Dhu'l Qarnayn (Alexander?)
The Quran indicates very clearly that Dhu'l-Qarnayn traveled westwards, and later traveled eastwards, however, according to historical records, Alexander of Macedonia only travelled eastwards from Macedonia and Greece into Persia, Khorasan and Indus eventually halted by King Porus despite victory, and south into Palestine and Egypt. While Dhu'l-Qarnayn travelled to the Maghreb and Matli'ash-Shamsi.
وَيَسْـَٔلُونَكَ عَن ذِى ٱلْقَرْنَيْنِ قُلْ سَأَتْلُوا۟ عَلَيْكُم مِّنْهُ ذِكْرًا إِنَّا مَكَّنَّا لَهُۥ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ وَءَاتَيْنَـٰهُ مِن كُلِّ شَىْءٍ سَبَبًا فَأَتْبَعَ سَبَبًا حَتَّىٰٓ إِذَا بَلَغَ مَغْرِبَ ٱلشَّمْسِ وَجَدَهَا تَغْرُبُ فِى عَيْنٍ حَمِئَةٍ وَوَجَدَ عِندَهَا قَوْمًا قُلْنَا يَـٰذَا ٱلْقَرْنَيْنِ إِمَّآ أَن تُعَذِّبَ وَإِمَّآ أَن تَتَّخِذَ فِيهِمْ حُسْنًا قَالَ أَمَّا مَن ظَلَمَ فَسَوْفَ نُعَذِّبُهُۥ ثُمَّ يُرَدُّ إِلَىٰ رَبِّهِۦ فَيُعَذِّبُهُۥ عَذَابًا نُّكْرًا وَأَمَّا مَنْ ءَامَنَ وَعَمِلَ صَـٰلِحًا فَلَهُۥ جَزَآءً ٱلْحُسْنَىٰ وَسَنَقُولُ لَهُۥ مِنْ أَمْرِنَا يُسْرًا ثُمَّ أَتْبَعَ سَبَبًا حَتَّىٰٓ إِذَا بَلَغَ مَطْلِعَ ٱلشَّمْسِ وَجَدَهَا تَطْلُعُ عَلَىٰ قَوْمٍ لَّمْ نَجْعَل لَّهُم مِّن دُونِهَا سِتْرًا كَذَٰلِكَ وَقَدْ أَحَطْنَا بِمَا لَدَيْهِ خُبْرًا ثُمَّ أَتْبَعَ سَبَبًا حَتَّىٰٓ إِذَا بَلَغَ بَيْنَ ٱلسَّدَّيْنِ وَجَدَ مِن دُونِهِمَا قَوْمًا لَّا يَكَادُونَ يَفْقَهُونَ قَوْلًا قَالُوا۟ يَـٰذَا ٱلْقَرْنَيْنِ إِنَّ يَأْجُوجَ وَمَأْجُوجَ مُفْسِدُونَ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ فَهَلْ نَجْعَلُ لَكَ خَرْجًا عَلَىٰٓ أَن تَجْعَلَ بَيْنَنَا وَبَيْنَهُمْ سَدًّا قَالَ مَا مَكَّنِّى فِيهِ رَبِّى خَيْرٌ فَأَعِينُونِى بِقُوَّةٍ أَجْعَلْ بَيْنَكُمْ وَبَيْنَهُمْ رَدْمًا ءَاتُونِى زُبَرَ ٱلْحَدِيدِ حَتَّىٰٓ إِذَا سَاوَىٰ بَيْنَ ٱلصَّدَفَيْنِ قَالَ ٱنفُخُوا۟ حَتَّىٰٓ إِذَا جَعَلَهُۥ نَارًا قَالَ ءَاتُونِىٓ أُفْرِغْ عَلَيْهِ قِطْرًا فَمَا ٱسْطَـٰعُوٓا۟ أَن يَظْهَرُوهُ وَمَا ٱسْتَطَـٰعُوا۟ لَهُۥ نَقْبًا قَالَ هَـٰذَا رَحْمَةٌ مِّن رَّبِّى فَإِذَا جَآءَ وَعْدُ رَبِّى جَعَلَهُۥ دَكَّآءَ وَكَانَ وَعْدُ رَبِّى حَقًّا وَتَرَكْنَا بَعْضَهُمْ يَوْمَئِذٍ يَمُوجُ فِى بَعْضٍ وَنُفِخَ فِى ٱلصُّورِ فَجَمَعْنَـٰهُمْ جَمْعًا وَعَرَضْنَا جَهَنَّمَ يَوْمَئِذٍ لِّلْكَـٰفِرِينَ عَرْضًا ٱلَّذِينَ كَانَتْ أَعْيُنُهُمْ فِى غِطَآءٍ عَن ذِكْرِى وَكَانُوا۟ لَا يَسْتَطِيعُونَ سَمْعًا
AND THEY will ask thee about the Two-Horned One. Say: "I will convey unto you something by which he ought to be remembered."⁸¹ Behold, We established him securely on earth, and endowed him with [the knowledge of] the right means to achieve anything⁸² [that he might set out to achieve]; and so he chose the right means [in whatever he did].