THE LEGEND OF GOG AND MAGOG

Genesis, 10:2-4: The sons of Japeth: Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras. And the sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah. And the sons of Javan: Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. Ezekiel 18:6: Gomer and all his hordes; the house of Togarmah in the uttermost parts of the north, and all his hordes; even many peoples with thee. Ezekiel 37:28 Then the nations will know that I the LORD sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary is in the midst of them for evermore. Ezekiel 38:1-4 The word of the LORD came to me: Son of man, set your face toward Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him and say, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal; and I will turn you about, and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you forth, and all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed in full armor, a great company, all of them with buckler and shield, wielding swords . . . Exekiel 38:15-23 and come from your place out of the uttermost parts of the north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great host, a mighty army; you will come up against my people Israel, like a cloud covering the land.

In the latter days I will bring you against my land, that the nations may know me, when through you, O Gog, I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. "Thus says the Lord GOD: Are you he of whom I spoke in former days by my servants the prophets of Israel, who in those days prophesied for years that I would bring you against them? But on that day, when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, says the Lord GOD, my wrath will be roused. For in my jealousy and in my blazing wrath I declare, On that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel;the fish of the sea, and the birds of the air, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep on the ground, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall quake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the cliffs shall fall, and every wall shall tumble to the ground. I will summon every kind of terror against Gog, says the Lord GOD; every man's sword will be against his brother. With pestilence and bloodshed I will enter into judgment with him; and I will rain upon him and his hordes and the many peoples that are with him, torrential rains and hailstones, fire and brimstone. So I will show my greatness and my holiness and make myself known in the eyes of many nations. Then they will know that I am the LORD. Ezekiel 39:1 And you, son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal . . . Rev 20:6-10 Blessed and holy is he who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and they shall reign with him a thousand years. And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be loosed from his prison, and will come out to deceive the nations which are at the four corners of the earth, that is, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. And they marched up over the broad earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city; but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulphur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

These, the first known mentions of the names Gog and Magog, occur in the Bible and are brief, jumbled and vague. Some of the place-names can be tentatively identified: Madai may be Media, and the words Meshech and Tubal seem to appear in Assyrian inscriptions as 'Muschu' and 'Tabal'. Names change and placenames change and the whole matter may be apocryphal anyway. Any place north of the Holy Land may be the land of Gog and Magog; Gog may be a person and Magog a nation; the Magog of the Genesis reference is certainly a person (the descendent of Noah through Japeth) but the Magog of the other references is apparently a nation or tribe. Take your pick. . . . But, for some reason, 'Gog and Magog' became a nation or nations, with a life of their own, separate from their Biblical source. They passed into the romantic legends of Alexander the Great, which have been rife in Asia since the time of Alexander himself. They appear in the Koran, which has its own version of the Gog and Magog story; from these sources, they spread into common currency and become part of the Old World's travel myths--fables which spread among educated men, during those centuries when most of the earth was still terra incognita.

Here is the first form of the legend. Before about 500 AD, references to Gog and Magog occur many times, in the preserved sermons and letters of St Jerome and other early Christians; whenever Christendom was threatened by invaders, the names of Gog and Magog seem to have been bandied about. There is evidence of a lively debate on just whom was meant by Gog and Magog: when the Scythians threatened, it was the Scythians; when the Huns threatened, it was the Huns; and when the Alans threatened, someone would call the Alans 'Gog and Magog'; so too with the Khazars, the Turks, the Magyars, the Parthians, the Mongols. Marco Polo in the thirteenth century thought that Gog and Magog must be represented by the Mongol horde which had just conquered most of the East . . . And so on, and so on--presumably, just as a present-day demagogue might say: "So-and-so is the Antichrist!" or, perhaps, "America is the Great Satan!" Gog and Magog were the enemy beyond the gate--just waiting to pounce. This state of affairs continued about the end of the 17 th century, at which time the legend of Gog and Magog died away; today it is largely forgotten. And the reason for this? Until the 17th century, Asia for Europeans was terra incognita. The Christians of Europe were certain that the land of Gog and Magog lay somewhere to the northeast; after the 17 th century, Europeans began to travel in Asia and write accounts of their experiences . . . and as they explored, they pushed back the

location of Gog and Magog's land until at last it was fairly certain there was no Gog and Magog's land; and once that became known, the legend ceased to be told. And the reason that Europeans did not travel in Asia? Well, the East was vast, and the trade routes across it were guarded by Persian and Arab merchants; the Christians of Rome and Byzantium never got much further than the Holy Land. After the time of the Prophet (in the seventh century) the Islamic revolution swept across all Persia--almost in an eyeblink against the map of the centuries. Christians were not welcome in Muslim lands; the Zoroastrian and Buddhist peoples of Persia fled into India and the Himalayas; the Jews coexisted with the Muslims, basing themselves around Baghdad. In the north, the Islamic armies swept up into the present-day Soviet republics . . . and were turned back by formidable land barriers--deserts, seas, mountains ranges galore, arranged in a de facto wall encircling Persia. These mountains and deserts and seas were not impassable--for caravan travel and small parties on horseback and camelback. But the only portal for armies was the Gate of Gates, through the area between the Black and Caspian seas. This strait was mostly blocked by the Caucasus mountains; today, the remnants of fortifications can be found everywhere in the area; but at two points, the mountain barrier could be easily crossed. Here, at the Caucasus, the Muslims ran smack into the empire of Khazaria. This nation, largely forgotten by history, seems to have been peopled by nomadic horsemen descended from the Huns, numerous enough and fierce enough to turn back the Muslims and retain their territory; at its height, the Khazar empire stretched from the rivers Volga to the Don and controlled the Caspian (then called the Khazar Sea) and the Caucasus mountains and large stretches of the northern coast of the Black Sea. In or about the time of the Islamic revolution, the people of Khazaria converted to Judaism. And until about 965 AD (after which they vanish from historical accounts) the Jewish Khazars controlled the area around the Caucasus. Commerce went on . . . but until Marco Polo's time, no Christian merchants crossed Asia and left records for posterity. Not until the Mongols conquered and pacified the area in the thirteenth century do we have any accounts whatsoever of Christian travelers. The East seems to have just been too dangerous for exploration.

This is the second form of the legend: Alexander the Great, while conquering the world, came eventually to the Caucasus Mountains where Prometheus the Titan had been chained long before. Here, the Macedonians discovered the evil hordes of Gog and Magog laying waste to the peaceable tribes around them. The country of these wicked raiders lay beyond two great mountains named Ubera Aquilonias, the Breasts of the North. Alexander, calling upon the power of God, moved the mountains together and forged gates of iron and brass to seal the narrow way.

These Caspian Gates were further strengthened with a magic metal called asiceton, which was proof against fire and steel; steel shattered upon asiceton, and whatever fires which touched it were instantaneously quenched. And further, Alexander built a mighty wall spanning the entire Caucasus range, closing off the civilized south from the forces of darkness. This wall became known as the Caucasus Wall. But at the end of time, the gates will open and the wall break down, and Gog and Magog will burst forth to destroy the world. The Old Testament, of course, came before Alexander the Great. After Alexander's death, though, he was mythologized and became a sort of hero in every part of the world where Macedonian armies had marched. In Asia and parts of India, Alexander myths are still told, more than two thousand years after his time. As late as the turn of the century, everyone who was anyone in Afghanistan claimed descent from Iskender; in the Uzbekistan SSR (which used to be Sogdiana, birthplace of Roxelana) he is considered an Islamic saint; legends attached to other heroes were detached and retold with his name; and so on, and so on. For instance: in the epic of Gilgamesh, circa 2000 BC or earlier, one part of the tale recounts Gilgamesh's dive under the sea in search of the rose of immortality, which he brought to the surface but was cheated of by the serpent; the very same story is told of Alexander to this very day, apparently, and the first version of it I read was an Alexander myth. Now, the city of Alexandria-the-furthest is situated in Uzbekistan--not far from present-day Khojend, a city which may be found in any atlas. The site is in old Sogdiana, under the eaves of the Alai and Pamir mountain ranges, on an important trade route and at the mouth of the oasis valley of Fergana. And it is the furthermost spot reached by the armies of Alexander. But by the time Alexander founded Alexander-the-furthest (which, incidentally, has been excavated by archeologists) he and his Macedonians had marched up hill and down hill, through mountain ranges galore, across deserts and gorges and parts of Persia unmapped by man . . . And they were completely lost. Several mountain ranges back, the natives had told them of a giant eagle legendary in those parts . . . and since all Greeks and Macedonians knew that Prometheus was chained somewhere in the Caucasus mountains, with a giant eagle gnawing at his liver, they leaped to the conclusion that they had crossed the Caucasus. So by their own judgement, they were several hundred miles northwest of their actual location, north of the Black Sea and near the legendary river Tanais. The Tanais was the Don river, which runs southward into the Black Sea, but they had found the Syr Darya which runs westward into the Caspian, and they were convinced it was the Tanais. Incidentally, the reason historians guess the Macedonians went wrong after hearing eagle stories from their native guides, is that when western explorers reached the Pamir and Hindu Kush mountains, the same "giant-eagle" legend was still being told there.

But this is aside from the main point. And the main point is, the city of Derbent in the Caucasus mountains has laid claim for centuries to being the "real" Alexandria-the-furthest. Hence, Alexander's Wall was obviously in the Caucasus. And if Alexander penned up the hordes of Gog and Magog behind a wall and a gate, that wall and that gate would have to be in the Caucasus . . .

