Tafsir of Al-Kahf 18:98

(He said)—meaning Dhu al-Qarnayn—to those with him from the people of those lands and others, "This which has appeared at my hands and come about through my direct involvement—concerning this barrier, the nature of which has been described regarding its sturdiness and the difficulty of attaining it—(is a mercy)," meaning a trace of a great mercy. He expressed it as such for the sake of emphasis, (from my Lord) upon all servants, especially those who neighbor it. The state of the barrier being a mercy is taken literally. If the demonstrative pronoun refers to the ability [to construct it], then it is a mercy to them because it [the barrier] is the cause of that [ability]. Perhaps the former also returns to this, as the latter requires this interpretation, even if the matter regarding it is simple.

The news of it in the manner described is an intimation, as some have said, that it is not of the category of effects resulting from the direct action of creation in the ordinary sense; rather, it is purely a divine benevolence, even if it appeared through [human] involvement. In referencing the attribute of Lordship, there is a cultivation of the meaning of mercy. Ibn Abi Ablah recited it as hadihi rahmatun ("this is a mercy"), using the feminine demonstrative pronoun, which is explained as either observing the gender of the predicate or considering the thing referred to as the power and strength for that.

(And when the promise of my Lord comes)—that is, the time of His promise, may He be exalted. The speech involves the omission of a genitive qualifier, and the attribution to "the promise" is metaphorical, whereas it is, in reality, for its time. It is permissible that "the promise" here means "the promised [event]," which is its time or its occurrence; thus, there is no omission or metaphor in the attribution, but rather a metaphor in the object. The intended meaning of the time of that is the Day of Resurrection. It is also said: the time of the emergence of Gog and Magog. This is countered by the fact that the noble arrangement [of the text] does not support it. The meaning of its arrival is what encompasses its arrival and the arrival of its preliminaries, such as their emergence, the emergence of the Dajjal, the descent of Jesus (peace be upon him), and the like, not merely the proximity of its occurrence, as Zamakhshari and others have said, for some of the matters that will be recounted occur after its arrival inevitably.

(He will make it)—meaning the aforementioned barrier, with its sturdiness and firmness—(dakka')—with the extended feminine alif, and the described [subject] is an implied feminine, meaning "level ground." Some have said the speech is based on the assumption of an omitted qualifier, meaning "like dakka', and dakka' is a she-camel that has no hump." This assumption is necessary because the barrier is masculine and cannot be described by a feminine [adjective]. Those other than the Kufans read it as dakkan, acting as a verbal noun (masdar) of dakaktuhu ("I leveled it"), which carries the meaning of the passive participle, meaning "leveled and made even with the earth," or it is taken literally, with the description serving for emphasis. The accusative case is because it is a second object for "make" (ja'ala), in the sense of "transformed into." Ibn Atiyyah claimed it means "created," but that is nothing [of substance].

This transformation occurs at the time of the arrival of the promise, by the arrival of some of its preliminaries. In this, there is an explanation of the greatness of His power, may His majesty be exalted, after the explanation of the vastness of His mercy, may He be glorified. His knowledge of this transformation was, as it is said, among the consequences of his knowledge of the arrival of the Hour, for among its preliminaries is the leveling of the towering, deeply-rooted mountains—necessarily, it would not be completed without it. He gained knowledge of its arrival from the prophets who were in his era (peace be upon them). It is also possible that knowledge of all of this was by hearing from a prophet, just as knowledge of the time of their emergence—assuming that is what is intended by "the promise"—could be by way of ijtihad or by hearing.

In the book of Ezekiel (peace be upon him), there is news of their arrival at the end of time from the furthest parts of the North, among many nations whom none can count but Allah the Almighty, and of their corruption in the land, their intent toward Jerusalem, and their total destruction in its wilderness through various types of torment. He (peace be upon him) lived before Alexander conquered Darius. If he [Alexander] is indeed Dhu al-Qarnayn, then it is possible that he came across that and gained knowledge of what was mentioned; and Allah, the Most High, knows best. Furthermore, there is an omission in the speech, meaning: "And it will persist until the end of time, then when the promise of my Lord comes, He will make it dakka'."

(And the promise of my Lord is true)—meaning His promise, may He be glorified, which is known, or everything that He, the Almighty, has promised, so this enters into it as a primary inclusion. (True)—fixed, inevitably occurring, without doubt. This clause is a concluding remark (tadhyil) from Dhu al-Qarnayn regarding the conditional sentence he mentioned, and an affirmation of its content; and it is the last of what was recounted of his story, and the words of the Almighty...