وَيَسْـَٔلُونَكَ عَن ذِى ٱلْقَرْنَيْنِ ۖ قُلْ سَأَتْلُوا۟ عَلَيْكُم مِّنْهُ ذِكْرًا
Wa yas'aloonaka 'an Zil Qarnaini qul sa atloo 'alaikum minhu zikraa
اور تم سے ذوالقرنین کے بارے میں دریافت کرتے ہیں۔ کہہ دو کہ میں اس کا کسی قدر حال تمہیں پڑھ کر سناتا ہوں
They ask you about Dhul-Qarnayn. Say, "I will recite to you an account of him."
The question put is who the man was, and the answer offered is dhikr, an account: the surah supplies his deeds and withholds his identity. Proposals have included a Himyarite king, a Persian ruler and Alexander, and fourteen centuries have not closed the matter. The three expeditions that follow read better once the missing name is taken as deliberate.