⁸³ [And he marched westwards] till, when he came to the setting of the sun,⁸⁴ it appeared to him that it was setting in a dark, turbid sea;⁸⁵ and nearby he found a people [given to every kind of wrongdoing]. We said: "O thou Two-Horned One! Thou mayest either cause [them] to suffer or treat them with kindness!"⁸⁶ He answered: "As for him who does wrong [unto others⁸⁷ ] - him shall we, in time, cause to suffer; and thereupon he shall be referred to his Sustainer, and He will cause him to suffer with unnameable suffering.⁸⁸ But as for him who believes and does righteous deeds - he will have the ultimate good [of the life to come] as his reward; and [as for us,] we shall make binding on him [only] that which is easy to fulfill."⁸⁹ And once again⁹⁰ he chose the right means [to achieve a right end]. [And then he marched eastwards] till, when he came to the rising of the sun⁹¹ he found that it was rising on a people for whom We had provided no coverings against it: thus [We had made them, and thus he left them⁹²; and We did encompass with Our knowledge all that he had in mind⁹³ And once again he chose the right means (to achieve a right end]. [And he marched on] till, when he reached [a place] between the two mountain-barriers,⁹⁴ he found beneath them a people who could scarcely understand a word [of his language]. They said: "O thou Two-Horned One! Behold, Gog and Magog"⁹⁵ are spoiling this land. May we, then, pay unto thee a tribute on the understanding that thou wilt erect a barrier between us and them?" He answered: "That wherein my Sustainer has so securely established me is better [than anything that you could give me];⁹⁶ hence, do but help me with [your labour's] strength, [and] I shall erect a rampart between you and them! Bring me ingots of iron!" Then, after he had [piled up the iron and] filled the gap between the two mountain-sides, he said: "[Light a fire and] ply your bellows!"⁹⁷ At length, when he had made it [glow like] fire, he commanded: "Bring me molten copper which I may pour upon it." And thus [the rampart was built, and] their enemies⁹⁸ were unable to scale it, and neither were they able to pierce it. Said [the King]: "This is a mercy from my Sustainer! Yet when the time appointed by my Sustainer⁹⁹ shall come, He will make this [rampart] level with the ground: and my Sustainer's promise always comes true!"¹⁰⁰ AND ON that Day"¹⁰¹ We shall [call forth all mankind and] leave them to surge like waves [that dash] against one another; and the trumpet [of judgment] will be blown, and We shall gather them all together. And on that Day We shall place hell, for all to see, before those who denied the truth- those whose eyes had been veiled against any remembrance of Me because they could not bear to listen [to the voice of truth]!
