Surah 18. Al-Kahf

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Verses [Section]: 1-12[1], 13-17 [2], 18-22 [3], 23-31 [4], 32-44 [5], 45-49 [6], 50-53 [7], 54-59 [8], 60-70 [9], 71-82 [10], 83-101 [11], 102-110 [12]

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Quran Text of Verse 18-22وَ تَحْسَبُهُمْAnd you (would) think themاَیْقَاظًاawakeوَّ هُمْwhile theyرُقُوْدٌ ۖۗ(were) asleepوَّ نُقَلِّبُهُمْAnd We turned themذَاتَtoالْیَمِیْنِthe rightوَ ذَاتَand toالشِّمَالِ ۖۗthe leftوَ كَلْبُهُمْwhile their dogبَاسِطٌstretchedذِرَاعَیْهِhis two forelegsبِالْوَصِیْدِ ؕat the entranceلَوِIfاطَّلَعْتَyou had lookedعَلَیْهِمْat themلَوَلَّیْتَyou (would) have surely turned backمِنْهُمْfrom themفِرَارًا(in) flightوَّ لَمُلِئْتَand surely you would have been filledمِنْهُمْby themرُعْبًا (with) terror وَ كَذٰلِكَAnd similarlyبَعَثْنٰهُمْWe raised themلِیَتَسَآءَلُوْاthat they might questionبَیْنَهُمْ ؕamong themقَالَSaidقَآىِٕلٌa speakerمِّنْهُمْamong themكَمْHow longلَبِثْتُمْ ؕhave you remainedقَالُوْاThey saidلَبِثْنَاWe have remainedیَوْمًاa dayاَوْorبَعْضَa partیَوْمٍ ؕ(of) a dayقَالُوْاThey saidرَبُّكُمْYour Lordاَعْلَمُknows bestبِمَاhow longلَبِثْتُمْ ؕyou have remainedفَابْعَثُوْۤاSo sendاَحَدَكُمْone of youبِوَرِقِكُمْ(with this) silver coin of yoursهٰذِهٖۤwith this (silver coin of yours)اِلَیtoالْمَدِیْنَةِthe cityفَلْیَنْظُرْand let him seeاَیُّهَاۤwhich isاَزْكٰیthe purestطَعَامًاfoodفَلْیَاْتِكُمْand let him bring to youبِرِزْقٍprovisionمِّنْهُfrom itوَ لْیَتَلَطَّفْ ؔand let him be cautiousوَ لَاAnd let notیُشْعِرَنَّbe awareبِكُمْabout youاَحَدًا anyone اِنَّهُمْIndeed [they]اِنْifیَّظْهَرُوْاthey come to knowعَلَیْكُمْabout youیَرْجُمُوْكُمْthey will stone youاَوْorیُعِیْدُوْكُمْreturn youفِیْtoمِلَّتِهِمْtheir religionوَ لَنْAnd neverتُفْلِحُوْۤاwill you succeedاِذًاthenاَبَدًا ever 18. Al-Kahf Page 296وَ كَذٰلِكَAnd similarlyاَعْثَرْنَاWe made knownعَلَیْهِمْabout themلِیَعْلَمُوْۤاthat they might knowاَنَّthatوَعْدَ(the) Promiseاللّٰهِ(of) Allahحَقٌّ(is) trueوَّ اَنَّand thatالسَّاعَةَ(about) the Hourلَا(there is) noرَیْبَdoubtفِیْهَا ۗۚin itاِذْWhenیَتَنَازَعُوْنَthey disputedبَیْنَهُمْamong themselvesاَمْرَهُمْabout their affairفَقَالُواand they saidابْنُوْاConstructعَلَیْهِمْover themبُنْیَانًا ؕa structureرَبُّهُمْTheir Lordاَعْلَمُknows bestبِهِمْ ؕabout themقَالَSaidالَّذِیْنَthose whoغَلَبُوْاprevailedعَلٰۤیinاَمْرِهِمْtheir matterلَنَتَّخِذَنَّSurely we will takeعَلَیْهِمْover themمَّسْجِدًا a place of worship سَیَقُوْلُوْنَThey sayثَلٰثَةٌ(they were) threeرَّابِعُهُمْthe forth of themكَلْبُهُمْ ۚtheir dogوَ یَقُوْلُوْنَand they sayخَمْسَةٌ(they were) fiveسَادِسُهُمْthe sixth of themكَلْبُهُمْtheir dogرَجْمًۢاguessingبِالْغَیْبِ ۚabout the unseenوَ یَقُوْلُوْنَand they sayسَبْعَةٌ(they were) sevenوَّ ثَامِنُهُمْand the eight of themكَلْبُهُمْ ؕtheir dogقُلْSayرَّبِّیْۤMy Lordاَعْلَمُknows bestبِعِدَّتِهِمْtheir numberمَّاNoneیَعْلَمُهُمْknows themاِلَّاexceptقَلِیْلٌ ۫۬a fewفَلَاSo (do) notتُمَارِargueفِیْهِمْabout themاِلَّاexceptمِرَآءً(with) an argumentظَاهِرًا ۪obviousوَّ لَاand (do) notتَسْتَفْتِinquireفِیْهِمْabout themمِّنْهُمْamong themاَحَدًا۠(from) anyone

