Tafseer of The Prophets · Al-Anbiyaa · 21:96
Until when [the dam of] Gog and Magog has been opened and they, from every elevation, descend
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
Allah the Exalted says: "Until, when Yaʾjūj and Maʾjūj are opened" — they are two peoples from among the nations who were dammed in.
As ʿIṣṣām ibn Dāwud ibn al-Jarrāḥ related to me, saying: my father related to us, saying: Sufyān ibn Saʿīd al-Thawrī related to us, saying: Manṣūr ibn al-Muʿtamir related to us, on the authority of Ribʿī ibn Ḥirāsh, who said: I heard Ḥudhayfat ibn al-Yamān say: The Messenger of Allah ṣallā Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam said: "The first of the signs are: the Dajjāl, the descent of ʿĪsā, a fire that rises from the depths of ʿAdan-Abyan and drives the people to the place of gathering — it rests when they rest — and the smoke, and the Beast, then Yaʾjūj and Maʾjūj." Ḥudhayfa said: "O Messenger of Allah, what are Yaʾjūj and Maʾjūj?" He said: "Yaʾjūj and Maʾjūj are peoples, each people four hundred thousand; no man of them dies before he has seen a thousand eyes blink before his eyes from his own loins. They are the children of Adam and march toward the destruction of the world; their vanguard is in Syria and their rearguard in Iraq. They pass through the rivers of the world and drink the Euphrates and the Tigris and the Lake of Tiberias dry until they reach Jerusalem; then they say: We have killed the inhabitants of the earth, now fight those who are in the heaven! They shoot arrows at the heaven and the arrows return smeared with blood; they say: We have killed those who are in the heaven. ʿĪsā and the Muslims are then on the mountain Ṭūr-Sīnīn. Allah the Majestic reveals to ʿĪsā: Protect My servants on the Ṭūr and what borders Ayla. Then ʿĪsā raises his head to the heaven and the Muslims say amen; Allah sends upon them an animal called al-naghaf (worms) that enter their nostrils, and they die en masse from the Syrian coast to the Iraqi coast, until the earth stinks from their corpses. Allah commands the heaven and it rains as from the mouths of waterskins, and washes the earth of their corpses and their stench; thereafter is the rising of the sun from its place of setting."
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Ḥakkām related to us, on the authority of Abū Jaʿfar, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, on the authority of Abū al-ʿĀliya: "Yaʾjūj and Maʾjūj are twice as numerous as the rest of mankind, and the jinn are twice as numerous as mankind; Yaʾjūj and Maʾjūj are two men — their names are Yaʾjūj and Maʾjūj."
Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, who said: I heard Wahb ibn Jābir relate, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr, who said: "The first of Yaʾjūj and Maʾjūj pass a river like the Tigris; the last of them pass and say: here there was once water. No man of them dies before a thousand or more of his offspring have been born from his loins. After them there are three peoples whose number none knows but Allah: Tāwīl, Tārīs and Nāsik (or Mansik — Shuʿba was uncertain)."
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Yaḥyā related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of Wahb ibn Jābir al-Khaywānī: "I asked ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr about Yaʾjūj and Maʾjūj: are they from the children of Adam? He said: Yes; and after them there are three peoples whose number none knows but Allah: Tārīs, Tāwīl and Mansik."
Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Sahl ibn Ḥammād Abū ʿAttāb related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of al-Nuʿmān ibn Sālim — he said: I heard Nāfiʿ ibn Jubayr ibn Muṭʿim say: ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr said: "Yaʾjūj and Maʾjūj have rivers from which they take as much as they wish, women with whom they have intercourse as much as they wish, and trees from which they eat as much as they wish; no man dies before he leaves behind a thousand or more of his offspring."
Muḥammad ibn ʿUmāra related to us, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Mūsā related to us, saying: Zakariyyā informed us, on the authority of ʿĀmir, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Maymūn, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Salām: "None of Yaʾjūj and Maʾjūj dies before he leaves behind a thousand or more offspring."
Yaḥyā ibn Ibrāhīm al-Masʿūdī related to me, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of his grandfather, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of ʿAṭiyya — Abū Saʿīd said: "Yaʾjūj and Maʾjūj come forth and leave none alive except the inhabitants of the fortresses; they pass the lake and drink it dry; the one who passes says: here there was once water. Allah then sends the naghaf-worms upon them until it breaks their necks and they become like corpses; the inhabitants of the fortresses say: The enemies of Allah have perished. They lower a man down to look, but they agree that if he finds them alive, they will hoist him up; but he finds that they have perished. Allah sends water from the heaven and drives them into the sea, so that the earth is cleansed of them; people thereafter plant trees and palms, and the earth brings forth its fruits as it did in the time of Yaʾjūj and Maʾjūj."
Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Abī Yazīd: "Ibn ʿAbbās saw boys climbing on top of one another while they were playing, and he said: Thus Yaʾjūj and Maʾjūj come forth."
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: al-Ḥakam related to us, saying: ʿAmr ibn Qays related to us: "It reached us that there is a king behind the dam who every day sends horsemen who guard the dam, because Yaʾjūj and Maʾjūj are not safe from breaking through it; they hear noise and violent movement."
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq: ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr said: "No man of Yaʾjūj and Maʾjūj dies before a thousand have been born from his loins; and after them are three peoples whose number none knows but Allah: Mansik, Tāwīl and Tārīs."
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of ʿAmr al-Bakālī: "Allah divided the angels, mankind and the jinn into ten parts; nine tenths are the Karūbiyyūn — the angels who bear the Throne, and who unceasingly perform the glorification day and night; the rest of the angels are for Allah's command, His revelation and His messages. Then He divided men and jinn into ten parts: nine tenths are the jinn — for every child of man that is born, nine of the jinn are born. Then He divided mankind into ten parts: nine tenths are Yaʾjūj and Maʾjūj, and the remaining people are one tenth."
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, concerning the saying حَتَّى إِذَا فُتِحَتْ يَأْجُوجُ وَمَأْجُوجُ: "Two peoples from behind the dam of Dhū al-Qarnayn."
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of several, on the authority of Ḥumayd ibn Hilāl, on the authority of Abū al-Ṣayf: Kaʿb said: "When the time for the coming forth of Yaʾjūj and Maʾjūj draws near, they dig until the inhabitants beside them hear the hacking of their axes; when night comes they say: we will come tomorrow and go out; but Allah restores the dam as it was. When they come the next day, they find it restored by Allah as it was; they hack again until the inhabitants hear their axes; when night comes, Allah says upon the tongue of one of them: we will come out tomorrow, if Allah wills; then they find it the next day as they left it, hack through and come out. The first group passes the lake and drinks up its water; the second group passes and licks the mud; the third group passes and says: here there was once water. The people flee before them and nothing can hold them back; they shoot arrows at the heaven and they return smeared with blood; they say: we have overcome the inhabitants of the earth and the inhabitants of the heaven. Then ʿĪsā ibn Maryam supplicates: O Allah, we have no strength and no power to fight them; protect us from them as You will! Allah sends upon them worms (dūd) called al-naghaf that break open their necks; Allah sends birds that seize them by the beaks and cast them into the sea; Allah sends a spring called al-ḥayāt that cleanses the earth of them and makes it bloom, until a single pomegranate feeds an entire household." It was asked: What is a household (al-sakan), O Kaʿb? He said: the inhabitants of the house. While the people are thus, there comes a loud cry that the Owner of the Two Thin Legs (Dhū al-Suwayqatayn) wants them; ʿĪsā sends out a scouting force of seven hundred, or between seven hundred and eight hundred; while they are on the way, Allah sends a gentle south wind, by which Allah takes the soul of every believer; thereafter there remains a wicked people who mount one another like animals; and the Hour is like a man who circles around his mare and waits for her to give birth. Whoever, after my words here, exerts himself to say more, is a fabricator."
Al-ʿAbbās ibn al-Walīd al-Bayrūtī related to us, saying: my father informed me, saying: I heard Ibn Jābir, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jābir al-Ṭāʾī related to me, then al-Ḥimṣī; he said: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Jubayr ibn Nufayr al-Ḥaḍramī related to me, saying: my father related to me that he heard al-Nawwās ibn Simʿān al-Kilābī say: "The Messenger of Allah ﷺ mentioned the Dajjāl and spoke about his affair, and that ʿĪsā ibn Maryam will kill him; then he said: while it is thus, Allah reveals to him: O ʿĪsā, I have brought forth servants of Mine against whom none has the power to fight; bring My servants to safety on the Ṭūr. Then Allah sends Yaʾjūj and Maʾjūj — they stream from every height — one of them passes the Lake of Tiberias and drinks it dry; the last of them comes down and says: here there was once water. Then the prophet of Allah ʿĪsā and his companions are besieged until the eye of an ox on that day is worth more to them than a hundred dinars to you. Then the prophet of Allah ʿĪsā and his companions supplicate Allah; Allah sends upon them the naghaf in their necks and they are found dead, all as one soul. Then the prophet of Allah ʿĪsā and his companions come down but find no place except that it is filled with their stench, their rotting corpses and their blood. They supplicate Allah again; He sends birds with necks like those of Bactrian camels that carry them off and cast them wherever Allah wills; then Allah sends a rain from which no house of clay or hair gives shelter, and washes the earth until it leaves it like a mirror."
