Transliteration:( Hattaaa izaa balagha maghribash shamsi wajadahaaa taghrubu fee 'aynin hami'a tinw wa wajada 'indahaa qawmaa; qulnaa yaa Zal Qarnaini immaaa an tu'az ziba wa immaaa an tattakhiza feehim husnaa )
196. This means the place where population in the West comes to an end, beyond which there was no possibility of population, as there was only quagmire and bergs of ice. Here, this verse does not contradict science. Heavens and the earth are spherical. The sun, in reality, does not set at any given time. But, it rather disappears from our sight.Â
197. This means that from what was perceived one could gather that the cold in the West was so intense that it changed the water into icebergs Here, day and night is for the duration of a year. At the time of sunset it seems as if it is setting in this iceberg, just as the traveller at sea perceives the sun setting in the water.
198. This tells us that some servants are granted power and authority by Allah Almighty to punish those who they desire and pardon those whom they wish .
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The tafsir of Surah Kahf verse 86 by Ibn Kathir is unavailable here.
Please refer to Surah Kahf ayat 85 which provides the complete commentary from verse 85 through 88.
(18:86) until when he reached the very limits where the sun sets,[63] he saw it setting in dark turbid waters;[64] and nearby he met a people. We said: “O Dhu al-Qarnayn, you have the power to punish or to treat them with kindness.”[65]
63. “The setting place of the sun” does not mean the place of the setting of the sun. According to Ibn Kathir, it means that he marched to the west conquering one country after the other till he reached the last boundary of the land, beyond which there was ocean.
64. “He found it setting in a muddy spring”: If Zul Qarnain was Cyrus, then that place would be the western limit of Asia Minor and the black waters would be the Aegean Sea. This interpretation is supported by the use of the word ain instead of bahr in the Quran.
65. “We said” does not necessarily mean that Allah directly revealed to him these words, and that Zul-Qarnain was a Prophet or was the one who received inspiration from Allah, and the same is the reasonable conjecture. This concerns the time when Zul-Qarnain had taken possession of the land as a conqueror and the conquered people were utterly at your mercy. Then Allah posed a question before his conscience, as if to say: Now is the time of your trial. These people are utterly at your mercy, and you have the option either to behave unjustly towards them or to treat them generously.
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