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Translation of Verse 18-22

(18:18) On seeing them you would fancy them to be awake though they were asleep; and We caused them to turn their sides to their right and to their left,¹⁴ and their dog sat stretching out its forelegs on the threshold of the Cave. Had you looked upon them you would have certainly fled away from them, their sight filling you with terror.¹⁵

(18:19) Likewise, We roused them¹⁶ in a miraculous way that they might question one another. One of them asked: "How long did you remain (in this state)?" The others said: "We remained so for a day or part of a day." Then they said: "Your Lord knows better how long we remained in this state. Now send one of you to the city with this coin of yours and let him see who has the best food, and let him buy some provisions from there. Let him be cautious and not inform anyone of our whereabouts.

(18:20) For if they should come upon us, they will stone us to death or force us to revert to their faith whereafter we shall never prosper."

(18:21) Thus did We make their case known to the people of the city¹⁷ so that they might know that Allah's promise is true, and that there is absolutely no doubt that the Hour will come to pass.¹⁸ But instead of giving thought to this, they disputed with one another concerning the People of the Cave, some saying: "Build a wall over them.¹⁹ Their Lord alone knows best about them." But those who prevailed over their affairs²⁰ said: "We shall build a place of worship over them."²¹

(18:22) Some will say concerning them: "They were three and their dog, the fourth"; and some will say: "They were five, and their dog, the sixth" � all this being merely guesswork; and still others will say: "They were seven, and their dog, the eighth."²² Say: "My Lord knows their number best. Only a few know their correct number. So do not dispute concerning their number, but stick to what is evident, and do not question anyone about them."²³

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Commentary

14. Even if someone were to carefully peep into the cave, he would have noticed that the seven people every now and again changed their positions.

This would have made any observer believe that they were simply taking a rest rather than sleeping.

15. The presence of a handful of people in a dark cave in a mountainous area, guarded by a dog, presented such an awesome spectacle that those who observed them would have run for their lives, presumably assuming them to be robbers. This was one of the main reasons why the truth about these people remained a mystery for so long. No one simply had the courage to enter the cave and find out the truth of the matter.

16. The manner in which these youths were roused from their Jong slumber was no less wondrous than the manner in which they were made to sleep, beyond the reach of the whole world.

17. When one of those youths went to the city to buy food, a world of change had already taken place. Pagan Rome had long since been Christianized. Perceptible changes were evident in the language, culture, civilization and dress of the people; in sum, almost everything had changed.’ Similarly, this young man from the cave, who in fact belonged to a period about two centuries earlier, also struck everybody as an oddity since his overall demeanour, his dress, and his language were all antiquated. So, when he presented a coin dating from the time of Decius, the shopkeeper was simply baffled and looked at him with dazed eyes. According to the Syriac traditions, the shopkeeper thought that his customer had obtained the coin by laying his hands on some hidden ancient treasure. The shopkeeper, therefore, drew the attention of people around him to this strange man, and eventually the youth was brought before the authorities. In the course of investigations, it was discovered that the youth was one of the followers of Jesus Christ who had fled some two centuries ago for fear of his faith. This news instantly spread among the Christians of the city. A huge crowd of people, accompanied by government officials, therefore, soon went to the cave. On realizing that they had been awakened from a sleep which had lasted for two hundred years, the People of the Cave greeted their Fellow-Christians, and then lay down to rest and breathed their last.

18. According to Syriac traditions, a fierce controversy was then raging on the issue of the Resurrection and the Hereafter. True, most people had embraced Christianity under the influence of the Roman Empire, and as Christians one of their articles of faith was belief in the Hereafter.

