It was said: An interpreter spoke on their behalf. The evidence for this is Ibn Mas‘ud’s recitation: “They could scarcely understand any speech. Those beyond them said, ‘O Dhul-Qarnayn.’”

“Indeed, Gog and Magog”: ‘Asim recited both names with a hamzah in each name [and likewise in Surah al-Anbiya: “Gog and Magog are unleashed”] (1), while the others recited them without hamzah [in both surahs] (2). These are two linguistic forms. Their origin is the blaze of fire—its light and sparks—and they were likened to it because of their great numbers and ferocity.

It was also said that the form with hamzah is derived from the intense blaze of fire, whereas the form without hamzah consists of two foreign names, like Harut and Marut. They are descendants of Japheth, son of Noah.

Al-Dahhak said: They are a people among the Turks. Al-Suddi said: The Turks were a band from Gog and Magog that emerged, and Dhul-Qarnayn erected the barrier [so it remained outside it; thus, all the Turks are from them. Qatadah said: They were twenty-two tribes, and Dhul-Qarnayn built the barrier] (4) over twenty-one tribes, leaving one tribe behind. They were the Turks, called Turks because they were left outside.

The historians said: Noah’s sons were three: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Shem was the father of the Arabs, the non-Arabs, and the Romans; Ham was the father of the Abyssinians, the Zanj, and the Nubians; and Japheth was the father of the Turks, the Khazars, the Slavs, and Gog and Magog. Ibn ‘Abbas said, in the narration of ‘Ata’: They constitute ten portions, while all the descendants of Adam constitute one portion.

It is narrated from Hudhayfah, traced back to the Prophet, that he said: “Gog are one nation and Magog are one nation; each nation comprises four hundred thousand communities. No man among them dies until he has seen a thousand male offspring from his own loins, all of whom have taken up arms. They are descendants of Adam, advancing toward the ruin of the world.”

It was also said that they are of three types. One type is like cedars—trees in the Levant whose height reaches one hundred and twenty cubits into the sky. Another type has equal breadth and height, one hundred and twenty cubits; no mountain or iron can withstand them. A third type uses one of its ears as a mattress (5) and the other as a covering. They pass by no elephant, wild beast, or pig without eating it; and whoever among them dies, they eat him. Their vanguard is in the Levant and their rearguard in Khurasan; they drink the rivers of the East and Lake Tiberias (6).

It is related from ‘Ali that he said: Among them are those whose height is a handspan, and among them are those of excessive height (7).