Gog and Magog in Islam – Part 1 | Midwest Christian Outreach, Inc

By anonymous – Bibliothèque municipale de Toulouse, digitalization of MS 815, Apocalypse en vers français on ROSALIS, Public Domain

Gog and Magog are mentioned in the Bible as significant figures connected to prophecies about the end of the world. Magog is described as one of Noah’s grandsons (Gen 10:2), representing a people or nation from the north. In Ezekiel 38 and 39, we learn that Gog is a leader from the land of Magog who will assemble an army to fight against Israel in a future conflict. This battle showcases God’s power as He protects His people. Later, in Revelation 20:7-8, Gog and Magog symbolize nations from around the world uniting to challenge God’s followers, but God will ultimately defeat them.¹

In Islam, Gog and Magog are depicted as fierce tribes that cause chaos, promote corruption, and present a significant threat to humanity. Their story is commonly associated with Dhul-Qarnayn, a just ruler mentioned in the Quran. Dhul-Qarnayn is said to have built a massive barrier using iron and copper to contain Gog and Magog, preventing their escape and the widespread devastation they would bring to Earth. This barrier, established by God, keeps them confined until their destined emergence near the Day of Judgment.²

The eventual release of Gog and Magog from this barrier is considered one of the key signs of the impending Day of Judgment within Islam, a time when these fierce tribes will emerge in vast numbers, causing chaos and irreversible harm across the globe until they are divinely annihilated as part of God’s ultimate plan.³

This article will delve further into Islam’s perspective on Gog and Magog, as well as theories espoused by Islamic theologians regarding the identity of these figures. In part two of this article, we will compare and contrast the Biblical view of Gog and Magog with that of Islam.

Introduction

My husband and I were recently in Bradenton, Florida, visiting his cousins. While there, we visited the Bishop Museum of Science and Nature, which has a replica of The Universal Chart of Juan de la Cosa. The chart is the oldest known map of the New World and the North and South American Continents. On this map de la Costa depicts the demonic people of Gog and Magog. On one side of the map, the image is half dog and half human, and on the other side is a human whose chest is its head and is apparently eating human flesh. According to Paolo Vignolo of the National University of Colombia,

. . . the demonic peoples of Gog and Magog are depicted on the steppes of northern Scythia. According to a medieval legend, Alexander the Great imprisoned them behind a mountain range. With the sign announcing the Day of Judgment, these peoples will join the armies of the Antichrist who will invade the entire world. On the map, “Got and Magot” are portrayed as two anthropophagic beings from the tradition of Pliny the Elder: a Blemyas, “headless according to some,” shaking pieces of human flesh, and a cynocephalus, a dog-headed figure dressed in an elegant suit at the gates of a city.⁴

As I researched this map, I came across an article entitled “Dispelling the Fog From the Identity of Gog & Magog” by Shaykh Ridhwan Ibn Saleem, who is the chairman of the Ha Meem Foundation and a senior lecturer at the London College of Islamic Studies. I also watched his associated video lessons entitled The Prophecy of Gog and Magog in Islam. In Islamic eschatology Gog and Magog are referred to as Yājūj and Mājūj and are mentioned in sura 18 (verses 92 – 100) and sura 21 (verses 96 – 97) of the Quran. They are considered two hostile, corrupt forces that will ravage the earth before the end of the world.⁵ According to Encyclopedia Brittanica,

[Within the] Qurʾān, a certain people terrorized by Yājūj and Mājūj induced Dhū al-Qarnayn (a figure identified by some scholars as Alexander the Great and by others as either of the Persian kings Cyrus II or Darius I) to construct between Yājūj and Mājūj a great wall [depicted in green on de la Costa’s map] that neither could scale or penetrate. . . trapping both between two mountains until just before the Last Judgment. . . A hadith (recorded saying of the Prophet Muhammad) states that they dig under the wall every night trying to escape, only to find each morning that the wall has been restored by Allāh (God). Only at the appointed time will Allāh allow the wall to collapse, freeing Yājūj and Mājūj.⁶

According to Shaykh Saleem,

Long before Islam, Jewish and Christian tradition had built a legend around the figure of Alexander the Great and identified him with the Biblical prophet who had been given dominion over the ends of the Earth and had built the great barrier to contain the tribes of Gog and Magog. The great wall of Alexander was thought to lie somewhere in the Caucasus region according to legend.⁷

Who are Gog and Magog according to Islam and Are They Active Today?