(18:83-101 - Muhammad Asad (The Message Of The Quran))
Note 81
Lit., "I will convey unto you a remembrance [or "mention"] of him" - i.e., something that is worthy of remembrance and mention: which, I believe, is an allusion to the parabolic character of the subsequent story and the fact that is is confined, like the preceding parable of Moses and the unknown sage, to a few fundamental, spiritual truths.-The epithet Dhu'l-Qarnayn signifies "the Two-Horned One" or "He of the Two Epochs", since the noun qarn has the meaning of "horn" as well as of "generation" or "epoch" or "age" or "century". The classical commentators incline to the first of these meanings ("the Two-Horned"); and in this they appear to have been influenced by the ancient Middle-Eastern imagery of "horns" as symbols of power and greatness, although the Qur'an itself does not offer any warrant for this interpretation. In fact, the term qarn (and its plural qurun) occurs in the Qur'an -apart from the combination Dhu'l-Qarnayn appearing in verses 83, 86 and 94 of this surah - twenty times: and each time it has the meaning of "generation" in the sense of people belonging to one particular epoch or civilization. However, since the allegory of Dhu'l-Qarnayn is meant to illustrate the qualities of a powerful and just ruler, it is possible to assume that this designation is an echo of the above-mentioned ancient symbolism, which - being familiar to the Arabs from very early times - had acquired idiomatic currency in their language long before the advent of Islam. Within the context of our Qur'anic allegory, the "two horns" may be taken to denote the two sources of power with which Dhu'l-Qarnayn is said to have been endowed: namely, the worldly might and prestige of kingship as well as the spiritual strength resulting from his faith in God. This last point is extremely important-for it is precisely the Qur'anic stress on his faith in God that makes it impossible to identify Dhu'l-Qarnayn, as most of the commentators do, with Alexander the Great (who is represented on some of his coins with two horns on his head) or with one or another of the pre-Islamic, Himyaritic kings of Yemen. All those historic personages were pagans and worshipped a plurality of deities as a matter of course, whereas our Dhu'l-Qarnayn is depicted as a firm believer in the One God: indeed, it is this aspect of his personality that provides the innermost reason of the Qur'anic allegory. We must, therefore, conclude that the latter has nothing to do with history or even legend, and that its sole purport is a parabolic discourse on faith and ethics, with specific reference to the problem of worldly power (see the concluding passage in the introductory note to this surah).
Note 82
According to Ibn `Abbas, Mujahid, Sa'id ibn Jubayr, `Ikrimah, Qatadah and Ad-Dahhak (all of them quoted by Ibn Kathir), the term sabab - lit., "a means to achieve [anything]" - denotes, in this context, the knowledge of the right means for the achievement of a particular end.
Note 83
Lit., "he followed [the right] means": i.e., he never employed wrong means to achieve even a righteous goal.
Note 84
I.e., the westernmost point of his expedition (Razi).
Note 85
Or: "abundance of water" - which, according to many philologists (cf. Taj al-'Arus), is one of the meanings of `ayn (primarily denoting a "spring"). As for my rendering of the phrase "he found it (wajadaha) setting...", etc., as "it appeared to him that it was setting", see Razi and Ibn Kathir, both of whom point out that we have here a metaphor based on the common optical illusion of the sun's "disappearing into the sea"; and Razi explains this, correctly, by the fact that the earth is spherical. (It is interesting to note that, according to him, this explanation was already advanced in the - now lost - Qur'an -commentary of Abu `Ali al-Jubba'i, the famous Mu'tazili scholar who died in 303 H., which corresponds to 915 or 916 of the Christian era.)
Note 86
This divine permission to choose between two possible courses of action is not only a metonymic statement of the freedom of will accorded by God to man, but establishes also the important legal principle of istihsan (social or moral preference) open to a ruler or government in deciding as to what might be conducive to the greatest good (maslahah) of the community as a whole: and this is the first "lesson" of the parable of Dhu'l-Qarnayn.
Note 87
Cf. 11:117 and the corresponding note 149.
Note 88
I.e., in the hereafter-implying that nothing that pertains to the life to come could ever be imagined or defined in terms of human experience.
Note 89
Since righteous behaviour is the norm expected of man, the laws relating thereto must not be too demanding-which is another lesson to be drawn from this parable.
Note 90
For this rendering of the particle thumma, see surah 6, note 31.
