It  is  well-known  that  the  sun’s  motion  is  apparent,  indicating  the  hidden movement of the earth and giving news of it. What it intends is not the actual setting of the sun. Also the spring is a metaphor. From the distance a large sea appears to be a small pool. It is most meaningful and apt according to the mysteries  of eloquence9   to liken a sea appearing beyond  swamps with mists and vapours rising from it due to the heat to a muddy spring, with word ‘ayn, which in Arabic means both spring, and sun, and eye. It appeared like that to Dhu’l-Qarnayn because of the  distance. So  too,  the  Qur’an comes  from the  sublime throne and commands the heavenly bodies, so its  heavenly address stating that the subjugated

sun, which performs the duty of a lamp in this guesthouse of the Most Merciful One, is hidden in a dominical spring like the Atlantic Ocean, is fitting for its loftiness and sublimity; with its miraculous style it shows the sea to be a hot spring and steaming eye. And that is how is appears to heavenly eyes.

I n   S h o r t : The use of the term “a muddy spring” for the Atlantic Ocean indicates that Dhu’l-Qarnayn saw that huge ocean as a spring due to the distance. But because the Qur’an sees everything from close to, it did not see what Dhu’l-Qarnayn saw, which was a sort of illusion. Indeed, since the Qur’an comes from the heavens and looks to them, it sometimes sees the earth as an arena, sometimes as a palace, sometimes  as  a  cradle,  and  sometimes  as  a  page.  So  its  calling  the  vast  misty, vaporous Atlantic Ocean a spring shows its lofty sublimity.

YOUR SECOND QUESTION

Where is the barrier of Dhu’l-Qarnayn? Who were Gog and Magog?

T h e  A n s w e r : Long ago I wrote a treatise about this question and it silenced the atheists. I do not have it with me now, and my memory is not working and helping me. Also, this question is discussed briefly in the Third Branch of the Twenty-Fourth Word. We shall therefore only indicate very briefly two or three points about it, as follows:

According to explanations given by investigative scholars, and as indicated by the title  Dhu’l-Qarnayn,  names beginning with the suffix Dhu, like Dhu’l-Yazan, were used by the  kings of Yemen, so this Dhu’l-Qarnayn was not Alexander the Great.  He  was  one  of the  kings  of Yemen10   who  lived  at  the time of  Abraham (UWP)11 and received instruction from

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9   In accordance with the mysteries of rhetoric the word “spring” (‘ayn) in “in a spring of murky water” makes a subtle allusion, as follows: after gazing on the beauty of divine mercy on the face of the earth, the eye of the sun in the face of the sky – and after beholding divine tremendousness above, the eye of the sea in the earth – these two eyes close one within the other, and the eyes on the earth close also. Thus, with one miraculous word the Qur’an recalls this, and alludes to eyes resting from their duties.

10 See, Abu Su’ud, Tafsir Abi Su’ud, v, 239-40; Ibn Hajar, Fath al-Bari, vi, 385; al-Alusi, Ruh al- Ma’ani, xvi, 27.

11 See, al-Qurtubi, al-Jami‘ li-Ahkam al-Qur’an, xi, 47; Ibn Kathir, Tafsir al-Qur’an, i, 180; iii,

101; Ibn Hajar, Fath al-Bari, vi, 382; al-Faqihi, Ahbar Makka, iii, 221.