Dhul Qarnayn

I was asked a question via the Contact Us form of the blog, about Dhu’l Qarnayn and his identity. Here is the Ṣaḥīḥ (Authentic) ḥadīth we have detailing who was Dhu’l Qarnayn. This ḥadīth is also supported by other Ṣaḥīḥ aḥādīth we have that states that both al-Khiḍr and Dhu’l Qarnayn were not prophets, but they were righteous servants of Allāh.

This post is not about the identity of Dhu'l Qarnayn, because it is not stated in authentic ḥadīth who he is, therefore I will not resort to dhann (speculation) as some scholars have done.

Inshā’Allāh, I will make a lengthy article responding to those people who claim that al-Khiḍr was a prophet of Allāh (عَزَّ وَ جَلَّ).

This ḥadīth is narrated in `Alī b. al-Ḥussayn b. Bābuwayh al-Qummī’s[1] (al-Ṣadūq’s father) book al-Imāmah wa al-Tabṣirah[2], al-Ṣadūq’s Kamāl (or, Ikmāl) al-Dīn[3] and al-Rawāndī’s Qasas al-Anbiyā’[4], with the same chain of narrators. This same ḥadīth is also narrated in al-`Ayyāshī’s Tafsīr, with a truncated chain from Abī Baṣīr[5].

سعد بن عبد الله ، عن أحمد بن محمد بن عيسى ، عن علي بن النعمان ، عن هارون بن خارجة ، عن أبي بصير ، عن أبي جعفر عليه السلام قال : إن ذا القرنين لم يكن نبيا ، ولكنه كان عبدا صالحا أحب الله فأحبه الله ، وناصح لله فناصحه الله ، أمر قومه بتقوى الله ، فضربوه على قرنه ، فغاب عنهم زمانا ، ثم رجع إليهم ، فضربوه على قرنه الآخر ، وفيكم من هو على سنته

 Sa`ad b. `Abd Allāh[6] narrated from Aḥmad b. Muḥammad b. `Īsa[7] from `Alī b. al-Nu`mān[8] from Hārūn b. Khārijah[9] from Abī Baṣīr[10] from Abī Ja`far (عليه السلام) said, “Dhu’l Qarnayn was not a prophet, but he was a righteous slave, he loved Allāh, and Allāh loved him. He was an adviser of Allāh, and Allāh advised him. He commanded his people to taqwa of Allāh, and they hit him on the (side) of his head, and he disappeared from them for a time, then he returned to them and they hit him on his other (side) of his head, and there is among you who is upon his sunnah (tradition)”[11]

`Āṣif al-Muḥsinī has said this ḥadīth is Ṣaḥīḥ (Authentic) in his Mashra`ah Bihār al-Anwār[12], he also says that there is a ḥadīth that alludes to Dhu’l Qarnayn being a prophet of Allāh[13], but it is da`īf (weak)[14].

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[1] He is thiqah (trustworth) according to al-Najāshī, al-Tūsī’s Rijāl and al-Fihrist (See: al-Najāshī, Rijāl, pg. 261, person # 648;  al-Ṭūsī, al-Rijāl, pg. 432, person # 6191 (in book); al-Ṭūsī, al-Fihrist, pg. 273, person # 393)

[2] `Alī b. al-Ḥussayn b. Bābuwayh, al-Imāmah wa al-Tabṣirah, Ch. on Ghaybah, pg. 121, ḥadīth # 116

[3] al-Ṣadūq, Kamāl al-Dīn, vol. 2, ch. 38, section on Dhu’l Qarnayn, pg. 393, ḥadīth # 1, with a chain from his father:

al-Ṣadūq – from his father – Sa`ad b. `Abd Allāh – Aḥmad b. Muḥammad b. `Īsa -- `Alī b. al-Nu`mān – Hārūn b. Khārijah – Abī Baṣīr – Abī Ja`far (عليه السلام)

[4] Quṭb al-Dīn al-Rawāndī, Qaṣaṣ al-Anbiyā’, pg. 120 with his chain from al-Rawāndī to al-Ṣadūq

