During the reign of Isa (A.S.) people will live an
extremely peaceful life filled with prosperity and abundance. Then the wall
which imprisons Ya'jooj and Ma'jooj will break and they will surge forth in
large numbers.
"But when Ya'jooj and Ma'jooj are let loose and they rush
headlong down every hill" (Quran 21:97)
Who are the Ya'jooj and
Majooj?
Zul Qarnain (A.S.) who was a pious and just Ruler
traveled to
many lands and conquered them, establishing justice and the Law of Allah
therein. Allah provided him with all forms and material strength through
which he was able to carry out his conquests and missions.
He once
carried out a mission in three directions, the far west, the far east, and then
in a northerly direction. It was here that he came across a tribe of people who
complained to him about the tribes of Ya'jooj and Majooj which inhabited the
land behind two huge mountains and often emerged from behind these mountains to
perpetrate acts of anarchy and plunder among them. They requested Zul Qarnain
(A.S.) to erect a barrier between themselves and the tribes of Ya'jooj and
Ma'jooj so that they could be saved from their atrocities. With the material
strength at his disposal, Zul Qarnain (A.S.) enlisted their physical labor and
set about erecting a high wall between the two mountains. The height of the wall
or its exact length is unknown. What is known is that the height of this wall
reaches that of the summit of both mountains. It is made with blocks or sheets
of iron, which is further strengthened by molten lead. In this manner Ya'jooj
and Majooj are unable to scale the wall, or cross it, except when it is the will
of Allah.
"And when the promise of my Rabb (lord) approaches, He will level it to
dust" (Quran 18:98)
They are situated in a land of ice which is hidden
from our gazes and the exact location of which is unknown. Though many
interpretations do exist in this respect, none of these can be said to
absolute.
Ya'jooj and Majooj are human beings and according to a
narration they are from the progeny of Yafith ibn Nooh (A.S.).
Some
Hadith...
In a lengthy
Hadith by Nawwas ibn Sam'aan (R.A.)
Prophet Mohammed is reported to have
said:
"...Allah will send revelation upon Eesa (A.S.) that 'Such a
creation of mine is now going to emerge that no power will be able to stop them.
Therefore take my servants and ascend the Mount of Toor.' Then Ya'jooj and
Majooj will emerge and surge forth in all their fury. When those from among them
who constitute the former part of their army pass the lake of Tiberias (which is
in northern Palestine), they will drink up all the water of that lake and by the
time those that constitute the latter part of that same army pass the lake, they
will say, "There used to be water here (long ago). When they reach the Mount of
Khamr in Jerusalem, they will arrogantly proclaim: 'We have conquered the people
of the earth, now we will annihilate those in the sky.' So saying they will fire
their arrows towards the sky. When the arrows return to the ground they will be
blood stained.
In the meantime, Eesa (A.S.) will be on the Mount of Toor
with his followers. At that time the head of and ox will be as valuable as is a
hundred dinars to you in this day. [This indicates the scarcity of provisions].
Faced with these hardships, Eesa (A.S.) and his followers will make dua unto
Allah (to remove this calamity). As a result, Allah will cause sores to appear
on the necks of each and every individual of these people which will cause their
death suddenly. When Eesa (A.S.) and his followers descend from the Mount of
Toor there will not be a single space on the land where the dead rotting bodies
of these people is not littered, giving off a horrendous odor. Eesa (A.S.) and
his followers will once more supplicate unto Allah as a result of which Allah
will send down huge birds whose necks will be as thick as that of the necks of
camels, and they will dump these bodies in a place where Allah wills. (According
to a narration by Tirmidhi, they will be dumped at a place called
Nahbal).
Allah will then send down a heavy rain, the waters of
which will flow in every part of the earth cleansing it thoroughly. It will rain
for a period of forty days.
The Muslims will then burn the bows and
arrows of the Ya'jooj and Ma'jooj for a period of seven years.
Allah will
order the earth to yield forth its crops in abundance and there will be such
blessing and prosperity that one pomegranate will be sufficient for a whole
group while the peel thereof will suffice to cast a shadow over them. The milk
of one camel will be sufficient for many groups while one milk giving cow will
be sufficient for a whole tribe. One milk giving goat will be sufficient for a
whole family..."
(Muslim)
Abu Saeed Khudri (R.A.) narrates
that Prophet Mohammed said:
"On the day of Qiyamah
Allah will say to Adam (A.S.) to pick out the people of hell from his entire
progeny. Adam (A.S.) will ask: 'O Rabb, who are they?'
Allah will say:
'Nine hundred and ninety nine of a thousand are people of hellfire while the one is a
Jannati (person of heaven).'
On hearing this the Sahaba (companions) were overtaken by fear and they
asked "O Prophet Mohammed, who will that one Janniti
be?'
Prophet Mohammed said: 'Do not grieve, the
nine hundred and ninety nine will be Ya'jooj and Ma'jooj while you will be the
Jannati."' (i.e. your numbers in relation to them will be one in a
thousand).
(Bukhari and Muslim)
Abdullah ibn Umar (R.A.)
says that Prophet Mohammed said:
"Allah
divided mankind into ten parts. Nine tenths constitute Ya'jooj and Ma'jooj while
the remaining tenths constitutes the rest of mankind."
Zainab
bint Jahsh (R.A.) says: "...once Prophet Mohammed awoke
from such a sleep that his face was red and these words were on his tongue:
'There is none worthy of worship except Allah. Destruction is upon the Arabs on
account of the evil which has come close to them. Today a hole as big as this
has opened up in the wall of Ya'jooj and Ma'jooj.' ..and Prophet Mohammed indicated the size of the hole forming a ring with his index
finger and thumb."
(Bukhari and Muslim)
Abu Hurairah
(R.A.) narrates that every day Ya'jooj and Ma'jooj break (dig) through the wall
erected by Zul Qarnain (A.S.) until they reach the end of it to that extent that
they can actually see the light on the other side. They then return (home)
saying that 'We will break through tomorrow.' But Allah causes the wall
to revert to its original thickness and the next day they start digging through
the wall all over again, and this process continues each day until as long as
Allah wills them to remain imprisoned. When Allah wishes them to be released,
then at the end of the day they will say, "If Allah wills, tomorrow we will
break through." The following day they will find the wall as they had left it
the previous day (i.e. it will not have returned to its original state) and after
breaking the remaining part of it they will emerge."
(Ahmad, Tirmidhi,
Ibn Majah)
Commenting on the above Hadith, Allamah Ibn Arabi says, Three
miracles are evident in this Hadith:
1.) It never occurs to these tribes
that they must continue work during the night. After all, they are in such large
numbers that they can easily delegate the work among themselves and work in
shifts. But Allah does not allow this thought to occur to them.
2.) It
never occurs to them that they can merely cross the mountains or scale the wall,
which they can do through the aid of equipment and implements which they possess
in large numbers. According to a narration by Wahab ibn Munabbah it is known
that these tribes are agriculturists and artisans possessing various types of
equipment.
3.) The thought of saying "If Allah wills" never enters their
minds and it will only occur to them to say it when Allah wills that they be
released.
from: "Signs of Qiyamah" by Mohammed Ali Ibn Zubair
Ali
is reported to have
said:
