His story is mentioned in the 18th chapter of the Quran as being the righteous king who built the barrier between Gog, Magog and other people.
People have also differed over whether he was a prophet or not.
- Abdullah ibn Umar, Dahak and Ibn Mussayib are reported to have been of the opinion that he was a prophet.
- Most follow the opinion of Ali ibn Abi Talib and say that he was a pious king and wali (friend) of Allah.
* Jafar ibn Muhammad Al-Ras’ini in his “Tarikh” or Book of History, mentions on the authority of Ibrahim and Ali ibn Abi Talib that they said that Dhul-Qaynayn was black(اسود).
* Mujahid mentions that they were four righteous kings who ruled the earth, two believers and two disbelievers: Sulaiman and Dhul-Qarnayn were believers, while Nimrod and Bakht-Nasr were disbelievers.
* It was said that he would bury a treasure everywhere he went.
No one knows his true name. There were many possible reasons for the title “Dhul-Qarnayn.” Among them were:
1. His name was Dhul-Qarnayn(Lord of the two horns) because he had two horns.
2. He would call his people to Allah and he was struck on the head and died. Allah resurrected him in another era and he
called people to Allah and was again struck on the head and died.
3. Ibn Anbari said what was meant by horns was two plaits of hair. Al-Hassan also reported this.
4. The title mean ‘Lord of the Two Eras” as a Qarn in Arabic also means a generation, century or an era.
5. Another possible explanation was that he had a dream where he was falling down from the sky towards the ground.
He grabbed ahold of the two horns of the sun. He informed his people of this dream and they began to call him “Dhul-
Qarnayn.”
6. Another explanation was that he was of noble parents.
7. While another explanation was that he traveled from darkness to light.
8. While another explanation was that he traveled and conquered the East and the West.
Ibn Jawzi records that he died in Babylon. When he arrived in Babylon he fell from his horse and had a nose bleed. He laid on his shield and said:” This is the iron ground and wooden sky that I was told of.” He then knew he was going to die, he was 1,600 years old.
