Special Topics, 4 Sessions, May 5 - June 2, 2024

🌐 Virtual, in English

🔹Sunday May 5th, 7:00-9:00 pm ET
Lecture (in English), 1, "A Discussion of the Story of Dhu al-Qarnayn in the Quran"
Speaker, Dr. Farhad Ghoddoussi
About Speaker (Bio)

Zoom Participation (virtual):
https://mit.zoom.us/j/92377466698
Meeting ID: 923 7746 6698

#Dhu_al_Qarnayn_in_Quran

@zekrMIT

Abstract:
In this lecture series, we will discuss the story of Dhu al-Qarnayn in the Quran (Q18:83-102). First we will look to these Quranic verses, their commentary and relevant hadiths. Then we will discuss the historical questions related to the identity of the Dhu al-Qarnayn and the Gog and Magog also mentioned in these verses. Finally we will look to the similarities and differences between the Quranic narrative and other late antique narratives.

#Dhu_al_Qarnayn_in_Quran

Special Topics

🌐 Virtual, in English

🔹Sunday May 12th, 7:00-9:00 pm ET
Lecture (in English), 2, "A Discussion of the Story of Dhu al-Qarnayn in the Quran"
Speaker, Dr. Farhad Ghoddoussi
About Speaker (Bio)

Zoom Participation (virtual):
https://mit.zoom.us/j/92377466698
Meeting ID: 923 7746 6698

#Dhu_al_Qarnayn_in_Quran

@zekrMIT

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSy5rmE2O-k&list=PLRagz8v-1fF4nCaUjiJKfaYOjKShDX_h3&t=2s

"Dhu al-Qarnayn in the Quran", Lecture 1
speaker: Dr. Farhad Ghoddoussi

In the first lecture of this series, the Story of Dhu al-Qarnayn in the Qur'an (Q18: 83-102), first we looked to the structure of the surah 18 al-Kahf and the location and relation of the story of Dhu al-Qarnayn to the other important stories of this surah.

Then we focused on reading the Quranic verses related to the story without pre-framing them through the narrations and classical commentaries. The main intention was to stress that a close reading of the verses of the story of Dhu al-Qarnayn contrary to some other stories in the Qur'an, does not necessitate a miraculous understanding of this story including the nature of the means and powers which was given to him, and his trips were not atypical of the trips of Kings at his time.

In continuation we looked to the other instances of the usage of the words سبب (means, course) and کل شئ in the Qur'an, which are important in the understanding of the story of the Dhu al-Qarnayn.

In the end we discussed other instances of the usage of the concept "Gog and Magog" in the Qur'an and also its usage and evolution in the Bible.

May 5, 2024
#Dhu_al_Qarnayn_in_Quran

Special Topics

🌐 Virtual, in English

🔹Sunday May 19th, 7:00-9:00 pm ET
Lecture (in English), 3, "A Discussion of the Story of Dhu al-Qarnayn in the Quran"
Speaker, Dr. Farhad Ghoddoussi
About Speaker (Bio)

Zoom Participation (virtual):
https://mit.zoom.us/j/92377466698
Meeting ID: 923 7746 6698

#Dhu_al_Qarnayn_in_Quran

@zekrMIT

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLvLc9BOWqg&list=PLRagz8v-1fF4nCaUjiJKfaYOjKShDX_h3&t=2s

"Dhu al-Qarnayn in the Quran", Lecture 2
speaker: Dr. Farhad Ghoddoussi

In the second lecture of this series, the Story of Dhu al-Qarnayn in the Quran (Q18: 83-102), we first looked to the hadiths which have been narrated in Shi'i hadith books in relation to these verses using Tafsir al-Burhan compiled by Syed Hashim ibn Sulaiman Al-Bahrani (d. 1107AH). We also looked at the summary of Shia and Sunni hadiths as were listed by Allamah Tabatabai in Tafsir al-Mizan.

Allamah Tabataba evaluation of these hadiths overall is as the following:
"The reader should realize that there is an amazing discrepancy, contradiction, and incoherence in all the particulars of the story and in all the aspects of the oral traditions (hadiths) about the story of Dhu al-Qarnayn, narrated by both the Shia and the Sunni on the authority of the Prophet and, by the Shia on the authority of the People of the Household, and, similarly the sayings narrated on the authority of the companions and successors and treated like sacred hadith by the Sunni. Furthermore, they contain odd things which a sound intellect shies away from, the mind thinks are impossible, and which the real world refutes. A critical researcher, comparing them with each other, would not doubt they are not free of interpolation, fabrication and astonishing exaggerations in the story's description."

This evaluation matches very well and vindicates the approach which has been adopted in this series of lectures, specially Lecture 1, which we looked to the related verses of Quran while not trying to frame or understanding them using the narrated hadiths.

