Fatwa ID: 07064
Answered by: Maulana Burhaan Rahman
Question:
I would like to request you being an esteemed and experienced scholar who possesses immense knowledge about Shariah and Islamic history provide me some guidance in this matter which I believe is quiet serious. I would like your clarification on the details of righteous Muslim king mentioned in the glorious Quran named Dhul Qarnayn. Growing up I widely read Yusuf Ali’s Quran translation and also read a few works of classical Muslim scholars, many of them identified this Muslim king with either Alexander or Cyrus the great.
In recent times many Muslim scholars have refuted the claim that Dhul Qarnayn (pbuh) was Alexander the great and rightly so since Dhul Qarnayn was a Muslim king and Alexander was a confirmed pagan. Like I said growing up I followed Zakir Naik a lot and so through his channel Peace TV Muslim youth was introduced to many esteemed Islamic scholars one of them being his close friend a Muslim Australian convert Musa Cerantonio.
Recently I was shocked to learn Musa Cerantonio who was a great student of knowledge well versed in fiqh and Quran exegesis participated in many dawah projects himself became an apostate from Islam after being Muslim for 17 years. What is more important is the reason he gave for renouncing Islam. He says after doing a detailed study on the character of Dhul Qarnayn he is convinced that Alexander the great is indeed referred and identified in the Quran as Dhul Qarnayn, and so this is reason enough for him to become an apostate since Quran being a word of Allah (SWT) should not contain contradictions. Identifying Dhul Qarnayn as Alexander who being a pagan convinces him that Astagfirulllah Islam cannot be true.
Musa Cerantonio is someone who understands the Aramaic language and he read the Aramaic text of Alexander’s biography called something like as romance of Alexander that enabled him to connect the pagan king with Dhul Qarnayn.
Can you please clarify to me if Dhul Qarnayn is not who Musa Cerantonio claims to be is. If a former Muslim scholar can become an apostate for the reason that he gives then it can present big intellectual challenges for us as Muslims for which we should be prepared for to answer difficult questions especially for future generation of Muslims? I wouldn’t our children and their generation to have doubts about Islam, as doubts can cause serious problems.
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
Answer:
We must know as Muslims and we as Muslims do comprehend this fact that in the Qur’an there are no errors as he SWT has said:
ذَٰلِكَ ٱلْكِتَـٰبُ لَا رَيْبَ ۛ فِيهِ ۛ هُدًۭى لِّلْمُتَّقِينَ
This is the Book! There is no doubt about it – a guide for those mindful ˹of Allah. [Surah Baqarah verse 2].
Dhul Qarnayn is mentioned in the Qur’an in Surah Kahf and the explanation of what Allah mentioned is found in verse 83-101. Allah mentions him to be a righteous person who praises Allah. Scholars and mufassiroon mentions good things about him.
Ibn Kathir mentions in Bidaayah wa Al Nihaayah:
ذكر الله تعالى ذا القرنين هذا وأثنى عليه بالعدل ، وأنه بلغ المشارق والمغارب ، وملك الأقاليم وقهر أهلها ، وسار فيهم بالمعدلة التامة والسلطان المؤيد المظفر المنصور القاهر المقسط . والصحيح : أنه كان ملكا من الملوك العادلين
God Almighty mentioned this Dhul-Qarnayn and praised him with just character, and that he reached the east and the west, and he was the king of the regions and the leader of their people, and he walked among them with complete justice and supportive authorization, the victorious, the triumphant, the propped, the just. In fact he was one of the just kings.
Ibn Taymiyyah mentions in his Minhaaj Al Sunnah al nabawiyyah:
كان أرسطو قبل المسيح بن مريم عليه السلام بنحو ثلاثمائة سنة ، كان وزيرا للإسكندر بن فيلبس المقدوني الذي غلب على الفرس وهو الذي يؤرخ له اليوم بالتاريخ الرومي تؤرخ له اليهود والنصارى ، وليس هذا الإسكندر هو ذا القرنين المذكور في القرآن كما يظن ذلك طائفة من الناس ، فإن ذلك كان متقدما على هذا وذلك المتقدم هو الذي بنى سد يأجوج ومأجوج ، وهذا المقدوني لم يصل إلى السد ، وذاك كان مسلما موحدا وهذا المقدوني كان مشركا هو وأهل بلده اليونان كانوا مشركين يعبدون الكواكب والأوثان.
When mentioning about Alexander the Greek/Macedonian.
He is the one with whom the Romans, Jewish, and Christians link their history books to, and this is not the Dhul-Qarnain who is mentioned in the Qur’an as some people mistakenly think. Dhul-Qarnain came much earlier than Alexander the Macedonian/Greek. It was the former (Dhul-Qarnain who is mentioned in the Qur’an) who built the Gog and Magog Dam which the latter (Alexander the Macedonian/Greek) did not even reach. The latter was a pagan along with his homeland, Greece, whose inhabitants were idolaters who worshipped planets and idols, whilst the former was a monotheist Muslim. [Minhaaj Al Sunnah al nabawiyyah Vol 1 page 220]
Dhul Qarnayn as mentioned in the Qur’an was a good person and someone who praises Allah, Alexander the great was known to be a polytheist and no one exactly knows how many innocent people he had killed.
We refer to the people of knowledge if there is something in the Qur’an that is unknown to us. Even after that, if scholars or people of expertise (Qur’an/Hadeeth) are unable to assert something because the Qur’an or Hadith include no reference of it, we will leave it at that. Allah is the supreme.
Only Allah knows best.
Written by Maulana Burhaan Rahman
Checked and approved by Mufti Mohammed Tosir Miah
Darul Ifta Birmingham
