قرنين

Core meaning

The two ends of one and the same thing, like the two horns of a single head: in the dual, in the name ذُو ٱلْقَرْنَيْنِ, the one of the two ends, or of the two eras. The translation writes the name alone: "Dhul-Qarnayn".

Uses

1. ذُو ٱلْقَرْنَيْنِ → "Dhul-Qarnayn" : the man established on the earth, whose account follows three links.

   • «وَيَسْـَٔلُونَكَ عَن ذِى ٱلْقَرْنَيْنِ» — "And they ask you about Dhul-Qarnayn" (18:83)
   • «يَٰذَا ٱلْقَرْنَيْنِ إِنَّ يَأْجُوجَ وَمَأْجُوجَ مُفْسِدُونَ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ» — "O Dhul-Qarnayn, Yajuj and Majuj are sowing corruption on the earth" (18:94)

Evidence from the text

The account takes him to the two ends of the sun's course: "having reached the setting-place of the sun" (18:86), then "having reached the rising-place of the sun" (18:90). The two journeys have the same form: he follows a link, he arrives, he finds a people. The name and the account answer each other: the one of the two ends reaches the two ends.

The text says nothing of his origin; it describes him by what he receives, an establishment on the earth and a link of everything (18:84), and by what he does with the peoples he finds (18:86-98).

Distinctions

• قرن — the generation, in the plural قُرُون: the same word, which the name takes in the dual

See also

سبب (the link)