IDENTIFYING GOG AND MAGOG
This chapter might well qualify as the most important of this book. As a consequence we need to proceed with the greatest caution while recognizing inherent limitations in the quest to identify Gog and Magog.
We must first locate the geographical territory in which they resided at the time when they were contained behind the iron barrier that Dhul Qarnain had built. Fortunately for us, the blessed Qur’an and Ahadith of Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah Most High be upon him) have provided explicit geographical information and descriptions making it possible for us to locate both the region in which Dhul Qarnain traveled as well as the exact place within that region where the barrier was built.
We note, first of all, that the territory had to be located north of the Holy Land since Ahadith of the blessed Prophet (sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) previously quoted in this book informed us that Gog and Magog would pass by the Sea of Galilee on their way to Jerusalem. The Sea of Galilee is located north of Jerusalem. Here are two relevant Ahadith:
“. . . It will be under such conditions that Allah will reveal to Jesus these words: I have brought forth from among My servants such people against whom none will be able to fight; you take these people safely to the mountain, (fa yab’athullahu Y’ajuja wa M’ajuj) and then (in those periods of history which lead to such events) Allah will send or raise Gog and Magog (this does not necessarily imply that the release or unleashing of Gog and Magog will have to take place only after Jesus returns) and they will spread out in every direction or occupy every place of advantage. The first of them will pass by Lake Tiberias (i.e. the Sea of Galilee) and drink out of it, and when the last of them passes (and that would have to be a very long time later), he will say: ‘There was once water here . . . .’” (Sahih Muslim)
“Gog and Magog would walk until they reach the mountain of al-Khamr and it is a mountain of Bait al-Maqdis (i.e. Jerusalem)...” (Sahih Muslim)
We must now search north of the Holy Land for a sea that fits the description given in the Qur’anic account of Dhul Qarnain’s westward travel. It had to be a very large body of water since it was not possible for him to travel beyond that sea any further westwards. It also had to be an unusually dark colored sea:
(He traveled) until, when he came to the (land of the) setting sun, (since there was no land beyond, it appeared like the end of the Earth) and he found it setting in a dark, turbid sea; and nearby he found a people. We said, “O Dhul-Qarnain! (you have authority), either punish them or treat them kindly”. (Qur’an, al-Kahf, 18:86)
He must also have encountered another sea on his eastward travel as well if we are to explain both the Qur’anic account of the ‘rising of the sun’ as well as the declaration the Rabbis of Madina that he traveled to the confines (i.e. the two ends) of the Earth. Here are the questions posed by the Rabbis (quoted in my book ‘Surah al-Kahf and the Modern Age’ in the chapter entitled ‘The Historical Background to the Revelation of Surah al-Kahf’ available for download on my website www.imranhosein.org):
“Ask him what happened to the young men who disappeared in ancient days, for they have a marvelous story;
Ask him about the mighty traveler who reached the confines of both East and West;
And ask him what is the spirit (Ruh)!
If he can give you the answer then follow him, for he is a Prophet.