From the Syrian "Christian Legend concerning Alexander" (circa about 500 AD?): (144) An exploit by Alexander, the son of Philip the Macedonian, showing how he went forth to the ends of the world, and made a gate of iron, and shut it in the face of the north wind, that the Hunaye <Huns> might not come forth to spoil the countries: from the manuscripts in the house of the archives of the kings of Alexandria. (148) And Alexander looked towards the West, and he found a mountain that descends, and its name was 'the great Musas' <probably Mount Ararat in Turkey, which was called Musas and which Gilgamesh supposed climbed; several Gilgamesh legends became Alexander legends, just as the Moses myth of the baby set adrift in a basket to escape a massacre of children became a King-Arthur-andMordred myth>; and the troops descended it and came out upon Mount Klaudia, and ate bread there. (149) Then they went down to the source of the Euphrates, and they found that it came forth from a cave; and they came to Haluras, where the Tigris goes forth like the stream that turns a mill, and they ate bread in Haluras. And they departed from thence and went to the river Kallath; and they descended the mountain which is called Ramath, where there is a watch-tower. And Alexander and his troops stood upon the top of the mountain and saw the four quarters of the heavens. And Alexander said, 'Let us go forth by the way to the north'; and they came to the confines of the north, and entered Armenia and Adarbaijan and Inner Armenia . . . And Alexander passed through all these places; and he went and passed mount Musas and entered a plain which is Bahi-Lebta, and he went and encamped by the gate of a great mountain. Now there was a road across it by which great merchants entered the inner countries, and by it did Alexander encamp. <He sends heralds out, requesting that three hundred men advanced in years come to meet him. These men tell him that the land belongs to Tubarlak, king of Persia.>

(150) Alexander said to them, "How far does the mountain descend in that direction?' They answered him, 'This mountain extends without a break, passing by the sea of Beth-Katraye, and goes on and comes to an end in outer Persia near India . . .' Alexander said, 'This mountain is higher and more terrible than all the mountains which I have seen.' The old men, natives of the country, said to the king, 'Yea, by your majesty, my lord the king, neither we nor our fathers have been able to march one step upon it, and men do not ascend it either on that side or on this, for it is the boundary which God has sent between us and the nations within it.' Alexander said, 'Who are the nations within this mountain upon which we are looking? . . .' The natives of the country said, 'They are Huns.' He said to them, 'Who are their kings?' The old men said, 'Gog and Magog and Nawal the kings of the sons of Japhet . . .' <A long list of names follows.> (153) When Alexander had heard what the old men said, he marvelled greatly at the great sea which surrounded all creation; and Alexander said to his troops, 'Do you desire that we should do something wonderful in this land?' They said to him, 'As thy majesty commands we will do.' The king said, 'Let us make a gate of brass and close up this breach.' His troops said, 'As thy majesty commands we will do.' And Alexander commanded and fetched three thousand smiths, workers in iron, and three thousand men, workers in brass. And they put down brass and iron, and kneaded it as a man kneads when he works clay. Then they brought it and made a gate, the length of which was twelve cubits and its breadth eight cubits. And they made a lower threshold from mountain to mountain, the length of which was twelve cubits; and they hammered it into the rocks of the mountains, and it was fixed in with brass and iron . . . (154) And king Alexander fetched <an engraver> and inscribed upon the gate: 'The Huns shall go forth and conquer the countries of the Romans and of the Persians, and shall cast arrows . . . and shall return and enter their own land. Also I have written that, at the conclusion of eight hundred and twenty-six years, the Huns shall go forth by the narrow way which goes forth opposite Haloras, whence the Tigris goes forth like the stream which turns a mill, and they shall make the earth tremble by their going forth. <Details are given of the fall of the gate, which shall herald the end of the world.> (155) And when the Huns have gone forth, as God has commanded, the kingdoms of the Huns and the Persians and the Arabs, the twenty-four kingdoms that are written in this book, shall come from the ends of the heavens and fall upon one another, and the earth shall melt through the blood and dung of men.

In various other Alexander romances concurrent with this one, the details of the story are embroidered. Alexander is spoken of as a Christian king, a champion of Christendom and also of Judaism - that is, he is a champion of monotheism, of the worship of One True God. He comes to the uttermost north, and there finds the mountains named ubera aquilonis, the Breasts of the North; here he commands the mountains to move, and they move and approach each other miraculously. Then he builds the wall which bars Gog and Magog from civilized lands. The gate in Alexander's Wall is made of brass and iron, over which was poured the mysterious metal called asiceton. Or "Alexander made a gate of iron and shut it in the face of the north wind." In one version, Alexander also plants a bramble that flourishes so, it overtops the mountains and forms an impenetrable barrier - shades of Sleeping Beauty! The mountains named ubera aquilonis, the Breasts of the North, sound like Mount Elburz in the Caucasus: a tall double peak which looms over the range (according to the accounts of travelers) rather like Mts. Rainer or Hood in Washington. One expert on ancient mythology links the double peaks of Mount Elburz to dioscuri legends, tales of twin heroes which crop up all across Europe: Romulus and Remus, Castor and Pollux, the Thracian 'Twin Riders', etc etc etc . . . As for the magical metal, asiceton , it sounds like adamant. After the Syrian Christian Legend, various other apocalyptic versions pop up all over, in many languages, and in manuscripts with the most romantic names: Pseudo-Callisthenes' Historia Alexandri Magni; the Revelations of PseudoMethodius; the Syrian Homily by Jacob of Sarug (whose monsters are Agog and Magog); a lost Arabic romance called the History of Dulcarnain; the Sermo de Fine Extremo; an Ethiopian romance, the History of Alexander; the Book of the Bee by Stephanno Orbelian; and something called the Histoire de la Siounie. And the Cosmography of Aethicus Ister, and the Travels of John de Mandeville, and Marco Polo, and so on, and so on . . . Pseudo-Callisthenes writes of the unclean peoples shut up beyond the gate: "For they ate things polluted and base, dogs, mice, serpents, the flesh of corpses, yea unborn embryos as well as their own dead." This particular detail of the legends could stem from the accounts of Alexander and the Macedonians running up against the Bactrian custom of exposing corpses and also flinging old people to the dogs, plus ceremonially eating the flesh of the dead; the Macedonians were revolted, and put a stop to it.

The third version of the legend is Islamic. It appears in this Koran passage, concerning the deeds of Dhucarnain, the protector of all Muslims:

"Then he continued his way until he came to the place where the sun riseth; and he found it to rise on certain people unto whom we had not given anything wherewith to shelter themselves therefrom. Thus it was; and we comprehended with our knowledge the forces that were with him. And he prosecuted his journey from south to north, until he came between the two mountains, beneath which he found certain people, who could scarce understand what was said. And they said: O Dhu'lkarnein, verily Gog and Magog waste the land; shall we therefore pay thee tribute, on condition that thou build a rampart between us and them? The power wherewith my Lord had strengthened me is better than your tribute; but assist me strenuously, and I will set a strong wall between you and them. Bring me iron in large pieces, until it fill up the space between the two sides of these mountains. And he said to the workmen, blow with your bellows, until it make the iron red hot as fire. And he said further, bring me molten brass, that I may pour upon it. Wherefore, when this wall was finished, Gog and Magog could not scale it, neither could they dig through it. And Dhu'lkarnein said, this is a mercy from my Lord: but when the prediction of my Lord shall come to be fulfilled, he shall reduce the wall to dust; and the prediction of my Lord is true." --Koran, xviii And this version: "Ours the realm of Dhu'l-Qarnayn the glorious, Realm like his was never won by mortal king, Followed he the Sun to view his setting When it sank into the sombre ocean-spring; Up he clomb to see it rise at morning From within the mansions when the east it fired; All day long the horizons led him onward, All night through he watched the stars and never tired. Then of iron and of liquid metal He prepared a rampart not to be o'er-passed. Gog and Magog here he threw in prison Till on Judgement Day they wake at last." --Hassan b. Thabit, a late contemporary of Mohammed (?)

The transposition of the Alexander romances into the Koran is supposed to stem from a title given to Alexander: he was known as Alexander Two-horned, that is Alexander Dulkarnain. In one of the romances--the "Greek Romance of

Alexander", of Pseudo-Callisthenes--Alexander was refered to as the son of the god Ammon, who had the head of a ram. Alexander is also represented on old coins with ram's horns adorning his forehead. Moses was also called Two-horned (and this is why Michelangelo's statue of Moses sports two horns like the Devil) but this was a confusion with words; he was spoken of as having a ray of light upon his forehead, but the Arabic term 'rayed' koren also translates as 'horned'. However Alexander Dulkarnain and Moses Dulkarnain both eventually become confused with the angel Dulkarnain, protector of Islam. (Hence, many Muslims revere Alexander as a Muslim saint.)

From Pseudo-Methodius, the Revelations, 'Letter of Alexander to Olympias' ". . . And I found there also many peoples that ate the flesh of human beings and drank the blood of animals (and beasts) like water; for their dead they buried not, but ate. And when I beheld such utterly wicked nations and feared that through such a diet they might pollute the earth ... I besought the Power above and proceeded with force against them, and most of them I put to the sword, and their land I reduced to subjection . . . Two-and-twenty were the kings over them, and I pressed pursuit of them with force until they fortified themselves in two great mountains called the Breasts of the North, which have no other exit or entrance than between those two great mountains, towering in height as they do above the clouds of heaven, and extending like two walls on the right and on the left as far as the Great Sea beneath the Ansos <ie the Arctos, or the Bear Star - as far as the Arctic Ocean?> and the land of darkness. And I thought of all manner of contrivances to prevent them from issuing forth from the great mountains into which they had been driven. Now the entrance between the great mountains measures six-and-forty royal cubits. Again therefore I importuned Providence above and my prayer was heard. For He commanded the two mountains and they rocked and walked about in rivalry with each other a distance of twelve cubits. And there I constructed gates of brass . . . and the same gates I overspread with asokiton that neither fire nor steel nor any device whatsoever might be able to unbronze the gates; for fire when brought near it goes out, and steel crumbles. And outside of these most terrible gates I set up another structure of stones each having the width of eleven cubits, the height of twenty cubits, and the length of sixty cubits . . . that nothing might avail to master such gates, which I called the Caspian Gates. Two-and-twenty kings I shut in there. And the names of the nations are Magog, Kynekephaloi, Nounoi . . . <in a variant version, Og and Magog with Xaneth himself three-headed, etc . . .>."

And here is a possible source for the idea of the Ubera Aquilonis, the moving mountains named 'The Breasts of the North': "The valley of Arnon had a defile formed by two mountain ranges running parallel, whereof the one side had a concavity above, opposite to which on the other side breasts projected. A part of the enemies of Israel posted themselves to the pass to bar the way of the Israelites, while the other part concealed itself in the hollows above in order to throw down therefrom stones and arrows upon them. But God had brought this plan to ruin inasmuch as He caused the breasts of the one mountain range to clash into the concavities of the mountain range opposite, so that the enemy concealed therein were crushed to death." Midrasch Rabbah.

Some centuries after the Alexander romances began to circulate, a further development enters this already confusing labyrinth of details: the ten lost tribes of Israel are dragged into the story. Now, there are reasons for this. 1. According to history, the lost tribes were deported beyond the Euphrates, into Media: that is, the region south of the Elburz range of the Caucasus mountains, near the Caspian Sea; during a further deportation about 350 BC, Artaxerxes Ochus found that Jews from the remaining tribes in Israel had joined the Phoenicians in revolt against Persian rule, and accordingly sent some of them to settle on the southern shores of the Caspian Sea. 2. Because Alexander's army thought they had traveled as far as the Caucasus mountains, it was the Caucasus mountains which were spoken of as the site of the Caspian Gate. Besides, half the mountain passes in Persia have traditionally been called the Gate of this, the Gate of that; there's an Iron Gate in Afghanistan and another in the Caucasus (this is Derbent, the city called the Iron Gate), a Caspian Gate, and in the Caucasus itself, the Dariel pass is 'the Gate of Gates.' Incidentally there is also an Iron Gate in Bulgaria, not to mention a Gate of Trajan. While busy conquering all Persia, Alexander supposedly chased a fleeing King Darius up through a pass called the Caspian Gate . . . which may be a mountain pass just south of the Caspian Sea; no one now alive knows just where it was. Afterward, the writers of various Alexander romances (none of whom had anything but the vaguest idea of the geography involved) spoke of the Caspian Gate as the Gate of Gates, and then of both as Alexander's Gate. So, the lost tribes went to the region of the Caspian Sea, and here was Alexander's Gate in the same area; what could be more natural, than to suggest that the lost tribes were shut up behind Alexander's Gate?

