Al-Kahf (The Cave) (18)-110
*** This Surah is based on a Greek Tragedy " The Seven Sleepers of Ephesus". It is unique in the sense that it is not based on a plagiarized Biblical event but on one from world literature.
It is the story of certain youths who fled to a cave in the mountains to escape the persecution of Christians under Decius (c 250 AD). Their pursuers found their hiding place and walled them in it. They miraculously survived for 200 years until they were discovered and woken up by some workers in the reign of the emperor Theodosius. Muhammad plagiarized it and incorporated it in his Quran***
1 Praise be to Allah Who hath sent to His Servant the Book and hath allowed therein no Crookedness:
2> (He hath made it) Straight (and Clear) in order that He may warn (the godless) of a terrible Punishment from Him and that He may give Glad Tidings to the Believers who work righteous deeds that they shall have a goodly Reward.
3> Wherein they shall remain forever:
4> Further that He may warn those (also) who say "Allah hath begotten a son":
5 No knowledge have they of such a thing nor had their fathers. It is a grievous thing that issues from their mouths as a saying. What they say is nothing but falsehood!
6 Thou wouldst only perchance fret thyself to death following after them in grief if they believe not in this Message.
7 That which is on earth We have made but as a glittering show for the earth in order that We may test them as to which of them are best in conduct.
8 Verily what is on earth We shall make but as dust and dry soil (without growth or herbage).
9 Or dost thou reflect that the Companions of the Cave and the Raqim (of the Inscription) were wonders among Our Signs?
# 2334 A wonderful story or allegory is now referred to. Its lessons are: (1) the relativity of Time, (2) the unreality of the position of oppressor and oppressed, persecutor and presecuted, on this earth, (3) the truth of the final Resurrection, when true values will be restored, and (4) the potency of Faith and Prayer to lead to the Right. (18.9)2335 The unbelieving Quraish were in the habit of putting posers to the holy Prophet-questions which they got from Christians and Jews, which they thought the Prophet would be unable to answer. In this way they hoped to discredit him. One of these questions was about the floating Christian story of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus. The Prophet not only told them the main story but pointed out the variations that were current, and rebuked men for disputing about such details (xviii. 22). Most important of all, he treated the story (under inspiration) as a parable, pointing to lessons of the highest value. This is Revelation in the highest sense of the term. The story is recapitulated in n. 2337 below. (18.9)2336 Raqim = Inscription. So interpreted by the Jalalain, and the majority of Commentators agree. See n. 2337, below. Others think it was the name of the dog: see xviii. 18, and n. 2350 below#
*** Since the pagan Arabs had no such story in their oral tradition and definitely not in any written form, how else could Muhammad 'invent' it without his recourse to external sources which were available to him?
After all, most of the Quranic verses are based upon the Bible and Rabbinical traditions which are obviously external sources.
In the case above, this is a legend found in Greek and Christian fables, transmitted through both Christian and Jewish sources and hence not uncommon before and during the time of Muhammad.
The word Raqim is obviously NOT Arabic since even the Muhammadan philologists could not agree as to its origin.
Al Suyuti believed it to be a Greek word, which would agree with the explanation given by C C Torrey in his "The Jewish foundation of Islam" p 46 ***
10 Behold the youths betook themselves to the Cave: they said "Our Lord! bestow on us Mercy from Thyself and dispose of our affair for us in the right way!
