the claim that he was an angel (1). This view is even ascribed to the Commander of the Believers ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, for he once heard a man call another, “O Dhu l-Qarnayn!” and exclaimed, “Enough! Was it not sufficient for you to take the names of the prophets that you have now begun taking the names of the angels as well?” Al-Suhaylī mentions this story (2).

Wakīʿ narrated—through Isrāʾīl, Jābir, and Mujāhid—from ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAmr who said: “Dhu l-Qarnayn was a prophet.”

Al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn ʿAsākir also transmitted, with a chain that reaches Abū Hurayrah, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “I do not know whether Tubbaʿ was accursed or not; I do not know whether the ḥudūd punishments expiate for those who undergo them or not; and I do not know whether Dhu l-Qarnayn was a prophet or not” (3). This report is unusual in this form.

Ishāq ibn Bishr related—from ʿUthmān ibn al-Sāj, Khuṣayf (4), and ʿIkrimah—that Ibn ʿAbbās said: “Dhu l-Qarnayn was a righteous king. Allah approved his deeds and praised him in His Book. He was given victory, and al-Khidr served as his minister.”

They further recount that al-Khidr, peace be upon him, led the vanguard of his army and acted as an adviser, occupying with respect to the king the role that modern terminology would call a vizier.

Al-Azraqī and others state that Dhu l-Qarnayn accepted Islam at the hands of Abraham the Close Friend, and that he and Ishmael, peace be upon them both, circumambulated the Honored Kaʿbah together.

It is also reported from ʿUbayd ibn ʿUmayr, his son ʿAbdullāh, and others that Dhu l-Qarnayn performed the pilgrimage on foot; when Abraham heard of his approach he went out to receive him, supplicated for him, and gave him counsel (5). They add that Allah subjected the clouds to Dhu l-Qarnayn (6), carrying him wherever he wished (7). Allah knows best.