Академия Корана:Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān/Alexander

John Renard, "Alexander" in: Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān, General Editor: J. D. McAuliffe, Georgetown University, Washington DC.

The Macedonian conqueror who lived from 356 until 323 b.c.e. Traditional and modern scholars have identified the figure the Qurʾān refers to as the Possessor of the Two Horns (Dhū l-Qarnayn, q 18:83, 86, 94) as Alexander the Great (al-Iskandar in Arabic). His «two horns» may be the east and the west, suggesting breadth of his dominion. Anomalously, some early scholars saw the epithet as reference to a pre-Islamic monarch of south Arabia or Persia. The famous mystic Ibn al-ʿArabī (d. 638/1240) interpreted the figure allegorically, identifying the «Possessor of the Two Horns» as the «heart» ruling the «earth» of the body through the «east» and «west» of its palpitations.

Alexander is the best known qurʾānic figure not actually named in the scripture. In the Islamic tradition, his major roles are those of sovereign, seeker, sage, prophet and «perfect person». By constructing an iron wall to contain Gog and Magog (q.v., q 18:93-9), Alexander joins the company of both David (q.v.), who could melt iron, and Solomon (q.v.), the only other «Muslim» to rule the globe and who built his temple with the help of the jinn (q.v.). In addition, Alexander defended the world against apocalyptic chaos (cf. q 21:96-7).

Alexander shares his mysterious notoriety with al-Khaḍir (see khaḍir/khiḍr), whom tradition identifies as Moses' unnamed guide on his search for the confluence of the two seas (q 18:60-82). Firdawsī's (d. 411/1020) Shāhnāme names al-Khaḍir as Alexander’s guide in his quest for the fountain (or spring) of life in the Land of Darkness. In fact, Alexander’s relationship to al-Khaḍir (also rendered Khiḍr) is strikingly similar to that of Moses to his unnamed guide in sūra 18. Alexander did not reach the fountain, because he became distracted, just as Moses failed in his quest because he asked too many questions. Alexander’s other guides in lore are the sage Luqmān (q.v.) and the prophet Elijah (q.v.). The legend that Aristotle tutored Alexander in dream-interpretation further enhanced his status as sage, a theme fully developed in Niẓāmī's (d. early seventh/thirteenth century) Persian romance Iskandarnāme.

Alexander’s place in the narratives (q.v.) on the prophets (qiṣaṣ al-) is significant. In commenting on q 18:83, al-Thaʿlabī (d. 427/1035) allots more space to the «Possessor of the Two Horns» than he accords to at least five other prophets. He says that most authorities identify him as Alexander, who, it is said, descended from Abraham (q.v.) on his father’s side. Restating the views recorded by many exegetes, al-Thaʿlabī observes that Alexander was called the «Possessor of the Two Horns» either because he ruled both Greece and Persia; or because, when the prophet summoned his people to belief in one God, they struck one side of his head and then the other in defiance; or because he had two attractive locks of hair that people called horns. Citing a report in which Muḥammad does not know whether the «Possessor of the Two Horns» was actually a prophet, al-Thaʿlabī notes that scholars disagree, some arguing that he was a prophet (nabī, see prophets and prophethood) but not a messenger (rasūl, see messenger). Al-Kisāʾī (fl. 597/1200) mentions the «Possessor of the Two Horns» only in Jacob’s (q.v.) prophecy of a great future king, not identified as Alexander. Alexander reaches the pinnacle of mystical and cosmic apotheosis as the «perfect person» (al-insān al-kāmil) in his legendary journey to Mount Qāf, which recalls Muḥammad’s ascension (q.v.) into heaven. Confronting his mortality, Alexander gains wisdom enough to spread God’s word and become a model of spiritual perfection.

Bibliography

Primary

• Firdawsī, The book of kings (selections), trans. R. Levy, London 1967, 232-50
• Ibn al-ʿArabī, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-karīm, 2 vols., Beirut 1978, i, 773-4
• Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr, iii, 163-7
• Kisāʾī, Qiṣaṣ, trans. W.M. Thackston, Tales of the prophets, Boston 1978, 166
• Niẓāmī, Kulliyāt-i khamsa, Tehran 1351/1972, 839—1338
• Qurṭubī, Jāmiʿ, xi, 45-54
• M. Southgate (trans.), Iskandarnāmah. A Persian medieval Alexander-romance, New York 1978
• Ṭabarī, Tafsīr, xvi, 8-12
• Thaʿlabī, Qiṣaṣ, 322-32

Secondary

• A. Abel, Dhū 'l-Qarnayn, prophète de l’universalité, in Annuaire de l’institut de philologie et d’histoire Or. et Slaves 11 (1951), 6-18
• P. Grillon, Le mythe d’Alexandre à travers le roman grec et la tradition islamique, in Revue historique et de civilization du Maghreb 3 (1967), 7-28
• W.L. Hanaway, Persian popular romances before the Safavid period, Ph.D. diss, Columbia 1970
• T. Nagel, Alexander der Grosse in der frühislamischen Volksliteratur, Waldorf-Hessen 1978