3. And besides, there was a kingdom of the Jews north of the Caucasus mountains. It was the kingdom of Khazaria, nomadic people descended from the Huns. Not much is known about the Khazars, but it is known that the kingdom embraced Judaism around the seventh century AD. They were fierce fighters, feared by their neighbors. Contemporary historians, naturally, wrote of them as the race of Gog and Magog. Hence, the following version, which comes from The Apocalypse of Ezra, something called the Oracula Sibyllina, and the Compendium Theologicae Veritatis of Albertus Magnus: the ten Lost Tribes dwell in a faraway land, but the Messiah will come, and He is the Christ; the Lost Tribes will recognize Him when He comes, and He will lead them out of their prison that they may defeat the Antichrist's hosts, Gog and Magog. For an example of this version, take this one (by someone called Commodianus): the Messiah is Christ, and it is foretold that the Ten Tribes under His leadership will return from their exile, conquer the Antichrist (who, according to Commodianus, is Nero of Rome) and free Jerusalem. And the opposite version, which holds that the Lost Tribes are the Antichrist's hosts, Gog and Magog; come the apocalypse they will burst forth from their prison, and sweep down to destroy Christendom. John de Mandeville, who wrote a really wonderful collection of travel fantasies (his work dates to sometime before the Renaissance) has his particular take on this story. In his account, the evil Jews are penned underneath the Caucasus mountains, buried alive. They might have escaped across the Caspian Sea, but that sea is held by the kingdom of the Amazons and the Jews dare not take ship upon it; indeed, the Jews pay tribute to the Amazons. They have no means of breaking through the Wall which imprisons them. But when they are set free, they mean to become the scourge of Christendom . . . and indeed, they will escape. For someday a fox will burrow a hole through the Wall, and the Jews will see it, wondering, and follow it back to the hole. Then they will know how to dig their way out. Other flourishes were added to the legend. One was the little detail about the wall of brambles so well-watered that it overtopped the mountains. Another (from one Rabbi Joseph Kimchi) related that Alexander's servants, with fiendish cleverness, built not merely the wall but also men of iron, who rang hammers and axes constantly against the barrier--so that the people inclosed within would be dissuaded from escaping. An Arabic writer, Omara, tells of the stone eagle mounted upon the wall, which whenever Gog and Magog approached, uttered a scream that could be heard everywhere within eight days' travel; then all those who heard the warning sent up a prayer to God, and the demons were turned aside. Another version speaks of two trumpets which resounded with the wind, giving the inclosed nations to believe that great armies guarded the wall. (Alexander's Trumpets appear on a number of early maps.) Eventually, the story continues, owls nesting in the trumpets choked them with twigs and silenced them, and the

Tartars came forth to conquer India. Thus, to this day, the chiefs of the Tartars wear owl-feathers in their caps, to commemorate their escape. One Jacob Reineggs, during the late eighteenth century, discovered in the central Caucasus a people called Thiulet, who lived amidst mountains called Ghef or Gogh; the very highest of these mountains, lying to the north of their country, they knew by the name of Moghef or Mugogh. Did these names stem from the original Gog-and-Magog legends, or did the legends stem from the ancestors of these people? . . . And by devious ways, Gog and Magog became the names of two papier-mache giants owned by the London Guildhall in England, which were for years marched in the city's yearly parade. The original names of these giants seem to have been Corineus and Geomagot .... Here is a quote from a Middle-English metrical version of the Revelations of Methodius: "For than xall gogmangog nere cum For then shall Gogmagog here cum Owte of the mownts of calpye. Out of the mountains of Calpye. That god closyd all & sum. That God closed all and sum. At Alexandyrs prayere suyrly. At Alexander's prayer surely. They xall dystroy all crystendome. They shall destroy all Christendom. They xall cum owt so hydowysly. They shall come out so hideously. Men all most wax defe & dum. Men all must wax deaf and dumb. So xall they drede here felony." So shall they dread here felony. And as for the original Geomagot and Corineus... "The story of "Gogmagog's Leap", traditionally located at Plymouth Hoe, is first told by Geoffrey of Monmouth in about 1136. Geoffrey says that Brutus, the great-grandson of the hero Aeneas, came to Albion with his men, and because of its fruitfulness decided to settle here. He renamed the island Britain (supposed by Geoffrey to derive from 'Brutus') and drove the giants who inhabited it into the mountains of the west. One day when he and his followers were holding a festival at the port where they first landed, a party of giants attacked them. They fought back and killed all the giants except for one named Gogmagog who was twelve cubits high and could wield an uprooted oak as easily as a hazel wand. Him they kept alive to wrestle with Corineus, Duke of Cornwall, who, when Brutus was parcelling out the land of Britain amongst his followers, had chosen for his share the rocky land that came to be named after him, because he loved nothing so much as to wrestle with giants, and there were more of them in Cornwall than elsewhere. When the two opponents came to grips, Gogmagog hugged the duke to him in so tight an embrace that three of his ribs were broken. Corineus was so enraged that he at once rushed to the nearest stretch of shore and hurled Gogmagog off the cliff to his death on the rocks below. The place at which this happened was thereafter known as Gogmagog's

Leap." <Apparently there was a chalk figure of a giant cut into Plymouth Hoe at one time which might commemorate the legend or have given rise to it.> "As for Gogmagog, two princes called Gog and Magog appear in the Bible, and there has been much argument as to whether English tradition at first contained two giants descended directly from them; or one giant called by their names rolled together; or a giant who originaly had nothing to do with them at all. Geoffrey actually spells his giant's name Goemagot; the poet Layamon, writing about a hundred and fifty years later, calls him Goemagog, and it may be that an originally independent name has gradually been corrupted to Gogmagog because of the influence of the Bible. So who was Goemagot? We don't know. If Geoffrey got the name wrong, and it did originally have an -og- in it, he might have been the Gaulish/Irish culture god Ogmios, identified by the Celts with Hercules and often depicted with a club." Quote taken from Albion: A Guide To Legendary Britain by Jennifer Westwood.

There were also further Islamic versions of the legend. The Muslim Chronicle of Tabari relates that Schahrbaraz, prince of Armenia, sent a man to seek the site of Dulcarnain's Gate; years passed, and then a ragged traveler returned . . . but the prince did not know him until he exhibited a magnificent ruby and named himself as the explorer long thought lost. He had found the Gate, and the ruby was the proof of it; the jewel had been brought to him by an eagle, which dove for it in the moat below the wall. And another tale tells of the journey of Sallam the Interpreter, 842-844 AD, who set forth to find the Gate. Sallam crossed the Caucasus, probably through the pass of Dariel, and traveled along the northern shores of the Caspian Sea. Here he found towns in ruins, and was told they had been laid waste by the peoples of Gog and Magog. Further on, he reached a village named Yka in which Dhou'l-Karnain had once encamped with his army. Three days beyond Yka lay a wall with an iron gate, which Sallam knew for Dulcarnain's Gate because of the writing upon it. The key to the gate was a cubit and a half long, hanging from a chain eight cubits in length. (Arab historians writing of Sallam's journey explain that the wall was the Great Wall of China.)

And for a latter-day Gog-and-Magog story, try this one, from the Russian Primary Chronicle:

"I wish at this point to recount a story which I heard four years ago, and which was told me by Gyurata Rogovich of Novgorod: 'I sent my servant,' said he, 'to the Pechera, a people who pay tribute to Novgorod. When he arrived among them, he went on among the Yugra. The latter are an alien people dwelling to the north with the Samoyedes. The Yugra said to my servant, "We have encountered a strange marvel, with which we had not until recently been acquainted. This occurrence took place three years ago. There are certain mountains which slope down to an arm of the sea, and their height reaches to the heavens. Within these mountains are heard great cries and the sound of voices; those within are cutting their way out. In that mountain, a small opening has been pierced through which they converse, but their language is unintelligible. They point, however, at iron objects, and make gestures as if to ask for iron. If given a knife or an axe, they supply furs in return. The road to these mountains is impassable with precipices, snow, and forests. Hence we do not always reach them, and they are also far to the north." "Then I said to Gyurata, 'These are the peoples shut up by Alexander of Macedon. As Methodius of Patara says of them: '"He penetrated the eastern countries as far as the sea called the Land of the Sun, and he saw there unclean peoples of the race of Japeth. When he beheld their uncleanness, he marveled. They ate every nauseous thing, such as gnats, flies, cats, and serpents. They did not bury their dead, but ate them along with the fruit of abortions and all sorts of impure beasts. On beholding this, Alexander was afraid lest, as they multiplied they might corrupt the earth. So he drove them to high regions in the regions of the north, and by God's commandment, the mountains enclosed them and were covered with indestructible metal. They cannot be destroyed by fire; for it is the nature of this metal that fire cannot consume it, nor can iron take hold of it. Hereafter, at the end of the world, eight peoples shall come forth from the desert of Yathrib, and these corrupt nations, which dwell in the northern mountains, shall also issue forth at God's command."'" And finally, after posting this page, I received the following email: "I just read ... or rather, scanned ... your most informative article, and would like to share with you a bit of data from Afghanistan. I was there 11+ years (1967 1978) and was fluent in Dari. One of my areas of interest was folk Islam and I repeatedly heard the story of Juz and Majuz, a tribe of creatures who lived behind a mountain ... had huge ears, one of which they used as a mat to sleep on, and the other as a blanket ... made some daily progress in digging through the mountain, which God undid when they went to sleep at night. If and when they succeed Roze-Qeyamat , which I at the time interpreted as Judgement Day. The Arabic word Qeyama does have that meaning and is used in that sense. Its basic meaning is upheaval, revolution, tumult and could be consistent with the concept of Armageddon." This last is copied without changes, by courtesy of and with many thanks to Martin Clark.

Main source: Alexander's Gate, Gog and Magog, and the Inclosed Nations, by Andrew Runni Anderson, Professor of Latin, Duke University (published in 1932). Again, with thanks to Martin Clark, and to Antonio Furtado, who also wrote and furnished the source of Alexander's identification as two-horned.

