What is the opinion of His Eminence Allamah Mansoor Hashemi Khorasani on Dhu al-Qarnayn? Some interpreters believe that he is Cyrus the Great, the king of Persia.
Most of the interpreters who believe that Dhu al-Qarnayn in the Quran is Cyrus the Great, the king of Persia, do not have any knowledge of it. They follow nothing but conjecture and do nothing but guess. Some of them are Persians who are biased toward their people. Similarly, many of those who deny this view are also afflicted with such a bias and have racist and anti-Persian motives. However, Islamic matters are not a suitable place for such games, and it is very dangerous to bring political and ethnic conflicts into the realm of religion. For this reason, the wise scholar, His Eminence Mansoor Hashemi Khorasani does not consider these people worthy of knowledge and dislikes placing wisdom in their hands; because they use knowledge as a means of achieving superiority in the life of the world and use wisdom against the wise one. Among them are individuals who steal part of his knowledge that appeals to them and aligns with their desires, and they do not mention his name out of hatred and envy to conceal the truth and cover it with falsehood; as one of our companions informed us, he said:
«كُنْتُ عِنْدَ الْعَبْدِ الصَّالِحِ فِي دَارِهِ فَوَجَدْتُهُ فَارِغًا فَقُلْتُ لَهُ: جُعِلْتُ فِدَاكَ، أَسْأَلُكَ؟ فَقَالَ بِرَأْسِهِ: نَعَمْ، فَظَنَنْتُ أَنَّهُ يُسَبِّحُ، فَقُلْتُ: إِنَّ هَؤُلَاءِ يَخْتَلِفُونَ فِي ذِي الْقَرْنَيْنِ، وَأَنْتَ عَالِمُهُمْ وَسَيِّدُهُمْ، فَإِنْ رَأَيْتَ -جُعِلْتُ فِدَاكَ- أَنْ تُخْرِجَهُمْ فِيهِ مِنَ الظُّلُمَاتِ إِلَى النُّورِ فَعَلْتَ! فَمَكَثَ حَتَّى قَضَى سُبْحَتَهُ، ثُمَّ قَالَ: دَعْنِي مِنْ هَؤُلَاءِ السَّفَلَةِ الْمَرَدَةِ الْقَائِلِينَ عَلَى اللَّهِ بِمَا لَا يَعْلَمُونَ! أَلَا تَعْلَمُ أَنَّ هَذَا الْعِلْمَ كَنْزٌ مِنْ كُنُوزِ الْجَنَّةِ هَبَطَ مِنْهَا مَعَ آدَمَ عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ، ثُمَّ انْتَقَلَ مِنْهُ إِلَى النَّبِيِّينَ وَالصِّدِّيقِينَ وَالشُّهَدَاءِ وَالصَّالِحِينَ مِنْ ذُرِّيَّتِهِ، حَتَّى يَرْجِعَ مَعَ آخِرِهِمْ إِلَى الْجَنَّةِ؟! أَفَتُرِيدُ أَنْ تَجْعَلَ مِثْلَ هَذَا الْكَنْزِ فِي أَيْدِي الصِّبْيَانِ وَالْمَجَانِينِ وَالْمُدْمِنِينَ عَلَى الْمُخَدِّرَاتِ؟! لَا وَاللَّهِ لَيْسَ هَؤُلَاءِ بِمَأْمُونِينَ عَلَيْهِ وَلَا مِنْ أَهْلِهِ، وَإِنَّ فِيهِمْ سَارِقِينَ يَسْرُقُونَهُ لِيَشْتَرُوا بِهِ ثَمَنًا قَلِيلًا وَيَسْتَعِينُوا بِهِ عَلَى حُجَجِ اللَّهِ وَأَوْلِيَائِهِ! ﴿فَذَرْهُمْ فِي غَمْرَتِهِمْ حَتَّى حِينٍ﴾[1]! فَنَدَمْتُ عَلَى مَسْأَلَتِي حَتَّى رَأَى ذَلِكَ فِي وَجْهِي، فَقَالَ: كَانَ الْيَهُودُ يَجِدُونَ ذَا الْقَرْنَيْنِ عِنْدَهُمْ فِي كِتَابِ دَانِيَالَ عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ، فَسَأَلُوا عَنْهُ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَآلِهِ وَسَلَّمَ لِيَعْلَمُوا أَيُوحَى إِلَيْهِ أَمْ لَا، فَأَوْحَى اللَّهُ إِلَيْهِ: ﴿وَيَسْأَلُونَكَ عَنْ ذِي الْقَرْنَيْنِ ۖ قُلْ سَأَتْلُو عَلَيْكُمْ مِنْهُ ذِكْرًا﴾[2]، قُلْتُ: وَمَا كَانَ عِنْدَهُمْ فِي كِتَابِ دَانِيَالَ؟ قَالَ: إِنَّ دَانِيَالَ عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ رَأَى فِي الْمَنَامِ كَبَشًا لَهُ قَرْنَانِ طَوِيلَانِ أَحَدُهُمَا أَطْوَلُ مِنَ الْآخَرِ، وَرَآهُ يَنْطَحُ غَرْبًا وَشَرْقًا وَشَمَالًا مِنْ غَيْرِ أَنْ يَقْدِرَ حَيَوَانٌ عَلَى دَفْعِهِ حَتَّى عَظُمَ شَأْنُهُ، فَأَخْبَرَهُ جَبْرَئِيلُ عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ بِأَنَّ الْكَبَشَ ذَا الْقَرْنَيْنِ هُوَ مَلِكُ مَادِي وَفَارِسَ! قُلْتُ: أَشْهَدُ أَنَّ اللَّهَ قَدْ آتَاكَ الْحِكْمَةَ وَفَصْلَ الْخِطَابِ! أَفَأُحَدِّثَهُمْ عَنْكَ بِهَذَا الْحَدِيثِ؟ قَالَ: حَدِّثْهُمْ بِهِ، أَرْغَمَ اللَّهُ أُنُوفَ قَوْمٍ مُسْتَكْبِرِينَ»[3]; “I was with the righteous servant (i.e., Mansoor) in his house. Then I found him free, so I said to him: ‘May I be sacrificed for you! May I ask you a question?’ So he said with a nod of the head: ‘Yes.’ So I realized that he was saying dhikr. Then I said: ‘These people disagree about Dhu al-Qarnayn, and you are their scholar and their master. So if you see fit, may I be sacrificed for you, bring them out of darkness into light about him!’ He remained silent until he finished his dhikr. Then he said: ‘Forget about these lowly, arrogant people who say about Allah what they do not know! Do you not know that this knowledge is a treasure from the treasures of Heaven that descended from there with Adam and then passed on to the Prophets, the truthful, the martyrs, and the righteous from his offspring until it returns with the last one of them to Heaven?! Do you then want to place such a treasure in the hands of children, madmen, and drug addicts?! No, by Allah, they are not trusted with it, nor are they its people, and there are thieves among them who steal it to sell it for a small price and use it against the proofs and friends of Allah! “So leave them in their confusion for a while!”’ So I regretted asking my question until he saw it on my face, so he said: ‘The Jews found Dhu al-Qarnayn with them in the book of Daniyal
. So they asked the Messenger of Allah
about him to know whether it was revealed to him or not. Then Allah revealed to him: “They ask you about Dhu al-Qarnayn. Say: I will tell you something about him.”’ I said: ‘What was with them in the book of Daniyal?’ He said: ‘Daniyal
saw in a dream a ram with two long horns, one of which was longer than the other, and he saw it but the West, the East, and the North without any creature being able to repel it until it grew in power. Then Jabra’il
informed him that the ram with two horns (Dhu al-Qarnayn) was the king of Media and Persia!’ I said: ‘I bear witness that Allah has given you wisdom and decisive speech! Shall I then narrate this from you to them?’ He said: ‘Narrate it to them. May Allah rub the noses of the arrogant in the dust.’”