May 12, 2024
#Dhu_al_Qarnayn_in_Quran

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPZ5sjjRvW0&list=PLRagz8v-1fF4nCaUjiJKfaYOjKShDX_h3&t=2383s

"Dhu al-Qarnayn in the Quran", Lecture 3
speaker: Dr. Farhad Ghoddoussi

In the third lecture of this series, the Story of Dhu al-Qarnayn in the Quran (Q18: 83-102), we focused on the leading historical candidate for Dhu al-Qarnayn, Cyrus II the Achaemenid King of Persia (d.530 BC). We looked to the arguments advanced by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan (d.1898) and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (d.1958) that Cyrus II not Alexander the Macedonian is the best historical candidate for Dhu al-Qarnayn.

There are three important particulars of the Quranic story regarding Dhu al-Qarnayn which any possible historical candidate should match,
1) Nickname Dhu al-Qarnayn and justification for it
2) Dam/barrier which Dhul al-Qarnayn made in a narrow pass to protect people from Gog and Magog and one of its distinguishing features that metal was used in its construction
3) Gog and Magog, their identity, history and location.

We spent some time to discuss these three particulars and also the dream of the Daniel the Prophet (Daniel 8).

May 19, 2024
#Dhu_al_Qarnayn_in_Quran

Special Topics

🌐 Virtual, in English

🔹Sunday June 2nd, 7:00-9:00 pm ET
Lecture (in English), 4 (last), "A Discussion of the Story of Dhu al-Qarnayn in the Quran"
Speaker, Dr. Farhad Ghoddoussi
About Speaker (Bio)

Abstract: In this last session we will discuss the relationship between the story of Dhu al-Qarnayn and the late antique Syriac text titled "Neṣḥānā d-Aleksandrōs" (literally “the victory of Alexander").

Zoom Participation (virtual):
https://mit.zoom.us/j/92377466698
Meeting ID: 923 7746 6698

#Dhu_al_Qarnayn_in_Quran

@zekrMIT

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yquyY2gDFeQ&list=PLRagz8v-1fF4nCaUjiJKfaYOjKShDX_h3&t=1s

"Dhu al-Qarnayn in the Quran", Lecture 4
speaker: Dr. Farhad Ghoddoussi

June 2, 2024
#Dhu_al_Qarnayn_in_Quran

"Dhu al-Qarnayn in the Quran"
Summary of Lecture 4 (in 2 Parts),

Part 1/2:
In the fourth lecture of this series, the Story of Dhu al-Qarnayn in the Qur'an (Q18: 83-102), we focused on the relationship between this story in the Qur'an and the late antique syriac text titled " Neṣḥānā d-Aleksandrōs" (literally “the victory of Alexander") which western scholarship often refer to it as the Syriac Alexander Legend.

The Syriac Alexander Legend, was published by E.A.W. Budge in 1889. Until recently a consensus was established among the western scholars that this text was composed during the reign of Emperor Heraclius (r. 610– 641 C.E.), a contemporary of Prophet Muhammad (S.A.) (570- 632CE).

Tommaso Tesei in his book "The Syriac Legend of the Alexander's Gate" has argued that an earlier version of the text was produced during the reign of Justinian I (r. 527– 565C.E.).

This text has been preserved in five manuscripts, all written in East Syriac script and produced from early 18th until late 19th centuries, which leaves open the possibility of editorial changes after the appearance of Islam.

The Legend of Alexander presents a Christianized version of Alexander and it is composed of three main parts. 1) Travels of Alexander to Egypt and then to the shores of Fetid Sea, his travels to where sun sets and to where it rises. 2) The trip to the great mountain somewhere in Caucasia or northern Mesopotamia. Seeing the delegate of the people who were concerned of the barbaric behavior of the Huns and among their chieftain two were named as Gog and Magog. Building a gate to close a breach in the great mountain and relaying a prophecy predicting the future raids by the Huns. 3) The war and then the peace agreement of Alexander with Tubarlaq the Persian king.

Clearly the Quranic pericope of Dhu al-Qarnayn has some similarities with the first two parts of Neṣḥānā.

In 2007 Kevin van Bladel published an article titled ‘The Alexander Legend in the Qurʾan 18:83-102’, in ‘The Qur'an in its Historical Context’ edited by G. S. Reynolds. This article has proven to be a substantial contribution to understanding the background of the Dhu al-Qarnayn pericope in Surah al-Kahf, (‘The Cave’).

The primary thesis of Van Bladel’s paper is that the story of Dhu al-Qarnayn essentially depends on the ‘Neṣḥānā d-Aleksandrūs’. Theodore Noldeke about 100 years before van Bladel was the first person who hinted to the similarities between Dhu al-Qarnayn pericope in the Qur'an and the Syriac Alexander Legend. Van Bladel work is interesting, and he demonstrates that there certainly exists some relationship or similarity between these two texts.

However, relying on the paper by Taha Soomro titled "Did the Qur'an borrow from the Syriac Legend of Alexander? " we argued that van Bladel consistently lets his comparisons go too far and often misreads the source texts in trying to find points of commonality between the Qur'an and the Legend. This, in turn, causes his thesis, that the Quranic account is essentially derived from the Neṣḥānā, appear stronger than it is.

