that the head of the ox will be
dearer to them than one hundred dinars. Allah’s Apostle Jesus, and his
companions, will supplicate Allah, Who will send to them insects (which will
attack their necks) and in the morning they would perish as one single person.
Allah’s Apostle Jesus and his companions then come down to Earth and they will
not find on Earth as much space as a single span that is not filled with
putrefaction and stench. Allah's Apostle, Jesus, and his companions will then beseech
Allah who will send birds whose necks would be like those of Bactrian camels
and they will carry them away and throw them where Allah wills.”
(Sahih Muslim)
Surah al-Kahf
informs us that Dhul Qarnain built a barrier between the people and
these agents of Fasad. He used blocks of ‘iron’ and then sealed them
with a coating of ‘molten copper’. He then declared of the barrier that it was Rahmah
(an act of mercy) from his Lord but that Allah Most High would Himself bring
down the barrier and release Gog and Magog at that time when the W’ad
(warning) of his (Dhul Qarnain’s) Lord was to come to pass:
“He said: This is a mercy from my Lord: but
when the warning of my Lord (concerning the Last Age) comes to pass He will
make it into dust; and the promise of My Lord is true.”
(Qur’an, al-Kahf, 98)
Which W’ad (warning) was he referring to? The answer
is quite clearly revealed in the famous Hadith in which the Prophet (sallalahu
‘alaihi wa-sallam) narrated ten major Signs of the Last Day. Among the ten
was the release of Gog and Magog:
“Narrated Hudhayfah ibn Usayd Ghifari:
Allah’s Messenger came to us all of a sudden
as we were (busy in a discussion). He asked: What are you discussing? (the
Companions) said: We are discussing about the Last Hour. Thereupon he said: It
will not come until you see ten signs, and (in this connection) he made a mention
of ‘the smoke’, ‘Dajjal’, ‘the beast’, ‘the rising of the sun from the west’,
‘the descent of Jesus son of Mary’, ‘Gog and Magog’, ‘landslides in three
places, one in the east, one in the west and one in Arabia’ at the end of which
‘fire would burn forth from Yemen and would drive people to the place of their
assembly’.”
(Sahih Muslim)
[The reader should kindly note that these
signs are not recorded in the chronological sequence in which they will occur.]
In other words, when the barrier was brought down and Gog
and Magog were released, that would be one of the major signs that mankind had
entered into the Last Age. The question is: How would we know when the barrier
was brought down and the release of Gog and Magog had commenced? Let us first
examine the following … Ahadith which answer that question and which are
all taken from Sahih Bukhari. The
Hadith is narrated by different people with slightly different texts. In
consequence the Hadith is mutawatir and that makes it the
strongest possible Hadith:
“Narrated Abu Huraira:
The Prophet said: A hole has been opened in
the dam of Gog and Magog. Wuhaib (the subnarrator) made the number 90 (with his
index finger and thumb).”
(Sahih Bukhari)
“Narrated Zainab bint Jahsh:
That one day Allah’s Apostle entered upon her
in a state of fear and said: None has the right to be worshipped but Allah! Woe
to the Arabs from the Great evil that has approached (them). Today a
hole has been opened in the dam of Gog and Magog like this. The Prophet made a circle
with his index finger and thumb. Zainab bint Jahsh added: I said: O Allah’s
Apostle! Shall we be destroyed though there will be righteous people among us?
The Prophet said: Yes, if the (number) of evil (persons) increased.”
(Sahih Bukhari)
The above Hadith
is repeated elsewhere in Sahih Bukhari with slightly different texts.
“Narrated Ibn Abbas:
Allah’s Apostle performed the Tawaf (around
the Ka’aba while riding his camel, and every time he reached the corner (of the
Black Stone) he pointed at it with his hand and said: ‘Allahu Akbar.’ Zainab
said: The Prophet said: ‘An opening has been made in the wall of Gog and Magog
like this and this ’ (forming the number 90 with his thumb and index finger).”
