The
Ya'jooj and Ma'jooj (Gog
and Magog)
During
the reign of Hadhrat
Eisa alayhis salaam people will live an extremely peaceful life filled
with prosperity and abundance. Then the wall which imprisons Ya'jooj and
Ma'jooj will break and they will surge forth in large numbers.
"But
when Ya'jooj and Ma'jooj are let loose and they rush headlong down every
hill" (Quran
21:97)
Who
are the Ya'jooj and Majooj?
Zul
Qarnain alayhis salaam
who was a pious and just Ruler travelled to many lands and conquered them,
establishing justice and the Law of Allah therein. Allah Ta'ala provided him
with all forms and material strength through which he was able to carry out
his conquests and missions.
He
once carried out a mission in three directions, the far west, the far east,
and then in a northerly direction. It was here that he came across a tribe of
people who complained to him about the tribes of Ya'jooj and Majooj which
inhabited the land behind two huge mountains and often emerged from behind
these mountains to perpetrate acts of anarchy and plunder among them. They
requested Zul Qarnain alayhis
salaam to erect a barrier between themselves and the tribes of
Ya'jooj and Ma'jooj so that they could be saved from their atrocities. With
the material strength at his disposal, Zul Qarnain alayhis
salaam enlisted their physical labor and set about erecting a
high wall between the two mountains. The height of the wall or its exact
length is unknown. What is known is that the height of this wall reaches that
of the summit of both mountains. It is made with blocks or sheets of iron,
which is further strengthened by molten lead. In this manner Ya'jooj and
Majooj are unable to scale the wall, or cross it, except when it is the will
of Allah.
"And
when the promise of my Rabb approaces, He will level it to dust"
(Qur'aan 18:98)
They
are situated in a land of ice which is hidden from our gazes and the exact
location of which is unknown. Though many interpretations do exist in this
respect, none of these can be said to absolute.
Ya'jooj
and Majooj are human beings and according to a narration they are from the
progeny of Yafith ibn Nooh alayhis
salaam .
Some
Ahaadeeth...
In
a lengthy hadeeth by Hadhrat Nawwas bin Sam'aan radhiyallahu
anhu Rasoolullah
sallallahu alayhi wasallam
is reported to have said:
"...Allah
will send revelation upon Eisa alayhis salaam that 'Such a creation of mine is
now going to emerge that no power will be able to stop them. Therefore take my
servants and ascend the Mount of Toor.' Then Ya'jooj and Majooj will emerge
and surge forth in all their fury. When those from among them who constitute
the former part of their army pass the lake of Tiberias (which is in northern
Palestine), they will drink up all the water of that lake and by the time
those that constitute the latter part of that same army pass the lake, they
will say, "There used to be water here (long ago). When they reach the
Mount of Khamr in
In
the meantime, Eisa alayhis salaam will be on the Mount of Toor with his
followers. At that time the head of and ox will be as valuable as is a hundred
dinars to you in this day. [This indicates the scarcity of provisions]. Faced
with these hardships, Eisa
alayhis
salaam and
his followers will make dua unto Allah (to remove this calamity). As a result,
Allah will cause sores to appear on the necks of each and every individual of
these people which will cause their death suddenly. When Eisa alayhis salaam
and his followers descend from the Mount of Toor there will not be a single
space on the land where the dead rotting bodies of these people is not
littered, giving off a horrendous odour. Eisa alayhis salaam and his followers
will once more supplicate unto Allah as a result of which Allah will send down
huge birds whose necks will be as thick as that of the necks of camels, and
they will dump these bodies in a place where Allah wills. (According to a
narration by Tirmidhi, they will be dumped at a place called Nahbal).
Allah
Ta'ala will then send down a heavy rain, the waters of which will flow in
every part of the earth cleansing it thoroughly. It will rain for a period of
forty days.
The
Muslims will then burn the bows and arrows of the Ya'jooj and Ma'jooj for a
period of seven years.
Allah
will order the earth to yield forth its crops in abundance and there will be
such blessing and prosperity that one pomegranate will be sufficient for a
whole group while the peel thereof will suffice to cast a shadow over them.
The milk of one camel will be sufficient for many groups while one milk giving
cow will be sufficient for a whole tribe. One milk giving goat will be
sufficent for a whole family..."
(Muslim)
Hadhrat
Abu Saeed Khudri radhiyallahu
anhu
narrates that Rasoolullah
sallallahu alayhi wasallam
said:
"On
the day of Qiyamah Allah will say to Aadam alayhis
salaam
to
pick out the Jahannamis from his entire progeny. Aadam alayhis
salaam will ask: 'O Rabb, who are they?'
Allah
will say: 'Nine hundred and ninety nine of a thousand are Jahannami while the
one is a Jannati.'
On
hearing this the Sahaba were overtaken by fear and they asked "O Rasoolullah
sallallahu alayhi wasallam
, who will that one Janniti be?'
Rasoolullah
sallallahu alayhi wasallam
said: 'Do not grieve, the nine hundred and ninety nine will be Ya'jooj and
Ma'jooj while you will be the Jannati."' (i.e. your numbers in relation
to them will be one in a thousand).
(Bukhaari
and Muslim)
Hadhrat
Abdullah ibne Umar radhiyallahu
anhu
says that Rasoolullah
sallallahu alayhi wasallam
said:
"Allah
Ta'ala divided mankind into ten parts. Nine tenths constitute Ya'jooj and
Ma'jooj while the remaining tenths constitutues the rest of mankind."
Hadhrat
Zainab bint Jahsh radhiyallahu
anha says:
"...once Rasoolullah
sallallahu alayhi wasallam
awoke from such a sleep that his face was red and these words were on his
tongue: 'There is none worthy of worship except Allah. Destruction is upon the
Arabs on account of the evil which has come close to them. Today a hole as big
as this has opened up in the wall of Ya'jooj and Ma'jooj.' ..and Rasoolullah
sallallahu alayhi wasallam
indicated the size of the hole forming a ring with his index finger and
thumb."
(Bukhari
and Muslim)
Hadhrat
Abu Hurairah radhiyallahu
anhu
narrates that:
every
day Ya'jooj and Ma'jooj break (dig) through the wall erected by Zul Qarnain alayhis
salaam until they reach the end of it to that extent that they
can actually see the light on the other side. They then return (home) saying
that 'We will break through tomorrow.' But Allah Ta'ala causes the wall to
revert to its original thickness and the next day they start digging through
the wall all over again, and this process continues each day until as long as
Allah wills them to remain imprisoned. When Allah wishes them to be released,
then at the end of the day they will say, "If Allah wills, tomorrow we
will break through." The following day they will find the wall as they
had left it the previous day (i.e. it will not have returned to its orginal
state) and after breaking the remaining part of it they will emerge."
(Ahmad,
Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah)
Commenting
on the above hadith, Allamah ibne Arabi says, Three miracles are evident in
this Hadith:
1.)
It never occurs to these tribes that they must continue work during the night.
After all, they are in such large numbers that they can easily delegate the
work among themselves and work in shifts. But Allah does not allow this
thought to occur to them.
2.)
It never occurs to them that they can merely cross the mountains or scale the
wall, which they can do through the aid of equipment and implements wich they
possess in large numbers. According to a narration by Wahab ibn Munabbah it is
known that these tribes are agriculturists and artisians possessing various
types of equipment.
3.)
The thought of saying "If Allah wills" never enters their minds and
it will only occur to them to say it when Allah wills that they be released.