In this respect, it is similar to the Hadīth Dhī ʾl-Qarnayn and is an example of the literary genre of Qisas al-Anbiya (Stories of the Prophets).
The Qissat depicts Alexander (Dhulqarnayn) as a faithful believer and as a proto-Muslim who spreads monotheism through his conquests.
Using the Islamic citation method of isnad, the text prefaces each narrative episode with a chain of transmitters that root in one of Muhammad's companions.
Dhulqarnayn constructs a replica of this castle that enables him enter the fortress, in which he finds a locked chest containing a tablet created by a pre-Adamic race known as the Yanuni that prophesies of the coming of Muhammad centuries later.
In the fourth version, Dhulqarnayn dies in Dawma al-Jandal, located in the al-Jawf province of Saudi Arabia near the border with Jordan.
[9] Dhulqarnayn's passing is also preceded by him preparing his mother to accept his death (expanding on a narrative originating in the third-century Alexander Romance) into which this text contains a rare introspection into Muslim women's culture.