the Wall.’ He asked him, “What did it look like?” He answered, “I saw it like an ornamented, many-colored cloak.”

Saʿīd ibn Abī ʿArūbah related this from Qatādah as a mursal report, adding: “It has one black band and one red band.” He said, “I have seen it myself.” I say: he is referring to the redness of the copper and the blackness of the iron.

Saʿīd ibn Abī ʿArūbah also transmitted—from Qatādah, from Abū Rāfiʿ, from Abū Hurayrah—that it is reported from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, that he said:

“Gog and Magog dig at it every day. When they are almost able to see the rays of the sun, the one who directs them says, ‘Turn back; you will dig it tomorrow.’ Allah then restores it firmer than it was. When their appointed term arrives, they will dig until, when they are about to catch sight of the sun, their overseer will say, ‘Turn back; you will dig it tomorrow, if Allah wills.’ They will return to it and find it as they left it, so they will pierce through it. They will then pour forth upon the people, and humanity will seek refuge in their fortresses. Gog and Magog will shoot their arrows toward the sky, and they will come back streaked as though with blood. They will say, ‘We have conquered the people of earth and overpowered those of heaven.’ Then Allah will send against them worms (naghf) that will kill them.”

Ibn Jarīr records in his History, through the narration of ʿAmr ibn Maʿdīkarib from Maṭar ibn Balj al-Tamīmī, who said: “I entered upon ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Rabīʿah at al-Bāb while Shahriyār was with him. A man with a sallow complexion approached until he sat beside Shahriyār. I, Maṭar, was wearing a Yemeni cloak whose ground was red and whose embroidery was black. They questioned one another, and then Shahriyār said, ‘Commander, do you know where this man has come from? I sent him toward the Wall two years ago to see what state it was in and who…’”} (end)