Note 91
Le., the easternmost point of his expedition (similar to the expression "the setting of the sun" in verse 86).
Note 92
This is Razi 's interpretation of the isolated expression kadhalika ("thus" or "thus it was") occurring here. It obviously relates to the primitive, natural state of those people who needed no clothes to protect them from the sun, and to the (implied) fact that Dhu'l-Qarnayn left them as he had found them, being mindful not to upset their mode of life and thus to cause them misery.
Note 93
Lit., "all that was with him" - i.e., his resolve not to "corrupt [or "change"] God's creation" (cf. the second half of my note 141 on 4:119) -which, I believe, is a further ethical lesson to be derived from this parable.
Note 94
This is generally assumed to be the Caucasus. However, since neither the Qur'an nor any authentic Tradition says anything about the location of these "two mountain-barriers" or the people who lived there, we can safely dismiss all the speculations advanced by the commentators on this score as irrelevant, the more so as the story of Dhu'l-Qarnayn aims at no more than the illustration of certain ethical principles in a parabolic manner.
Note 95
This is-the form in which these names (in Arabic, Yajuj and Majuj) have achieved currency in all European languages on the basis of certain vague references to them in the Bible (Genesis x,2, I Chronicles i, 5, Ezekiel xxxviii, 2 and xxxix, 6, Revelation of St. John xx, 8). Most of the post-classical commentators identify these tribes with the Mongols and Tatars (see note 100 below).
Note 96
It is generally assumed that the phrase "that wherein my Sustainer has so securely established me (makkanni)" refers to the power and wealth bestowed on him; but it is much more probable-and certainly more consistent with the ethical tenor of the whole parable of Dhu'l-Qarnayn-that it refers to God's guidance rather than to worldly possessions.
Note 97
Lit., "Blow!"
Note 98
Lit., "they".
Note 99
Lit., "my Sustainer's promise".
Note 100
Some of the classical commentators (e.g., Tabari) regard this as a prediction of a definite, historic event: namely, the future break-through of the savage tribes of "Gog and Magog", who are conceived of as identical with the Mongols and Tatars (see note 95 above). This "identification" is mainly based on a well-authenticated Tradition-recorded by Ibn Hanbal, Bukhari and Muslim -which tells us that the Apostle of God had a prophetic dream to which he referred, on awakening, with an exclamation of distress: "There is no deity save God! Woe unto the Arabs from a misfortune that is approaching: a little gap has been opened today in the rampart of Gog and Magog!" Ever since the late Middle Ages, Muslims have been inclined to discern in this dream a prediction of the great Mongol invasion in the thirteenth century, which destroyed the Abbasid Empire and, thus, the political power of the Arabs. However, the mention, in verses 99-101 of this surah, of "the Day" - i.e., the Day of Judgment - in connection with "Gog and Magog" shows that "the time appointed by my Sustainer" relates to the coming of the Last Hour, when all works of man will be destroyed. But since none of the Qur'anic references to the "approach" or the "nearness" of the Last Hour has anything to do with the human concept of time, it is possible to accept both of the above interpretations as equally valid in the sense that the "coming of the Last Hour" comprises an indefinite - and, in human terms, perhaps even immensely long- span of time, and that the break-through of the godless forces of "Gog and Magog" was to be one of the signs of its approach. And, finally, it is most logical to assume (especially on the basis of 21:96) that the terms Yajuj and Majuj are purely allegorical, applying not to any specific tribes or beings but to a series of social catastrophes which would cause a complete destruction of man's civilization before the coming of the Last Hour.
Note 101
Le., on the Day of Judgment alluded to in the preceding verse.
Source: The Message of The Quran
And they ask thee about Dhūl-Qarnayn. Say thou: “I will recite to you a
remembrance of him: —”
(18:83)
And Ishmael and Idrīs and Dhūl-Kifl: each was among the patient,
(21:85)
And Dhūl-Nūn: when he left in wrath, and thought that We would have no power over him; then he called in the darkness: “There is no god save Thou. Glory be to Thee! I have been among the wrongdoers!”
(21:87)
Be thou patient over what they say. And remember thou Our servant David, Dhu'l Ayd: he was one turning in repentance.
(38:17)
A quick scan of the list of the kings of ancient Saba' (Sheba) and Ḥimyar will reveal names such as Dhū Raydān, Dhū Jayḥān, Dhu'l Ādhār, Dhū Yazn, Dhū Nawwās, to name a few…
The Qur'ān also mentions Dhu'l Kifl [21:85] who is possibly Ezekiel, while Dāwūd (David) is given the title of Dhu'l Ayd [38:17]. This is very conclusive proof that David was a semi legendary figure from Yemen's distant past, and that the Qur'ān used titles its audience were very familiar with. And also Dhul-Rummah (a Yemeni poet), Qadas dhul Bur' (as recorded in the cultural memory of the Yemenis) and Dhū Jazr (a place which Al-Hamadāni the Yemeni geographer locates within the same territory as the valleys of Ḥūrān, Ruwāf, and Ḥujlah)
Muhammad Asad
Lit., “and him of the pledge”. The expression dhu‘l-kifl is derived from the verb kafala and especially the form takaffala - which signifies “he became responsible [for something or someone]” or “pledged himself [to do something]”. Although the classical commentators consider dhu‘l-kifl to be the epithet or the proper name of a particular prophet - whom they variously, more or less at random, identify with Elijah or Joshua or Zachariah or Ezekiel - I fail to see any reason whatever for such attempts at “identification”[...]. I am, therefore, of the opinion that we have here (as in the identical expression in 38:48) a generic term applying to every one of the prophets, inasmuch as each of them pledged himself unreservedly to God and accepted the responsibility for delivering His message to man.
In his book Glossary of Countries (3:77), Yāqūt al-Ḥamawi comments on Ramath in particular, and mentions the Yemenis' tendency to add the term dhū to proper nouns (whether names of locations or historical kings / heroes). In fact, this linguistic trend is among what identifies Yemeni culture.
The following is an example of the usage of Dhu being used in the name of a wazeer (minister)* of the ruler of Sheba in ancient Yemen.
Muslim writer al-Kisā'i (died 805 AD), speaks of Dhū-Sharkh ibn Hadād, an extremely good-looking wazeer (minister)* of the ruler of Sheba. This young man was smitten by the beauty of `Umārah, daughter of the king of the ginn. He obtained permission to marry 'Umārah, and she bore Bilqees, the future Queen of Sheba, who ascended to the monarchy by beheading Sharakh ibn Sharāḥeel, the tyrannical ruler of Sheba. Nashwān ibn Sa'eed al-Ḥimyari, writing in the twelfth century AD and claiming to be descended from the Queen of Sheba's family, said her father's name was al-Hadhad ibn Sharaḥ ibn Dhū Saḥār.
The similarities of the traditions (the minister father, a foreign “magical” mother, links with both Africa and Arabia, her intelligence and beauty, and her youth when she became ruler) strongly indicate a common African-Arabian origin, which lends some credibility to the Ethiopians' claim over the Queen, and their belief - however controversial it may be - that the Ark of God is buried deep in a volcano, somewhere on the Ethiopian plateau.
* The English word wizard is no doubt related to the term vizier, whose origin is the Arabic word wazeer
Note: The word is mentioned in the Quran verse 20:29-30, where Harun is described as the wazir (helper/minister) for Moses. The Urdu Title وزیر اعظم meaning in English is Prime Minister.
Professor Bernard Leeman - Queen of Sheba and Biblical Israel
It is possible that an ancient oral tradition spoke not of a bird but of a scout or water diviner. As the meaning of words changed over the years however, the word became associated with the hoopoe in the same way as the Old Testament prescription that the prophet Elijah was fed in the desert by ravens ('rbm) when Arabs (also 'rbm) would seem to make more sense. As already mentioned, the Queen of Sheba has been linked with Dhu Sharkh ibn Hadad and al-Hadhad ibn Sharah ibn Dhu Sahar, so maybe the Arabic word for hoopoe, hudhud, has been confused with earlier partially comprehended oral or unvocalized written traditions.