(Sahih Bukhari)
The various Ahadith of Sahih Bukhari that have come
from four different sources, Abu Hurairah, Zainab bint Jahsh, Umm Salama, and
Abdullah ibn Abbas (ra), are quite explicit in revealing that the release of
Gog and Magog took place in the lifetime of the Prophet (sallalahu ‘alaihi
wa-sallam). Indeed he even declared that the release took place “today”!
Thus the Last Age, or the Age of Fitan, commenced in the lifetime of the
Prophet (sallalahu ‘alaihi wa-sallam). And this is the explanation of
his famous statement concerning his relationship with the ‘Last Hour’:
“Narrated Sahl bin Sad:
I saw Allah’s Messenger pointing with his
index and middle fingers, saying: The time of my Advent and the (Last) Hour are
like these two fingers. The Great Catastrophe (i.e., the Age of Fitan) will
overwhelm everything.”
(Sahih Bukhari)
The Qur’an went on to provide believers with a
momentous Sign by which they would not only have concrete evidence of the
release of Gog and Magog but, more than that, they would have the evidence that
the world was now in the control of Gog and Magog. They would thus be able to
identify Gog and Magog as the Ruling Power in the world. This is located in the
reference to Gog and Magog in Surah al-Anbiyah:
“But there is a ban on a
City which We have destroyed: that they (the residents) shall not return -
until Gog and Magog are let through (their barrier) and they swiftly swarm down
from every height (or spread out in every direction).”
(Qur’an, al-Anbiyah, 21:95-6)
When Gog and Magog have been released and, in addition, “have
descended from every height, or have spread out in every direction”, then
at that time the people of the Town who were punished by Allah Most High, and
banished from their town or city (which was destroyed by Allah, Most High),
would now be brought back to that town or city. There is only one such town or
city (which was destroyed by Allah) which is mentioned in the Ahadith
pertaining to Gog and Magog. And it is Jerusalem.
The following Hadith makes mention of Gog and Magog
passing by the Sea of Galilee, which is in the Holy Land:
“Narrated al-Nawwas ibn Sam’an: ….It will be
under such conditions that Allah will reveal to Jesus these words: I have
brought forth from among My servants such people against whom none will be able
to fight; you take these people safely to Tur, and then Allah will send Gog and
Magog and they will swarm down from every slope. The first of them will pass
the lake of Tiberius (i.e., the Sea of Galilee) and drink out of it. And when
the last of them passes, he will say: There was once water there …. ”
(Sahih Muslim)
When Gog and Magog pass by the Sea of Galilee they would
proceed to Tur (mountain) mentioned in another Hadith as a mountain in Jerusalem:
“Gog and Magog would walk until they reach the
mountain of al-Khamr, and it is a mountain of Bait al-Maqdis (i.e.,
Jerusalem)...”
(Sahih Muslim)
Since no other town or city (destroyed by Allah, Most High)
other than Jerusalem is mentioned in the Ahadith pertaining to Gog and Magog,
we have come to the conclusion that the town or city mentioned in Surah al-Anbiyah (verses 95 and
96) above can only be Jerusalem.
From this conclusion and identification of the town or city
now emerges the implication that the return of the Jews to the Holy Land, which
has already happened, is the dramatic and concrete evidence that the barrier has been brought down by Allah Most High
and that we live in the age of Gog and Magog, and we thus live in the Last Age.
But the more important implication of the return of the Jews
to the ‘city’ (Jerusalem) and the establishment of the State of Israel is that
Gog and Magog have now fulfilled that stage of their mission referred to in Surah al-Anbiyah, 21:96,
i.e., they have descended from every
height (or spread out in every direction) and have taken control of the world.
The world order which brings the Jews back to the Holy Land is that of Gog and
Magog! Who are they? Our method of study must be to look for a people who
display, in their obsessive relationship with the Jews and the Holy Land, a
strange difference in their behavior prior to the Holy Prophet (‘alaihi
al-Salam) when compared with their behavior after the time of the Prophet (‘alaihi
al-Salam).
to be continued....
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