Within his article Shaykh Saleem argues for his theory that the people of Gog and Magog have already been released from their prison. He references Sura 21:95-98, which states,

It is impossible for a society which We have destroyed to ever rise again, until after Gog and Magog have broken loose from the barrier, swarming down from every hill, ushering in the True Promise. Then—behold!—the disbelievers will stare in horror, crying, “Oh, woe to us! We have truly been heedless of this. In fact, we have been wrongdoers.” Certainly you disbelievers and whatever you worship instead of Allah will be the fuel of Hell. You are all bound to enter it.

Therefore, no territory or city that was conquered by Islam will ever be inhabited by infidels again until Gog and Magog are released. Before Islam came into the picture, Jerusalem was under the control of the Byzantine Empire. It was conquered by Islam in A.D. 635 or 638 but was reinhabited by the Jews in 1948; thus, fulfilling prophecy in the eyes of Shaykh Saleem. Shaykh Saleem states in his article,

The learned scholar, Shaykh Imran Husain, has proposed the idea that Gog and Magog have already been released from behind the barrier built by Dhul Qarnayn, by the permission of Allah the Majestic and Exalted. In fact, he argues convincingly in his book, ‘Gog and Magog in the Modern Age’, that the barrier was breached during the lifetime of the Prophet Muhammad . . . himself, thus fulfilling the command of Allah the Exalted,

“When the promise of my Lord comes to pass, He will bring it down.”⁸

Furthermore, within the Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim hadith literature (accounts of the sayings, actions, and approvals of the Prophet Muhammad that were written 240 to 250 years after Muhammed’s death) it states that it was revealed to Muhammed that Allah had made opening in the wall of Gog and Magog; thus releasing evil across the globe.⁹ According to Shaykh Saleem,

. . . they [Gog and Magog] were released during the lifetime of the Prophet. . . and they manifest again and again until their final and most severe manifestation is at the time of Prophet Jesus [the End Times].¹⁰

Within his article Shaykh Saleem discusses the book Gog and Magog in the Modern Age by Shaykh Imran Husain, who believes the tribes of Gog and Magog are the Khazar people of the Caucasus region in Central Asia. However, Shaykh Saleem considers Shaykh Imran’s analysis to be wrong and believes that “the idea that the barrier of Dhul Qarnayn. . . [being] in the Caucasus region. . . [came] into Muslim thought through the influence of Jewish and Christian sources. . . . [and thus, has] no basis in authentic revelation.” Shaykh Saleem instead makes an argument that it is the descendants of the Vikings who are Gog and Magog, manifesting themselves again and again.

. . . About 150 years after the Prophet Muhammad. . . the first Viking ships landed off the Northumbrian coast of Britain. . . . From then on, the outpouring of Viking hordes, from the Scandinavian peninsula, continued for countless generations, terrorizing the people of surrounding lands.¹¹

. . . For almost three hundred years, the Christian countries of Northern and Western Europe in particular were at the mercy of the Viking hordes. . . . Once these new people, characterised by warlike, brutal activity, had established themselves on the peninsula itself, they looked to further lands for domination.¹²

. . . Iceland was settled [by the Vikings] in 870, Greenland in 985, and they had reached the shores of America by 1000. The East coast of the Baltic. . . by the 9th century. . . [and] Viking colonisers established the first Russian dynasty in Novgorod and Kiev, which became known as the Rus Empire. In 809, in mainland Europe, Charlemagne was planning an expedition against the Viking chief, Godfred. In 826, a pirate fleet of 13 ships was repulsed trying to attack Flanders. However, they raided the South of France and “seized great booty”. In 844, they were even making inroads into Spain.¹³

. . . They [the Vikings] were willing to do what was necessary to acquire wealth and property. Many adopted the Christian faith for pragmatic purposes and in order to establish their domination over the conquered people.¹⁴

. . . By the beginning of the tenth century, their invasions of mainland Europe had come to an end as the Franks and Germans finally managed to put up effective resistance against them. However, the Vikings remained firmly entrenched in the powerful region of Normandy in Northern France. . . . In 1066, William of Normandy invaded England and established Norman rule. . . . The truth is that all British monarchs since William the Conqueror have been direct descendants of the Vikings.¹⁵

Is the reestablishment of Israel a fulfillment of Islamic prophecy or Biblical prophecy?