Nevertheless, Roman polytheism and idolatry and Greek philosophy still had a strong hold on the population. The result was that many people either denied or were skeptical about the Hereafter. What specially reinforced this attitude about the Hereafter was the influence of the Jews. A large Jewish population was evident in Ephesus, and of these the Sadducees openly denied the Hereafter. The Sadducees put forward arguments drawn from the Torah in their contention against the Hereafter, and Christian scholars were unable to produce any powerful and persuasive arguments to refute them. In Matthew, Mark and Luke we find references to the debate between the Sadducees and Jesus (peace be on him) on the question of the Hereafter. For some reason, Jesus’ contention recorded in these three Gospels is so weak that this weakness is even acknowledged by Christian scholars. (See Matthew 22: 23-33; Mark 12: 18-27 and Luke 20: 27-40.) Consequently, this strengthened the position of the deniers of the Hereafter, so much so that even those who strongly believed in the Hereafter began to entertain doubts about it. It was precisely at this moment that the People of the Cave were aroused from their long sleep, an incident which provided incontrovertible proof of life after death.

19. The context indicates that this statement was made by a group of righteous Christians. They were of the opinion that the People of the Cave should be left to lie in the positions in which they were found and that the mouth of the cave should be sealed off by erecting a wall against the side of the cave. In other words, it was not right to go about investigating about them for their Lord knew best who they were, what their status was, and what treatment should rightly be meted out to them.

20. This refers to the rulers of the Roman Empire and the clergy of the Christian Church. They were so powerful that true Christians, who held on to the true, original doctrines of Jesus Christ, made little impression on them. By the middle of the fifth century, the Christians in general, and the Roman Catholic Church in particular, fell prey to polytheism, saint-worship and grave-worship. Shrines of saints became objects of worship and statues of Jesus, Mary and the apostles adorned the churches.

In 431 C.E., just a few years before the People of the Cave were roused from their sleep, a Synod was held in Ephesus. This Council proclaimed as official doctrine of the Christian Church that Jesus was God and Mary was the Mother of God. Keeping this historical context in mind, it seems evident that the people mentioned in the present verse as ‘those who prevailed over their affairs’ are those who, as opposed to the true followers of Christ, had become the leaders of the Christian masses and thus held the reins of religious and political affairs. It is these people who sought to promote polytheism, and it is they who decided that the burial site of the People of the Cave should be turned into a: shrine.

21. Some Muslim scholars have taken this verse to mean the opposite of what it truly means. They argue the legitimacy of erecting mausoleums, monuments and mosques on the tombs of saints. The Qur’an, however, considers this a bad practice and erroneous. What the Qur’an rather suggests here is that the cave should have served as a token to strengthen belief in Resurrection and the Hereafter; that these are realities which are bound to come to pass. It is ironic that this statement was seized upon by some people as a God-sent opportunity for engaging in polytheism, as a pretext for adding to the list of saints who could be worshipped. This is quite evident from the context in which the above verse occurs. In fact, even if the context were disregarded, how can one use the statement to justify building mosques at the tombs of saints for this would be in flagrant opposition to many sayings of the Prophet (peace be on him)? Several of his sayings explicitly prohibit such a practice:

God cursed the women who visit graves, and those who construct mosques at graves, and illuminate them. (See Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Musnad, vol. 1, p. 229; al-TirmiDhu, Sunan, Abwab al-Salah, ‘Bab (ma ja’ fi) Karahiyah ‘an yuttakhadh ‘ald al-Qabr Masjidan’; al-Nasa’i, Sunan, K. al-Jana’ iz, ‘Bab al-Taghliz fi Ittikhadh al-Sarj ‘ala al-Qubir’, Ibn Majah, Sunan, K. al-Jana’ iz, ‘Bab ma ja’ fi al-Nahy ‘an Ziyarat al-Nisa’ al-Qubir’ — Ed.)

Lo! Those who preceded you made the graves of their Prophets into places of worship, but I forbid you from it. (Muslim, K. al-Masajid wa Mawadi‘ al-Salah, ‘Bab al-Nahy ‘an Bina’ al-Masajid ‘ala al-Qubur wa Ittikhadh al-Suwar fi-ha ....’ — Ed.)

God cursed the Jews and the Christians who took the graves of their Prophets as places of worship. (Al-Bukhari, K. al-Jana’iz, ‘Bab ma Yukrah min Ittikhddh ‘ala al-Qubur .. .’; Muslim, K. al-Masajid wa Mawadi‘ al-Salah; al-Nahy ‘an Bina’ al-Masdjid ‘ala al-Qubur wa ittikhadh al-Suwar fi ha... ; al-Nasa’i, K. al-Masajid, ‘Bab al-Nahy ‘an ittikhadh al-Qubur Masajid’; Anmad ibn Hanbal, Musnad, vol. 1, p.218-Ed.)

