Discourse Analysis of the Verses 83 to 98 of Surah Al-Kahf Based on Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis

A question that historians and religious scholars have long been unable to come up with a convincing answer is on the story of Dhu Al-Qarnayn, which is described in the Torah, the Bible, and the Quran. Some call him the King of Yemen, some Macedonian Alexander, and many believe he is the Cyrus King of Persia. The name "Dhu Al-Qarnayn" is mentioned three times in the 18th Surah of the Quran (Al-Kahf, verses 83 to 98) that the story and his identity are always in question. With the aim of identifying "Dhu Al-Qarnayn" through descriptive-analytical method, this study tried to analyze the aforementioned verses of the Surah Al-Kahf (words and sentences) based on the three levels of Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis (CDA): critical description, interpretation, and explanation. The CDA approach emphasizes the need to pay attention to the preservation and observance of all aspects of language, context and discourse. The present study in the process of CDA of those verses concluded that Dhu Al-Qarnayn is not the Yemeni king, Macedonian Alexander, and the Persian king Cyrus, who were all conquerors. Dhu Al-Qarnayn is a prophet from God Almighty with a mission to reform and help the servants of God and lived in the Iron Age before the birth of Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad (PBUH).