We argued that the Syriac Legend of Alexander and the Quranic account of Dhu al-Qarnayn do not share a direct relationship between them, that is rather than one text being dependent on the other they independently draw upon a shared tradition found in the Late Antique Near East.

#Dhu_al_Qarnayn_in_Quran

@zekrMIT

"Dhu al-Qarnayn in the Quran"
Summary of Lecture 4 (in 2 Parts),

Part 2/2:
Evidences against Van Bladel’s thesis, that the Qur’an is essentially retelling the Neṣḥānā, are several, which we discussed them in detail during the lecture.

Firstly, one sees that the Syriac account and the Quranic one are different in many places, even pertaining to specific events, descriptions and turns of phrase that Van Bladel has previously posited as a similarity. These differences point against a direct Quranic borrowing of the Neṣḥānā.

Secondly, the languages of the two texts provide additional reasons to believe that the two texts do not rely upon each other. Broadly speaking, the Arabic language of the Dhu al-Qarnayn narrative in the Qur'an is very much exclusive to it, with no singular words borrowed from the Syriac of the Legend. For a text so short, it is significant that we see as many as seven instances where the Dhu al-Qarnayn narrative could have used a cognate matching the Syriac text but did not. This is in line with the general dissimilarity of language between the two texts, which even Van Bladel admits. Travis Zadeh rightly notes that there is “significant divergence” between the language of the Quranic text and the Syriac Legend exists and it may have not been a direct intertext for the Qur’an”

Therefore in conclusion the Syriac Legend of Alexander and the Quranic account of Dhu al-Qarnayn do not share a direct relationship (intertextuality) between them, but instead independently draw upon a shared tradition found in the Late Antique Near East. That is, most probably the Qur’an and the Neṣḥānā are independent witnesses to a common tradition.

#Dhu_al_Qarnayn_in_Quran

@zekrMIT

▫️Summaries,
We have discussed the story (pericope) of Dhu al-Qarnayn in the Qur'an (Q18:83-102) in two sets of independent but related lectures: A Series of Four Lectures and A Set of Two Tafsir Discussions.

Series of Four Lectures:
In the first lecture, we looked to these Quranic verses, their commentary, the structure of the surah 18 al-Kahf and the relation of the Dhu al-Qarnayn story with the other stories in this surah. It was stressed that a close reading of the verses of the story of Dhul al-Qarnayn, in distinction with some other stories of the Qur'an, does not necessitate a miraculous understanding of this story including the nature of the means and powers which was given to him and his trips were not atypical of the trips of Kings at his time.

In the second lecture, we looked to the hadiths which have been narrated in Shi'i hadith books in relation to these verses using Tafsir al-Burhan compiled by Syed Hashim ibn Sulaiman Al-Bahrani (d. 1107AH) and we also looked to the summary of Shii and Sunni hadiths related to the Dhu al-Qarnayn story as was listed and discussed by Allamah Tabatabai in Tafsir al-Mizan. Overall in agreement with the Allamah Tabatabai evaluation of these hadiths, it was concluded that it is more fruitful in not trying to understand the Quranic verses in the frame of narrations.

In the third lecture, as a prelude to the discussion of the historical candidates for Dhu al-Qarnayn we looked to the features which can be extracted from the verses of the Qur'an that a historical candidate for Dhu al-Qarnayn should satisfy. Then we looked briefly to the two leading historical candidates for Dhu al-Qarnayn, Cyrus II the Achaemenid King of Persia (d.530 BC) and Alexander III the Great the Macedonian King (d.323 BC) and discussed whether they satisfy the features extracted from the Quranic verses.

In the fourth lecture, we focused on the relationship between this story in the Qur'an and the late antique Syriac text titled "Neṣḥānā d-Aleksandrōs" (literally “the victory of Alexander") which western scholarship often refer to it as the Syriac Alexander Legend, and its implications. It was concluded that the Quranic pericope of Dhu al-Qarnayn has some similarities and relation with the first two parts of Neṣḥānā. But contrary to what some western scholars has claimed it was argued that there is no direct relationship (intertextuality) between them, but instead Qur'an and Neshana are independent witnesses to a shared tradition found in the Late Antique Near East.

Set of Two Tafsir Discussions:
In the first lecture of Tafsir, we discussed verses of 83 to 89 of Surah 18 Al-kahf. We also looked to the other instances of the usage of the words سبب (means, course) and کل شئ in the Qur'an, which are important in the understanding of the story of the Dhu al-Qarnayn.

In the second lecture of Tafsir, we discussed the verses 90-102 of the Surah 18 al-Kahf. We had a more detailed discussion of the word dakka' (َدكّآء) in Q18:98 in relation to barrier made by Dhu al- Qarnayn to protect people from Gog and Magog.

#Dhu_al_Qarnayn_in_Quran

@zekrMIT