Posted May 10th 1999, reposted July 12 2002, by Sylvia and Lisa

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Help - Search - Member List - Calendar Full Version: Who is Yajuj and Mujuj AhlulBayt Discussion Forum > Politics, Current Issues and Headlines > General Politics and Current Issues mysticjade Jul 9 2004, 10:43 AM

Who are Gog and Magog? By Abu Jamal

"Son of Adam, set your face toward YHWH of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal,a nd Prophesy against him:And say, thus says YHWH Elohenu: ' I am against you O Gog, the chief prince of Rosh, Meshech, Tubal:And i will turn back, and put hooks into your Jaws, and i will bring forth, and all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed most gorgeously, a great company with buckler and shield, all of them handing swords." Ezekiel 38:1-4 One of the most relevant, yet drastically misunderstood issues surrounding the rise of the Antichrist(Dajjal), is that of the nations of Gog and Magog. Many christians-and even some muslims following after their folly-have interpreted the nations of Gog and magog to be related to china. Islamically this is an impossibility. Muhammad(saw) referred to china with utmost respect, saying that we must seek "Ilm" knowledge or science, even unto china. If Gog and Magog were China, certainly Muhammad(saw) would have made this matter clear. As well , in light of the Antichrist's Babylon System declaring war on all the Middle Eastern lands, which do not bow to Western imperialism, many evangelists of teh

antichrist's (dajjal) One world religion of Christianity have baselessly declared Gog and Magog to be arabs. Again , if Gog and Magog were the arabs then why wouldn't the Tanakh just say so? The truth of teh matter is that Gog and magog were and are people who had not yet emerged onto the Biblical scene when most of teh Tanakh was wrotten and later compiled. "Gog and Magog" thus refer to their ancestory, so that they might later be identified. Hesiod, "The father of Greek didactic poetry"identified Magog with Scythians and as southern Russia in the 7 th century B.C. As well , Hesiod was a contemporary of ezekiel. The term "Rosh" employed by Ezekiel is teh etymological root of "Russia". Herodotus of Harlincarnanuss, known as "Father of History" wrote much about the descendants of magog by their Greek name, the scythians, in the 5th century B.C. Archaelogical discoveries have confirmed Herodotus' reports. Flavius Josephus records that the Magogians were called the "Scythians" by the greeks. Philo, in the 1rst century, identifies Magog with southern Russia. In Arabic, Yajuj(gog) and Majuj(magog) are derived from Ajj or ajij in the forms of Yaful and maful and Ajij means "the flaming of fire" But Ajja also means 'asra a' or "he walked fast". Yajuj and Majuj have been compared to the flaming fire and surging water because of tehir intense agitation. As well we see the subtle correlation here with the nature the rapid expansion and spread of "the flaming fire" Gog and Magog(Yajuj and Majuj) are mentioned twice in teh quran. Once they are mentioned in the 18th chapter in association with the description of Dajjal. Towards the end of teh chapter Dhul-l-Qarnain is spoken of as undertaking journeys in different directions to fortify the frontiers of his empire. Dhul-l-Qarnain literally means "The two horned one" but it also means one whose rule extends over two empires. In the Tanakh, the Book of daniel, we find a mention of a vision of daniel, in which he saw a ram with two horns. the vision is interpreted in teh book itself in these words:"The ram which you saw having two horns are the kings of Media and persia" (Daniel 8:20). Among the kings of Media and Persia, Darius I(521-485 B.C) is the only one to whom the description of teh Quran Applies. the jewish Encyclopedia says: "Darius was teh organizer of the Persian Empire. His conquests served to round out the boundaries of his realm in Armenia, the Caucasus and India and along the Turanian Steppes and highlands of Central Asia". The following remarks in the encyclopedia Britannica strengthen this view:" Darius in his inscriptions appears as a fervant believer in the religion of Zoroaster. But he was also a great statesman and organizer. The time of conquests had come to an end: the wars which darius undertook...only served the purpose of gaining strong natural frontiers for teh empire and keeping down the barbarous tribes on its borders. thus Darius subjugated the wild nations of the Pontic and Armenian mountains and extended the Persian Dominian to the Caucasus. The first Journey of Darius I-the emperor of persia-is spoken of as termination in teh Black Sea: "Until when he reached the setting place of the sun(or the westernmost point), he found it going down into a black sea." Al-Quran 18:86 Then there is a reference to his eastern journey:

"Until when he raeched the (land of) the rising sun, he found it rising on a people to whom We had given no shelter from it." Al-Quran 18:90 Still further there is a reference to his northern journey: "Until when he reached(a place) between the two mountains, he found on that side of them a people who could hardly understand a word." Al-Quran 18:93 The reference here is to the mountains of armenian and Azarbaijan. In this last journey , Dhul-l-Qarnain comes across a people who speak a different language; in other words they do not understand the Persian Language. These people appeal to Dhul-l-Qarnain in these words: "O Djul-l-Qarnain! Gog and Magog do miscief in the land. May we then pay you tribute on condition that you raise a barrier between us and them?"Al-Quran 18:94 Further we are told taht Dhul-l-Qarnain actually constructed this wall, and tehre is mention of iron and copper in this connection, which were used for the gates: "Bring me blocks of Iron. At length when he had filled the space between the two mountain sides, he said, Blow. Till when he made it fire, he said, Bring me molten brass to pour over it." Al-Quran 18:96 The barrier or wall referred to here is teh famous wall of derbent(darband), which is to be found on the shore of the Caspian Sea. There is mention of it in Marasid Al-Ittila, a famous book of geography. Ibn al_faqih also mentions it in his book. The Encyclopedia Biblica gives teh following account of teh wall: "Derbent or Darband, a town of Persia, Caucasia, in teh province of daghistan, on teh western shore of the Caspian...to the south lies seaward extremity of the Caucasian wall, 50 miles long otherwise known as Alenander's wall...This, when entire, had a height of 29Ft and thickness of about 10 Ft, and with its iron gates and numerous watch towers formed a valuable defense of teh Persion Frontier." In Al-Quran 18:97, we are told that when the wall was completed"they (Gog and Magog) were not able to scale it, nor could they make a hole in it." In Al-Quran 18:98, Dhul-l-Qarnain is repoted as saying that even this wall will be of use only upto a certain time and it will at last collapse, and then we are presented with another scene: "And on that day We shall let some of them (yajuj and majuj) surge against others." AlQuran18:99 Immediately after speaking of Gog and Magog fighting each other in Verse Al-Quran 18:102, the account reverts to the subject of Al- Masih Ad Dajjal. "Do those who believe think that tehy can take My servants to be friends besides Me?" Al-Quran 18:102 This shows that teh Quran identifies Dajjal with Gog and Magog. They are given two different names because of their two functions. The second reference to Gog and Magog occurs in 21:96: " Even when Gog and Magog are let loose and they rushing forth from every elevated place." Al-Quran21:96

"Rushing forth from every elevated place" means that tehy will establish their supremacy all over the world. The way the Quran speaks of them in both the places shows that a time will come when these people will overpower all the nations of the world. It also appears that they already existed at the time of the revelation of teh book, but that their movement were to remain checked until a certain time, after which they would wield uncontrolled authority in the whole world. Those who have eyes to see should see, and those with ears to hear should hear. "These are the chronicles of Noah's sons, shem, ham and yeft. Children were born to them after the flood. The sons of yefth were gomer, magog, mondai, yavan,tuval,meshekh and tiras. The sons of gomer were ashkenaz, riphat and togarmah. The sons of Yavan were elishah, tarshish,kittim and dodanim. From these the isolated nations branched out into their lands. each had its own language for its families in its nations." Genesis 10:1-5 In the Bible, Gog and magog are mentioned in very cear terms, and no doubt is left as to their identity. Magog is one of Jefet's sons, while Gog is one of Reuben's sons. But Gog is called "Melekh Eretz Magog" in hebrew-meaning teh king of the land of Magog grammatically, in hebrew we can read the name"Magog" as meaning "from Gog". So we can see here the relation of America and Europe, as America is "from Europe" Gog is mentioned clearly and this Gog is the same as Yajuj of the Quran. He is spoken of as being the chief of Russia, Moscow and Tubal. The three names mentioned in the bible are Rosh or Russia, Meshech or Moscow, and tubal or Tobalsk. while Russia is the name of the country, "Omask" and "Tubal" are the names of two rivers to the north of mount Caucasus. On the former is situated Moscow, and on the latter Tobalsk, both these being the famous cities of Russia. So clearly these descendents of jafeth son of Noah were probably Teutonic people living in the north of Palestine(Ezekiel 38:2). Some sources identify Magog with Germania(Targum yonathon; Targum on 1 Chronicles 1:5; Pesikta Zutratha). Others identify them with teh Goths(Yerushalmi, Megillah 1:9). These were a teutonic people who migrated to scythia, in what is now southern Russia. It is therefore not contradicotory when some sources identify Magog with scythia(josephus;Yoma 10a, according to Rabbenu Chananel;Arukh s.v.Germania). ancient hostories state that the Scythians came from Asia, driven by the Massegatae (meshech) and settling near the Cimerians(herodoyus4:11; note on Genesis 10:2, Gomer"). Linguistically, the Scythians were realted to the Iranians, and hence, to the persians and teh medes. It is therefore significant that there was a Persian tribe known as the Germanians(herodutus 1:125); which it is said, migrated to what is known as Germany. The population of the land in which Russia is situated(europe), consists of two main races, Slavs and Teutons. the latter includes the British and the Germans. This clearly shows not only that Gog is the name of the eastern nations of europe, but also that Magog is the name of the western nations of that continent, the nations known as Teutons. It is also clear that in the beginning both these races lived in the same land. Gog and Magog were the titles of the ancestors of both Europe and Russia. Further

evidence of this is found in the fact that are from very ancient times the statues og Gog and Magog are found installed in front of teh famous Guoldhall of London. If these names had nothing to do with the ancestors of these people, why should their statues be installed in this manner before teh chief assembly house of the nation? The reference to these as given in the scriptures, together with teh historical evidence as furnished by these statues in London, establishes it with utmost certainity that gog and magog are no Fictitous names but are teh names of two ancient peoples which inhabit the continent of europe and whose influence together covers the whole of the earth. In View of these clear indications as to the identity of these people, only one meaning can be attached to the quranic description of them, that they would "rush forth from every place advantage;" and this means that Europe will wield supreme authority over the whole surface of the globe. The expression "kulli hadab-in, " in sura 21:96, means "every place of advantage," demonstrating taht their dominance is not only in the physical but also in the intellectual sphere, and the other people of the world are their slaves not only in body but also mentally. The Quran thus gives us a true picture of the political and cultural dominance of Europe over teh nations of the world, and teh very fact which has brought about a decline of true Islam in these "end of days"(a phrase the tanakh also refers to teh transition period in which we are now living as), is strangely enough also a clear proof of the truth of Islam. Hashash Jul 11 2004, 04:17 PM As-Salaam Alaikum Thank for this very interesting article. I believe that the author comes a long way but fails eventually in the exact specification due to errors in the premises used. These errors have caused the conclusion to be partially incorrect, namely the identification of the entity "Europe" as Gog. I believe this should be instead Israel considering that the facillitation of Dajjal is an engagement of Amerikan-Israeli collaboration for the overwhelming part. I believe that the error in identification is made to a few factors: * it is assumed that Europe is an entity, whereas there have been various co-existing and dynamic entities existing in Europe, physically, culturall as well as linguistically and religiously. Many of those entities by no means apply to Gog/Magog. * it is assumed that Europe consists of 2 races, Teutons & Slavs: Neither are racial phenotypes, if we are to assume even that racial sciences based on physical anthropology have any validity to begin with. * it is assumed that biblical geneology is acceptable as racial connotations: such is not the case, geneology only represents a lineage amongst the many lineages a person

