Dhulqarnain: Alexander Or Cyrus
Kahf is makkan surah. u r implying a book reached to mecca in old time as soon as it was written. Also, that syriac text was discovered in 17 century. Read book of bible Isaiah, Daniel, Ezra. You will understand.
As a Muslim, l believe the Quran was revealed to the Prophet. My explanation doesn’t imply the Quran was copied from an oral or written transmission in circulation. Since you are using Sirah Ishaq or hadith literature to infer the Surah was revealed in the meccan phase. The background story only serves to support my stance. The meccan mushrikeen consulted with Jewish rabbis living in Medina before going back to Mecca to challenge the Prophet with a set of questions , one of which included information on Zhul Qarnain. This shows the rabbis of Medina were familiar with the legend of Zhul Qarnain, and they were also aware of the legend ( l will show in 4th paragraph ) . The biblical (chapters) books you have mentioned don’t connect Cyrus with Gog Magog, even though both figures are mentioned in the entire bible. A quick search shows the syriac text, whether written in 614 CE or 629/630 CE, isn’t the only written material on the Alexander legend. l don’t understand why you mentioned the late discovery of the text. It was a lost text which was rediscovered in the 17 century. The Alexander legend was written in many different languages, the the earliest known account of the so-called “Gates of Alexander” comes from the book, The Jewish War, written in around 75 AD by the Jewish historian Titus Flavius Josephus. We have a different version of the legend in Greek language ( language of byzantine empire ) , the Historia Alexandri Magni and it dates back to the the 3rd century. The oral circulations of the Alexander legend were widespread, the syriac text was written later on to give the Byzantine war of Hercules an apocalyptic twist. Historians have examined and affirmed the obsession of Middle east ( Byzantine, Arabia, Sassanid Persia ) with apocalyptic narrative in late antiquity. That’s one of the reasons why many hadiths related to the fitnah of end times ( including Gog Magog ) were fabricated. For me, the Gog Magog story in a literary sense gives a characteristic description of a recurring phenomenon in human history, ie the destructive impact of invading hordes on civilization and the important role of a powerful righteous king (ruler ) in protecting innocent people from barbarians.