Part 3 of the series “Before the Sun Rises from the West: The Doors Between Worlds”
Disclaimer: This series blends documented history, established scientific theory, cultural folklore, and personal reflection on Qur’anic verses and hadith. The reading of Mashriq and Maghrib as literal gateways reflects the author’s own interpretation and contemplation, not a claim of established tafsir or religious ruling. Readers are encouraged to weigh each part accordingly and to consult qualified scholars on matters of religious interpretation.
In the previous articles, we examined documented disappearances where compasses fail, and the mathematics of doorways between worlds. Now we arrive at the heart of the question: where are the gateways?
Gateways to Other Worlds
Every gateway leads to a different world, and each gateway possesses its own unique nature.
To locate such gateways, direction may be required. However, when we examine places such as the Bermuda Triangle and the Dragon’s Triangle of Japan, one of the most frequently reported phenomena is the failure of compasses.
Some locations cannot be found even with the aid of a compass.
In space, there is no concept of direction. Directions were established on Earth merely for human convenience.
But how many true directions actually exist?
Mashriq (East) and Maghrib (West)
The place from which the Sun rises was called Mashriq, and the place where the Sun sets was called Maghrib.
The literal meaning of Maghrib is “that which absorbs, draws in, or pulls toward itself.”
According to the ancient Egyptian Book of the Gates, which discusses the Sun’s journey through the night, gateways played a central role in the movement between realms.
According to Christian tradition, Mashriq is the place from which mankind originally came into this world.
As light emerges from Mashriq and travels toward Maghrib, so too shall the Son of Man emerge from Mashriq.
Reference: Matthew 24:27.
The Original Directions
The original directions are only two: Mashriq and Maghrib.
The remaining two are merely names given to the left and right.
Shumaal and Junoob
- Shumaal – Left
- Junoob – Right
Surah Al A’raf 7:17 – Then I will come to them from before them and from behind them and on their (Right) and on their (Left) and you will not find most of them grateful to You.
Surah An Nahl 16:48 – Have they not considered what things Allah has created? Their shadow incline to the (Right) and to the (Left) prostrating to Allah while they are humble.
Surah Al Kahf 18:17 – And you would have seen the sun as it rose inclining away from their cave to the (Right) and as it set declining away from them to the (Left) while they lay in its open space.
Surah Al Kahf 18:18 – And We turned them to the (Right) and to the (Left).
Surah Qaf 50:17 – When the two receivers receive seated on the (Right) and on the (Left).
Surah Al Haaqqah 69:25 – But as for he who is given his record in his left hand.
According to this perspective, Shumaal and Junoob function merely as references to the left and right, whereas the original directions are Mashriq and Maghrib.
However, Mashriq and Maghrib are not singular. There are many Mashriqs and many Maghribs.
Surah Al Baqarah 2:115 – And to Allah belongs the East and West so whatever you might turn there is the face of Allah indeed Allah is all Encompassing and Knowing.
Surah Ar Rahman 55:17 – He is Lord of the two sunrises and Lord of the two sunsets.
Surah As Saffat 37:5 – Lord of the heavens and earth and that between them and Lord of the sunrises.
Surah Al Ma’arij 70:40 – So I swear by the Lord of all risings and settings that indeed We are able.
Many Mashriqs and Many Maghribs
The Qur’an speaks not merely of one Mashriq and one Maghrib, but of many Mashriqs and many Maghribs.
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ supplicated:
“O Allah, place a distance between me and my sins as great as the distance between Mashriq and Maghrib.”
Reference: Bukhari 744.
This indicates the immense distance between Mashriq and Maghrib.
It is narrated that night emerges from Mashriq and day departs toward Maghrib.
Reference: Bukhari 1955.
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ also stated that the corner of Shaytan’s head, or the two horns of Shaytan, emerge from Mashriq.
References: Bukhari 3279, Bukhari 5296, Muslim 7292, Muslim 7297.
What Gateway Properties Would Look Like
If Mashriq and Maghrib are gateways rather than directions, they would possess specific, observable properties:
Mashriq (The Emerging Gateway)
- That which brings forth into our world
- A point of origination, not destination
- Things pass through it into our realm
The Qur’an tells us what emerges from Mashriq:
- Light emerges from Mashriq (the sun’s rising)
- Night emerges from Mashriq and travels toward Maghrib
- Dajjal emerges from Mashriq
- The horns of Shaytan emerge from Mashriq
- Fire emerges from Mashriq and drives people toward Maghrib
Notice the pattern: Mashriq is the source. It is where things originate before entering our world.
Maghrib (The Absorbing Gateway)
- That which draws inward and receives
- A point of termination, not origin
- Things pass through it out of our realm
The Qur’an describes:
- Light (the sun) travels toward and enters Maghrib
- Day departs toward Maghrib
- Repentance is accepted through Maghrib
- Things are drawn toward Maghrib
Notice: Maghrib is the terminus. It is where things go when they leave our world.
