The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 3) — Page 702
CH. 18 AL-KAHF PT. 16 ވމ وَتَرَكْنَا بَعْضَهُمْ يَوْمَبِذٍ مُوجُ في And on that day We shall. 100 leave some of them to surge بَعْضٍ وَنُفِخَ فِي الصُّورِ فَجَمَعْتُهُمْ against others, and the trumpet جَمْعان will be blown. Then shall We gather them all together. 2136 "23:102; 36:52; 39:69; 50:21; 69:14. mercy of God. Cyrus thus behaved like the true believer that he was. The words, But when the promise of my Lord shall come to pass, show that Cyrus had been informed by revelation that sometime in future Gog and Magog would again spread to the South-East and this wall would then fail to retard or check their progress. This is the significance of the words, "He will break it". In 21:97 we are told that Gog and Magog would spread their tentacles all over the world. Metaphorically the "breaking of the wall" may also mean the decline of the political power of Islam, particularly of the Turks in Europe. With the weakening of the Turkish power the path for Christian nations of Europe to conquer the East became quite clear. 2136. Commentary: The verse means to say that at the time of the rise to power of Gog and Magog all peoples of the world will come together and the whole world will become like one country. Nation will fight against nation and kingdom against kingdom and malice, hatred and iniquity will abound. The reference evidently is to the present age. The rise of Gog and Magog or the Christian nations of the West to great power is also mentioned in 21:97 1910 where it is stated that, breaking through all barriers and impediments, these nations will occupy every position of power and eminence. They will quickly spread all over the world by means of their sea-power (in 21:97 means a high wave). When they have attained great power and have spread all over the world and the nations of the world have paid homage to them, then will the Divine promise about their destruction be fulfilled. The coming of divine visitation will be so sudden and swift that they will be taken completely by surprise and in utter dismay and bewilderment they will say to themselves that they never expected punishment to come upon them so soon. The present verse and vv. 21:97, 98 point to the fact that Gog and Magog will come not through a breach in any wall but over the waves of the seas, in steamships, and will hold sway over all the oceans of the world. They will scour the seas and their sea-journeys will be very quick, easy and comfortable. This prophecy of the Quran has met with remarkable fulfilment in our own time. The western Christian nations have scaled all the heights of material power. Great has been their rise and greater will be their fall!