The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 3) — Page 701
PT. 16 AL-KAHF CH. 18 ط اتُونِي زُبَرَ الْحَدِيدِ حَتَّى إِذَا سَاوِى. Bring me blocks of iron. 97 They did so till, when he had بَيْنَ الصَّدَفَيْنِ قَالَ انْفُخُوا حَتَّى إِذَا levelled up the space between جَعَلَهُ نَارًا قَالَ أَتُونِي أُفْرِغْ عَلَيْهِ قطرات the two mountain sides, he said, "Now blow with your bellows. ' They blew with bellows till, when he had made it red as fire, he said, 'Bring me molten copper that I may pour it thereon. '2133 فَمَا اسْطَاعُوا اَنْ يَظْهَرُوهُ وَمَا So they (Gog and Magog. 98 اسْتَطَاعُوا لَهُ نَقْبان E were not able to scale it, nor were they able to dig through it. 2134 a mercy from my Lord. But قَالَ هُذَا رَحْمَةٌ مِّنْ رَّبِّي فَإِذَا Thereupon he said, “This is. 99 جَاءَ وَعْدُ رَبِّى جَعَلَهُ دَكَاءَ ۚ وَكَانَ when the promise of my Lord وَعْدُرَبِّي حَقًّان shall come to pass, He will break it into pieces. "And the promise of my Lord is certainly true. '2135 2133. Commentary: "19:62; 46:17; 73:19. In addition to human labour Cyrus demanded iron and molten copper from the inhabitants of the place. Copper, unlike iron, does not rust and when it is mixed with iron the mixture becomes all the more hard and defies rusting and corrosion. In order to keep the pass open for traders and commercial travellers Cyrus wanted to construct gates in the wall and for that purpose he required iron and molten copper. 2134. Commentary: completed the raids of Gog and Magog from the north ceased. The wall was too thick to be broken through and too high to be scaled. It was, as already stated, 29 feet high and 10 feet thick and had iron gates and watch-towers. It effectively defended the Persian frontier. 2135. Commentary: the The words, This is a mercy from my Lord, throw much light on humility and piety of Cyrus. Like a righteous servant of God he claimed for himself no credit for his vast conquests but ascribed all that he was When the building of the wall was able to achieve to the grace and 1909