Such were the people that if a pious person among them died, they constructed a temple at his grave and painted in it those portraits they will be reckoned the worst creatures on the Last Day. (See al-Nasa’i, Sunan, al-Masdajid, ‘Bab al-Nahy ‘an Ittikhadh al-Qubir Masdjid; Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Musnad, vol. 6, p. 51; al-Bukhari, K. al-Jana’ iz, ‘Bab Bina’ al-Masdjid ‘ald al-Qabr; Muslim, K. al-Masdjid wa Mawadi ‘al-Salah, ‘Bab al-Nahy ‘an Bina’ al-Masdjid ‘ald-Qubar ...’-Ed.)

In view of these clear sayings from the Prophet (peace be on him) how can any God-fearing person use the above Qur’anic statement — a statement which simply mentions an erroneous act by Christian priests and Roman rulers — as an argument in support of such a practice?

It seems pertinent to mention here that in 1834 Reverend T. Arundell published his observations in Discoveries in Asia Minor. According to him, he found traces of the tomb ruins of Mary and the seven youths, i.e. the People of the Cave, on a hillock adjoining the ancient city of Ephesus.

22. This shows that at the time of the revelation of the Qur’an, approximately three hundred years after the incident, a number of stories were in circulation among the Christians about the People of the Cave. It also shows that no authentic version of the incident was available in all its details. This is understandable since the event took place long before the invention of the printing press where after it would have been possible for books containing accurate information about the event to have gained general circulation. As for the time which concerns us, the main sources of information about the incident were oral ones. With the passage of time, many details inevitably became mixed up with authentic verbal reports, with the result that accounts about the incident became legendary. We note, however, that the Qur’an does not contradict the third statement mentioned here which says that the People of the Cave numbered seven. Hence, there are some grounds for believing that their actual number was indeed seven.

23. The purpose of the statement is to emphasize the fact that the number of the People of the Cave is not a matter of much consequence. What is really important is the lesson to be drawn from their story. The story teaches that men of faith ought never to deviate from truth, nor submit to falsehood. It also teaches that men of faith ought to place their trust entirely in God rather than in worldly resources. It also teaches that even if circumstances do not seem propitious for the truth to prosper, men of faith should still proceed in the cause of the truth, placing their trust entirely in God.

The story also dispels a serious misconception. At times people are led to the false belief that the apparent complex of causal relationships, which they call the laws of nature, are absolutely inalterable. What we call laws of nature are in fact the usual ways in which God lets things happen. He is not, however, bound by any such laws and has the power to set aside or alter these so-called ‘laws’ and to do whatever He wills, in flagrant contravention of the usual ways in which things happen. It is not at all difficult for God to cause someone to remain asleep for two hundred years and then rouse him from it and make him feel as if he had slept for just a few hours. It is also quite easy for Him to ensure that these two hundred years are not allowed to have any effect on that person’s age, appearance, and health. All in all, then it is quite evident that it is easily within God’s power to resurrect all the human beings who have ever lived on earth, all at once, as has been foretold by the Prophets and the Scriptures.

The actual historical facts relating to the People of the Cave also provide a very useful lesson. They show how foolish people in all ages have been in failing to derive the right lesson from God’s signs which have been sent to serve as a means of guidance for them; in fact, they have often’ ’been further misguided by these signs. The miracle of the People of the Cave should have further strengthened people’s faith in the Hereafter. It is a pity that this very event led people to proceed in completely the opposite direction; the net result being that they contrived yet more saints whom they could worship.

These are the main lessons and points which one ought to draw from the story of the People of the Cave. But instead of taking note of these, people often get embroiled in trivial and far-fetched questions. They ask, for example, what was the total number of the People of the Cave? What were their names? What was the color of their dog? Such questions can only be of interest to those who concern themselves with the husk rather than with the kernel; for those interested in irrelevant details rather than in the substance. Hence God has directed His Prophet (peace be on him), and through him ail believers, that even if others raise irrelevant questions, they should refrain from answering them; nor should they waste their time on academic research pertaining to such irrelevant questions. They should rather concern themselves with substantive questions. It is presumably for this reason that God did not care to reveal the true number of the People of the Cave so as not to encourage those who have a penchant for fruitless and sterile intellectual pursuits.