If he cannot, then he is a forger and treat him as you will. ”
(Ibn Ishaq, Sirat Rasul Allah. Trans. By A. Guillaume, Oxford Univ. Press. Karachi. 1967. p. 136)
Here is the Qur’anic description of his eastward journey:
“. . until when he (eventually) came to (a land which was the farthest point eastwards that he could go since there was no land beyond and it appeared like the end of the Earth) and that the sun was rising from beyond that land; he found it rising on people for whom We had provided no covering (i.e. perhaps no protection against the sun (climate, atmospheric pollution etc.) other than the natural covering). (Qur’an, al-Kahf, 18:90)
The stretch of land for which we are looking must not only be bounded on both west and east by two large seas but must also be geographically characterized by impassable continuous mountain range. We need to find a series of more or less connected mountains ranged in a line stretching from the shores of one sea to the other. Only thus can we accept that the construction of a barrier blocking a solitary pass between the mountains could effectively seal off the passage of marauding tribes from one side of the mountain range to the other side:
“And thus (the barrier was built and Gog and Magog) were unable to scale it and neither were they able to penetrate it (by digging a hole through it) (and these had to be the only two options available to them since Dhul Qarnain proceeded to declare that the construction of the barrier was an act of Divine Kindness, i.e. implying that mankind was henceforth safe from the ravages of Gog and Magog).” (Qur’an, al-Kahf, 18:97)
Dhul Qarnain used the Arabic word Radmun to describe the barrier which he was going to construct. While Saddun in Arabic means barrier, Radmun implies a construction which fills up a space akin to a dam. Let us repeat; we must look for a geographical region North of the Holy Land which is bounded on both west and east by large seas, with the Western sea characterized by a dark color. Between those two seas there must be a continuous unbroken impassable mountain range that is relieved by a single gap or mountain pass allowing passage of people from north to south and vice versa. The Qur’an has described the very shape of the two sides of that mountain pass to be akin to an open sea-shell, i.e. the two sides of an open sea-shell that are joined at the bottom and separated at the top:
“Bring me ingots of iron!” Then, after he had (piled up the iron and) filled the gap between the two mountain-sides (shaped like two sides of an open sea-shell), he said, “(Light a fire and) ply your bellows!” At length, when he had made it (glow like) fire, he commanded: “(Now place the copper in the fire and then) bring me molten copper which I may pour upon it . . . .” (Qur’an, al-Kahf, 18:96)
When we search north of the Holy Land for large bodies of water we immediately dismiss the Mediterranean Sea and the area east of that sea since they do not fit any of the above descriptions. That leaves only one other possible answer; and it fits all the descriptions perfectly.
North of the Mediterranean Sea is the ‘Black Sea’. A possible explanation for the name ‘Black Sea’ is located in the unusually dark color of its deep waters. Being further north than the Mediterranean and much less saline, the microalgae concentration is much richer causing the dark color. Underwater visibility in the Black Sea is much less than the Mediterranean Sea. The satellite photograph of the Black Sea in Map 1 below readily depicts that dark color. It should therefore be quite clear that the Sea to the West in Dhul Qarnain’s travels cannot be other than the Black Sea.
Map 1 Once we recognize the Black Sea to be the sea located at the Western end of Dhul Qarnain’s travel, the sea to the right would then be the Caspian Sea (see Map 2 below):
Map 2 In between these two seas are located the Caucasus Mountains. Indeed this mountain range stretches from one sea to the other and in the process it separates Europe from Asia (see map 3 below):
Map 3 mountain range stretches from one sea to the other and in the process it separates Europe from Asia
Now that we have located the two seas as well as the mountain range that extends all the way from one sea to the other, we have to find a solitary pass between the mountains and evidence of iron from the ruins of Dhul Qarnain’s barrier. Sure enough, the Georgian Military Highway that was built by the Russians in the 19th century is the only passable road that connects the area north of the mountains to the southern area. It is the main road running for 220km from Tbilisi in Georgia to Vadikavkaz in Russia. So named by Tsar Alexander I, this route actually dates from before the 1st century BC and is still important as one of the only links to Russia through the Caucasus Mountains.
Information readily available on the internet describes it as “a spectacular highway, which winds its way through towering mountains, climbing to above 2300m at the Krestovy pass. Heading north from Tbilisi one first reaches the medieval fortress of Ananauri, overlooking the Aragvi river and valley. Nearing the Russian border, one comes to the town of Kazbegi, overlooked by the monumental Mount Kazbegi (5033m), the highest peak in the Georgian Caucasus. The last point is the Daryal Gorge, where the road runs some kilometres on a narrow shelf beneath granite cliffs 1500m high.” “Daryal was historically important as the only available passage across the Caucasus and has been long fortified at least since 150 BC. Ruins of an ancient fortress are still visible.”
We have now located the pass between mountains and it now remains for an archaeological search to be made for the remains of the barrier. Dr Tammam Adi has pointed out in personal correspondence with this writer: “I would expect any leftover debris (i.e. of the barrier built by Dhul Qarnain to be at the bottom of the gorge and to be made of bronze, an alloy of iron and brass/copper, as the verse clearly states”. We must also look for evidence of iron ore in and around the region south of the Caucasus Mountains since that is where the people would have had to locate the iron to bring pieces or blocks of iron for Dhul Qarnain.
