| has gloss | eng: Cyrus the Great in the Quran is a theory that holds that the character of Dhul-Qarnayn, mentioned in the Quran, is in fact Cyrus the Great. Dhul-Qarnayn (Arabic for "the two-horned") is mentioned in the Quran. The story of Dhul-Qarnayn appears in sixteen verses of the Quran, specifically the 16 verses 18:83-98 (Al Kahf). There is extensive ongoing debate on who exactly was the historical character of Dhul-Qarnayn. Classical Muslim scholars believed that Dhul Qarnayn is Alexander the Great in the Qur'an. However, in recent years, alternative theories have been proposed supporting other explanations. The most prominent of these is the theory that Dhul-Qarnayn was none other than Cyrus the Great of Achaemenid Persia. This theory has been endorsed by such scholars as Maududi, the Indian minister Maulana Abul Kalam Azad , Allameh Tabatabaei, and Naser Makarem Shirazi , among others. Cyrus was also a follower of Zoroastrianism, which has some similarities to Islam and Judaism. However, Ibn Katheer mentions in his history Al-Bidayah Wan-Nihayah that Dhul Qarnayn was a Muslim and he quotes a number of narrations to support this, including that of Al-Hasan Al-Basri. |
