reappraisal of the qur’ānic story of “dhul qarnayn and the sun”

according to the story of dhul qarnayn and the sun – which is recounted in verses 86 and 90 of sūrat al-kahf – dhul qarnayn reaches the place where the sun sets and finds out that the sun sets in a hot or muddy spring. analyzing this qur’ānic report, the learned scholars have developed three major approaches. first, considering the story of dhul qarnayn as real and accepting the surface meanings of the verses which are not acceptable due to their contradiction with the explicit science. second, considering the story of dhul qarnayn as real and putting the verses through ta’wīl, which, with a slight criticism and moderation, is preferred by the author of this article. third, considering the story of dhul qarnayn as unreal and accepting the surface meanings of the verses, which, given the realistic perspective of the qur’ān in recounting the stories of the ancients, does not sound to be much indisputable. the present article attempts to demonstrate the weak and strong points of each of these three approaches.