# 2337 The bare Christian story (without the spiritual lessons taught in the Qur-an) is told in Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (end of chapter 33). In the reign of a Roman Emperor who persecuted the Christians, seven Christian youths of Ephesus left the town and hid themselves in a cave in a mountain near by. They fell asleep, and remained asleep for some generations or centuries. When the wall which sealed up the cave was being demolished, the youths awoke. They still thought of the world in which they had previously lived. They had no idea of the duration of time. But when one of them went to the town to purchase provisions, he found that the whole world had changed. The Christian religion, instead of being persecuted was fashionable: in fact it was now the State religion. His dress and speech, and the money which he brought, seemed to belong to another world. This attracted attention. The great ones of the land visited the Cave, and verified the tale by questioning the man's Companions. When the story became very popular and circulated throughout the Roman Empire, we may well suppose that an Inscription was put up at the mouth of the Cave. See verse 9 and n. 2336. This inscription was probably to be seen for many years afterwards, as Ephesus was a famous city on the west coast of Asia Minor, about forty to fifty miles south of Smyrna. Later on, the Khalifa Wathiq (842-846 A.D.) sent an expedition to examine and identify the locality, as he did about the Zul-Qarnain barrier in Central Asia. A popular story circulating from mouth to mouth would necessarily be vague as to dates and vary very much in details. Somewhere about the 6th century A.D. a Syriac writer reduced it to writing. He suggested that the youths were seven in number; that they went to sleep in the reign of the Emperor Decius (who reigned from 249 to 251 A.D., and who was a violent persecutor of Christianity); and that they awoke in the reign of Theodosius 11, who reigned from 408 to 450 A.D. In our literature Decius is known as Daqyanus (from the adjectival Latin from Decianus), and the name stands as a symbol of injustice and oppression, and also of things old fashioned and out-of-date, as res Decianae must have been two or three centuries after Decius2338 The youths hid in the cave, but they trusted in Allah, and made over their whole case to Him in prayer. Then they apparently fell asleep, and knew nothing of what was happening in the world outside#
*** The interpreter's exhaustive explanations above, need no more comments ***
11 Then We drew (a veil) [fa tharabna] over their ears for a number of years in the cave (so that they heard not):
# 2339 Drew (a veil) over their ears: i.e., sealed their ears, so that they heard nothing. As they were in the Cave they saw nothing. So they were completely cut off from the outer world. It was as if they had died, with their knowledge and ideas remaining at the point of time when they had entered the Cave. It is as if a watch stops at the exact moment of some accident, and any one taking it up afterwards can precisely fix the time of the accident#
*** The translation of the Arabic word (tharabna) is wrongly identified as
"We drew a veil over".
The actual translation should be "We put a seal upon" which makes much more sense***
12 Then We roused them in order to test which of the two parties was best at calculating the term of years they had tarried!
13 We relate to thee their story in truth: they were youths who believed in their Lord and We advanced them in guidance:
14> We gave strength to their hearts: Behold they stood up and said: "Our Lord is the Lord of the heavens and of the earth: never shall we call upon any god other than Him: if we did; we should indeed have uttered an enormity!"
15 "These our people have taken for worship gods other than Him: why do they not bring forward an authority clear (and convincing) for what they do? Who doth more wrong than such as invent a falsehood against Allah?
16 "When ye turn away from them and the things they worship other than Allah betake yourselves to the Cave: your Lord will shower his mercies on you and dispose of your affair towards comfort and ease."
17 Thou wouldst have seen the sun when it rose declining to the right from their Cave and when it set turning away from them to the left while they lay in the open space in the midst of the Cave. Such are among the Signs of Allah: he whom Allah guided; but he whom Allah leaves to stray for him wilt thou find no protector to lead him to the Right Way.
18 Thou wouldst have deemed them awake whilst they were asleep and We turned them on their right and their left sides: their dog stretching forth his two forelegs on the threshold: if thou hadst come up on to them thou wouldst have certainly turned back from them in flight and wouldst certainly have been filled with terror of them.
19 Such (being their state) We raised them up (from sleep) that they might question each other. Said one of them "How long have ye stayed (here)?" They said "We have stayed (perhaps) a day or part of a day." (At length) they (all) said "Allah (alone) knows best how long ye have stayed here...Now send ye then one of you with this money of yours to the town: let him find out which is the best food (to be had) [azka ta^aman] and bring some to you that (ye may) satisfy hunger herewith: and let him behave with care and courtesy and let him not inform anyone about you.
#2354 Best food:, i.e., purest, most wholesome, perhaps also most suitable for those who rejected idol worship, i.e., not dedicated to idols. For they still imagined the world in the same state in which they had known it before they entered the Cave#
*** The interpreter is correct in explaining that the meat should be Kosher/Halal, that is pure according to religion; he none the less missed to derive the most important conclusion from the above which is that ONLY a Halachic Jewish tradition could explain this part of the story since at the time of the above events, the Christians had no tradition dealing with pure foods as they were not prohibited from eating pork and other foods not accepted in the Hebrew Bible.
Muhammad could only have heard this story as it was passed on to him through a Jewish medium. The emphasis above regarding the legal purity of the food, would suggest that this was a Jewish version of the legend ***
20 "For if thy should come upon you they would stone you or force you to return to their cult and in that case ye would never attain prosperity."
21 Thus did We make their case known to the people that they might know that the promise of Allah is true and that there can be no doubt about the Hour of Judgment. Behold they dispute among themselves as to their affair. (Some) said "Construct a building over them": their Lord knows best about them: those who prevailed over their affair said "Let us surely build a place of worship over them."
22 (Some) say they were three the dog being the fourth among them; (others) say they were five the dog being the sixth doubtfully guessing at the unknown; (yet others) say they were seven the dog being the eighth. Say thou: "My Lord knoweth best their number; it is but few that know their (real case)." Enter not therefore into controversies concerning them except on a matter that is clear nor consult any of them about (the affair of) the Sleepers.
23 Nor say of anything "I shall be sure to do so and so tomorrow"
24 Without adding "So please Allah!" And call thy Lord to mind when thou forgettest and say "I hope that my Lord will guide me ever closer (even) than this to the right road."
25 So they stayed in their Cave three hundred years and (some) add nine (more).
*** The Christian records themselves differ depending upon which of the Roman emperors was the one who persecuted them, hence they are in the range from 200, 309 to 372. Muhammad used the middle figure.
This was a legend that existed even among the Arabs and needed no particular 'revelation'. Muhammad actually used it as a parable ***
26 Say: "Allah knows best how long they stayed: with Him is (the knowledge of) the secrets of the heavens and the earth: how clearly He sees how finely He hears (everything)! They have no protector other than Him; nor does He share His Command with any person whatsoever.
27 And recite (and teach) what has been revealed to thee of the Book of thy Lord: none can change His Words and none wilt thou find as a refuge other than Him.
28 And keep thy soul content with those who call on their Lord morning and evening seeking his Face; and let not thine eyes pass beyond them seeking the pomp and glitter of this Life; nor obey any whose heart We have permitted to neglect the remembrance of Us one who follows his own desires whose case has gone beyond all bounds.
29 Say "The Truth is from your Lord": let him who will believe and let him who will reject (it): for the wrongdoers We have prepared a Fire whose (smoke and flames) like the wall and roof of a tent will hem them in: if they implore relief they will be granted water like melted brass that will scald their faces. How dreadful the drink! How uncomfortable a couch to recline on!
30 As to those who believe and work righteousness verily We shall not suffer to perish the reward of any who do a (single) righteous deed.
18:31> For them will be Gardens of Eternity; beneath them rivers will flow; they will be adorned therein with bracelets of gold and they will wear green garments of fine silk and heavy brocade; they will recline therein on raised thrones. How good the recompense! How beautiful a couch to recline on!
*** It is important to point out, that the Quran allows the followers of Muhammad to wear Gold and Silk - in the afterlife - while Muhammad, according to the hadiths, prohibited them in life on Earth.
Muhammad prohibited his followers from enjoying life on Earth but asserted to them, that they can otherwise, have eternal, carnal and sensual pleasures in death; in Muhammad's version of Paradise ***
32 Set forth to them the parable of two men: for one of them We provided two gardens of grapevines and surrounded them with date-palms: in between the two We placed corn-fields.
33 Each of those gardens brought forth its produce and failed not in the least therein: in the midst of them We caused a river to flow.
34 (Abundant) was the produce this man had: he said to his companion in the course of a mutual argument: "More wealth have I than you and more honor and power in (my following of) men."
35 He went into his garden in a state (of mind) unjust to his soul: He said "I deem not that this will ever perish.
36> "Nor do I deem that the Hour (of Judgment) will (ever) come: even if I am brought back to my Lord I shall surely find (there) something better in exchange."
37> His companion said to him in the course of the argument with him: "Dost thou deny Him Who created thee out of dust then out of a sperm-drop then fashioned thee into a man?
#2379 The three stages of man's creation: first dust, or clay, itself created out of nothing and forming the physical basis of his body; then, out of the produce of the earth as incorporated in the parents body, the sperm drop (with the corresponding receptive element), and then when the different elements were mixed in due proportion, and the soul was breathed into him, the fashioned man. Cf. lxxxvii. 2, and xv. 28-29#
*** The only correct statement in the above verse is that Man was created from Dust.
The Quran and its interpreter are confusing the original act of creation with the subsequent acts of re-production ***
38> "But (I think) for my part that He is Allah my Lord and none shall I associate with my Lord.
39 "Why didst thou not as thou wentest into thy garden say: `Allah's Will (be done)! There is no power but with Allah!' If thou dost see me less than thee in wealth and sons
40 "It may be that my Lord will give me something better than thy garden and that He will send on thy garden thunderbolts (by way of reckoning) from heaven making it (but) slippery sand!
41 "Or the water of the garden will run off underground so that thou wilt never be able to find it."
42> So his fruits (and enjoyment) were encompassed (with ruin) and he remained twisting and turning his hands over what he had spent on his property which had (now) tumbled to pieces to its very foundations and he could only say "Woe is me! would I had never ascribed partners to my Lord and Cherisher!"
43 Nor had he numbers to help him against Allah nor was he able to deliver himself.
44 There the (only) protection comes from Allah the True One. He is the Best to reward and the Best to give success.
45 Set forth to them the similitude of the life of this world: it is like the rain which We send down from the skies: the earth's vegetation absorbs it but soon it becomes dry stubble which the winds do scatter: it is (only) Allah Who prevails over all things.
46 Wealth and sons are allurements of the life of this world: but the things that endure Good Deeds are best in the sight of thy Lord as rewards and best as (the foundation for) hopes.
47 One Day We shall remove the mountains and thou wilt see the earth as a level stretch and We shall gather them all together nor shall We leave out any one of them.
*** The Muhammadans claim that Muhammad was an intellectual genius and that the Quran is full of scientific knowledge.
If these allegations are true, then how is it that the verse above asserts, with the authority of Allah, that the Earth is FLAT?***
48 And they will be marshalled before thy Lord in ranks (with the announcement) "Now have ye come to Us (bare) as We created you first: aye ye thought We shall not fulfil the appointment made to you to meet (Us)!":
49> And the Book (of Deeds) will be placed (before you); and thou wilt see the sinful in great terror because of what is (recorded) therein; they will say "Ah! woe to us! what a book is this! It leaves out nothing small or great but takes account thereof!" They will find all that they did placed before them: and not one will thy Lord treat with injustice.
50> Behold! We said to the angels "Bow down to Adam": they bowed down except Iblis. He was one of the Jinns and he broke the Command of his Lord. Will ye then take him and his progeny as protectors rather than Me? And they are enemies to you! Evil would be the exchange for the wrongdoers!
#2392 Cf. ii. 34, where the story is told of the fall of mankind through Adam. Here the point is referred to in order to bring home the individual responsibility of the erring soul. Iblis is your enemy; you have been told his history; will you prefer to go to him rather than to the merciful Allah, your Creator and Cherisher? What a false exchange you would make!' 2393 Cf. vi. 100, n. 929. 2394 Satan's progeny: we need not take the epithet only in a literal sense. All his followers are also his progeny. 2395 Out of the limited free-will that man has, if he were to choose Evil instead of Good, Satan instead of Allah, what a dreadful choice it would be! It would really be an evil exchange. For man is Allah's creature, cared for and cherished by Him. He abandons his Cherisher to become the slave of his enemy!
*** Like so many verses in the Quran, they are repeated several times in different Surahs, in the same manner, or with minor modifications ***
51> I called them not to witness the creation of the heavens and the earth nor (even) their own creation: nor is it for Me to take as helpers such as lead (men) astray!
52 One Day He will say "Call on those whom ye thought to be My partners" and they will call on them but they will not listen to them; and We shall make for them a place of common perdition.
*** There is no rythm or rhyme in the Quran; no logical sequences of events; it rambles on from one subject in a time period to another, unrelated subject, in a completely different time period.
For example: in verse 51, Allah is the speaker; in 52 and 53, it is Muhammad; in 54, it is Allah, once again***
53> And the Sinful shall see the Fire and apprehend that they have to all therein; no means will they find to turn away therefrom.
54 We have explained in detail in this Qur'an for the benefit of mankind every kind of similitude: but man is in most things contentious.
*** Whatever similitudes are used in the Quran to 'enlighten' humanity, are invariably, plagiarized or perverted from the traditions and scriptures of other peoples. None of these similitudes are Quranic originals ***
55 And what is there to keep back men from believing now that Guidance has come to them nor from praying for forgiveness from their Lord but that (they ask that) the ways of the ancients be repeated with them or the Wrath be brought to them face to face?
56> We only send the Apostles to give glad tidings and to give warnings: but the Unbelievers dispute with vain argument in order therewith to weaken the truth and they treat My Signs as a jest as also the fact that they are warned!
57> And who doth more wrong than one who is reminded of the Signs of his Lord but turns away from them forgetting the (deeds) which his hands have sent forth? Verily We have set veils over their hearts lest they should understand this and over their ears deafness. If thou callest them to guidance even then will they never accept guidance.
*** Yet again, the Quran asserts, that the Most Merciful and Compassionate Allah, deliberately misleads and predestines many of his creation to err so that they end up in the eternal perdition of Hell.
The verse above is self contradictory because it attacks those who do not believe in the clear signs of Allah at the same time as asserting that Allah has put a veil upon their
hearts ***
58> But your Lord is Most Forgiving Full of Mercy. If He were to call them (at once) to account for what they have earned then surely He would have hastened their Punishment: but they have their appointed time beyond which they will find no refuge.
18:59> Such were the populations We destroyed when they committed iniquities; but We fixed an appointed time for their destruction.
60> Behold Moses said to his attendant "I will not give up until I reach the junction of the two seas or (until) I spend years and years in travel."
#2404 This episode in the story of Moses is meant to illustrate four points. (1) Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. Even so that wisdom did not comprehend everything, even as the whole stock of the knowledge of the present day, in the sciences and the arts, and in literature, (if it could be supposed to be gathered in one individual), does not include all knowledge. Divine knowledge, as far as man is concerned, is unlimited. Even after Moses received his divine mission, his knowledge was not so perfect that it could not receive further additions. (2) Constant effort is necessary to keep our knowledge square with the march of time, and such effort Moses is shown to be making. (3) The mysterious man he meets (xviii. 65 and n. 2411), to whom Tradition assigns the name of Khidhr (literally, Green), is the type of that knowledge which is ever in contact with life as it is actually lived. (4) There are paradoxes in life; apparent loss may be real gain; apparent cruelty may be real mercy; returning good for evil may really be justice and not generosity (xviii. 79-82). Allah's wisdom transcends all human calculation. 2405 The most probable geographical location (if any is required in a story that is a parable) is where the two arms of the Red Sea join together, viz., the Gulf of 'Aqaba and the Gulf of Suez. They enclose the Sinai Peninsula, in which Moses and the Israelites spent many years in their wanderings. 2406 Huqub means a long but indefinite space of time. Sometimes it is limited to 80 years.#
*** Verses 60-64 are not found in the Bible but represent a well known episode in the legend of Alexander the Great.
In the Quranic version of events, Moses is substituted. Muhammad, as was his forte, played havoc with facts, dates, places and personalities to fit his stories and parables ***
61> But when they reached the Junction they forgot (about) their Fish which took its course through the sea (straight) as in a tunnel.
62> When they had passed on (some distance) Moses said to his attendant: "Bring us our early meal; truly we have suffered much fatigue at this (stage of) our journey."
63> He replied: "Sawest thou (what happened) when we betook ourselves to the rock? I did indeed forget (about) the Fish: none but Satan made me forget to tell (you) about it: it took its course through the sea in a marvelous way!"
64> Moses said: "That was what we were seeking after": so they went back on their footsteps following (the path they had come).
65> So they found one of Our servants on whom We had bestowed Mercy from Ourselves and whom We had taught knowledge from Our own presence.
*** Verses 65-82 are not found in the Biblical narrative but in Rabbinical writings (Hibbur Yafeh 8-11 as described in Legends of the Jews by Ginsberg Vol IV, p 225/6) about a legendary encounter between the prophet Elijah and Rabbi Joshua ben Levi.
The above story, being attributed to Moses, is verifiably false but very understandable from the point of view of Muhammad whose objective was to give examples and parables to ignorant and mostly illiterate people for whom facts of time, space and characters were irrelevant.
What is most disturbing - though even much more understandable - is the collusion of the interpreter in the deception and falsification of Jewish history and writings ***
66> Moses said to him: "May I follow thee on the footing that thou teach me something of the (Higher) Truth which thou hast been taught?"
67> (The other) said: "Verily thou wilt not be able to have patience with me!
68> "And how canst thou have patience about things about which thy understanding is not complete?"
69> Moses said: "Thou wilt find me if Allah so will (truly) patient: nor shall I disobey thee in aught."
70> The other said: "If then thou wouldst follow me ask me no questions about anything until I myself speak to thee concerning it."
71> So they both proceeded: until when they were in the boat he scuttled it. Said Moses: "Hast thou scuttled it in order to drown those in it? Truly a strange thing hast thou done!"
72> He answered: "Did I not tell thee that thou canst have no patience with me?"
73> Moses said: "Rebuke me not for forgetting nor grieve me by raising difficulties in my case."
74> Then they proceeded: until when they met a young man he slew him. Moses said: "Hast thou slain an innocent person who had slain none? Truly a foul (unheard-of) thing hast thou done!"
75> He answered: "Did I not tell thee that thou canst have no patience with me?"
76> (Moses) said: "If ever I ask thee about anything after this keep me not in thy company: then wouldst thou have received (full) excuse from my side."
18:77> Then they proceeded: until when they came to the inhabitants of a town they asked them for food but they refused them hospitality. They found there a wall on the point of falling down but he set it up straight. (Moses) said: "If thou hadst wished surely thou couldst have exacted some recompense for it!"
78> He answered: "This is the parting between me and thee: now will I tell thee the interpretation of (those things) over which thou wast unable to hold patience.
79> As for the boat it belonged to certain men in dire want: they plied on the water: I but wished to render it unserviceable for there was after them a certain king who seized on every boat by force.
80> "As for the youth his parents were people of Faith and we feared that he would grieve them by obstinate rebellion and ingratitude (to Allah and man).
81> "So we desired that their Lord would give them in exchange (a son) better in purity (of conduct) and closer in affection.
82 > "As for the wall it belonged to two youths orphans in the Town; there was beneath it a buried treasure to which they were entitled: their father had been a righteous man: so thy Lord desired that they should attain their age of full strength and get out their treasure a mercy (and favor) from thy Lord. I did it not of my own accord. Such is the interpretation of (those things) over which thou wast unable to hold patience."