The saying وَهُمْ مِنْ كُلِّ حَدَبٍ يَنْسِلُونَ — the exegetes differed over who is meant by it. Some said: by it are meant the children of Adam who come forth from every place where they had been buried; this pertains to the gathering of the people at the place of assembly on the Day of Judgment.
Mention of who said that: Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning the saying مِنْ كُلِّ حَدَبٍ يَنْسِلُونَ: "People gathered from every place from which they came on the Day of Judgment — that is ḥadab."
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj — Ibn Jurayj said: Mujāhid said: "People gathered from every ḥadab — every place from which they came on the Day of Judgment."
Others said: by it are meant Yaʾjūj and Maʾjūj and وَهُمْ is a reference to their names.
Mention of who said that: Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Salama ibn Kuhayl: Abū al-Zaʿrāʾ related to us, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh, who said: "Yaʾjūj and Maʾjūj come forth and spread corruption on the earth," then he recited وَهُمْ مِنْ كُلِّ حَدَبٍ يَنْسِلُونَ; "then Allah sends upon them an animal like the naghaf-worms that enter their ears and nostrils and they die from it; the earth stinks from them; Allah sends water and cleanses the earth of them."
The correct view on this is what those said who said that by it are meant Yaʾjūj and Maʾjūj and that وَهُمْ is a reference to their names — on the basis of the report that Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of ʿĀṣim ibn ʿUmar, on the authority of Qatāda al-Anṣārī then al-Ẓafarī, on the authority of Maḥmūd ibn Labīd of the Banū ʿAbd al-Ashhal, on the authority of Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī, who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say: "Yaʾjūj and Maʾjūj are opened; they come forth over the people as Allah said: مِنْ كُلِّ حَدَبٍ يَنْسِلُونَ and they flood the earth."
Aḥmad ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Hushaym ibn Bushyr related to us, saying: al-ʿAwwām ibn Ḥawshab informed us, on the authority of Jabala ibn Suḥaym, on the authority of Mūththir ibn ʿUfāza al-ʿAbdī, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd, on the authority of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ concerning what is mentioned of ʿĪsā ibn Maryam; he said: ʿĪsā said: "My Lord has promised me that the Dajjāl will come forth and that He will cause me to descend upon him." He mentioned that he has with him two staves; when he sees me, Allah destroys him — "the lead melts, until even the tree and the stone say: O Muslim, this is an unbeliever, kill him! Allah the Blessed and Exalted destroys them; the people return to their lands, but Yaʾjūj and Maʾjūj come to meet them from every height, streaming swiftly; they leave nothing intact but they destroy it, and they pass no water but they drink it up."
ʿUbayd ibn Ismāʿīl al-Habbārī related to me, saying: al-Muḥāribī related to us, on the authority of Aṣbagh ibn Zayd, on the authority of al-ʿAwwām ibn Ḥawshab, on the authority of Jabala ibn Suḥaym, on the authority of Mūththir ibn ʿUfāza, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd, on the authority of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ — with the same import.
The saying مِنْ كُلِّ حَدَبٍ means: from every elevation, hill and height.
In accordance with what we said the exegetes spoke.
Mention of who said that: ʿAlī related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning the saying مِنْ كُلِّ حَدَبٍ يَنْسِلُونَن: "from every hill they come."
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning the saying مِنْ كُلِّ حَدَبٍ يَنْسِلُونَ: "from every hill."
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning the saying وَهُمْ مِنْ كُلِّ حَدَبٍ يَنْسِلُونَ: "al-ḥadab is something that protrudes"; and he cited the poet: "upon the elevations they move."
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning the saying حَتَّى إِذَا فُتِحَتْ يَأْجُوجُ وَمَأْجُوجُ وَهُمْ مِنْ كُلِّ حَدَبٍ يَنْسِلُونَ: "this is the beginning of the Day of Judgment."
The saying يَنْسِلُونَ means: they come forth as pedestrians hastening with the gait of the wolf — the "naslān" (swift stepping) — as the poet said:
"Like the wolf walking swiftly in its night, making for water; the cold night has overtaken it and it hastens onward."
[Footnotes: footnote 2 cites a verse about the meaning of al-ḥadab as elevated terrain; footnote 3 cites a verse by Labīd or al-Nābigha al-Jaʿdī about the "naslān" (swift going) of the wolf.]