Episode 2
The Journey Eastward: A People Beneath the Blazing Sun
⏳ Audio is being processed — you can listen online for now.📄 PDF
After establishing justice at the western edge, Dhul-Qarnayn once again followed a way. He travelled in another direction, toward the place where the sun rises. He crossed land after land until he reached the place of the sunrise. There he found the sun rising upon a people for whom God had provided no shelter from its light. They were a people living in open land, without the shade of buildings or trees to cover them from the heat. God affirms, "Thus" — meaning Dhul-Qarnayn treated this eastern people just as he had treated the western people: with the same justice, distinguishing the believer from the wrongdoer. And God declares that He fully encompassed with His knowledge everything that Dhul-Qarnayn possessed — all his strength, knowledge, and means were entirely within the scope of God's knowledge. These verses are brief yet rich in meaning. The Qur'an does not occupy the reader with geographic detail or the appearance of that people; instead it directs the heart to the heart of the lesson: a ruler who moves from one end of the earth to the other still carries the same justice, and still remains under the watch of God's knowledge. Reflection: However vast a person's power and however far his journey, he never steps outside the encompassing knowledge of God. True justice does not change with place or with the condition of the people one faces — Dhul-Qarnayn treated east and west by the same measure. And God is ever fully aware of all we possess and all we do.
Next →
Between the Two Mountains: The Complaint of Gog and Magog