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1043
Dhu'l-karnein is also said to have built a wall to keep off two terrible monsters from preying upon the neighbouring countries in the North. These monsters, Gog and Magog by name, represent certain evil tendencies of the soul, probably, the carnal lust and egoism. The people for whose benefit the wall was built are described as those who could scarce understand what he said to them. These are they who follow the path of faith, hence incapable of comprehending the language of discriminative intellect. The idea is that Gog and Magog are prevented from invading the domain of Right Faith till the Judgment Day, which is equivalent to the Greek Kalends in rhetoric. The whole account thus appears to be a beautiful allegory describing the functions of intellect in its two aspects, i.e., as Tempter and Protector.
RECONCILIATION.
In comprehending the true nature of intellect we ought not to hastily jump to the conclusion that its sole function is to mislead mankind. As stated in the chapter on the fall, it is not the intellect that is bad in itself, but only its employment solely to determine the good and evil of things for our worldly ends. It is the tutor of will, it is true, but its pupil is by no means a docile, submissive child, as many would like to believe. Its helplessness before the freedom and explosiveness of its pupil is foreshadowed in the command to prostrate itself before him. It can only teach him knowledge which is agreeable to his disposition, and though it never fails to give the necessary warning when he takes a wrong step, it is powerless to prevent him from pursuing his own incli
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