2-80 حدثنا محمد بن إبراهيم بن إسحاق الطالقاني رضي الله عنه قال: حدثنا عبدالعزيز بن يحيى البصري قال: حدثنا محمد بن عطية قال: حدثنا عبد الله بن عمرو ابن سعيد البصري قال: حدثنا هشام بن جعفر، عن حماد، عن عبد الله بن سليمان وكان قارئا للكتب قال: قرأت في بعض كتب الله عز وجل إن ذا القرنين لما فرغ من عمل السد انطلق على وجهه فبينا هو يسير وجنوده إذ مر برجل عالم فقال لذي القرنين: أخبرني عن شيئين منذ خلقهما الله عز وجل قائمين؟ وعن شيئين جاريين؟ وعن شيئين مختلفين؟ وعن شيئين متباغضين؟ فقال له ذو القرنين :أما الشيئان القائمان فالسماوات والارض، وأما الشيئان الجاريان فالشمس والقمر، وأما الشيئان المختلفان فالليل والنهار، وأما الشيئان المتباغضان فالموت والحياة. قال: فانطلق فانك عالم.والحديث طويل أخذنا منه موضع الحاجة، وقد أخرجته تاما في كتاب النبوة

2-80 Abul Abbas Muhammad ibn Ibrahim ibn Ishaq al-Taleqani - may God be pleased with him - narrated that Abdul Aziz ibn Yahya al-Basry quoted Muhammad ibn Atiye, on the authority of Abdullah ibn Amr ibn Sa’id al-Basry, on the authority of Himad, on the authority of Abdullah ibn Suleiman who used to read many books as saying, “I have read in one of the Books of the Honorable the Exalted God that once Zul-Qarnayn finished building the dam he continued his travels. He ran into a knowledgeable man during his travels with his troops. The knowledgeable man asked him, ‘Let me know about the two things which are standing ever since the Honorable the Exalted God created them, the two things which are moving, the two things which are different from each other and the two things which are opposite of each other.’ Zul-Qarnayn said, ‘The two things which are standing are the heavens and the Earth. The two things which are moving are the sun and the moon. The two things which are differentfrom each other are the day and the night, and the two things which are opposite of each other are life and death.’ The knowledgeable man said, ‘Go. You are knowledgeable.”This tradition is long, but I have only mentioned a short part of it here as deemed necessary. I have narrated it in full in the book Kitab al-Nabuwah.