The Pairing (Mashriqain and Maghribain)
The Qur’an does not always speak of isolated gateways. It mentions “the two Mashriqs” and “the two Maghribs” – pairs of gateways that may function together:
“He is Lord of the two sunrises and Lord of the two sunsets.” (Qur’an 55:17)
This suggests that gateways may come in complementary pairs – an emerging gateway paired with its absorbing counterpart. Light emerges from one Mashriq and enters one Maghrib. But other things may follow different paired pathways.
Dajjal and Mashriq
After narrating the famous incident of Tamim Dari (R.A.) regarding Dajjal, the Prophet ﷺ said:
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ confirmed what Tamim Dari (R.A.) had witnessed. He said: “Have I not informed you regarding Dajjal? He is in the Mashriq, and he will emerge from the Mashriq.”
References: Muslim 7386, Muslim 3351.
A great fire will also emerge from Mashriq and drive people toward Maghrib.
Reference: Silsilah Sahihah 2612.
According to this view, everything that emerges comes from Mashriq, and everything that departs moves toward Maghrib.
The reading that follows is my own interpretive lens on these terms, not a claim about established tafsir, which generally treats Mashriq and Maghrib as directional or temporal references.
Mashriq and Maghrib Are Gateways
Mashriq is the gateway through which things emerge.
Maghrib is the gateway that draws things into itself.
The terms Mashriqain and Maghribain refer to interconnected gateways.
Mashriq represents gateways possessing the property of bringing things forth into our world. From one gateway comes the night, from another Dajjal, from another the horns of Shaytan, from another light, and from another fire.
Maghrib represents gateways possessing the opposite property – drawing things inward and absorbing them.
In some cases there is a single Mashriq and Maghrib, while in others they exist as interconnected pairs, referred to as Mashriqain and Maghribain.
The Gate of Repentance
Zirr ibn Hubaysh (R.A.) visited Safwan ibn Assal (R.A.) and was asked why he had come.
Zirr replied: “I came seeking knowledge.”
Safwan said that this was a noble purpose, for the angels spread their wings upon the earth for the seeker of knowledge.
Safwan then narrated a hadith concerning repentance.
Allah has placed a gate in the Maghrib. This gate has remained open since the creation of the heavens and the earth. Its opening and width are so vast that they equal a journey of seventy years. The gate remains open and will continue to remain open until the Sun rises from that direction. It is through this gate that repentance is accepted.
References: Jami’ al-Tirmidhi 3536, Sunan Ibn Majah 4070, Musnad Ahmad 8601, Mishkat al-Masabih 2345.
هَلْ يَنظُرُونَ إِلَّا أَن تَأْتِيَهُمُ الْمَلَائِكَةُ أَوْ يَأْتِيَ رَبُّكَ أَوْ يَأْتِيَ بَعْضُ آيَاتِ رَبِّكَ ۗ يَوْمَ يَأْتِي بَعْضُ آيَاتِ رَبِّكَ لَا يَنفَعُ نَفْسًا إِيمَانُهَا لَمْ تَكُنْ آمَنَتْ مِن قَبْلُ أَوْ كَسَبَتْ فِي إِيمَانِهَا خَيْرًا ۗ قُلِ انتَظِرُوا إِنَّا مُنتَظِرُونَ
“Do they [then] wait for anything except that the angels should come to them or your Lord should come or that there come some of the signs of your Lord? The Day that some of the signs of your Lord will come no soul will benefit from its faith as long as it had not believed before or had earned through its faith some good. Say, ‘Wait. Indeed, we [also] are waiting.'”
Surah Al An’am 6:158
“That sign is the rising of the Sun from Maghrib.”
References: Jami’ al-Tirmidhi 3536, Sunan Ibn Majah 4070, Musnad Ahmad 8601, Musnad Ahmad 13035.
Why This Matters: The Gateway Closing
This hadith describes a threshold moment in cosmic history. As long as Maghrib remains open and receiving, repentance is accepted. Allah, in His infinite mercy, keeps the gate open for return.
But there is a sign that precedes the end of times: the sun rising from Maghrib.
When this occurs – when the sun rises from the west instead of the east – the gateway system is disturbed. The normal order by which things emerge from east and are absorbed into west reverses.
On that day, the gate of repentance closes. The period for return ends. The system of gateways shifts into its final configuration.
This is not a metaphor. It is described as a cosmic physical event. That sign is the reversal of the sun’s path, the rising of the sun from Maghrib.
What this suggests: The gateways are not static. They operate according to laws we do not fully understand. They can be disturbed. Their properties can shift. And our position in relation to them – what remains open, what closes – is not permanent.
When One Gateway Is Disturbed
And when the Word befalls them, We will bring forth for them a creature from the earth speaking to them.