consists of. * it is not considered that much of western-European culture is the heritage of those calling themselves Israeli today. Considering that the Israeli core and classic Zionist philosophy is of European origin, we can see that brother Abu Jamal comes a long way, however the fallascious racial views and simplifaction of European history and anthropology causes a generalized perspective that eventually comes to miss the essential nation today: the Zionist state of Israel. If any relation is to be established between the contemporary Gog/Magog and their historical track it should be done so geonologically in consideration of specific cultural and political traits: this will conclude a presence of Gog/Magog amongst Eurasia, and not a definition of them as such that can be described physically in terms of race. Already an irrefutable proof to such an error is the physical identity that is shared amongst certain Semitic, Indo-Aryan and Slavic speakers from the Balkans through Anatolia to Sham. If Gog/Magog would have been a physical entity as described it would have included many that would show no reflection in religion, culture or politics: such lack of reflection is impossible in the definition of Gog/Magog. Whether the Scynthians or Darius are to be included in the historic presence I cannot say, but many alleged in the generalizations of the author have not and the further points to this I will adress in direct response to the notions: The population of the land in which Russia is situated(europe), consists of two main races, Slavs and Teutons. the latter includes the British and the Germans. This clearly shows not only that Gog is the name of the eastern nations of europe, but also that Magog is the name of the western nations of that continent, the nations known as Teutons. It is also clear that in the beginning both these races lived in the same land. Gog and Magog were the titles of the ancestors of both Europe and Russia. Further evidence of this is found in the fact that are from very ancient times the statues og Gog and Magog are found installed in front of teh famous Guoldhall of London. If these names had nothing to do with the ancestors of these people, why should their statues be installed in this manner before teh chief assembly house of the nation? As mentioned, both Slavic and Teutonic races are a fallacy: neither are a racial entity, nor do they make up the whole of the European population if they were. For example, the Finns have significant Mongolian heritage, while the Hungarians have significant Turkic heritage: Neither are Slav nor Teutonic: the Hungarians were even part the western Austro-Ungarian empire in which we certainly we would find traits of Gog/Magog. The fact that British claim ancestry does not mean that Europeans do, nor that all ancestry claimed is accurate: they also claimed to be Aryan in race and belonging to India, which they are not and do not.

If we are establishing geneological presence of Gog/Magog in both Eastern and Western Europe, this does not mean that all the inhabitants of both regions are to be identified as such: they cannot be, for they form no entities. In addition, both have known empires (Hellenic Empire, Holy Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire) that existed amongst those historically, culturally and ideologically ascribed to Gog/Magog. Another example is the Orthodox Church, encompassing various people of various cultures oh whom parts are subject to the fallacious definition of a Teuton and Slav, yet other parts are not. But Gog is called "Melekh Eretz Magog" in hebrew-meaning teh king of the land of Magog grammatically, in hebrew we can read the name"Magog" as meaning "from Gog". So we can see here the relation of America and Europe, as America is "from Europe" I think that the relation should be viewed geneologically, culturally, religiously and politically. Yes such a relationship could be established between Europe and America, but this means that israel is left out: this while Israel itself comes from both Europe and Amerika. I propose a different view however: they developped as the Germanic tribes of Europe became the establishment in defeat of the Roman Empire, as some of the decending nations of these tribes began colonizing the world and settled there the latest being Israel. Israel is often being segregated as having a Jewish foundation in opposite of Western society that has a Christian foundation: but aside of Christianity itself to be derrived from Judaism, western society has much of its developped thanks to those that came from a Jewish background such: Albert Einstein, Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud. It is worthy to note that in both cases, neither Christianity nor Judaism are much adhered, instead that there is an ideological background This is no different today, as Israel is not a Jewish state (Zionism is not Judaism) and Amerika not a Christian one (Rapture-Ready Evangelics are not Christians), yet one comes from the other: Gog & Magog. Masalaam 2Rab Jul 11 2004, 04:37 PM in tarikhul islam the juj and majuj are stated total different. They aint human and Zhulqharnayn made that wall. they still behind that wall. Hashash Jul 11 2004, 08:28 PM Salaam, could you elaborate on the perspective that they aint human? In the meantime I found an article to which I agree in general with its conclusions, but not exactly on how they have been concluded:

In Gog - They Trust?

Islamic Party Brittain [i]On November the 9th 1951, Winston Churchill made a speech at the Lord Mayor of London's Banquet at the Guildhall, marking the occasion of the restoration of the effigies of Gog and Magog to their traditional places of honour in the west end of the Guildhall in the City of London. They had been removed during the Blitz to prevent them from being damaged. Earlier figures had been destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666. The present pair were carved by Richard Saunders in 1708. "It seems that they (i.e. Gog and Magog) represent none too badly the present state of world politics. World politics, like the history of Gog and Magog, are very confused and much disputed. Still, I think there is room for both of them. On the one side is Gog, and on the other is Magog. But be careful, my Lord Mayor, when you put them back, to keep them from colliding with each other; for if that happens, both Gog and Magog would be smashed to pieces and we should all have to begin all over again and begin from the bottom of the pit." (Source: The Times, London, for 10 November 1951) The term 'The Iron Curtain', was coined by Churchill. Rather an appropriate description, for it was a Curtain of Iron which Dhul Qarnain erected to prevent Gog and Magog spreading their terrifying, malevolent corruption in the land. In a television documentary, covering the world at war, it was disclosed that before the end of World War II, Joseph Stalin (lets say, representing Gog) and Winston Churchill (representing Magog) met at what was called the 'Percentage Conference', at which they exchanged percentages of the various countries they controlled for those they wished to control. For instance, Britain took a 90% share in Greece, in exchange for giving up its 90% control of Rumania. Afterwards, Churchill is reported to have said to Stalin - who, by the way, was a Georgian from the Caucasus: "Its a pity God didn't consult us when He made the world?" To which Stalin is said to have replied: "Yes, and that was His first mistake." Britain then fermented civil war in Greece in which the Communists, who looked to Stalin for help, were betrayed by him. A reflection of the Arabic root of Gog (Ya'juj) portrays a meaning association of something worthless, like an artificial pearl, as well as rendering something worthless, and of destroying, annihilating and burning out. Zainab bint Jahsh reported that Allah's apostle, upon whom be showered peace, got up from sleep saying: "'There is a destruction in store for Arabia because of turmoil which is at hand, the barrier of Gog and Magog has opened so much'. And Sufyan made a sign of ten with the help of his hand (in order to indicate the width of the gap) and I said: 'Allah's Messenger, would we be perished in spite of the fact that there would be good people amongst us'? Thereupon he said: 'Of course, but only when the evil

predominates'." (Muslim) The Bible refers to 'Magog' as the second son of Japheth between Gomer and Madai, Gomer representing the Cimmerians, Madai, the Medes. But in the list of nations, Genesis 10, the term connotes rather the complex of barbarian peoples dwelling at the extreme north and north east of the earth as one finds in that chapter; in Ezekiel 39:6, the Magog is referred to as a northern people, the leader of whom is Gog. According to the Jewish Encyclopedia, article 'Gog and Magog', Josephus identifies them with the Scythians, a name which among the classical writers stands for a number of unknown ferocious tribes. According to Jerome, Magog was situated beyond the Caucasus near the Caspian Sea. The barrier referred to in the Hadith and the Qur'an is the famous wall built between Derbend and Darial. It is a very narrow defile, with overhanging rocks, occurring on the main route between Turkestan and India. It is now in Soviet territory in the district of Daghistan. Before the southern expansion of Russia in 1813, it belonged to Persia. A spur of Mount Caucasus here comes up close to the sea. A map showing this particular route is to be found in the opening of Arthur Koestler's book 'The Thirteenth Tribe'. However, Abdullah Yusuf Ali, in his translation of the Qur'an, says in the appendix to Surah 18, The Cave, in which Gog and MaGog are mentioned, that if, as he believes, Dhul Qarnain, or Zul - qarnain was Alexander the Great, then the more likely location for this iron curtain or obstruction, is near another Derbend in Central Asia. He states: "...I do not consider that historical or geographical considerations have much bearing on a story treated as a Parable, as Zul - qarnain's story is. Indeed all stories or narrations are referred to in the Qur'an as Parables, for their spiritual meaning. Heated controversies or dogmatic assertions as to precise dates, personalities, or localities, seem to me to be out of place." He further observes: "The question of Yajuj and Majuj (Gog and Magog) and the iron barrier built to keep them out is of some interest. It is practically agreed that they were the wild tribes of Central Asia which have made inroads on settled kingdoms and Empires at various stages of history. The Chinese Empires suffered from their incursions and built the Great Wall of China to keep out the Manchus and Mongols. The Persian Empire suffered from them at various times and at various points. Their incursions into Europe in large hordes caused migrations and displacements of populations on an enormous scale, and eventually broke up the Roman Empire. These tribes were known vaguely to the Greeks and Romans as "Scythians", but that term does not help us very much, either ethnically or geographically. If we could locate the iron barrier or iron gates referred to in Surah 18, verse 96, we should have a closer idea of the tribes whom the barrier was meant to keep out. The Barrier in the text must have been more in the nature of iron gates than an iron wall. Two Iron Gates, geographically far apart, have been suggested in the alternative. Sometimes they have been mixed up by writers not strong on geography. Both of them have local associations with the name Alexander the Great. Both are near a town Derbend, and have borne the name Bab - ul - hadid (Arabic for "Iron Gate")". "The best known in modern times is at the town and seaport of Derbend in the

