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Gog and Magog are two tribes, not two men

Question

You said in fatwa 22215 that Ya’jooj and Ma’jooj (Gog and Magog) are two tribes who descend from Adam, peace be upon him. They are like other humans; they eat, drink, marry, reproduce, and die". How can this be possible? If they are like any other humans, then they must have died by now, as they have been living for centuries, and yet they are still meant to come at the end of times to destroy humanity. If they are meant to die, they would have died by now! And as far as they are concerned, I read that Gog and Magog are two persons, not two tribes; is that true? What do you have to say about this?

Answer

All perfect praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) is His slave and Messenger.

Saying that Gog and Magog are the names of two men is wrong; the truth is what we have mentioned: that they are two great tribes, as stated in authentic ahaadeeth.

This is supported by the fact that the Quran spoke about them using the Arabic noun "mufsidoon" (corrupters), which indicates that their number is more than two; Allah says (what means): {They said: O Thul-Qarnayn, indeed Gog and Magog are [great] corrupters in the land.} [Quran 18:94] [Taking into account that in Arabic, there is a word that indicates two (dual), and if they were only two, then this word (mufsidaan) would have been used instead of the plural form that indicates more than two.]

Also, what was reported about their extensive harm and corruption in the land indicates their abundance and their great number.

Ibn Qudaamah  may  Allaah  have  mercy  upon  him said in Lam'atul-I'tiqaad, "It is an obligation to believe in everything that the Prophet  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) said and which was authentically reported from him, whether in regard to what we have seen or what we did not see, and we should know and realize that it is the truth, whether this is in regard to what we know or what we have no knowledge of and did not realize its real meaning ... among which are the signs of the Hour such as: the emergence of the Dajjaal (Antichrist); the descent of ‘Eesa (Jesus), the son of Mary, who will kill the Dajjaal; and the emergence of Gog and Magog…"

We have not come across any statements of the scholars as to whether or not Gog and Magog die and have successive generations, but there is a narration that is understood to mean that they do have successive generations. We refer here to the statement of Abdullah ibn ‘Amr, may Allah be pleased with him, who said, "The first among Gog and Magog will pass by a river called the Tigris, and their last will pass by it and say: there was water in this river once; and a man amongst them will not die until he leaves behind one thousand of his offspring..." This was cited by Al-Haakim in his book Al-Mustadrak, and he said, it is Saheeh (sound) according to the conditions set by Al-Bukhaari and Muslim. Ath-Thahabi also agreed with him in his Talkhees.

This narration was also reported in Saheeh Ibn Hibbaan and attributed to the Prophet  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) on the authority of Ibn Mas‘ood, may Allah be pleased with him, but it is a weak hadeeth.

For more benefit, please refer to fatwa 22215.

Allah knows best.

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