woven with colored stripes.’ He said, ‘You have indeed seen it.’” (1).

Sayyid Qutb wrote: “A barrier was discovered near the city of Tirmidh (2), known as the Iron Gate. The German scholar Schiltberger passed by it in the early fifteenth century and recorded it in his book. The Spanish historian Clavijo likewise mentioned it in his account of his journey in 1403 CE. He wrote: ‘The barrier of the city of the Iron Gate lies on the route between Samarkand and India … It may be the barrier built by Dhū al-Qarnayn.’” (3).

I say: Perhaps this barrier is the wall surrounding the city of Tirmidh that Yāqūt al-Hamawī mentioned in Mu'jam al-Buldān, rather than the barrier of Dhū al-Qarnayn.

Moreover, determining the barrier’s location is not our concern in this study. Rather, we confine ourselves to what Allah Most High has told us and what is reported in authentic hadiths: the barrier restraining Gog and Magog exists and will remain until the appointed time comes for it to be demolished and for Gog and Magog to emerge. This will occur as the Hour draws near, as Allah Most High says:

“He said, ‘This is a mercy from my Lord. But when my Lord’s promise comes to pass, He will level it, for my Lord’s promise is true.’ (98) On that Day, We will leave them surging into one another. Then the Trumpet will be blown, and We will gather them all together.” [al-Kahf: 98–99]