آتوني زُبَرَ الحَديدِ ۖ حَتّىٰ إِذا ساوىٰ بَينَ الصَّدَفَينِ قالَ انفُخوا ۖ حَتّىٰ إِذا جَعَلَهُ نارًا قالَ آتوني أُفرِغ عَلَيهِ قِطرًا
Bring me pieces of iron!’ When he had levelled up between the flanks, he said: ‘Blow!’ When he had turned it into fire, he said: ‘Bring me molten copper to pour over it.’
EXEGESIS
Zubar (pieces) comes from the verb zabara, which has two meanings; one is to fortify and strengthen something, and the other to collect. Zabartu al-biʾr means ‘I fortified the well with bricks’, and zabartu al-kitāb means ‘I collected a book’. It is said that the meaning connecting these two concepts is to make a distinct line by fortifying it. Such a line can be a line of written word, or anything else. The word zubar itself is the plural of zubrah, which relates to the meaning of collecting some things together. Zabūr refers to a book, since it collects words and letters. Here it means collected pieces of metal.
Ṣadafayn (flanks) is the dual of ṣadaf which means the side of something, like in the verse, So who is a greater wrongdoer than him who denies the signs of Allah, and turns away (ṣadafa) from them (6:157), where turning away is indicated by displaying one’s sides. Here it refers to the sides of the mountains. The sides of the mountains are called that because of how they face each other (taṣāduf). It is said that one on its own cannot be called a ṣadaf, because the description is used only when they are facing each other, although some have disagreed with this. It is said that a tall structure can also be called a ṣadaf because it resembles the side of a mountain.
Ufrigh means to pour. Here it has been said to mean to pour it over any gaps or holes.
Qiṭr (copper) literally means small parts which are separated from a whole. It is used for droplets of water but can also be used for anything molten, because it falls like droplets. Commonly it is used for copper, or more specifically and accurately molten copper.
However, because the general meaning of qiṭr may refer to anything molten, it has been said to refer to molten iron, or lead (molten lead), as well. Although this has been debated and some have criticised these as not being actual meanings of the word.
EXPOSITION
This verse describes in somewhat Quranically uncharacteristic detail the construction of the wall of Dhū al-Qarnayn. The provision of detail may be to relay to the audience a sense of Dhū al-Qarnayn’s grasp of technology, how God has given him the means to all things (verse 84). Alternatively, it could be to emphasise his personal involvement in the process. Or perhaps it is to convey the precise care and attention he paid to the matter. This would remind the audience – and the Jews who upon whose instruction the Prophet had been asked about Dhū al-Qarnayn – that he was very much invested in ensuring the safety of his subjects from the foreboding and apocalyptic Gog and Magog.
Bring me pieces of iron: this suggests that what we mentioned earlier regarding the tribute, that the unnamed tribe asking for help had access to some sort of mineral deposits in the mountains where they lived and had mined some of that. Dhū al-Qarnayn then asked for that raw iron to be made available to him showing them how to utilise it for the construction of the wall. This demonstrative method which involved the locals would have allowed them to learn how to make necessary repairs, should the need arise in the future.
When he had levelled up between the flanks: there is some disagreement as to what this means. One view suggests it means the wall was constructed as tall as the mountains. Another that he completely filled the gap between the two mountains.
Perhaps the best understanding is that he constructed first a stone wall that filled the gap between the two mountains, which he then lined up or filled up with pieces of iron. Fuel, charcoal or coal, was then piled up next to it, which was then heated to melt the metal.
He said: ‘Blow!’: the fuel was set on fire and, as was common in metal working, was blown on with bellows to increase the heat and convey it to the metal.
When he had turned it into fire: this expression is a figurative one, meaning as if the metal was fire, because of its intense heat. That is the iron had heated until it was molten and the pieces became as one single piece, in this way making the wall strong and fused together into one solid chunk of metal.
He said: ‘Bring me molten copper to pour over it’: as a final touch, the iron was then covered in copper to prevent it from rusting. This would have mitigated the primary flaw of an iron wall.
Another suggestion is that the iron and copper were mixed together, becoming as one (since the copper was poured over it when it was heated). Producing such an alloy of copper and iron can have added benefits and would have hardened it. Of course, we do not know the specific metallurgic processes that were used, how the iron was processed, or what ratio of copper was mixed, but the benefits of such alloys can be useful for precipitation hardening during aging, improving atmospheric corrosion, increasing hardness, and so on.
Herodotus interestingly describes the Babylonians as utilising iron and lead in binding together stones. If Dhū al-Qarnayn was Cyrus he would have witnessed this and the technology would have been familiar to him. Perhaps he even had Babylonians recruited into his engineering corps.
REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE
The classical exegetes have mentioned various details about how exactly Dhū al-Qarnayn went about constructing the wall; however, these are all extra-Quranic and speculative and there is no benefit in mentioning them. Some have also considered the wall to have been built miraculously. For example Rāzī says that God miraculously kept away the heat of the molten iron from the bodies of the workers. Others have related fantastic claims such as the wall being 100 parasangs (farsakh) in length. Such a large metal wall would have required an obscene amount of resources considering the availability at that time and we may safely disregard such claims.
[1] Tahqiq, 4/318-319.
[2] Tibyan, 7/92; Tabrisi, 6/763; Tabari, 16/20.
[3] Sharawi, pp. 8891-8892.
[4] Tibyan, 7/93; Tabari, 16/20-21.
[5] Qurtubi, 11/61; Tantawi, 8/574.
[6] Andulusi, 3/543; Mizan, 13/364.
[7] Qurtubi, 11/61.
[8] Baghawi, 3/217.
[9] Mizan, 13/364.
[10] Tahqiq, 9/289, q-ṭ-r.
[11] Tabrisi, 6/763.
[12] Tibyan, 7/93; Tabrisi, 6/763.
[13] Zamakhshari, 2/748.
[14] Tibyan, 7/93; Tabari, 16/21-22.
[15] Zamakhshari, 2/748; Baghawi, 3/217; Andulusi, 3/543; Alusi, 8/362; Mizan, 13/364.
[16] Tibyan, 7/93; Tabari, 16/22; Andulusi, 3/543.
[17] Tibyan, 7/93.
[18] Andulusi, 3/543; Mizan, 13/364.
[19] For example Alusi, 8/362; Nemuneh, 12/535-536.
[20] Alusi, 8/362; Munyah, 17/81.
[21] Nemuneh, 12/535.
[22] See also Tabrisi, 6/764.
[23] Mizan, 13/365.
[24] Tabrisi, 6/764; Nemuneh, 12/535; Munyah, 17/81.
[25] Nemuneh, 12/536.
[26] Baghawi, 3/217.
[27] Nemuneh, 12/536; Tantawi, 8/575.
[28] See for example A. A. Razumakov et al., “The Structure and Properties of Cast Iron Alloyed with Copper” in IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering. Accessed at: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1757-899X/124/1/012136/pdf.
[29] See Herodotus, The History of Herodotus, (trans. G. C. Macaulay) Book 1, p. 186. Accessed at: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2707/2707-h/2707-h.htm.
[30] Razi, 21/500.
[31] Zamakhshari, 2/747.