Yajuj and Majuj

Sealed by Dhul-Qarnayn's iron and copper, released in Isa's era, ended by worms in a single night.

The account

Two nations of the children of Adam, corrupters on the earth of old, walled off by Dhul-Qarnayn behind iron sheets fused with molten copper between the two mountains (18:94-96), with the builder's disclaimer stamped on the work: "this is a mercy from my Lord; when the promise of my Lord comes, He will level it" (18:98). The Prophet ﷺ saw the first breach in his own era and woke red-faced: "woe to the Arabs from an evil that has drawn near; today a gap has been opened like this," ringing his thumb and finger (Bukhari 3346).

Their release is fixed in Muslim 2937, in the era of Isa after the Dajjal: "from every height they swarm" (21:96), the vanguard drinking Tiberias dry, the rearguard finding mud, their arrows returning from the sky stained as they announce victory over heaven. No army engages them; revelation directs Isa to shelter the believers at at-Tur while Allah ends the unfightable with naghaf worms in their necks, all of them "dead as the death of one soul." Birds like camels carry the corpses; a rain washes the earth to a mirror. Their multitude supplies the greater part of the Fire's people in Bukhari 3348. The full sequence stands at its Path chapter.

The facts

BarrierIron + molten copper
The breachShown to him ﷺ, a finger-ring
Engaged byNo one; du'a at at-Tur
Ended byNaghaf, in one night

The Qur'an on it

حَتَّىٰ إِذَا فُتِحَتْ يَأْجُوجُ وَمَأْجُوجُ وَهُم مِّن كُلِّ حَدَبٍ يَنسِلُونَ

Until, when Yajuj and Majuj are opened, and they swarm from every height.

Qur'an 21:96

The narrations

Today a gap has been opened in the barrier of Yajuj and Majuj like this.

Bukhari 3346 · Muslim 2880

Read beside it

The words

الدَّجَّالDajjalBelief

On the Path

People beside it

Places

BeforeDabbat al-Ard AfterIsa, The Descent

On the Characters page The Path