"Then he followed his course further until he came to the place where the sun rises. . . ."
If now we wish to know who is the unknown servant
of God, we are told in this passage he is Dhulqarnein,
Alexander, the Sun; he goes to the place of setting and
he goes to the place of rising. The passage about the
unknown servant of God is explained by the commentaries
in a well-defined legend. The servant is Chidher, "the
verdant one," the never-tiring wanderer, who roams for
hundreds and thousands of years over lands and seas, the
teacher and counsellor of pious men; the one wise in
divine knowledge—the immortal.[31] The authority of the
Tabari associates Chidher with Dhulqarnein; Chidher is
said to have reached the "stream of life" as a follower
of Alexander, and both unwittingly had drunk of it, so
that they became immortal. Moreover, Chidher is identified
by the old commentators with Elias, who also did
not die, but who was taken to Heaven in a fiery chariot.
Elias is Helios.[32] It is to be observed that Ahasver also
owes his existence to an obscure place in the holy Christian
scriptures. This place is to be found in Matthew xvi:28.
First comes the scene where Christ appoints Peter as the
rock of his church, and nominates him the governor of
his power.[33] After that follows the prophecy of his
death, and then comes the passage:
"Verily, I say unto you, there be some standing here, which
shall not taste of death till they see the Son of Man coming in his
kingdom."
Here follows the scene of the transfiguration:
