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Wednesday 28 November 2018

Short Stories from the Holy Quran: Yajooj and Majooj - Gog and Magog


Each and every word of the Holy Quran carries some message or lesson for those who have faith and belief in Oneness of Allah and the hereafter. While all surahs / chapters are revealed with some reference in context, Surah Al Kahaf assumes a greater degree of importance as beside other things, it also carries four stories for Muslims to learn lessons from. These four stories include the mention of:

  • The People of the Cave,
  • The owner of tow gardens,
  • Prophets Moses and Khizar (Moses, Khidar, may peace be upon them), and
  • Mention of many stories attributed to Dhulqarnain also called Zulqarnain

We will take on the stories related to above reference one by one, but for today we focus on one story which is wrapped up in mystery and has to be understood in almost full both from the Holy Qur'an and Hadiths of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him)

Dhulqarnain has been mentioned in Surah Kahaf as one great king who ruled the world. Some scholars call him a prophet while some call him a blessed pious man who was gifted with many attributes by the Allah Almighty to help the poor and oppressed people of his time. While he was traveling in the world, he came across a weary and wretched people who seemed to have been subjected to extreme suppression or torture. Herein under how this incident has been described in the Holy Qur'an, Surah Al Kahf (94-98):
{They said: “O Dhulqarnain! Verily Ya'jooj and Ma'jooj (Gog and Magog) are doing great mischief in the land. Shall we then pay you a tribute in order that you might erect a barrier between us and them?” He said: “That (wealth, authority and power) in which my Lord had established me is better (than your tribute). So help me with strength (of men), I will erect between you and them a barrier. “Give me pieces (blocks) of iron;” then, when he had filled up the gap between the two mountain-cliffs, he said: “Blow;” then when he had made them (red as) fire, he said: “Bring me molten copper to pour over them.” So they (Yajooj and Majooj (Gog and Magog)] could not scale it or dig through it. (Dhulqarnain) said: “This is a mercy from my Lord, but when the Promise of my Lord comes, He shall level it down to the ground. And the Promise of my Lord is ever true”}
Before we describe the story, the text highlighted above, “That (wealth, authority and power) in which my Lord had established me is better (than your tribute) " may be seen in the context of another story we have already mention of Prophet Sulaiman (Solomon, may peace be upon him) and King of Sheba. When Queen of Sheba offered wealth and gifts to Prophet Sulaiman, he too, being a pious and God fearing man had replied almost in the same words as Dhulqarnain had:
35. But lo! I am going to send a present unto them, and to see with what (answer) the messengers return.36. So when they came to Solomon, he said, "Do you provide me with wealth? But what Allah has given me is better than what He has given you. Rather, it is you who rejoice in your gift. [Surah An Naml, the 27th surah / chapter  verse 35-36]
The correlation has just been mentioned that pious and just Muslims who fear Allah have no lust for worldly wealth and fortunes for they help each other to please Allah alone. 

So Dhulqarnain built a wall of steel upon which molten copper was poured to block a pass between two mountains, which was the only passage from where the Ya'jooj and Ma'jooj could come and threaten and plunder the people so mentioned in the Qur'an. However, when he was done, he forewarned the people that: This is a mercy from my Lord, but when the Promise of my Lord comes, He shall level it down to the ground. And the Promise of my Lord is ever true.

The warning thus meant that one day this wall would come down and the people behind would one day again come out to spoil the peace of the world. The mention of Ya'jooj and Ma'jooj doesn't finish here for Qur'an makes a mention of these people once again later. But we need to completely understand the story of Yajooj and Majooj as mentioned in various Hadiths of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).




While mention of Ya'jooj and Ma'jooj appears again in the Holy Quran, as per the authentic Hadiths of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) near the end of time, the descendants of the tribes of Ya'jooj and Ma'jooj will break open the wall and emerge again, and cause a terrible menace. This will be approximately be the time when the Prophet Eesa (Jesus, may Allah exalt his mention) would have already descended to the earth and people will be living an extremely peaceful life filled with prosperity and abundance. 