The “unvocalized written traditions” that Leeman mentions, in passing, are in fact the solution to this puzzle.
In his book entitled Geography of the Torah, Ziād Mina also mentions a lost and forgotten place in Jeezan, by the name of Dhū-Misk (ذو مسك) which was a location that fell to the Egyptian armies of Thutmoses III, when they sacked the Red Sea coast in a bygone era. Here is the passage from Mina's book (page 72):
المشقة / مشقت في الليث و ذا مسك / ذ مسك بجيزان، هذا عدا عن قبيلة الدماشقة الحجازية.
Paraphrase: Al-Mishqah (Mishqat)* in the Layth region, as well as Dhū-Misk in Jeezan. There is also the tribe of al-Damāshiqah who resided in the Ḥijāz.
Dhul-Qarnayn was an ancient Yemeni figure. The strongest evidence showing that He was from Yemen is the fact that names starting with Dhi and Dhu are common in Yemen. There were kings of Yemen called Dhu Nuwas, Dhul-Nun, Dhul-Manar and Dhul-Yazan.
Frederick Guest Tomlins states that Dhu'l Manar Abrahah, an ancient Yemenite King, was the son of Dhu'l Qarnayn, he also states that Dhu'l Qarnayn was not Alexander the King of Macedon.
Frederick Guest Tomlins
12. Shaddad, the son of Ad, the son of Al Matata, the son of Saba, a very powerful prince, succeeded Asmah.
13. Lokman, the brother of Shaddad, was the next king, according to the most received opinion, though some authors are of a different sentiment.
14. The reins of government next fell into the hands of his brother Dhu Sadad.
15. Al Hareth, the son of Dhu Sadad, next ascended the throne. He greatly enriched the kingdom of Yemen, and was the first, according to some, who had the title or surname of Tobba above mentioned, given him by his subjects.
16. Dhu'l Karnain Assaab, the next king, was the son of Rayesh. This was the "two horned prince" mentioned in the Koran, and not Alexander the Great, as we learn from Ebn Abbas.
17. Dhu'l Manar Abrahah, the son of Dhu'l Karnain, succeeded his father; but nothing remarkable happened during his reign.
Note: some names in this list are of interest, such as Shaddad, which is also the name of Shaddad in Yemen which is identified as the original Ashdod of the Bible. Lokman, which could be a reference to Luqmān of the Quran in Surah Luqmān. And Ad, which is also mentioned in the Quran as the name of an ancient south arabian civilization.
The following from Tarikh at-Tabari explains how Abrahah bin Ar-Rayesh got his title Dhu'l Manar, Dhu'l Manar means "Possessor of Lighthouse tower", since Dhu and Dhi means Possessor, Owner, etc.
The History of al Ṭabarī Vol 3, Page 29
Dhu Manar, whom the poet mentioned, is Dhu Manar b. Ra'ish, the king after his father, and his name was Abrahah b. al-Ra'ish. He was called Dhu Manar only because he raided the lands of the west and penetrated them by land and by sea. He feared that his troops might lose their way on their return journey, so he built a lighthouse tower (manar) with which to guide them. The people of Yemen claimed that he sent his son, al-'Abd b. Abrahah on his raid to the area of the most distant lands of the west, where he plundered and seized their wealth.
Al-Biruni in his book, The Remaining Signs of Past Centuries, listed a number of figures whom people thought to be Dhu al-Qarnayn. He favoured the opinion that Dhu al-Qarnayn was the Yamani prince Afrīqish, who conquered the Mediterranean and established a city called Afrīqiah. He was called Dhu al-Qarnayn because he ruled the lands of the rising and setting sun. To support his argument, al-Biruni cited Arabic onomastics, noting that compound names beginning with Dhū, such as Dhū Nuwās and Dhū Yazan, were common among the kings of Himyar.
However, Frederick Guest Tomlin implies that Afrīqish (Africus) is the grandson of Dhu al-Qarnayn, by stating that Africus is the son of Dhu'l Manar Abrahah, the son of Dhu'l Karnain Assaab.
