Zulqarnain

Part 2

Imam Sadiq a.s said: He was the slave of God and adoring the Benevolent God and doing his best in the way of God and God the Omnipotent too provided him every means and facilities. He too was inviting his people towards the One God and monotheism. He and prophet Yu’she a.s were the wise and learned men who were able to hear the words and speech of angels but they were not able to perceive them by eyes.

In another narration it is written that he became the king in the age of 12 and for thirty years he was seated on the throne of monarch as a king.

They were four persons who ruled as kings: 1- Prophet Nuh a.s 2-Zulqarnain 3- prophet Dawood a.s 4- Prophet Sulaiman a.s. Zulqarnain army was immensely mighty, he was the great leader and he was the maternal cousin of hazrat Khizr a.s. In all his journeys he was moving along with is army and after his death his country was divided into Egypt , Greece , Syria and the West.

He was monotheist and preached the oneness of God. Zulqarnain in 2128 BC reached the west where he watched the sunset and lived there for a year and went from there to Europe and then to Siberia and made the east and west habitable and improved their living condition and appointed kings upon every country. They were the nominal kings ruling upon the people on the authority of Zulqarnain.

Hazrat Amirul mominin Ali a.s said: The place where Zulqarnain saw the sun drowning in the hot spring, it was Balqa (It is located northwest of Amman , Jordan "s capital.). He became the king after the torment of the flood in the period of Nuh a.s and lived for 200 years.

The etimology of his name Zulqarnain are as follows

1- Once he was died by a hit right on his head and again he got his life back and two horn like parts raised upon his head. So he was called Zulqarnain.

2- The design of his crown was like to horns.

3- He was able to see in the day and in the darkness of the night.

4- He lived for two centuries so he may be called“ذوالقرنين ”

5- قرن "qarn” means power, mighty and brave.

It was mentioned about the Zulqarnain in the Holy Quran as follows: I have bestowed Zulqarnain everything knowledge, power, kingdom, the means and resources, to bring into perfection the real self and the same way he followed the angel Jibril a.s.

There was a tribe who asked him: O Zulqarnain do you forgive a person who does not leave his blasphemy and punish him? He replied: Yes I will not leave him till I punish him. My torment is different from the Almighty God and the one who follows the One Omnipotent God and act righteously will get great award.

Zulqarnain reached the place of sunrise and he came across the people who were naked. It was stated by Amiral Momineen Ali a.s that the advent of Zulqarnain was after the Nuh a.s. God made him to roam and have a look around the sky and he ruled upon the kingdom of west then he occupied the east. He was well equipped with the entire resources of the progress of cultures. He was blessed with knowledge, wisdom and awareness.

In the same manner Zulqarnain continued his journey and reached a plce where the people complained him about those two tribes, the Yajuj and Majuj, Zulqarnain replied: Bring for me iron, copper water and other materials of construction. The wall of barrier was completed such that the tribes of Yajuj and Majuj could not climb it. And this wall became the source of peace for them from whom they were facing much trouble. The wall of Zulqarnain is very much popular in the history.

In the narration, it is written about an angel who got a long life. Zulqarnain asked him: What are the ways to get a longest life span? The angel replied: God had created water of life and the one who drinks it that person will be alive for ever.

He asked: Where I could find that spring of water? He replied: It is in the darkness ‘Zulmath’ He asked: Where is the darkness? He replied: It is in the east and on the earth. And the angel disappeared. Zulqarnain gathered all the wise men, scholars and learned people of the society and told them to find out the place where the water of life exists. He conducted a meeting and said: O the wise and fully aware people, do you know from the books of the past prophets, informations of the past and from the other scholars that where is the spring of life?

Many discussions on this subject were carried on and the negative and positive answers were approaching all over. A young man was sitting in a corner and he was not uttering a single word who was the son of a successor of a prophet. And meanwhile Zulqarnain was not able to take out any result out of their discussions.

He asked that young man: Do you have any clue about the matter? He replied: O king of knowledge I am aware of this subject. King Zulqarnain got delighted and came down his throne and made the young man to sit beside him and treated him with much kindness and interest and he paid keen attention towards the young man to hear what he was going to say.

The young man said: I have read some chapters from the scripture of the Adam a.s which was descended from the heaven; the subject of your interest is mentioned in that scripture.

Source: alhassanain.com

Other Links:

Quranic Stories

Collection of Revelation during the Prophets Lifetime

Karbala'i Kazim

The Story of Prophet Luqman (AS) and the WaterMelon