Surah An Naml 27:82
According to this perspective, the disturbance of one gateway signifies the disturbance of all gateways.
The Opening of the Heavens
And the heaven is opened and will become gateways.
Surah An Naba 78:19
This verse is understood here as describing a state in which the heavens themselves become gateways.
Neither of the Mashriq Nor of the Maghrib
Allah is the light of the heavens and the earth. The example of His light is like a niche within which is a lamp, the lamp is within glass, the glass as if it were a pearly white star lit from the oil of a blessed olive tree, neither of the east nor of the west, whose oil would almost glow even if untouched by fire. Light upon light. Allah guides to His light whom He wills, and Allah presents examples for the people, and Allah is Knowing of all things.
Surah An Noor 24:35
Allah Is Beyond All Gateways
Allah is free from all such gateways.
Whether there is a single Mashriq or a single Maghrib, many Mashriqs or many Maghribs, He alone is the Lord of them all.
He is the Lord of every world and every realm.
He is Rabb-ul-‘Alameen – the Lord of All Worlds.
Conclusion: A Question for the Reader
We have traveled through documented disappearances, mathematical frameworks, ancient traditions, and Qur’anic testimony. We have drawn lines between them. We have proposed that Mashriq and Maghrib are not merely directions but actual gateways between worlds.
But the real question is not whether this interpretation is correct. The real question is what you do with it now that you’ve considered it.
Three Invitations to Reflection
First: Reconsider the Disappearances
Next time you read about ships vanishing, aircraft going missing without explanation, people lost in regions where compass technology fails – ask yourself: What if the explanation is not “we don’t understand the weather” but “we are glimpsing a threshold where our world meets another”?
This doesn’t require belief in gateways. It only requires refusing the comfortable explanation. It requires sitting with uncertainty and asking: What if I’m wrong about how reality works?
Second: Re-read Surah Al-Kahf with New Eyes
The story of Dhul-Qarnayn is not presented in the Qur’an as legend or metaphor. It is presented as history. Allah gave him means (asbaab) to journey, and journey he did.
Read verses 18:86 and 18:90 again:
“Until, when he reached the setting of the sun, he found it [as if] setting in a spring of dark mud, and he found near it a people.”
“Until, when he came to the rising of the sun, he found it rising on a people for whom We had not made against it any shield.”
Ask yourself: What did he actually find? Not metaphorically. What was he describing when he saw the sun setting into dark mud, or rising over an exposed people? What would convince him that he had reached the actual Mashriq and Maghrib, not merely traveled east and west on a map?
Then ask: If he reached these places, do they still exist?
According to classical Islamic tradition, the Quraysh consulted Jewish scholars, who instructed them to ask the Prophet Muhammad about a man who had journeyed to the east and the west. In response, Allah revealed the account of Dhul-Qarnayn in Surah Al-Kahf (18:83–98).
References: Ibn Hisham, Sirat Rasul Allah (from Ibn Ishaq); Asbab al-Nuzul; Tafsir Ibn Kathir.
Third: Look for the Thresholds in Your Own Life
Not all gateways are geographic. Throughout your life, you have experienced moments where the normal rules seemed to break down:
- Moments where time felt strange (an hour like a minute, or a minute like an hour)
- Places where you felt disoriented without knowing why
- Experiences that seemed to come from outside the normal order of cause and effect
- Dreams so vivid they seemed more real than waking life
The question is not whether these are “really” glimpses of other worlds. The question is: What if the boundary between worlds is thinner than we assume? What if it’s not in distant places, but everywhere, waiting to be recognized?
The Practical Question
If this is true – if Mashriq and Maghrib are real gateways, and if we live in a cosmos with multiple layers of reality – then the way you live your life should change.
The Gate of Repentance remains open. That is the central teaching of the hadith we examined. At this moment, while the gate remains open toward Maghrib, you are still able to return. You are still able to turn.
The question becomes urgent: What are you doing while the gate is still open?
Not in the distant future. Not when you have all the answers. But now.
One Final Word
This series has offered one lens for reading together the threads of documented mystery, mathematical possibility, and religious testimony. Other lenses are available. Simpler explanations exist for many of these phenomena.
But you now hold the question. You cannot un-ask it.
The Qur’an tells us that Dhul-Qarnayn reached the gateways. It tells us someone got there. Someone saw what was there. Someone came back with an account.
The invitation is not to believe him without question. The invitation is to stop assuming you know a priori that what he claimed is impossible.
The gateways may be open. The boundaries may be thin. And the question of what lies beyond them – beyond Mashriq and beyond Maghrib – is perhaps the most important question a human being can ask.
Allah alone knows what they saw, and what they found. But someone has already been there.
The question for you is: Having read this, what will you do differently?
Research presented in this series is attributed to the respected Furqan Qureshi. Special thanks are extended to him for compiling and presenting this important and valuable information. May Allah grant him abundant reward and blessings for his efforts.
