[18].Surah Al-Kahf [The Cave]: Ayat 86-87

 

Ayat 86. Until, when he reached the setting place of the sun, he found it setting in a spring of black muddy (or hot) water. And he found near it a people. We (Allah) said (by inspiration): "O Dhul-Qarnain! Either you punish them, or treat them with kindness."

Ayat 87. He said: "As for him (a disbeliever in the Oneness of Allah) who does wrong, we shall punish him; and then he will be brought back unto his Lord; Who will punish him with a terrible torment (Hell).

[Tafseer] This is the first of the three episodes here mentioned, his expedition to the west. "Reaching the setting of the sun" does not mean the extreme west, for there is no such thing. West and East are relative terms. It means a western expedition terminated by a "spring of murky water." This has puzzled Commentators, and they have understood this to mean the dark, tempestuous sea. If Dhu al Qarnain is Alexander the Great, the reference is easily understood to be the Lychnitis (now Ochrida), west of Macedonia . It is fed entirely by underground springs in a limestone region, where the water is never very clear. He had great power and great opportunity. He got authority over a turbulent and unruly people. Was he going to be severe with them and chastise them, or was he going to seek peace at any price, i.e., to wink at violence and injustice so long as it did not affect his power? He chose the better course, as described in the next verse. To protect the weak and the innocent, he punished the guilty and the headstrong, but he remembered always that the true Punishment would come in the Hereafter-the true and final justice before the throne of Allah. Though most powerful among kings, he remembered that his power was but human, and given by Allah. His punishments were but tentative, to preserve the balance of this life as he could appraise it. Even if his punishment was capital ("wrongdoer sent bad to his Lord") it was nothing compared to the dire consequences of sin, in the final Justice of Allah.

Hazrat Abu Abdullah bin Tariq bin Ashyam (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: Messenger of Allah [SAWW](PBUH) said, "He who professes La ilaha illallah (There is no true god except Allah), and denies of everything which the people worship besides Allah, his property and blood become inviolable, and it is for Allah to call him to account".

[Muslim Book 01, Chapter 01, Hadith # 034]. 

Lesson : as mentioned above in Surah Al-Kahf Ayat 87. "we shall punish him; and then he will be brought back unto his Lord; Who will punish him with a terrible torment (Hell)." This Hadith highlights two point of importance without them Faith is incomplete, first there is no true God except Allah (SWT), and second denial of everything which the people worship besides Allah (SWT).