ماجوج

Core meaning

A proper name, always joined to Yajuj: the second term of a pair the text never names separately.

Uses

1. مَأْجُوج → "Majuj" : the name is kept as it is, always after Yajuj; the text makes it known by what it does.

   • «إِنَّ يَأْجُوجَ وَمَأْجُوجَ مُفْسِدُونَ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ» — "Yajuj and Majuj are sowing corruption on the earth" (18:94)
   • «حَتَّىٰٓ إِذَا فُتِحَتْ يَأْجُوجُ وَمَأْجُوجُ» — "until Yajuj and Majuj are opened" (21:96)

Evidence from the text

Both occurrences join the name to Yajuj, in the same order. In 18:94, a people complains of them to the Holder of the Two Acolytes: they sow corruption on the earth, and a tribute is offered in exchange for a barrier. In 21:96, they are "opened" and come swarming down from every height, as the true promise draws near.

The text says nothing of their origin; it describes them by their action. The translation keeps the name transliterated, without identifying it.

The name can be brought close to two roots of the text, a link the text does not draw itself: أجج, the "bitter", burning water that cannot be drunk (25:53, 35:12, 56:70), and موج, what "surges" like the swell: "We shall leave them, that Day, surging one against another" (18:99). The barrier that holds them back is made of blocks of iron brought to fire, over which naphtha is poured (18:96), between two sides; when it gives way, they come "down from every height" (21:96). Hence the image one can read in it: a source of lava, its flows and its acid rains, sealed by the Holder of the Two Acolytes, and which will open when the time comes: in 21:96, Yajuj and Majuj are "opened" as the true promise draws near, the scene of the volcanoes opening, on the Day.

See also

ياجوج (the first term of the pair) · سدد (the barrier asked for against them)