The 18th surah of the Qurʾan, al-Kahf, speaks of a figure named Ḏū l-Qarnayn, ‘the Two-Horned Man’. Who is he? Most modern historians contend that Ḏū l-Qarnayn is none other than Alexander 'the Great' of Macedon (Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ Μέγας, 356–323 BCE). This thread explains why…
First, a word on sources: the modern historiography of the Alexander of history relies on one set of sources—such Diodorus Siculus (1st cent. BCE) and Plutarch (1st cent. CE)—but these are not the sources or precursors of the qurʾanic story …
… Alexander became more popularly known through romances, fictional narratives about Alexander, the most famous and popular of these being the romance of Pseudo-Callisthenes composed in the 3rd cent. CE, which was translated many ancient languages, including Syriac …
One of the most important Syriac adaptations of the Alexander Romance of Pseudo-Callisthenes ‘christianized’ Alexander, portraying him as a pious devotee of Christ; it was called “The Heroic Deeds of Alexander (Neṣḥānā d-Aleksandrōs).” academia.edu/6461094/Alexan…
It is this stream of stories abt Alexander that finds purchase in the Qurʾan. Q. 18:83 begins with the Messenger being asked abt ‘Ḏū l-Qarnayn’ and he says, “I will recite to you an account (ذكرًا|ḏikran) of him.” The correspondences b/w the Syriac Nesḥānā + Q.18:83-102 r many
But let’s begin with his name: Ḏū l-Qarnayn|ذو القرنين. In an early scene of the Neṣḥānā, Alexander prostrates in worship (sgd|ܣܓܕ, ‘does a sajdah’) and prays to God, “You gave me horns on my head (ܐܣܓܝܬ ܠܝ ܩܪ̈ܢܬܐ ܪܫܝ|ʾsgyt ly qrntʾ b-ršy) to topple the kingdoms of the world.”
Imagery of Alexander having two horns is early and widespread. Lysimachus, the former general of Alexander, issued coins that portrayed Alexander with the ram’s horns of Zeus Ammon, whom Egyptian priests claimed was Alexander’s father. One even finds this iconography in Arabia...
(1) Silver coin issued by Lysimachus (305-281 BCE) (2) Arabian Abi'el-type Alexander imitative drachm (E Arabia, c.2nd cent BCE) (3) Arabian Abi'el-type Alexander imitative tetradrachm (E Arabia, c. 1st cent BCE)
The 'pagan' connotations of the horns were discarded, reinterpreted
But that’s just the beginning. Both the (more detailed) Neṣḥānā and the Qurʾan narrate 3 extraordinary journeys to: 1. fetid sea near where the sun sets and evildoers are punished; 2. where the sun rises and scorches people; 3. and where DQ builds a wall against Gog and Magog
My feed has been awash with discussions of the second journey, Q. 18:90 "When [Ḏū l-Qarnayn] came to the rising of the sun, he found it rising on a people for whom We had provided no shelter from it." The parallel passage (right) from the Neṣḥānā makes it far less cryptic.
Parallel b/w Quran and Neṣḥānā are numerous and striking even on the level of the language used: 1) fetid spring/sea (عين حمئة|ʿayn ḥamiʾah = ܝܡܐ ܣܪܝܐ|yamā saryā) 2) punishment of evildoers (من ظلم|man ẓalama = ܥܒ̈ܕܝ ܒܝ̈ܫܬܐ|ʿabday bīšātā)
3) 18:99 “We shall let crash like waves against each other on that day (|wa=taraknā baʿḍahu yawmaʾiḏin yamūju fī baʿḍ|وتركنا بعضهم يومئذ يموج في بعض)”
“and kingdoms will fall one upon the other (ܘܝܦ̈ܠܢ ܡܠܟܘ̈ܬܐ ܚܕܐ ܥܠ ܚܕܐ|wa-nāplān malkwātā ḥdā ʿal ḥdā)”
Class consciousness Umayyad style (from 𝑎𝑙-𝐵𝑎𝑠̣𝑎̄ʾ𝑖𝑟 𝑤𝑎-𝑙-𝑑ℎ𝑎𝑘ℎ𝑎̄ʾ𝑖𝑟 of of Abū Ḥayyān al-Tawḥīdi, d. 1023):
Muʿāwiyah said to Ṣaʿṣaʿah ibn Sūḥān, ‘Describe humanity to me.’
He replied, ...
‘God created people according to classes: one group to worship, one to rule, one to attain knowledge and study law, one for valor and bravery, and another for trades and professions. Besides that the rest merely muddy the water and drive up inflation.’ archive.org/details/bsaer0…
Class consciousness Abbasid style @still_reading (from 𝐾𝑖𝑡𝑎̄𝑏 𝑎𝑙-𝐵𝑢𝑙𝑑𝑎̄𝑛 of Ibn al-Faqīh):
al-Faḍl ibn Yaḥyā [al-Barmakī, d. 808 CE] said,
“Humankind consists of four classes: kings, whose right to rule grants them preeminence; viziers, ...
I suspect that the comments refers to this old thread. My point there was NOT that the Qurʾan *definitely* thinks that Mary, the mother of Jesus, is the sister of Aaron, but rather that the idea that it’s an error was never seriously ...
considered by Muslim scholars (for obv reasons). They considered *any* explanation more plausible than the explanation that it’s a simple historical error. Another point I make is that the explanations that they offer are all flawed in some way...
Reports like these make me think that there’s a tendency to grossly underestimate of the multilingualism in the Ḥijāz.
In this report, the Prophet Muḥammad says to the young scribe Zayd ibn Thābit, “There are letters [kutub|كتب] coming to me, which ...
I do not wish for everyone to read. Are you able to learn Syriac – or: Hebrew – writing?”
“Yes,” I said, and I learned it in 17 nights. google.com/books/edition/…
And this famous ḥadīth from Abū Hurayrah, “The People of Scripture [ahl al-kitāb] used to read the Torah in Hebrew and explain it in Arabic to the People of Islam [ahl al-islām]. The Messenger of God ﷺ said:
The Muslim scholar Abū Jaʿfar al-Idrīsī (1173-1251) wrote a wonderful book about the pyramids and Egyptian lore that I’ve always thought abt translating to dispel this type of trash (but it really shouldn't take all that). And @LibraryArabLit has already published a wonderful...
ʿAbd al-Laṭif al-Baghdadī that can legitimately be called a medieval work of Egyptology written for the Abbasid caliph in 1204. It's one of those rare medieval books that make for a truly great read. google.com/books/edition/…
Precious photos of the Umayyad Mosque of Damascus taken in 1862 by the famous landscape photographer Francis Bedford (1815-1894), some 3 decades before the a devastating fire nearly destroyed it in 1893, digitized and made available courtesy of @RCT rct.uk/collection/sea…
There's a lot more at the website, including the dashing portraits of 'Abd al-Qadir al-Jaza'iri (1808-83) below, for the exhibit, "Cairo to Constantinople," here: rct.uk/collection/the…
And, yes, if you can't tell, I've been reading Alain George's incredible book on the mosque which has one of Beford's photos on the cover press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book…