middle of the western coast of the Caspian Sea", formerly the Khazar Sea, but "the gate which corresponds exactly to the Quranic description, and has the best claim to be connected with Alexander's story ... is near another Derbend in Central Asia, Hissar District, about 150 miles south - east of Bukhara. A very narrow defile, with overhanging rocks, occurs on the main route between Turkestan and India: Latitude 38N; Longitude 67E. It is now called in Turkic, Buzghol - Khana (Goat House), but was formerly known as the Iron Gate (in Arabic, "Bab - ul hadid"; in Persian, "Dar - i - ahani; in Chinese "T'ie - men - kuan"). There is no iron gate there now, but there was one in the 7th century, when the Chinese traveller Hiouen Tsiang saw it on his journey to India. He saw two folding gates cased with iron and hung with bells. Near by is a lake Iskander Kul, connecting the locality with Alexander the Great. We know from history that Alexander, after his conquest of Persia and before his journey to India, visited Sogdiana (Bukhara) and Marcanda (Samarkand). We also know from Muqaddasi, the Arab traveller and geographer, who wrote about AH 375 (AD 985 - 6) that the 'Abbasi Khalifa Wathiq (842 - 846 AD) sent out a mission to Central Asia to report on this Iron Gate. They found the defile 150 yards wide: on two jambs made with bricks of iron welded together with molten lead, were hung two huge gates, which were kept closed. Nothing could correspond more exactly with the description in Surah 18, 95 - 96." "If then, the Barrier in Surah 18, 95 - 98 refers to the Iron Gate near Bukhara, we are able to proceed to a consideration of the Gog Magog people with some confidence. They were the Mongol tribes on the other side of the Barrier, while the industrious men who did not understand Zul - qarnain's language were the Turks, with their agglutinative language, so different from the languages then spoken in Western Asia. The Barrier served its purpose for the time being. But the warning that the time would come when it must crumble to dust has also come true. It has crumbled to dust. Long since, the Mongols pushed through on their westward journey, pushing the Turks before them, and the Turks became a European power and still have a footing in Europe. We need not bother about the legends of the Gog Magog people. They were reputedly giants, and two tiny hills in flat Cambridgeshire are derisively called the Gog Magog hills! Similarly the statues of Gog Magog in the Guildhall in London, which Maulana Muhammad Ali takes so seriously, only remind us how legends are apt to grow and get transported to strange places. In the Alexander legends of medieval Europe, Gog and Magog are said to have come with 400,000 men to the help of Porus whom Alexander defeated, They fled to the mountains, and Alexander built a wall with brass gates to prevent their irruptions." On page 115 of 'The Cavendish Encyclopedia of Mythology', we find a 14th - century 'Mongol' painting linking Alexander with Gog and Magog. The caption reads: "The legends of Alexander the Great seem to have inspired the exploits of a number of Arabian and non - Arabian warrior kings called Dhul - Qarnayn, one of whom is mentioned in the Qur'an. In this 14th - century Il - Khanid 'Mongol' painting, Iskandar (Alexander) is shown extending his realm into the northern regions perpetually shrouded by fog beyond the Caucasus on the route to Gog and Magog."

The link, between Gog & Magog, Goemagog, Gog MacGog, (Mac, meaning son of) or Yajuj * Majuj, with England, was made by Geoffrey of Monmouth in his 'History of The Kings of Britain', around 1136 A.D. The two figures now standing in the Guildhall of the City of London have been officially known as Gog and Magog for the past 300 years. So was Geoffrey of Monmouth just being "inventive" or is there any additional evidence to support his assertion that Britain, particularly the occupants of the Palace of Brute, now The City of London's Guildhall, bear any resemblance to their namesakes Gog & MacGog, (Yajuj & Majuj)? It might be a valid interpretation of the iron gate that would keep GogMagog at bay until they manage to overcome it, on a day when according to the Qur'an "people will mingle with each other like waves", that it is the mastery of iron, i.e. modern technology, that finally gave them the upper hand in world affairs after the industrial revolution. In a recent letter to Frank McManus (the present Lord Mayor of Todmorden), John Clark, Curator of Medieval London History and Collections at the Museum of London, pointed out that the link with the City of London and the giant Goemagog goes back to 1558, when wickerwork effigies of Goemagog and his captor, the Trojan Corineus, were carried around The City in the Lord Mayors' processions. In 1558 they were placed at Temple Bar to welcome Queen Elizabeth the Ist on a visit to The City of London having been used earlier on, to welcome Queen Mary and Philip II of Spain at London Bridge in 1554. Giants have appeared in civic processions in London for more than five centuries, according to Jennifer Westwood, in her book 'Albion. A Guide To Legendary Britain'. In 1415 a pair welcomed Henry V home after Agincourt. Prior to 1554 they seem to have been called Sampson and Herculese. But in Tudor times the more ancient legends of Albion - the earlier name for Britain - came to the fore, and with them, the names of Gog Magog - Gog the Son of Gog. The story has it, that, Feniusa Farsa was, according to Robert Graves in his 'The White Goddess', "an ancestor of the Irish Milesians". "Why", he says "is Feniusa Farsa described as a Scythian, a grandson and founder of the Milesian race? Gog and Magog are closely connected names. 'GogMagog', Gog the son of Gog - was the name of the giant whom 'Brute the Trojan' is said to have defeated in Totnes in Devonshire in his invasion of Britain at the close of the second millennium. But from where did Gog mac Gog originate. The answer is to be found in Genesis X,2, where Magog is described as the son of Japheth (who figures in Greek myth as Iapetus the Titan, the father of the goddess Asia of Atlas, Prometheus and Epimetheus) and as a brother of Gomer, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meschec and Tiras - who are generally agreed to have been the Cimmerians, the Medians, the Ionians, the Tibarenians, the Moschians and the Tyrrhenians. The Moschians and the iron - working Tibarenians were tribes of the south - eastern Black - Sea region; the wandering Black - Sea tribe of Cimmerians eventually became the Cymry; the Ionians ranked as Greeks in historical times but were perhaps Aegean immigrants into Greece from Phonecia; the Tyrrhenians were an Aegean tribe some of whom emigrated from Lydia to Etruria... Gog is identified with the northern tribe of Gagi mentioned in an inscription of Amenhotep III, and 'Gogarene', in Strabo's day, was the part of Armenia, lying to the east of the territory of the Moschians and Tibarenians. Magog's grandfather was Noah, and Noah's Ararat [of course Noah's ark landed on mount Judi] was in Armenia, so that Magog is usually held to stand for Armenia; though Josephus interprets the word as meaning 'the Scythians', which was an

inclusive name for all the Black Sea tribes of his day." This follows on from an earlier mention of Magog where he quotes the following from Keating's 'History of Ireland': "Feniusa Farsa, a grandson of Magog and King of Sythia, desirous of mastering the seventy - two languages created at the confusion of Babel sent seventy - two persons to learn them." Another point worth remembering, is the fact that in Gaelic, Jesus is called Isa Mac Maryam - Jesus the Son of Mary. Another interesting fact is that many words in Irish are similar to Urdu and Persian. Ireland is supposed to be the Land of the Aryans. In Dublin you can find Aryan symbols. The Swastika Laundry for example; and some Irish script is similar to Indian. It is also interesting to note, that, when Mikhail Gorbachev addressed a gathering at a Guildhall banquet in the City of London, mention was made of "our common European home...". From the foregoing, we can see that Gog and Magog at one level, is a blanket term for all the people of Central Asia, Russia, including the earlier Scythians and the present day survivors of the Khazars, the Ashkenazi Jews. What ever the case may be, Gog and Magog were considered to be descendants of Noah, and as such, human beings; albeit, rather tall. Similar, perhaps, in stature to Goliath, the Giant killed by the Holy Prophet David, peace be upon him. Whether or not they were all tall, the fact remains that men of giant, stature and formidable military prowess existed, and are made mention of in both the Bible and the Qur'an. It could, of course, simply be a metaphorical reference to their military achievements, like those other military "giants" Alexander and Genghis Khan. There is evidence to support the claim that they were the Mongol precursors of Genghis Khan, thwarted by Alexander or Dhul - Qarnain, who still survive. We often hear Shakespeare being referred to as one of the "giants of literature", but he was, to the best of our knowledge, of average height physically. Following hard on the heals of finding the Ark of Noah, located as stated in the Qur'an on Mount Judi, and corresponding exactly to the biblical dimensions of 300 cubits long x 50 wide (515ft x 135ft), which have recently been carbon dated as being 100,000 years old, we have yet another archaeological find of major significance, which establishes that some accounts in the unaltered scriptures can be taken as literal truth. In 'Wake up!' a publication by 'British Israel', July/August 1994, we find the following information: "Goliath's skull found near Jerusalem: The Kingdom Times, Belfast, May 1994, carried the story of how a leading archaeologist had found Goliath's scull in a valley west of Jerusalem with the stone from David's slingshot still embedded in his forehead! Dr. Richard Martin says the discovery proves that David's battle with the 10 - foot giant happened just like the Bible said it did, 1,000 years before the birth of Yahshua... " This is the archaeological find of the century, if not of all time," Dr.Martin told reporters at a conference in Jerusalem. "Many people, including scholars and clergymen, would have us believe that the biblical account of David and Goliath is little more than an interesting piece of fiction," he said. "But we found this skull in the valley of El'ah, in the Judean mountains, where David's battle with Goliath was said to have taken place. Even more intriguing, the skull is huge and clearly belonged to a man of enormous stature... And if you

believe the Bible, you know that Goliath was 9 feet 8 inches tall... But the most telling piece of evidence is the small round rock we found embedded in the forehead. The Bible tells that David killed Goliath with a stone thrown from a leather sling." Dr.Martin found the skull during an archaeological survey 20 miles south - west of Jerusalem on the 23rd of March, 1993. He and his assistants instantly realized that the find was important; but, it was only when they had performed tests which showed the skull to be between 2,900 and 3,000 years old that they began to think they had found the remains of Goliath. "As I said before, the skull that we had found had a rock stuck in the forehead. There was also evidence to suggest that the head had been severed from the body by a sharp object, most likely a sword. There can be little doubt that this is Goliath's skull. To be perfectly frank, I'm staking my career on it," said Dr.Martin. It seems difficult to deny, that Gog -Magog are descendants of Noah, upon whom be peace, along with the rest of us. They were, and still are, a people with an overriding desire, and ability to create mischief, havoc and corruption as the means of attaining their objectives. Objectives, which, they believe, always justify the means. It is interesting to note that when discussing the various prophetic traditions about Gog and Magog, the tafsir of Al - Qurtubi, identifies them as the Slavs as the main group of descendants of Japheth, which throws yet another ray of light on the current conflict in the former Yugoslavia as well as previous events in the Balkans that destroyed world peace. Many of the Ahadith quoted describe the tribes of Gog and Magog as numerous and ferocious people who will degenerate into wild and bestial ways. Further light is shed on the information given by Robert Graves, in the footnotes to Genesis, in the Scofield reference bible. It states: "A prophetic declaration is made that from Japheth will descend the "enlarged" races (Gen.9:27). On Genesis 10.2, it gives as the descendants of the 'Sons of Japheth' the following tribes: 1. Gomer, Progenitor of the ancient Cimerians and Cimbri, from whom are descended the Celtic family. 2. Magog: From Magog are descended the ancient Scythians, or Tartars, whose descendents predominate in the modern Russia." Note: Tartar, The New Encyclopedia informs us, was the name employed in China and medieval Europe for the mounted nomads of Central Asia. "Under Gengis Khan and his successors they established the empire of Tartary and from 1238 to 1462 they dominated Eastern Europe. In the form Tartar the name survives in Russian use... The Tartar Republic is an autonomous republic of the USSR. It is situated between the Chuvash and Bashkir and was formed in 1920. Kazan is the capital. People of Turkic speech". "Tartary. The Name, formerly used to describe the land between the Pacific and the Dnieper River which constituted the Mongol Empire. In terms of cities sacked and lands conquered, the Mongols were the mightiest of all the nomadic peoples. In 1206, Temujin, the son of a Mongol chief, who was slain, united the Mongol tribes under his unchallenged leadership. In that same year he was declared Gengis Khan, 'Ruler of the World'." Genkis Khan's pillaging conquests are well known. Continuing in true Ma'Gogian tradition, the Merciless Great Khan, Timur, had 20,000 people