Ibn Isham in his book, Kitab Al-Tijan, states that according to Wahb ibn Munabbih, King Ṣaʿb was a conqueror who was given the epithet Dhu al-Qarnayn after meeting al-Khidr in Jerusalem.
According to Brannon M. Wheeler in the Journal of Near Eastern Studies, it is possible that some elements of these accounts that were originally associated with Sa'b have been incorporated into stories which identify Dhu al-Qarnayn with Alexander.
Brannon M. Wheeler
In Ibn Hishām, Wahb b. Munabbih identifies Dhu al-Qarnayn of Q 18:83-102 and possibly the elements of 18:60-65 with a body of traditions associated with the South Arabian king Ṣaʿb. It is not clear whether the stories associated with Ṣaʿb derive from an earlier but not extant collection of stories about Alexander or if they are of South Arabian provenance. The elements found in Ibn Hishām's story of Ṣaʿb, however, which are later associated with Alexander, do not occur in earlier recensions of the Alexander stories. This makes Wahb b. Munabbih, his sources, or other earlier hadīth transmitters the immediate source of the elements incorporated into the later Alexander stories.
The Alexander Romance attributes the deeds of Dhu'l-Qarnayn to Alexander. This is where popular belief that Dhu'l Qarnain was Alexander came from. But more importantly, it caused the critics of the Quran to accuse Muhammad of plagiarism, saying that he took the story of Dhu'l Qarnayn from the Alexander Romance. I say he didn't. I say it's the other way around. South Arabian lore was incorporated into the mythical stories of Alexander, and that these stories have nothing to do with real Alexander.
Many translators translate that Zabr al-Hadeed (زُہرَ الحدید) in verse 18:96 is about Dhu'l Qarnayn building a wall, with molten metal, between two mountains to stop the incursions of Yajuj and Majuj. However, the word incorrectly translated as mountain in 18:93 is Sadayn (سّدّين) whose noun is Sadd (سَدّ), which is understood as two obstacles since it appears in the dual form in this verse, the word Zabr (زبر) has the same root as the words Zabur (زَبُورًا) and Zubur (زُّبُر), Zabur (زَبُورًا) is the name for the scripture given to Dawud according to verse 17:55, while Zubur (زُّبُر) is the plural of Zabur (زَبُورًا), and means writings, the word Hadeed (حدید) in 18:96 has the same root as Hudud which means boundaries, limits, punishments, arbitrations, etc, Zabr al-Hadeed (زُہرَ الحدید) can mean a Scripture of Arbitration which was used by Dhu'l Qarnayn to discipline two opposing forces and instruct them unity.
Also another interesting fact is that the word Zabur is the name for a script that was once used in ancient Yemen. On the Arabic Wikipedia website is a page that features a detailed article on the ancient history of Yemen. The following is a paraphrase of parts of a passage from the page:
There was another kind of script in Yemen (other than the Musnad script that was inscribed on upright stones) known as the Zabur... The Arab historians state that since the Yemenis were accustomed to calling the Book of Psalms (in the Old Testament) Zabur, the name eventually became synonymous with the Psalms. Evidence has shown that the Zubur (plural of Zabur) were the written prayers and supplications that the common people used to scribe on palm leaves or thin scrolls for religious purposes, or for matters related to trade...
The English copy of the Wikipedia page states the following:
The cursive zabur script - also known as "South Arabian Minuscule" - was used by the ancient Yemenis to inscribe everyday documents on wooden sticks in addition to the rock cut monumental musnad letters ... As yet only about one thousand such texts have been discovered, of which perhaps some 26 have been published; this is partly due to the difficulty of reading the minuscule script.
Has evidence ever been uncovered in Palestine that shows the term Zabür as being associated with the culture of that country? The Qur'an states that Suleiman Ibn Dawud married the Queen Bilqis of Saba, Yemen, additionally Dawud is given the title Dhu'l Ayd which means "Possessor of Strength", proving that Dawud and Dhu'l Qarnayn were both Kings of South Arabia.
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