*** Verses 60-82 are not found in the Biblical narrative but in legends about Alexander the Great and in Rabbinical writings***
83 They ask thee concerning Zul-qarnain. Say "I will rehearse to you something of his story."
#2428 Literally, "the Two-horned one", the King with the Two Horns, or the Lord of the Two Epochs. Who was he? In what age, and where did he live? The Qur-an gives us no material on which we can base a positive answer. Nor is it necessary to find an answer, as the story is treated as a Parable. Popular opinion identifies Zul-qarnain with Alexander the Great. An alternative suggestion is an ancient Persian king, or a pre-historic Himyarite King. Zul-qarnain was a most powerful king, but it was Allah, Who, in His universal Plan, gave him power and provided him with the ways and means for his great work. His sway extended over East and West, and over people of diverse civilisations. He was just and righteous, not selfish or grasping. He protected the weak and punished the unlawful and the turbulent. Three of his expeditions are described in the text, each embodying a great ethical idea involved in the possession of kingship or power.#
*** The Quran shows an incredible propensity to jump from one subject to another, completely unconnected to the first, either in sequence or in time.
What has Alexander the Great got to do with the companions of the Cave? With Moses? ***
84 Verily We established his power on earth and We gave him the ways and the means to all ends.
85 One (such) way he followed
86 Until when he reached the setting of the sun He found it set in a spring of murky water: near it he found a People: We said: "O Zul-qarnain! (thou hast authority) either to punish them or to treat them with kindness."
*** In the verses 83- 106 we find several astounding revelations about Muhammad's Quran:
First, is that the Quran declares that the SUN sets in a spring of murky waters.
Second, that where the SUN sets, there are an unknown people.
Third, that Allah addressed Zul Qarnain and gave him authority on how to treat these people.
Fourth, Zul Qarnain, who is supposed to be Alexander the Great, who was a pure pagan, has now been made a Muslim.
Fifth, and most important of all, an almost identical set of verses are mentioned in the Jahiliyah period regarding a Tubba in the line of Himyar whose name was
Sa'b Dhu'l-Qarnayn (Sa'b the Two Horned).
Moreover, the author of the following lines was Hassan b Thabit, who was Muhammad's secretary:
"Ours the realm of Dhu 'l-Qarnayn the glorious Realm like his was never won by mortal king.
Followed he the SUN to view its setting
When it sank into the somber ocean-spring;
Up he clomb to see it rise at morning,
From within its Mansions when the East it fired;
All day long the horizons led him onward,
All night through he watched the stars and never tired.
Then of iron and of liquid metal
He prepared a rampart not to be o'erpassed,
Gog and Magog there he threw in prison
Till on Judgement Day they shall awake at last"
The above Arabic text is found in Von Kremer's Altarabische Gedichie ueber die Volgssage von Yemen p.15 (No. viii,1.6 sqq).
The reader can see from the above poem, that it contains all the ingredients that the Quran plagiarized from it, almost verbatim.
Hence, when a Quranic verse dares the reader to show that any other BUT the Quran has such verses, one can easily show the above as proof.
There are even more verses in the Quran that were plagiarized from the poems of Imru'l Qays and others ***
87 He said: "Whoever doth wrong him shall we punish; then shall he be sent back to his Lord; and He will punish him with a punishment unheard-of (before).
88 "But whoever believes and works righteousness he shall have a goodly reward and easy will be his task as we order it by our command."
89 Then followed he (another) way.
90 Until when he came to the rising of the sun he found it rising on a people for whom We had provided no covering protection against the sun.
91 (He left them) as they were: We completely understood what was before him.
92 Then followed he (another) way
93 Until when he reached (a tract) between two mountains he found beneath them a people who scarcely understood a word.
18:94> They said: "O Zul-qarnain! the Gog and Magog (people) do great mischief on earth: shall we then render thee tribute in order that thou mightest erect a barrier between us and them?"