Al-Adīb Abū `Abd Allāh al-Ḥussayn al-Mu’addab al-Qummī – Ja`far al-Dawraysī – his father – al-Ṣadūq – from his father – Sa`ad b. `Abd Allāh – Aḥmad b. Muḥammad b. `Īsa -- `Alī b. al-Nu`mān – Hārūn b. Khārijah – Abī Baṣīr – Abī Ja`far (عليه السلام)

[5] al-`Ayyāshī, Tafsīr, vol. 2, pg. 339-340, ḥadīth # 72

                From Abī Baṣīr – Abī Ja`far (عليه السلام)

[6] Sa`ad b. `Abd Allāh b. al-`Asharī al-Qummī is thiqah according to al-Najāshi al-Ṭūsī (See: al-Najāshī, Rijāl, pg. 178, person # 467; al-Ṭūsī, al-Rijāl, pg. 427, person # 6141; al-Ṭūsī, al-Fihrist, pg. 75, person # 306)

[7] Aḥmad b. Muḥammad b. `Īsa is thiqah according to al-Najāshī and al-Ṭūsī  (See: al-Najāshī, Rijāl, pg. 81-83, person # 198; al-Ṭūsī, al-Rijāl, pg. 351, person # 5197; al-Ṭūsī, al-Fihrist, pg. 61, person # 75)

[8] `Alī b. al-Nu`mān al-`Alam al-Nakha’ī is thiqah according to al-Najāshī (See: al-Najāshī, Rijāl, pg. 274, person # 719)

[9] Hārūn b. Khārijah Kūfī is thiqah according to al-Najāshī (See: al-Najāshī, Rijāl, pg. 437, person # 1176)

[10] Abū Baṣīr here could be either Yaḥya b. Abī al-Qāsim al-Asadī or Layth b. al-Bakhtarī al-Murādī, it wouldn’t matter since both of them are thiqah, al-Khoei discusses this in depth in his Mu`jam Rijāl al-Ḥadīth (See: al-Khoei, Mu`jam Rijāl al-Hadīth, vol. 22, pg. 49-66, person # 13988)

[11] `Alī b. al-Ḥussayn b. Bābuwayh, al-Imāmah wa al-Tabṣirah, Ch. on Ghaybah, pg. 121, ḥadīth # 116

[12] `Āṣif al-Muḥsinī, Mashra`ah Bihār al-Anwār, vol. 1, pg. 276

[13] al-Majlisī, Bihār al-Anwār, vol. 12, ch. 8, pg. 181, ḥadīth # 9, originally quoting from al-Ṣadūq’s al-Khiṣāl, vol. 1, ch. 4, pg. 248, ḥadīth # 110

[14] al-Muḥsinī, Mashra`ah Bihār al-Anwār, vol. 1, pg. 275

Bibliography

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al-Khoei. Mu`jam Rijāl al-Hadīth. 5th. 24 vols. 1413.

al-Majlisī. Bihār al-Anwār. 4th. 110 vols. Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmiyyah, 1362.

al-Muḥsinī, `Āṣif. Mashra`ah Bihār al-Anwār. 2nd. 2 vols. Beirut: Mu’assasah al-`Ārif lil-Maṭbū`āt, 1426/2005.

al-Najāshī. Rijāl. Ed. Musa al-Shabiri al-Zanjani. 5. 1 vols. Qum: Mu’assasah al-Nashr al-Islāmī, 1416.

al-Rawāndī, Quṭb al-Dīn. Qaṣaṣ al-Anbiyā’. 1 vols. Mashhad: Mu’assasah al-Buhūth al-Islāmiyyah, 1409.

al-Ṣadūq. al-Khiṣāl. 2nd. 1 vols. Qum: Mu'assasah al-Nashr al-Islami, 1403.

—. Kamāl al-Dīn. 2nd. 2 vols in 1 vols. Qum: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmiyyah, 1395/1975.

al-Ṭūsī. al-Fihrist. Najaf: al-Maktabah al-Raḍawiyyah, n.d.

—. al-Rijāl. 1st. Qum: Mu’assasah al-Nashr al-Islāmī, 1415.

Bābuwayh, `Alī b. al-Ḥussayn b. al-Imāmah wa al-Tabṣirah. 1st. 1 vols. Qum: Madrisah al-Imām al-Mahdī, 1404.