massacred after taking Baghdad in 1401. These descendants of the Gog and Ma'Gog family created the largest empire in history. Other branches would keep up the family business. Genghis Cohen perhaps? Scofield Continued: "3. Madai: Progenitor of the ancient Medes. 4. Javan: Progenitor of those who peopled Greece, Syria, etc. 5 .Tubal: Tubal's descendants peopled the region south of the Black Sea, from whence they spread north and south. It is possible that Tobolsk perpetuates the tribal name. A branch of this race peopled Spain. 6. Meshech: Progenitor of a race mentioned in connection with Tubal, Magog, and other northern nations. Broadly speaking, Russian, excluding the conquests of Peter the Great and his successors, is the modern land of Magog, Tubal, and Meshech." 7. Tiras: Progenitor of the Thracians." From these seven sons of Japheth are descended the 'goyim', or Gentile, nations, translated "heathen" 148 times in the Bible. In Genesis 10:3, we find another name related to the present world's problems: That of Ashkenaz, son of Gomer. In the present State of Israel it is a fact that the Ashkenazi, or Gentile Jews, greatly outnumber the Orthodox, Semitic Jews, Giving rise to the assertion that Genesis 9:27, is now a fact of life. It states: "God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem". The following article appeared in The Church Times, on the 24th January 1992, by Bishop Hugh Montefiore: "The liberation of Eastern Europe and the former USSR is good news, but a sad consequence has been a resurgence of anti - Semitism, with stirrings even in Britain fanned by the Maxwell scandals. In fact 'Cap'n Bob', like most Jews, probably did not have much more than a fluid ounce of genuine Jewish blood in his veins. Anti - Semitism is built on a powerful racial myth, accepted by Jews and anti - Semites alike. Christianity in the Old World is divided mainly on ethnic lines, with the Orthodox Churches in the Middle East and Eastern Europe, and the Catholic and Protestant Churches in the West. So also the Jewish world is divided into Sephardim and Ashkenazim. The Sephardim are so called because they once lived in Spain (Sepharad) until expelled, and thence in the Mediterranean, Turkey, and the Low Countries (and from there to England). The prosperous Spanish Jews had intermarried a lot with Gentile nobles. There were also many Jews who had settled in Italy and elsewhere in the Mediterranean by New Testament times, and their numbers were increased by refugees from Byzantium. Their descendants remained in these countries until eventually expelled.

The largest group is the Ashkenazim in Eastern Europe. In the Bible Ashkenaz is not descended from Shem but Japheth, and Ashkenaz refers to a people living around Mount Ararat and Armenia. In the last century there were very large numbers of Jews in Russia and Eastern Europe. How did they get there? Received wisdom is that they were forced eastwards from France and Germany into Poland, the Balkans, Lithuania and Russia. But there were few Jews in France and Germany to migrate, and European migrations have actually gone from east to west. In the Middle Ages the Khazars, a people of Turkish stock, formed a great empire from the Black Sea to the Caspian, and from the Caucasus to the Volga. They found themselves between the triumphant followers of Muhammad and the forces of Christian Byzantium. They resisted both, and converted to Judaism. Pre Christian Austria was even said to have been ruled by Jewish princes, and a Byzantine chronicle tells of Hungarian troops observing the Jewish Law. By the 11th Century the Khazar Empire had begun to crumble although it lasted into the 13th. Like the Jews of the Levant, the Khazars lived amid the great trade routes and engaged in commerce; like them too they kept their Judaic faith. Some remained in Russia: most went to the Balkans, Lithuania and Poland, and on to Germany. It is these who form the origin of the millions of Jews who lived in Eastern Europe. All kinds of evidence supports this. Yiddish, a mixture of Hebrew, Polish and German, contains no word of Franco - Rhenish origin. The hook nose is typical not of the Levant but the Caucasus. There is no one Jewish racial type: in each area Jews conform to the Gentile type among whom they live. 'Anthropology concurs with history in refuting the popular belief in a Jewish race descended from the biblical tribe,' wrote Arthur Koestler 16 years ago in 'The Thirteenth Tribe' but his words were as distasteful to Jews as to their enemies. Shamir is busy peopling the West Bank with Russian Jews of non - Semitic origin, Russian pogroms were against people of Khazar - Turkish stock, Hitler's holocaust was a massacre of non - Semites. Maxwell, a Czech Jew, would have had a similar kind of genetic fingerprint." Bishop Montefiore should know, he is, after all, of Jewish stock. Which is why Mrs. Thatcher called him her 'Jewish Arch Bishop'. The Scythian, Ashkenazi - Khazar, Robert Maxwell, was certainly guilty of betraying and defrauding countless thousands of countless millions. But, this surely pales into insignificance at the side of the damage inflicted on us by that other False - Israelite, the late, Lord Victor Rothschild, who, at long last, has finally been identified as 'The Fifth Man', alongside the other four Cambridge spies: Guy Burgess, Donald Maclean, Kim Philby, and Anthony Blunt. He was correctly identified as "Britain's greatest traitor", in The Daily Express, on Saturday, October 15th 1994. Hardly surprising, in true Rothschild fashion, he was able to run with the hare and bite with the hounds. For this 3rd Lord Rothschild, of the mighty banking dynasty, was a member of MI5, Israeli Intelligence, the Mossad, the KGB, and an agent - runner for heads of MI6. For a banker, split allegiances do not represent a conflict of interests. They are essential if you are in the business of money lending. Bankers always create conflicts in order to finance both sides. After all these years of investigating the question of Gog and Magog, we still find some matters unresolved. However, what can be safely said is that the sons of Japheth will be

responsible for bringing about the ultimate catastrophe - at the Hill of Megido i.e., Armageddon (Palestine). If, as would seem to be the case, the 'Tents of Shem' are now occupied by The Sons of Japheth, (Genesis 9:27), then the scene must surely be set for the final showdown. Although Judaism, should not have anything to do with the idea of racial superiority, over the centuries, this has become so, and is one of mankind's abiding errors. Apart from the evidence, identifying the Khazars as non - Semitic; their choice of the term Ashkenazi, immediately places them in the Gentile camp. For Ashkenaz, as we have seen, is identified in Genesis 10:3, as the first born of Gomer, who was the first born of Japheth: "And the sons of Gomer; Ashkenaz, and Riphath and Torgomah." Therefore, the vast majority of the inhabitants of the State of Israel can legitimately be called - Gog and Ma'Gog, who reject Christ and the religion of Abraham, and oppress Muslims. Therefore, they are the vanguard of anti - Christ. And who, but a Zionist sycophant, could deny their historic, despotic credentials. - Jan 1995 Masalaam Shia Shahid Jul 12 2004, 12:12 AM Several important points to consider here: The tribes of Gog and Magog have been difficult for historians to pinpoint. Some have pointed to Slavic and Teutonic origins, claiming that "gog came from Russia", but there are also opposing theories. * Gog and Magog were also associated by Europeans with the Mongols at the time of Ogodai Khan's conquest of Eastern Europe. The Mongols even got as far as Vienna before Ogodei died and they were called to return home. * Some historical evidence indicates that Gog and Magog were Turkic in origin, and descended from Yaafih (Japheth). * The claim that Scythians and "tatars" were the same is baseless. Scythians were long known to be a fierce group of tribes of Indo-European origin, and probably came from central Asia. Scythians were in fact an Iranian ethnic group, but whereas most Iranian ethnic groups settled and founded civilizations, the Scythians (Sakas) retained the old nomadic Aryan lifestyle. They were feared as pillagers and raiders, yet they did have kings and some loosely structured form of government. King Darius tried to subdue them, launching a number of military campaigns which eventually got tangled into the conflict between Persia and Greece. The Persian Empire did exercise some authority over some Scythian tribes, but they retained a level of semiAutonomy, and neither Darius nor the other Persian kings were able to fuly break their power. The Scythians eventually became as diverse as any group of Indo-European people, invading territories as far apart as India, Siberia, the Caucasus, Europe, and the

northern borders of Khorasan. "Tatars", on the other hand, were not Iranian or Aryan, nor were they any sort of IndoEuropeans. "Tatars" is a somewhat derogatory term that was used by the crusaders to refer to all nomadic Far Eastern peoples, especially the Mongols. The Mongols and the other nomadic peoples of the East Asian steppes are of Turko-Mongolian descent (although most of the tribal distinctions in Mongolia have been totally obscured). As for the claims about Alexander the "great". Many classic commentators of the Qur'an have claimed that Dhul-Qarnayn (Zul-Karnein) was in fact Alexander. This view has several problems. First of all, the sequence of the ayat pertaining to DhulQarnayn indicates that he first traveled west before going east. However, Alexander was always going east during his campaign against the Persians. He never traveled west of his homeland, Macedonia. The second problem is that Dhul-Qarnayn is never described as attacking Persia, the way Alexander did. But this inconsistency is not very relevant to the issue at hand. The third, and most serious problem with the Alexander theory, is the character of Alexander as opposed to that of Dhul-Qarnayn. Dhul-Qarnayn, according to the Qur'an, was a just man, a servant of Allah, possibly even a prophet. Allah says in the Qur'an, "We made him mighty in the land". Alexander does not match this description. Indeed, it seems to me that Dhul-Qarnayn could have been anybody but Alexander. Whereas Dhul-Qarnayn is described as a just and prophetic man, Alexander was a pagan, a heathen, with very little that could be called just. He massacred the Greeks of Thebes (and not because they committed shirk - Alexander comitted shirk too), he destroyed cities like Tyre and sold their populations into slavery. Alexander destroyed civilizations, burned cities, killed many thousands of Persians and their allies. He is even known to have totally annihilated at least two tribes in India. He destroyed Takht-e-Jamshid, and robbed the treasuries of Persia of enough gold to equal (accounting for inflation) the combined economies of Russia, Britain, and France. He also forced people to worship him and killed them if they refused. Alexander destroyed great civilizations and left destruction and ashes in their place. And Alexander was anything but Muslim. He is well-known to have been a mushrik. He worshipped the Greek idols, claiming to be a descendant of Zeus-Ammon, and his favorite idol was reported to be Dionysus (Bacchus), the Greek idol associated with wine and lust. When in Egypt, Alexander worshipped Amun-Re (the ancient Egyptian equivalent of Zeus). When in Phoenicia (where Lebanon is today) he worshipped Baal, a local idol that he associated with Hercules. In Babylon, Alexander prayed to the idol Marduk, and had the golden statue of Bel restored (it had been destroyed by King Xerxes), and Alexander worshipped that too. Alexander even claimed that he was divine, and forced conquered people to worship him. The Persians refused to do this, so he massacred them. In addition, many Greek sources allege that Alexander was a homosexual, and that his

