paul@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu (Craig Paul) (07/08/90)
>(Also what is the story about Iskander and the Juj Majuj? Who is Iskander?)
Juj and Majuj translate into Gog and Magog in English. There is one
specific reference in the Qur'an - 21:96. A more complete context is
provided by the surrounding verses, i.e. 21:95-21:97.
In Surah 18, note 95, Muhammad Asad in his translation of the Qur'an explains:
This is the form in which these names (in Arabic, Yaajuuj and Maajuuj)
have achieved currency in all European languages on the basis of
certain vague references 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 100 commenting about 18:98 says
Some of the classical commentators (e.g. Tabarii) regard this as a
prediction of a definite, historic even: namely, the future
break-through of the saveage tribes of "Gog and Magog", who are
conceived of as identical with the Mongolsand Tatars (see note 95,
above). This "identification" is mainly based on a well-authenticated
Tradition - recorded by Bin Hanbal, Bukhaari and Muslim - which tells
us that the Apostle of God had a phophetic 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 lttle
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 non 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 and 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 on of the signs of its
approach. And, finally, it is most logical to assume (especially on
the basis of 21:96-97) that the terms Yaajuuj and Maajuuj are purely
allegorical, applying to 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.