His saying, exalted and majestic is He:

﴿Until when Gog and Magog are opened, and they are from every height rushing forth﴾ ﴿And the true promise has drawn near, and behold, the eyes of those who disbelieved are staring in horror. They say, 'Woe to us! We were indeed in a state of heedlessness regarding this. Rather, we were wrongdoers.'﴾

The word "until" in this verse can be related to His saying: "and they were cut off," and it can also be related, according to some of the earlier interpretations, to "they will be returned," and it can be a particle of beginning, which is the most apparent due to "when"; because it necessitates a response, which is the intended mention.

There is a disagreement here regarding the response. One group said: the response is His saying: "the promise has drawn near," and the "and" is extra. Another group - among them is Al-Zajjaj and others - said: the response is in His saying: "Woe to us!" The estimation is: they said, 'Woe to us,' and the "and" is not extra. What I say is that the response is in His saying: ﴿And behold, the eyes of those who disbelieved are staring in horror﴾, and this is the meaning that is intended to be mentioned because it is their return that they used to deny and it has been forbidden for them to refuse it.

The majority read: "are opened" with a lightening of the 'taa', while Ibn 'Amir alone read: "are opened" with a heavy 'taa'. It has been narrated that Gog and Magog overlook the opening every day and they say: 'Tomorrow it will be opened,' and they do not attribute the will to Allah, exalted and majestic is He. So when tomorrow comes, they find the barrier as it was at first, until when Allah permits its opening, one of them says: 'Tomorrow we will open it, if Allah wills,' and they find it as they left it, close to the opening, and they will open it then.

And 'Asim alone read: "Gog and Magog" with a hamzah, while the majority read with ease. It has been previously mentioned in Surah Al-Kahf the explanation of that and much about the state of Gog and Magog, so we have omitted repeating that here.

And "the height" refers to every elevated part of the earth, such as a mountain, a hill, a mound, a grave, and the like. One group said: what is meant by His saying: "and they" is Gog and Magog, meaning that they emerge from every pass and elevation and they cover the earth, and this is because they are so numerous that the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, said: 'Allah, exalted and majestic is He, will say on the Day of Resurrection: O Adam, bring forth the delegation of the Fire from your offspring.' He will bring forth from every thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine. The people were terrified, and the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, said: 'Indeed, among you is one man and from Gog and Magog are a thousand men.' It is narrated that a man from them does not die until he has a thousand children between a male and a female. Another group said: what is meant by His saying: "and they" is all of the world, and it is merely a reference to the resurrection from the graves. Ibn Mas'ud read: "from every grave," and this reading supports this interpretation.

And "they rush forth" means: they hurry in a rush, and from it is the saying of the poet:

The wolf's cub has become close, the cold of the night has come upon him, and he rushes forth.

And one group read with a kasrah on the 'seen', and another group read with a dammah.

Al-Tabari reported from Abu Sa'id who said: Ya'juj and Ma'juj will emerge and they will not leave anyone except that they kill him, except for the people of the fortresses. They will pass by the Tabariyya lake, and the last of them will say: There was water here. Then Allah will send upon them the naghaf until He breaks their necks. The people of the fortresses will say: The enemies of Allah have perished. They will lower a man to look and he will find that they have perished. Then Allah will send down water from the sky and cast them into the sea, thus purifying the earth from them. And in the hadith of Hudhayfah, there is something similar to this, and at the end of it, he said: And at that time, the sun will rise from its west. It has been narrated that Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, saw boys playing and some of them jumping on one another, and he said: This is how the emergence of Ya'juj and Ma'juj will be.

And His saying, the Exalted: "And the true promise has drawn near" refers to the Day of Resurrection. It has been narrated in the hadith: "Indeed, a man will take the flocks after Ya'juj and Ma'juj, but he will not reach their benefit until the Hour rises." And His saying: "It is" is the opinion of Sibawayh that it is a pronoun referring to the story, as if he said: So when the story or the incident is present, the eyes are fixed. Al-Farra' permitted that it could be a pronoun referring to the eyes that preceded it for the indication of the speech, and what explains it will come. He recited in support of that:

No, by my father, do not say my beloved Indeed, Malik ibn Abi Kab is fleeing from me.

And the fixing of the gaze means: the intensity of looking without blinking, and that occurs from extreme fear or an ailment or something similar.

And His saying: "O woe to us" means: O woe to us, we were indeed heedless of what we have found now and have realized of the truths. Then they left the first statement and returned to criticizing what had entered them from deliberate disbelief and intentional avoidance, and they said: "Rather, we were wrongdoers."