Is it possible that Shaykh Saleem is seeing things as he wants to see them? Is the reestablishment of Israel in 1948 a fulfillment of Ezekiel 36:24 or Sura 21:95-98? Are Muslims being deceived by Satan? We can see in John 13:2 that during the Last Supper, the devil had already put it into the heart of one of the Lord’s followers, Judas Iscariot, to betray Christ. Isn’t it also possible that Satan revealed the Quran to Muhammad to plant these and other false ideas in the minds of his followers, the Muslims?

We know from Jesus’ time in the wilderness that Satan not only knows Scripture but also quotes it to deceive us. In Luke 4:10-11, he tries to tempt Jesus by quoting Psalm 91:11-12, but Jesus was not fooled. If Satan knows scripture, then he knows prophecy as well. Is it possible that Sura 21:95-98 is being used by Satan to deceive people about the End Times and the identity of the Antichrist? Interestingly, the Riyad as-Salihin hadith states that after he kills the Islamic Antichrist, the Islamic Jesus will rule on earth for seven years, the exact length of time the Biblical Antichrist will rule on the earth according to Daniel 7:25 and Revelation 13:5–7.

The Messenger of Allah said, “Dajjal (the Antichrist) will appear in my Ummah [the global community of Muslim believers] and he will stay in the world for forty. I do not know whether this will be forty days or forty months or forty years. Allah will then send (Prophet) ‘Isa (Jesus), son of Maryam (Mary). ‘Isa will pursue him and slaughter him. Then people will survive for seven years. . . in the state that there will be no rancour between two persons .¹⁶

Furthermore, according to Islamway.net,

Security will dominate the earth that lions will wander peacefully with camels, tigers with cows, and wolfs with sheep. Children will play with snakes without any danger. After Jesus stays on the earth for seven years, Allah will send a cool breeze from the side of Ash-Sham (i.e., the Levant). None will remain upon the surface of the earth who has in his heart the smallest particle of good or faith but will then die.¹⁷

Part two of Gog and Magog in Islam will also cover the Dajjal [the Islamic Antichrist], who, according to the Sahih Muslim hadith, will be a Jew. It will also discuss why Islam is not in military jihad, yet, with the United States, which Shaykh Saleem believes is part of the progeny of the Viking people. In short, Gog and Magog within Islam are America and the West, and Allah will destroy them when they try to come against Jerusalem in the last days. Are we seeing this scenario playing out in the Middle East today? Are the chess pieces being arranged on the chessboard in preparation for the War of Gog and Magog? Personally, I would say yes, they most certainly are. However, the Bible clearly states that Israel and Jerusalem will never fall to their enemies again once they reinhabit the land.

“I will also plant them on their land,
And they will not again be rooted out from their land
Which I have given them,”
Says the Lord your God. (Amos 9:15)Ω

Stephanie Potts and her husband, Jim live in Dayton, Ohio, and have been married for 24 years. She worked with the federal government for 15 years as an intelligence analyst and then entered full-time Christian service in 2015. She first joined Haven Ministries in Denver, Colorado, in 2015 and then transferred to Midwest Christian Outreach, Inc in 2021. She received her Bachelor’s degree from Florida State University in Political Science and International Relations and received her Master’s degree in Geographic Information Systems from Penn State University. She is currently working towards her master’s degree in Christian Apologetics through Southern Evangelical Seminary. She has special interests in indigenous religions – especially Native American spirituality – and in responding to Catholicism, and the social justice movement. Stephanie’s personal website: rainbowapologetics.com

Gog and Magog in Islam – Part 1

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