We said, "O Dhoulkarnain! either chastise or treat them generously."
"The impious," said he, "will we surely chastise;" then shall he be taken back to his Lord, and he will chastise him with a grievous chastisement.
But as to him who believeth and doeth that which is right, he shall have a generous recompense, and we will lay on them our easy behests.
Then followed he a route,
Until when he reached the rising of the sun he found it to rise on a people to whom we had given no shelter from it.
Thus it was. And we had full knowledge of the forces that were with him.
Then followed he a route
Until he came between the two mountains, beneath which he found a people who scarce understood a language.
They said, "O Dhoulkarnain! verily, Gog and Magog18 waste this land; shall we then pay thee tribute, so thou build a rampart19 between us and them?"
He said, "Better than your tribute is the might wherewith my Lord hath strengthened me; but help me strenuously, and I will set a barrier between you and them.