The Holy Quran 18:86 — Surah Al-Kahf

Arabic text

حَتَّىٰٓ إِذَا بَلَغَ مَغْرِبَ ٱلشَّمْسِ وَجَدَهَا تَغْرُبُ فِى عَيْنٍ حَمِئَةٍ وَوَجَدَ عِندَهَا قَوْمًا ۗ قُلْنَا يَـٰذَا ٱلْقَرْنَيْنِ إِمَّآ أَن تُعَذِّبَ وَإِمَّآ أَن تَتَّخِذَ فِيهِمْ حُسْنًا

Translation

...until he reached the place where the sun sets (in a far westerly direction). He found it (the sun appearing as if it were) setting in a black spring (the ocean, which appeared black because of its vastness), where he found a nation (of Kuffaar living there). We told him (via the Nabi with him), "О Dhul Qarnayn! Either you punish (severely) them (fight them for not accepting Imaan when the message had already reached them previously) or you adopt a (very) kind attitude towards them (by inviting them to Imaan a second time before waging Jihaad)."

Tafsir (excerpt) — Tafsir Usmani

The journey to the west and the east: that is, it appeared to him so, just as it seems to those travelling by sea that the sun rises out of the water and sets in the water. Shah [Abd al-Qadir] ﵀ writes: “Dhu al-Qarnayn conceived a desire to see how far the inhabited world extended.

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