The Wikipedia article on Daryal Gorge which incorporates text from Encylopedia Britannica (11th edition) locates the origin of the name of the Gorge in Dar-e Alan meaning Gate of the Alans in Persian. The Gorge, alternatively known as the Iberian Gates or the Caucasian Gates, is mentioned in the Georgian annals under the names of Ralani, Dargani, Darialani.” In other words, the name Daryal has preserved the historical fact of some form of a barrier constructed from metal that once existed in that Gorge.
Finally the mountain sides on both sides of the Daryal Gorge are shaped like two sides of an open sea-shell exactly as described by the Qur’anic word Sadafain. Here are photographs of the Daryal Gorge taken 1872:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Dariialsk_ravine_(A).jpg
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Dariial%27skoe_na_voennogruzinskoi_dorogie_(A).jpg
Here is a photograph of an open shell showing its sadafain i.e. two sides joined at the bottom and separated at the jagged top, and then two more photographs which clearly depict the sadafain or shell-shaped features (i.e. two sides of an open shell) of the Gorge:
We also have to find a language spoken south of the Caucasus Mountains, which is different from all the other languages spoken in and around that region of the then known world. We need to do so because of Dhul Qarnain’s experience when he arrived at that location and found people who could not understand his language:
“(And he marched on) till, when he reached (a pass) between the two mountain-barriers, he found before them a people who could scarcely understand anything spoken (i.e. any utterance in his language). (18:93)
Sure enough, the Georgian language which is spoken south of the Caucasus Mountains is precisely such a language. It is an insular pre-Indo-European language with no relatives that has been spoken for at least 5000 years.
We must now look for people who have been leaving their territory located in the region of the Caucasus Mountains and have been continuously migrating or relocating in the Holy Land. We also have to find people responsible for ‘liberating’ the Holy Land (i.e. from Muslim rule) and then bringing the Israelite Jews back to reclaim the Holy Land from which they had been expelled by divine decree.
Such people resident in the region of the Caucasus Mountains for whom we search must have a record of military invincibility (“I have created servants of mine so powerful that none but I can wage war against them”.) They must have spread out their power and established their dominance around the world while occupying every possible position or place of advantage (min kulli hadabin). They must be people extracted from mankind who yet possess certain unique features which sets them apart from the rest of mankind.
Can we locate such people? If we can, we would have identified Gog and Magog.
At least some European Jews who created the Zionist Movement must have originated from tribes in Eastern Europe who converted to Judaism. The Khazar tribes who resided in territory north of the Caucasus Mountains not only converted to Judaism but also created history in early Islam when they successfully blocked the path of the all-conquering Muslim armies that were poised to conquer Europe. They thus possessed a military power greater than any in the then existing world. The Muslim armies that were so blocked had just defeated both the Persian and Byzantine empires (the two superpowers existing in the world at that time). The Khazar military power appears therefore to have been unique. (See Kevin Alan Brook’s scholarly work, The Jews of Khazaria, Jason Aronson, 1999; see also the website www.khazaria.com)
It is not really necessary for us to conduct a genealogical Khazarian survey of Jews who have been continuously leaving the region of the Caucasus Mountains and these include Russian Jews, and migrating to the Holy Land and to the State of Israel. What is important is that we have located people who have been making that journey to the Holy Land from the very region where Dhul Qarnain built the barrier. It is these European or Caucasian Jews who have been also responsible for seducing the Israelite Jews to leave wherever they were residing (in the Muslim World in particular) and to return to the Holy Land.
And so our conclusion is that Gog and Magog were originally located in the Khazars of Eastern Europe. While many of them became European Jews it is certain that some of them must also have become European Christians and that the forging of the mysterious European Judeo-Christian alliance was possible since the Khazars were present on both sides of that once bitterly divided fence. This, perhaps, is included in the meaning of the Qur’anic verse which declared that Gog and Magog would one day merge with each other as waves merge into each other (yamuju fi b‘ad).
But the verse may also mean that they will one day clash with each other in a mighty clash in which they would surge against each other as waves crashing into each other. That war of the Titans would qualify as the war of all wars and, in turn, would make way for and herald the blowing of the trumpet that announces the imminent arrival of the Last Hour. A Hadith of the blessed Prophet quoted elsewhere in this book (see profile of Gog and Magog) has described them shooting their arrows in the sky.
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