It is understood from the statement of His Eminence that Dhu al-Qarnayn is Cyrus the Great, the king of Persia and Media, who united the kingdoms of Persia and Medes, then marched toward the West, the East, and the North and achieved many conquests; as Allah Almighty has mentioned this march and these conquests in the three directions in His Book and informed of his satisfactory conduct in each of them, and undoubtedly, the most important evidence of this is the verses from the Torah that Allamah Mansoor Hashemi Khorasani referred to; because the verses of the Quran about Dhu al-Qarnayn have been revealed in response to a question from the Jews, and they knew nothing of Dhu al-Qarnayn except for what was mentioned in the book of Daniyal
that he was “the king of Medes and Persia”; considering that he pushed into the East and the West like «ذي قرنين»; “a ram with two horns.” Historically, it is clear that Cyrus was the first king of Persia and Media who had extensive and significant conquests in the East and the West. Additionally, the praiseworthy characteristics that the Quran has mentioned for Dhu al-Qarnayn only match those mentioned for Cyrus, and the Jews also knew them only for Cyrus; because he has been mentioned in the Torah at least 23 times, each time with special respect. For example, he has been referred to in it as the “Anointed of Allah” and said to be given “all the kingdoms of the earth,” which agrees with the description of Dhu al-Qarnayn in the Quran: ﴿إِنَّا مَكَّنَّا لَهُ فِي الْأَرْضِ وَآتَيْنَاهُ مِنْ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ سَبَبًا﴾[4]; “We gave him authority on the earth and granted him a way to achieve anything.” Also, it has been stated in the Book of Isaiah: “Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped, to subdue nations before him and to loose the belts of kings, to open doors before him that gates may not be closed: ‘I will go before you and level the exalted places, I will break in pieces the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron, I will give you the treasures of darkness and the hoards in secret places, that you may know that it is I, the Lord, the God of Israel, who call you by your name,’”[5] and it has been stated: “‘I have stirred him up in righteousness, and I will make all his ways level; he shall build my city and set my exiles free,’ says the Lord of hosts,”[6] and it has been stated: “who says of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd, and he shall fulfill all my purpose.’”[7] Undoubtedly, this agrees with the description of Dhu al-Qarnayn in the Quran, as it describes him as being pleasing and well-regarded in the sight of Allah and that he had good and just conduct. Also, it has been stated in the Book of Ezra: “In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing: ‘Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem.’”[8] This statement from Cyrus is clear evidence of his belief in Allah and his concern for spreading Allah’s worship, which agrees with what has been stated in the Quran about Dhu al-Qarnayn, as the Quran has indicated that the kingdom of Dhu al-Qarnayn was from Allah and that Allah commanded him to do some tasks; as He has said: ﴿قُلْنَا يَا ذَا الْقَرْنَيْنِ إِمَّا أَنْ تُعَذِّبَ وَإِمَّا أَنْ تَتَّخِذَ فِيهِمْ حُسْنًا﴾[9]; “We said: ‘O Dhu al-Qarnayn! Either punish them or treat them with kindness.’” This is while no other king with these characteristics has been mentioned in history or in the Torah. Therefore, there should be no doubt that the intended Dhu al-Qarnayn in the Quran is Cyrus, who was named in the Torah as “Dhu al-Qarnayn” and described with good qualities. Among the things that support this is a narration from Buraydah al-Aslami, who said: «سَمِعْتُ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَآلِهِ وَسَلَّمَ يَقُولُ: سَتَكُونُ بَعْدِي بُعُوثٌ كَثِيرَةٌ، فَكُونُوا فِي بَعْثِ خُرَاسَانَ، ثُمَّ انْزِلُوا مَدِينَةَ مَرْوَ، فَإِنَّهُ بَنَاهَا ذُو الْقَرْنَيْنِ، وَدَعَا لَهَا بِالْبَرَكَةِ، وَلَا يَضُرُّ أَهْلَهَا سُوءٌ»[10]; “I heard the Messenger of Allah
say: ‘After me, there will be many expeditions. So be in the expedition of Khorasan, then descend to the city of Marv, for Dhul-Qarnayn built it and prayed for blessings for it, and no harm will befall its people,’” knowing that Marv was one of the cities of Persia and existed before Darius, the third king after Cyrus; because he mentioned it in the Behistun inscription. Therefore, it is very likely that it was among the cities that Cyrus, King of Persia, built.