Dhul Qarnain

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Dhul Qarnain8, during the course of his journey, reached Dhulumat, where he came across a palace in which he noticed a youth standing there dressed in white, face raised towards the skies and his hands placed upon his lips.

The youth, upon seeing him, asked him who he was.

“Dhul Qarnain,” came the reply.

The youth (who was the angel Israfeel) said to him, “When the Day of Judgment arrives, I shall blow the Trumpet.” Then, picking up a stone and handing it to Dhul Qarnain, he said, “If this stone becomes satiated, you too shall become satiated and if this stone happens to be hungry, you too shall be hungry!”

Dhul Qarnain carried the stone to his friends and placed it on a scale in order to weigh it, but despite weighing against a thousand similar stones, it still weighed more than all of them taken together.9

At that moment, Prophet Khidhr (as) came to them; placing a stone on the opposite scale, he put some earth over the stone when suddenly, all of them observed that the scales had balanced perfectly. Dhul Qarnain wanted to know the reason for this from Prophet Khidhr (as), who explained: “Allah wished to admonish you that in spite of conquering so many nations, you are still not satisfied; man can never become satiated except when a handful of earth is dropped over his face, and nothing can fill his stomach except earth.”

Dhul Qarnain began to weep and turned back.

On another occasion, he came across a man sitting near a grave and fiddling with some decayed bones and decomposed skulls that lay before him. He asked the man what he was doing.

The man replied, “I want to separate the bones of the kings from those of the poor ones but find myself unable to do so.”

Dhul Qarnain passed by and thought to himself, “That act of his was intended for me.

He then settled down in Daumah al-Jandal10, abandoned his quest for global conquest and engaged himself in Allah’s worship.( Namunah-e-Ma’arif, Volume 4, Page 234; Layaliul Akhbar, Page 46 ) 

Reference : Anecdotes for Reflection Part 2