#2439 What we are mainly concerned with is its interpretation. The Conqueror had now arrived among a people who were different in speech and race from him, but not quite primitive, for they were skilled in the working of metals, and could furnish blocks (or bricks) of iron, melt metals with bellows or blow-pipes, and prepare molten lead (xviii. 96). Apparently they were a peaceable and industrious race, much subject to incursions from wild tribes who are called Gog and Magog. Against these tribes they were willing to purchase immunity by paying the Conqueror tribute in return for protection. The permanent protection they wanted was the closing of a mountain gap through which the incursions were made.#
*** Yet once more, the Quran misunderstands the Biblical event and makes its own 'version' of the story.
What is more disturbing but understandable, is the fact that the interpreter has had to create his own scenario to explain the discrepancies away, hence compounding the deception upon the not so knowledgeable reader.
In the Bible, Gog are a people while Magog is a land.
Ezekiel 38:2 " Son of man, set your face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him,"
Also, Ezekiel's prophesies were in the 6th century BCE while Zul-Qarnain refers to Alexander the Great of the 4th who knew nothing about Gog or Magog ***
95 He said: "(The power) in which my Lord has established me is better (than tribute): help me therefore with strength (and labor): I will erect a strong barrier between you and them:
96 "Bring me blocks of iron." At length when he had filled up the space between the two steep mountain sides he said "Blow (with your bellows)." Then when he had made it (red) as fire he said: "Bring me that I may pour over it molten lead."
97 Thus were they made powerless to scale it or to dig through it.
98 He said: "This is a mercy from my Lord: but when the promise of my Lord comes to pass He will make it into dust; and the promise of My Lord is true."
99 On that day We shall leave them to surge like waves on one another; the trumpet will be blown and We shall collect them all together.
100 And We shall present Hell that day for Unbelievers to see all spread out
101 (Unbelievers) whose eyes had been under a veil from Remembrance of Me and who had been unable even to hear.
102 Do the Unbelievers think that they can take my servants as protectors besides Me? Verily We have prepared Hell for the Unbelievers for (their) entertainment.
103 Say: "Shall we tell you of those who lose most in respect of their deeds
104 "Those whose efforts have been wasted in this life while they thought that they were acquiring good by their works?"
105> They are those who deny the Signs of their Lord and the fact of their having to meet Him (in the Hereafter): vain will be their works nor shall We on the Day of Judgment give them any Weight.
106> That is their reward Hell; because they rejected Faith and took My Signs and My Messengers by way of jest.
107> As to those who believe and work righteous deeds they have for their entertainment the Gardens of Paradise
108> Wherein they shall dwell (for aye): no change will they wish for from them.
109 Say: "If the ocean were ink (wherewith to write out) the words of my Lord sooner would the ocean be exhausted than would the words of my Lord even if we added another ocean like it for its aid."
110> Say: "I am but a man like yourselves (but) the inspiration has come to me that your Allah is one Allah: whoever expects to meet his Lord let him work righteousness and in the worship of his Lord admit no one as partner."
# 2454 Righteousness and true respect for Allah-which excludes the worship of anything else, whether idols, or deified men, or forces of nature, or faculties of man, or Self-these are the criteria of true worship#
*** The interpreter deliberately glosses over the clear declaration that, he, Muhammad was just a very ordinary man all be it allegedly inspired to be a messenger of Allah.
In conclusion, this Surah shows a remarkable medley of plagiarized, plundered, pirated and or perverted stories from the Bible, Scriptures, Greek and Christian legends and histories.
Muhammad used every piece of information available to him with complete disregard to facts or truth, space, time or characters, to intice, deceive and betray the trust of his followers as long as his methods served his purposes.
His generally ignorant listeners, could not possibly have been troubled by his repeated violations of literary canons, for they truly felt themselves in the presence of an apostle from Allah with a divine message intended especially for them ***
