ذوالقرنین
Regarding Dhu al-Qarnayn, Ghamidi Sahab writes in His exegesis: “The literal meaning of this word is “one having two horns.” Here it probably refers to Cyrus, the ancient Persian king. His actual name was Koresh. He was deputed as the governor of a small kingdom Anshan of his father, Cambysess. As soon as he assumed power, he had to face the attack of the ruler of Media. He turned out to be the victor. After this, he embarked upon a series of conquests and within a short time he conquered all the major kingdoms of his times and his own empire gradually spread to both ends (east and west) of the world. It can thus be said that all the civilized world of his time was practically under his sway. Prior to this, no empire was so vast and had such splendour. He was a pious and just king. In the prophecy of the prophet Isaiah he is called Koresh. This is a slightly changed form of Cyrus which is the Greek pronunciation of the name Khurso. It is said: This is what the Lord says to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of to subdue nations before him and to strip kings of their armor. (Isaiah, 45:1) A revelation of the prophet Daniel is cited in the Bible in which he says: I looked up, and there before me was a ram with two horns, standing beside the canal, and the horns were long. One of the horns was longer than the other but grew up later. I watched the ram as it charged toward the west and the north and the south. No animal could stand against it, and none could rescue from its power. (Daniel, 8:3-4) Gabriel informed Daniel that the meaning of this revelation was that the two horns refer to two kingdoms of Media and Persia which shall be conquered by the promised king. It is perhaps for this reason that the Jews of Arabia called Cyrus as Dhu al-Qarnayn since he had subjugated both these kingdoms. This “bearer of two horns” was very popular among the Jews because it was his onslaught which finally routed the kingdom of Babylon and liberated the Israelites from its slavery. As a result, it became possible for the Jews to rebuild the Temple and the Bayt al-Maqdis. In the recent past, a statue of Cyrus has been discovered near Pasargadae. It was installed in the times of Ardashir 1. Two horns can be seen jutting out of his crown. It may well be that these two horns also represent what has just been described. Among his campaigns mentioned ahead, two (the eastern and the western ones) are known in history because his conquests had expanded to Asia Minor and the shores of Syria in the west and to Balkh in the east. However, there is no trace of his northern and southern campaigns in history. Yet the Qur’an mentions them in a very explicit way. Nonetheless, there are certain indications found in their favour as well because according to history Cyrus’ empire extended to the Caucasus in the north.” (Translated by Dr. Shehzad Saleem)