A Door to Questions We Have Not Yet Asked
The final journey of Dhul Qarnayn is unlike any other described in the Qur’an. It is the only journey whose consequences extend beyond his own lifetime and reach into humanity’s future.
Allah describes it as follows:
ثُمَّ أَتْبَعَ سَبَبًا“Then he followed a pathway.” (18:92)
حَتَّىٰٓ إِذَا بَلَغَ بَيْنَ ٱلسَّدَّيْنِ وَجَدَ مِن دُونِهِمَا قَوْمًۭا لَّا يَكَادُونَ يَفْقَهُونَ قَوْلًۭا“Until he reached between two barriers. He found beyond them a people who could barely comprehend what was being said.” (18:93)
The people pleaded with him:
قَالُوا۟ يَـٰذَا ٱلْقَرْنَيْنِ إِنَّ يَأْجُوجَ وَمَأْجُوجَ مُفْسِدُونَ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ فَهَلْ نَجْعَلُ لَكَ خَرْجًا عَلَىٰٓ أَن تَجْعَلَ بَيْنَنَا وَبَيْنَهُمْ سَدًّۭا“They said, ‘O Dhul Qarnayn! Gog and Magog are spreading havoc throughout the land. Shall we pay you a tribute if you establish a barrier between us and them?'” (18:94)
Dhul Qarnayn declined their payment and instead said:
قَالَ مَا مَكَّنِّى فِيهِ رَبِّى خَيْرٌۭ فَأَعِينُونِى بِقُوَّةٍ أَجْعَلْ بَيْنَكُمْ وَبَيْنَهُمْ رَدْمًا“What my Lord has provided for me is far better. But assist me with your strength, and I will plug what is between you and them.” (18:95)
Allah then describes an extraordinary engineering undertaking involving large pieces of iron, intense heat, and molten metal, resulting in a structure that Gog and Magog could neither scale nor penetrate.
When the work was complete, Dhul Qarnayn declared:
قَالَ هَـٰذَا رَحْمَةٌۭ مِّن رَّبِّى ۖ فَإِذَا جَآءَ وَعْدُ رَبِّى جَعَلَهُۥ دَكَّآءَ ۖ وَكَانَ وَعْدُ رَبِّى حَقًّۭا“He said, ‘This is a mercy from my Lord. But when the promise of my Lord comes, He will reduce it to ruin. And the promise of my Lord is true.'” (18:98)
Centuries later, the Qur’an returns to this event.
حَتَّىٰٓ إِذَا فُتِحَتْ يَأْجُوجُ وَمَأْجُوجُ وَهُم مِّن كُلِّ حَدَبٍ يَنسِلُونَ“Until Gog and Magog are released, and they descend rapidly from every elevated place.” (21:96)
These verses raise remarkable questions.
What exactly was sealed?
Why does the Qur’an distinguish between the people’s requested sadd and the radm that Dhul Qarnayn actually constructed?
Why does Allah describe the engineering process in such unusual detail?
Why was the barrier destined to fail only when Allah’s appointed time arrived?
Why does its destruction become one of the great signs preceding the final events of human history?
What exactly does it mean that Gog and Magog will emerge from every elevated place?
The purpose of these questions is not to claim certainty where certainty has not been given.
It is to do what the Qur’an repeatedly invites humanity to do:
Reflect.
Observe.
Think deeply.
The universe is far greater than our current understanding of it.
Human knowledge has advanced tremendously, yet every discovery seems to reveal more questions waiting beyond it.
Perhaps revelation does not compete with exploration.
Perhaps it guides it.
The journey of Dhul Qarnayn may not simply be a story about the past.
It may be an invitation to examine the possibilities of creation itself.
The questions raised by this journey require a much deeper discussion, a careful examination of Qur’an, authentic hadith, classical understanding, and the possibilities that modern knowledge presents.
For now, the journey has only reached the doorway.
The question is whether we are willing to open it.
Over the past several years, I have been examining these verses alongside authentic hadith, the earliest Muslim commentaries, classical Arabic, and even modern discussions in physics and engineering.
The result is a hypothesis that challenges many assumptions—not only about Gog and Magog, but about Dhul Qarnayn, the nature of the pathways mentioned throughout his journeys, and the complexity of the universe that Allah has created.
I do not ask the reader to accept my conclusions.
I ask only that we examine the text carefully, follow the evidence wherever it leads, and remain open to possibilities that may lie beyond our present understanding.
The Qur’an repeatedly invites humanity to reflect upon creation. Perhaps the journeys of Dhul Qarnayn are one such invitation.
The discussion is far too extensive for a single article.
My hypothesis will be shared through the appropriate medium. In this, we will examine every relevant Qur’anic passage, the authentic prophetic narrations, the earliest scholarly voices, the engineering questions surrounding the barrier, and the remarkable implications that emerge when these pieces are considered together.
Whether you ultimately agree with my conclusions or reject them, I hope you will join me in asking the questions.