And then as already forewarned by Dhulqarnain the wall which imprisoned Ya'jooj and Ma'jooj will break and they will surge forth in large numbers and swarm the world.
"But when Ya'jooj and Ma'jooj are let loose and they rush headlong down every hill." [Quran 21:97]
Hadhrat Abu Hurairah (R.A.) have been quoted as saying in the authentic Hadith books of Ahmad, Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah that: Every day Ya'jooj and Ma'jooj will try to break (dig) through the wall erected by Dhulqarnain until they reach the end of it to that extent that they can actually see the light on the other side. They then return (home) saying that 'We will break through tomorrow.' But Allah Ta'ala causes the wall to revert to its original thickness and the next day they start digging through the wall all over again, and this process continues each day until as long as Allah wills them to remain imprisoned. When Allah wishes them to be released, then at the end of the day they will say, "If Allah wills, tomorrow we will break through." The following day they will find the wall as they had left it the previous day (i.e. it will not have returned to its original state) and after breaking the remaining part of it they will emerge."

The emergence of Ya'jooj and Ma'jooj will happen after Prophet Eesa (Jesus a.s.) would have already ridden the world of the menace of the anti-Christ, Ad-Dajjal. The menace of Ya'jooj and Ma'jooj will be so big that Prophet Eesa will take all the goof people atop the Mountain of Toor to save them from treacheries of the Ya'jooj and Ma'jooj. The Ya'jooj and Ma'jooj will then destroy everything that would come their way and there will no life, animals or crops will be left on ground. Obsessed with their success, the Ya'jooj and Ma'jooj would then fire their arrows towards the sky to "kill' everyone up there and their arrows would fall back drenched in blood, though there is no explanation available as to whose blood those arrows be drenched with.
Al-Nawaas ibn Sam’aan (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), wile describing the signs of the Day of judgment said: “… and Allah will send Ya’jooj and Ma’jooj, swiftly swarming from every mound. They will pass the lake of Tiberias [in Palestine] and will drink everything that is in it. Then the last of them will pass by and will say, ‘There used to be water here once.’ The Prophet of Allah, Eesaa (Jesus), and his companions, will be besieged until a bull’s head will be more precious to one of them than a hundred dinars are to any of you today. Eesaa (Jesus) and his companions will pray to Allah, and Allah will send a kind of worm (like that found in the noses of camels and sheep) on their (Ya’jooj and Ma’jooj) necks, and they will fall down dead, all at once. Then Eesaa (Jesus) and his companions will come down out of the place where they were besieged, and they will find hardly a hand span of land that is not filled with the stench (of Ya’jooj and Ma’jooj), so Eesaa (Jesus) and his companions will pray to Allah, and He will send birds like the necks of camels to carry them away and throw them wherever Allah wills.” (Reported by Muslim, 18/68). [6]
Then Prophet Eesa and the faithfuls will descend but would be unable to bear the stench of the decaying bodies of the Ya'jooj and Ma'jooj. So Prophet Eesa would again pray to Allah and Allah will send down torrential rains that would flush out the dead bodies of Ya'jooj and Ma'jooj to make life livable for the people. 

It is quoted that the people will burn the wood of the arrows of Ya'jooj and Ma'jooj for seven years. As per one Hadith quoted in Sahi Muslim :Allah will order the earth to yield forth its crops in abundance and there will be such blessing and prosperity that one pomegranate will be sufficient for a whole group while the peel thereof will suffice to cast a shadow over them. The milk of one camel will be sufficient for many groups while one milk giving cow will be sufficient for a whole tribe. One milk giving goat will be sufficient for a whole family..."

It would be pertinent to quote here an Hadith as mentioned Sahih Muslim Hadith 6931 Narrated by Hudhayfah ibn Usayd Ghifari about the time of Qiyamah or the End Day, Day of Resurrection, from which the letting lose of Ya'jooj and Ma'jooj can be ascertained:
Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) came to us all of a sudden as we were (busy in a discussion). He (may peace be upon him) said: What do you discuss about? (the Companions) said: We are discussing about the Last Hour. Thereupon he (may peace be upon him) said: It will not come until you see ten signs before and (in this connection) he made a mention of the smoke, Dajjal, the beast, the rising of the sun from the west, the descent of Jesus son of Mary (Allah be pleased with him), The Ya'jooj and Ma'jooj (Gog and Magog), and landslides in three places, one in the east, one in the west and one in Arabia at the end of which fire would burn forth from the Yemen, and would drive people to the place of their assembly.
Thus, the emergence of Ya'jooj and Ma'jooj would also indicate that the Doomsday Day was already at hand.

Photo | References: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
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