he will be killed. He will then descend and find them lying dead, piled one upon another. He will cry, “O assembly of Muslims! Rejoice, for Allah the Exalted has spared you your enemy.” The Muslims will come out from their towns and fortresses and let their livestock loose, and the animals will find nothing to graze on except their corpses. They will grow fat on them, showing gratitude as they have never shown for any vegetation.
Imam Ibn Kathīr said, “Ibn Mājah likewise transmitted it through Yūnus ibn Bukayr from Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq with this chain, and it is a good isnād.”
Some contemporary writers have denied the existence of Gog and Magog and of the barrier, while others claim that Gog and Magog are merely all the technologically advanced unbelieving nations. There is no doubt that this is a rejection of what is stated in the Quran and of what is authentically reported from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, or at best an interpretation that the texts cannot bear. Anyone who denies what is in the Quran or what is authentically from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ is a disbeliever, and whoever forces upon the texts an interpretation they do not tolerate is misguided and in danger of unbelief.
Their only semblance of an argument is their claim that the entire earth has been explored and no place remains for Gog and Magog or for the barrier. The reply is that the explorers’ failure to locate Gog and Magog or their barrier does not prove their non-existence; it only proves mankind’s inability to encompass the dominion of Allah. Allah may have turned their sight away from them, or placed obstacles that prevent reaching them. Allah is capable of all things, and everything has an appointed time, as He says: “Your people have denied it, though it is the truth. Say, ‘I am not a guardian over you. Every news item has its appointed outcome, and you will come to know.’” ⦗1⦘ What blinded the eyes of earlier generations and rendered them incapable of discovering the treasures of the earth—such as petroleum—that people have uncovered today, except that Allah had fixed for each thing a specific term and time? Allah’s help is sought.