Ibn Ishaq recorded many pre-Islamic Arabic poems in the Sira, including a poem about Dhul-Qarnayn that he claims was composed by a pre-Islamic king of ancient Yemen named Tubba':
Dhu’l-Qarnayn before me was a Muslim
Conquered kings thronged his court,
"East and west he ruled", yet he sought
Knowledge true from a learned sage.
"He saw where the sun sinks from view"
In a pool of mud and fetid slime
Before him Bilqis [Queen of Sheba] my father's sister
Ruled them until the hoopoe came to her.[21]
The poem's reference to "a learned sage" from whom Dhul-Qarnayn sought knowledge from may be a reference to the story of Dhul-Qarnayn and Al-Khidir. Other pre-Islamic Arab poems about Dhul-Qarnayn are also reported in the Sira literature:
The pre-Islamic poet Al-`Asha and the contemporary of Muhammad Hassan ibn Thabit (?-674 AD) both composed verses referring to the conquest of Gog and Magog and furthest east by Dhu`l-qarnain.[14]
The pre-Islamic poet Al-`Asha and the contemporary of Muhammad Hassan ibn Thabit (?-674 AD) both composed verses referring to the conquest of Gog and Magog and furthest east by Dhu`l-qarnain.[14]
One poem by Hassan ibn Thabit reads:
One poem by Hassan ibn Thabit reads:
Ours the realm of Dhu 'l-Qarnayn the glorious
Realm like his was never won by mortal king.
"Followed "he the Sun" to view its setting
When it sank into the somber ocean-spring;
Up he clomb to see it rise at morning,
From within its Mansions when the East it fired;
All day long the "horizons" led him "onward",
All night through he watched the stars and never tired.
Then of iron and of liquid metal
He prepared a rampart not to be o'erpassed,
Gog and Magog there he threw in prison
Till on Judgement Day they shall awake at last[22]
