HAVE GOG AND MAGOG BEEN RELEASED INTO THE WORLD AS YET?
Those who insist that Gog and Magog have not as yet been released into the world cannot deny the inescapable implication that emerges from such a claim, namely that Allah Most High has not as yet destroyed or leveled Dhul Qarnain’s barrier. This book insists that such doubters have had a religious obligation for the longest while to search for the barrier, which according to them is still standing.
There may be some who stubbornly reject all the arguments raised so far in this book, as well as in ‘Jerusalem in the Qur’an’, in support of the view that the release of Gog and Magog commenced in the Prophet’s lifetime and has been continuing ever since. Such people may choose to disregard arguments based on the Qur’an as well as Ahadith quoted in this book in support of the view mentioned above. They may do so by way of ingenious misinterpretations of such verses of the Qur’an or Ahadith.
Let us commence this chapter by directly addressing those doubters. We do so by directing attention to the indisputable and irrefutable fact clearly established in the Qur’an that Dhul Qarnain built a barrier with blocks of iron and then coated it with molten copper. As a consequence of the construction of the barrier, Gog and Magog were effectively contained since they could neither penetrate nor scale over the barrier. Also indisputable is the fact established in the Qur’an that Allah Most High would Himself one day level or destroy the barrier and only then would Gog and Magog be released into the world.
Those who insist that Gog and Magog have not as yet been released into the world cannot deny the inescapable implication that emerges from such a claim, namely that Allah Most High has not as yet destroyed or leveled Dhul Qarnain’s barrier.
Search for the barrier
This book insists that such doubters have had a religious obligation for the longest while to search for the barrier, which according to them is still standing. If they made absolutely no effort whatsoever to embark on that search, they must at least provide some form of an explanation which justifies this curious act of omission in their duty towards the Qur’an. They must also explain why no one in the more than a thousand years has ever seen the barrier standing. In addition, they must inform us whether they ever intend to embark on such a search. After all, this is an age in which the exploration of the Earth has advanced to an unprecedented extent and satellite technology has made it possible for literally every square inch on the Earth to be photographed (see Google Earth).
Such an exploration to locate Dhul Qarnain’s iron barrier should be of very great importance indeed to them in the light of another Hadith quoted by Ibn Kathir in Al-Bidayah wan Nihayah (i.e., ‘the beginning and the end’) in which Abu Hurairah reported that the Prophet said:
"Every day, Gog and Magog are trying to dig a way out through the barrier. When they begin to see sunlight through it, the one who is in charge of them says, 'Go back; you can carry on digging tomorrow,' and when they come back, the barrier is stronger than it was before. This will continue until their time comes and Allah wishes to send them forth. They will dig until they begin to see sunlight, then the one who is in charge of them will say, 'Go back; you can carry on digging tomorrow, Insha’ Allah.' In this case he will make an exception by saying Insha’ Allah, thus relating the matter to the Will of Allah. They will return on the following day, and find the hole as they left it. They will carry on digging and come out against the people . . .” (Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah, Ahmad)
There are serious implications in this Hadith for those who stubbornly insist that the barrier is still standing to this day (since they believe that Gog and Magog have not as yet been released into the world). For example, the barrier must today be stronger than ever before hence it should not be difficult to recognize and locate it. Secondly, when once they locate the barrier they will not have to even search for Gog and Magog. According to the Hadith Gog and Magog would themselves be coming daily to the barrier to continue their effort to dig through it. Should that opportunity to actually see Gog and Magog themselves digging not be sufficient to rouse our critics to pack their bags and embark on the quest to find that barrier?
If such rejectionists do not pack their bags and embark on a search to locate Dhul Qarnain’s barrier which they insist is still standing somewhere on Allah’s Earth, and if they offer no explanation why no one has ever seen that barrier in the more than a thousand years and yet obstinately persist in their rejection of the view that the barrier has already been leveled or destroyed and Gog and Magog have already been released into the world, we advise our dear readers to regard the objections of such critics as frivolous and not meriting serious consideration. Those readers who choose to reject this advice of ours and persist in believing that there is merit in the view that the barrier is still standing would now themselves have to explain why they are not prepared to embark on the search to locate the barrier.
