'Until when he reached between the two barriers,' meaning the two mountains that prevent from beyond them reaching those in front of them. They are at the edge of the land of the Turks, from what is adjacent to the lands of Armenia and Azerbaijan. It is a place where everything slips upon them. Ibn Kathir, Abu Amr, and Hafs from Asim read with a فتح (fatḥ) of the sīn, while the others read with a ضم (ḍamm). It was said that they are of one meaning, and it was said that the ضم is from the action of Allah, and the فتح is from the action of the people. 'He found beneath them,' meaning near them from the side that is closer to them towards the direction from which Dhul-Qarnayn came, 'a people,' meaning strong, whose language is extremely distant from the languages of the rest of the people due to the distance of their land from the other lands. Therefore, they 'can hardly understand a saying,' meaning they are far from being able to understand it well from those with Dhul-Qarnayn, as others do. The description of them indicates that they understand somewhat after great distance and long attempts, due to the lack of proficiency in their language from those with Dhul-Qarnayn, and the lack of proficiency among them in the language of anyone with him. This indicates that between them and the rest of the inhabitants of the earth, excluding Gog and Magog, there are vast plains and wide deserts that prevented their mixing with them. And that their ability to communicate in another's language is very distant due to their little preservation of the exit of their land from the limits of moderation, or for other reasons. It follows from this that they can hardly understand anything from the words of others, and this is the meaning of the reading of Hamzah and al-Kisai with a ضم of the تاء (tā) and a كسر (kasr) of the قاف (qāf). This indicates that their lack of understanding and their ability to convey understanding is constrained by what has preceded his saying.