Alexander the Great in the Qur'an

There is a growing consensus among secular Quranic scholars that Dhul Qarnayn in the Qur'an is none other than Alexander the Great. The Quranic pericopes about Dhul Qarnayn draw heavily from the Syriac Alexander Legend (or at the very least, shares a common source with it), as well as existing myths about Alexander the Great from centuries earlier, such as his involvement in the construction of the great wall to keep out Gog and Magog (which itself dates back to Josephus at the latest).

>https://www.academia.edu/10863446
>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theories_about_Alexander_the_Great_in_the_Quran
>https://historycollection.com/philosopher-prince-islamic-prophet-9-surprising-legends-alexander-great/5/

Dhul Qarnayn is portrayed in the Quran as a pious Muslim (similar to how ancient Church writers made him out to be a Christian), but we know that Alexander the Great was a pagan ruler who even demanded that his subjects worship him as a deity.

What are the implications of this theologically? According to Islamic tradition the Qur'an is the unaltered and unchanging word of God, but the Dhul Qarnayn story quite strongly implies it is drawing from existing mythical material from late antiquity. Does the doctrine of the Qur'an as the unaltered word of God need to be abandoned?

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  1. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    A few more books and papers which discuss this theory, for anyone who might be interested:

    >https://www.academia.edu/33727330/van_Bladel_2008_The_Alexander_Legend_in_the_Quran_18_83_102

    >Tesei, Tommaso. “Survival and Christianization of the Gilgamesh Quest for Immortality in the Tale of Alexander and the Fountain of Life,” Rivista Degli Studi Orientali (2010).

    >Tesei, Tommaso. "The Chronological Problems of the Qur'an: The Case of the story of Du L-Qarnyan (Q 18: 83-102)," Rivista degli studi orientali (2011).

    >Tesei, Tommaso. "The prophecy of Ḏū-l-Qarnayn (Q 18:83-102) and the Origins of the Qurʾānic Corpus," Miscellanea Arabica (2013-4). Link.

    >E.J. Donzel & Andrea Schmidt, Gog and Magog in Early Eastern Christian and Islamic Sources: Sallam's Quest for Alexander's Wall, Brill 2010.

  2. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    >secular Quranic scholars
    Contradiction in terms.

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      >noooo you can't just study a religious text the same way you would any other ancient text noooo

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      Let me guess you can't study Harry Potter unless your gay?

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        >Let me guess you can't study Harry Potter unless your gay?

        it's unknown, since no one ever has without being gay

  3. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    >book devised from desert warlord is contradictory to rational understanding
    waaaoooowwwww

  4. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    >there is a growing consensus
    No moron this is what medieval scholars thought Dhul Qarnayn was because he was a famous conqueror they knew and centuries later many Muslims find this moronic. This is the opposite of growing consensus.

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      There is pretty much a consensus about this among modern scholars, you idiot, except for Muslims who for obvious reasons can't accept it.
      But modern scholars agree that Dhu'l Qarnayn is a legendary version of Alexander the Great, much like 6th century Christians would portray him as a devout Christian the Quran portrays him as a devout believer in Allah
      OP already referenced Tommaso Tesei, I could add Kevin van Bladel and Gabriel Said Reynolds.

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      The muslims also believed there was no ocean surrounding the civilized world,because they were ignorant of gods creation

  5. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    He is the one who built the wall against Gog and Magog
    >The Prophet (ﷺ) got up from his sleep with a flushed red face and said, "None has the right to be worshipped but Allah. Woe to the Arabs, from the Great evil that is nearly approaching them. Today a gap has been made in the wall of Gog and Magog like this." (Sufyan illustrated by this forming the number 90 or 100 with his fingers.) It was asked, "Shall we be destroyed though there are righteous people among us?" The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "Yes, if evil increased."

    >The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "Near the establishment of the Hour there will be days during which Religious ignorance will spread, knowledge will be taken away (vanish) and there will be much Al-Harj, and Al- Harj means killing."

  6. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    >we know that Alexander the Great was a pagan ruler who even demanded that his subjects worship him as a deity.
    But who would do such a thing

  7. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    From what I can tell the Syriac Alexander Legend dates from the late 620s, while Surat Al-Kahf (the one mentioning Dhul Qarnayn) was revealed in the Meccan period, so before 622.

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      Syriac Alexander Legend manuscripts are all from the latter middle ages and early modern period

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        so the Syriac version is based on the Quran?

        • 2 years ago
          Anonymous

          Who knows.

  8. 2 years ago
    Anonymous
  9. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    Islam is like 95% about hadith and fiqh. The Quran has barely any relevance in Islam. Unless you are one of those Quranist guys but then mainstream Muslims consider you an apostate.

  10. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    concerning the pagan stuff - if you were muslim you would just deny it is him because it's ambigious enough. otherwise they can claim that historians are wrong about him as the quran takes precedent in terms of truth

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