supposed lover, Hephastion, was given priveleges of wealth and power although he did not help Alexander in any significant way militarily. Whether or not this was true of Alexander, it was a common practice among ancient Greek and Macedonian men, particularly their warriors, and it certainly does not help Alexander's reputation. The Greek accounts, written be people who were all sympathetic to Alexander, bear testament to all of this. What I have mentioned here is only a tiny fraction of the evils comitted by or attributed to Alexander. With better knowledge of these things, it becomes clear that Alexander could not have been Dhul-Qarnayn. * It is possible that one of the Achamenid Persian Kings (who lived before Alexander's time) could have been Dhul-Qarnayn. Unlike Alexander, they were favorably inclined towards monotheism, and some of them are known to have gone west (in their travels and conquests), before they turned east. It is unknown whether they came into contact with peoples of Turkish descent, so if one of them was Dhul-Qarnayn, then gog and magog may have been Cimmerians, Scythians, or a similar group of nomadic Aryan invaders. The exact identity of Dhul-Qarnayn, the exact identity of the original Gog and Magog, and the exact location of his wall, remain unknown to the public today. I have tried my best in this effort, to keep to the facts about history and authentic sources. All the good comes from Allah, and the bad is from myself and shaitan. May Allah forgive me for any mistakes I may have made above, as it was my sincere intention to state what I believe to be true, and I did not knowingly intend to write falsehoods. And Allah knows best. Apotheosis Jul 12 2004, 02:01 AM Asalaam Alaikum... Included is the URL to a well-researched article 'in progress' that deals with many of the details surrounding 'Gog and Magog' already presented -- and also offers some new and very interesting material that, although clearly not from an Islamic perspective, may shed some light on this topic as it impacts us today and, possibly, in the future. `ws` Robert Nostradamus, Edgar Cayce, Jupiter, and The Return of the Mongols By: Laura Knight-Jadczyk http://www.cassiopaea.org/cass/article-lkj-04-03-06.htm husainshahid Aug 4 2004, 11:52 AM This whole topic of who Yajuj and Majuj are is nebulous. So many apparently convincing identities have ben put forward as to who they are. This theory should be taken in that light. HOWEVER in criticism of it and in some defence of the equally contentious theory that it refers to the Chinese is the fact that the Hadith prophesy the fact that before the rising of Imam Mahdi there will be an invasion of the Middle East by a non-western force that will overwhelm the arabs (especially in Iraq) and that then this force is attacked by the army of the white races led by greed for the

wealth of the region - and that the whiteman's onslaught virtually totally decimates this invading power in one strike, to the degree that the corpses of the defeated army's soldiers, which is of huge multitudes, putrefy unburied and create a terrible stench in the region (Qiyamat-e-Sughra by Maulana Qamar Zaidi). However I cannot recollect if the invading army that is annihilated by the westerners that is spoken of is referred to as Yajuj and Majuj. Of course it maybe that Yajuj and Majuj refers to both the chinese and americans. I guess given the research into the derivations of these words that even that theory could somehow be 'proved' using this rather abstruse method! This is a "lo-fi" version of our main content. To view the full version with more information, formatting and images, please click here. Invision Power Board 2001-2005 Invision Power Services, Inc.

Who put Gog in the Fog?

Revelation 20: Verse 7, And when the thousand years are expired, Satan (Abaddon) shall be loosed out of his prison. Verse 8, And (Abaddon) shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog (the antichrist) and Magog (his followers), to gather them together to battle (Armageddon): the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. The means by which Abaddon deceives the antichrist is, of course, demonic possession. Did you see the movie about Azazel? "Fallen" he was, was he? Verse 9, And they (Abaddon, Gog and Magog who are the kings and kingdoms following the leadership of the demonically possessed antichrist) went upon the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. And Abaddon (Azazel), Gog and Magog are cast into the lake of fire? Verse 10, And the devil (the King of Tyrus, the "great dragon" of Revelation 12:9 "which deceiveth the whole world" including Abaddon, Gog and Magog) that deceived them (the "them" who are deceived are Abaddon, Gog and Magog and everyone else who does not have the seal of God in their forehead) was cast into the lake of fire and

brimstone where the beast (Abaddon) and the false prophet (Gog, the antichrist) are. What does Ezekiel have to say about Gog and the fog? Ezekiel 38 ....... Verse 2, Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him. Bullinger, in his "Companion Bible," maintains this is a different Gog episode, not that of Revelation 20. So does most everyone else. I do not think so. Bullinger says in the same paragraph regarding this verse that "The name (Gog) is connected with Og (Deu. 3:1-13)" but he does not indicate what that connection is. Connected with Og? Do tell. Og, of the Rephaim, that "dead" branch of the Nephilim? Gog is demonically possessed by Abaddon, the king over the Nephilim who are released from the bottomless pit to fulfill the prophecies of the last 42 months of this generation. Verse 8, After many days thou shalt be visited (right, guess by who?) in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel ....... The "latter years." The final 42 months of this generation. Verse 10, Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought. "Things come into thy mind" do they, Gog? Like what? Purple Haze? Gog is demonically possessed by Abaddon, the Prince of Tyrus, Azazel, as was Alexander the Great, Nebuchadnezzar, Nimrod and others. Just like in the movies? Alexander the Great sang PURPLE HAZE when his army arrived at the gates of Jerusalem. Alexander's mind was not his own. Daniel, in Chapter 8, prophesied (verse 21), "And the rough goat is the king of Grecia: and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king. (verse 22) Now that being broken, whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power." Alexander died at the age of 33 of unknown causes. He had no heir to succeed him on the throne so his vast kingdom eventually divided into four, the Seleucid and Ptolemy kingdoms being the most powerful.

"Not in his power" reveals that the four kings did not have Alexander's power, his demonic power. We then move to the time of our generation (verse 23), "And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up. The "latter time" is the last generation, this generation, in which the antichrist "understanding dark sentences shall stand up." The antichrist bears strong resemblance to Alexander the Great in several ways. The antichrist comes out of the territory once controlled by Alexander, specifically the territory controlled by the Seleucid kings. Daniel explains this in Chapter 11, his long historical and prophetic expose. The antichrist is demon possessed, as Alexander was (verse 24), "And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power ..... " The power comes from a demonic spirit, as it did with Alexander. As I pointed out to Armaros recently, he missed something here (angels are not perfect!) ............ In 8:23 above, the king (antichrist) has "fierce countenance." "Countenance" is translated from the Hebrew word "paniym" which means "supernatural face." Trace the roots of this Hebrew word which are shared somewhat with the Hebrew word "peniyel" which means "face of God." An interesting comment in the Catholic Living Bible about Gog as a footnote to Ezekiel 38, It therefore seems that Gog was, or is to be, the leader of one of these nations. But from the context Gog seems to be a symbol rather than a historical figure like Nebuchadnezzar. In any event, he represents the aggregate military might of the forces opposed to God especially in the mighty battle of the end times. See also Revelation 20:7-9. Thanks, Catholic Living Bible, for making that clear. You just made my point. Armageddon is the final conflict, the last battle between good and evil in this fleshly world. Ezekiel 38 and Revelation 20 are about the same battle and the same leader, Gog. Gog. Fogged. Armaros informed me that those Biblical "experts" who assert that in the first 15 verses of Daniel 11 we are getting a history lesson are correct. They are mistaken, however, in extending that history lesson through verse 20 and then maintaining there is a gap of more than 2,000 years and we resume with the future antichrist, the abomination of desolation, in verse 21. The "experts" are right about the gap but do not have it just quite right. Let us examine these verses, beginning with 15. Daniel 11 ...........

Verse 15, So the king of the north shall come, and cast upon a mount, and take the most fenced cities: and the arms of the south shall not withstand, neither his chosen people, neither shall there be any strength to withstand. The king of the north is the Seleucid king and the king of the south is Ptolemy (Egypt). Again, the Seleucid and Ptolemy kings were the two most powerful of the four kingdoms of Daniel 8:22, Now that being broken (Alexander the Great's reign), whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand up out out of the nation, but not in his power. "Not in his power." None of the four kings had Alexander's power, the supernatural power derived from demonic possession. Verse 16, But he that cometh against him ....... Who is the "he" and who is the "him" do you suppose? Most suppose the "he" is the Seleucid king and "him" is Ptolemy. Not quite so. There are four beasts, four kingdoms, depicted in the Book of Daniel. Four kingdoms to rule the world. Four kingdoms that mimic God. FOUR kingdoms, but the fourth has three heads. Three heads. Essential to the rulership of these kingdoms is demonic supernatural power. That demonic supernatural power left the third beast, Greece, with the "spiritual" demise of Alexander the Great as previously described in Purple Haze. The "he" in verse 16 is Abaddon, the Prince of Tyrus, Azazel. The "him" is the Seleucid king. Abaddon demonically possesses the Roman beast. Abaddon demonically possessed a series of Roman Generals, Emperors, Popes and Holy Roman Emperors. You saw the movie right, about how he goes from body to body? That continued until Abaddon was restrained in the bottomless pit for one thousand years. He "was" on the earth demonically possessing human political/religious leaders, but now he "is not," but soon to be "yet is." Let us go momentarily to "was" and "is not" and "yet is" in Revelation 17 ..... Verse 8, The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. The beast, Abaddon (or if you prefer, Azazel, or the Prince of Tyrus), "is not" because he is now in the bottomless pit. He "was" until he was restrained there. He will be "is" at the fifth trumpet of Revelation 9.

Those without the seal of God ("whose names were not written in the book of life") will wonder, for they do not have a clue about the prophecy that is being fulfilled. They will wonder how the antichrist can be so supernaturally smart ("wiser than Daniel" according to Ezekiel 28:3) what with his false prophecy that seemingly comes true and all.