From Greek Conqueror to Muslim Prophet: Alexander the Great in Islam
Hosted By: The National Library of Israel (NLI)
![](https://www.myjewishlearning.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Alexander-comforting-the-Dying-Darius-from-Nizamis-Book-of-Alexander-copied-in-India-17th-century-National-Library-of-Israel-English.jpeg)
Alexander the Great’s conquest of the known world lasted only eleven years from 334 to 323 BCE, but the legacy of that almost unbelievable achievement – building an empire stretching from Greece to India before the age of thirty – continued to reverberate throughout the centuries.
In the Islamic sphere, the portrayal of Alexander took a surprising and unexpected turn. Alexander’s figure is already hinted at in the Qur’an in the description of the “two-horned one”. However, the later tradition, especially the work of medieval Persian poets, gives us an Alexander driven not by conquest but by justice; having attained perfect philosophical wisdom, the Macedonian warrior became a monotheistic prophet.
Join us online for a discussion of the changing figure of Alexander, from ancient Greece to Medieval Iran:
“From Greek Conqueror to Muslim Prophet: Alexander the Great in Islam”
With Dr. Sam Thrope, curator of the Islam and Middle East Collection at the National Library of Israel
Monday, April 25th
8 pm Israel / 7 pm CET / 6 pm UK / 1 pm EST
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