1

4. PIOUS PEOPLE’S DU‘Ā (SUPPLICATION) IN THE QUR’ĀN (3)

Among other groups of pious people whose supplications are mentioned in the Qur’ān are: the people of the Cave ( الكهفأصحاب )

d. The people of the cave were people who took refuge in a cave escaping from the persecution of their rulers for their belief. They fell asleep for over 300 solar years (309 lunar years). This story was told in the Qur’ān as the Prophet’s answer requested by al-Naḍr ibn al-Ḥārith and ‘Uqbah ibn Abī Mu‘īṭ suggested by the Jewish rabbis in Madinah to test him.

The rabbis told them: “Ask him about three things which we will tell you to ask, and if he answers them then he is a Prophet who has been sent by Allah; if he does not, then he is saying things that are not true… Ask him about some men in ancient times, what was their story, for there was a strange and wondrous tale (i.e. “People of the Cave”), about a man who travelled extensively and reached the east and the west of the earth (i.e., Dhū ’l-Qarnayn), and about the Rūḥ (soul or spirit).”

When they asked the Prophet, he told them: “I will tell you tomorrow about what you have asked me,” but he did not say in shā’ Allāh (“If Allah wills”). For this, Allah delayed giving the answer through Jibrīl (Gabriel). Fifteen days had passed, and Jibrīl did not come to tell him stories they had asked him. This grieved him, as the Makkan people started doubting him.

Eventually, Jibrīl came and the Prophet complained for his delay. Gabriel told him that it was up to Allah when he should come. This was a lesson for us to say in shā’ Allāh (“If Allah wills”) before we start doing something. Jibrīl told him about the young men who fled from the persecution of their pagan king for their belief in Allah and took refuge inside a cave. Like the story of Prophet Yūsuf (Joseph) a.s. and many other stories in the Qur’ān, the names of people and places in them were not given, as it is a book of guidance and awakening, not a book of history.

2

Although the story of the People of the Cave is given in brief and general term in the Qur’ān, Allah explains it in more detail. He says: “Do you think (O Muhammad) that the people of the Cave and al-Raqīm1 were a wonder among Our Signs?” (Q. 18:9). It means, as put by Ibn Kathīr, their case is not something amazing compared to Allah’s power and ability in creating the heavens and the earth, the alternation of night and day, the subjugation of heavenly bodies (the sun, the moon and the stars), and other mighty signs, all indicate Allah’s great power to do whatever He likes, and doing more amazing things than the story of the people of the Cave.

In the next verse Allah said:

نافقال واالكهفإلىالفتية أوىإذ نكمنآتنارب وهيئرحمة لد

اأمرنامنلنا (01الكهف:)رشد

(Remember) when the young men fled for refuge (from their disbelieving folk) to the Cave. They said: “Our Lord!

Bestow on us mercy from Yourself, and facilitate for us our affair in the right way!”(Q. 18:10)

Here they prayed to Allah to give them mercy and to conceal them from their people, and to direct their matter well, namely, to grant them a good end.

Then Allah caused them to sleep many years when they entered the cave. Then He raised them from their slumber. They

1 The cave was located in a mountain. There are many views regarding the al-Raqīm in the above verse, among which are as follows: (1) it is a valley near Aylah (Ibn ‘Abbās, ‘Aṭiyyah, Qatādah and al-Daḥḥak); (2) it is the name of the mountain where the Cave was located (Ibn ‘Abbas as reported by Ibn Jurayj); (3) it is the name of the village where the cave is located which is now called al-Rajīb in the present Jordan; (4) al-Raqīm means “the Inscription”; it was a tablet of stone on which they wrote the story and the names of the people of the Cave, then they placed it at the entrance of the Cave (Sa‘īd ibn Jubayr). According to Western tradition the names of the Seven Sleepers are: Maximian, Malchus, Marcian, John, Denis, Serapion, and Constantine, whereas according to Eastern tradition their names are: Maximilian, Jamblichus, Martin, John, Dionysius, Antonius, and Constantine.

3

disputed how long they stayed in the cave. (Q. 18:11-12). There is an indication that the entrance of the cave faced north, as when the sun rose its shade decreased to the right, and when it set it entered their cave from the left. (Q. 08:07). Ibn ‘Abbās said that the sunshine did not directly hit them, so that it did not harm them.

While sleeping they turned their bodies on their right and on their left sides, and their dog lay down at the door of the cave as if guarding them. Allah made their appearance frightening, so that no one would come near them or touch them until they woke up from their sleep (Q. 18:18)

As they entered the cave at the beginning of the day and woke up at the end of the day they thought that they had stayed in the cave a day or part of a day. They sent one of them to the town to buy good and lawful food with a silver coin.2 He was very careful not to disclose his identity, or people would stone him, abused him or harmed him, or turn him back to their religion. (Q. 18:20)

The number of people of the Cave was not explicitly mentioned in the Qur’ān, but there were three views mentioned in it: a. three people, their dog being the fourth; b. five people, their dog being the sixth; c. seven people, their dog being the eighth. Both the first and the second view were rejected because they were based on ا بالغيبرجم (“guessing at the unseen”(, whereas the third view was not, and therefore could be correct. However, Allah told the Prophet to say )الكهف: تهم بعد 22أعلم ) ربي “My Lord knows best their number…" (Q. 18:22)

Western scholars have different view on the location of the cave. Some say it was in Turkey, others in Syria, Yemen, and Afghanistan. The story was popular in the Middle Ages and in several versions, including Greek, Syriac, Coptic, and Georgian. According to this story during the persecution of the Christians under the Roman Emperor Decius (249-251 CE) seven or eight

2 According to Western tradition the name of the person was Malcus, whereas according to Eastern tradition his name was Jamblicus.

4

Christian soldiers took refuge at a cave near their native city Ephesus, as they refused to practise pagan sacrifices. They fell miraculously asleep, and they woke up during the reign of the Eastern Roman Emperor, Theodosius II (408–450 CE). They explained to him the profound meaning of their experience, and then died. The emperor was moved by their miraculous presence as evidence of the resurrection of the body in the Christian doctrine, and then absolved all bishops who had been persecuted for their belief in the Resurrection. The ruin of Ephesus is located near the present city of Izmir at the Eastern coast of Turkey. Not far from the ruin there was a cave at a hill where it was written at its gate THE CAVE OF THE SEVEN SLEEPERS, but was not very attractive to visitors (I was the only visitor of the cave at that time).

Although we find some similarities between this story and that of the people of the Cave mentioned in the Qur’ān, the sleepers slept 208 years, whereas in the Qur’ān it was mentioned 300 solar years, equal to 309 lunar years.(Q. 18:25)

In 0963 the Jordanian archaeologist Muhammad Taysīr Ẓubyān discovered the cave of the people of the Cave near the ancient city of Petra in Jordan. This is what Muslim scholars believe to be the one mentioned in the Qur’ān. At the entrance of the cave it is written in Arabic and English:

كهفأهلالكهف )قبوربيزنطية(وردتقصتهمفيالقرآنالكريم

CAVE OF THE SEVEN SLEEPERS BYZANTINE TOMBS – ONE MENTIONED

IN THE KORAN IN THE STORY OF THE SEVEN SLEEPERS

(CIVIC, 6 February, 2015)

:المراجع

الشاملةالمكتبة )هـ301.ت)الطبريتفسير )هـ670.ت)القرطبىتفسير

5

)هـ774.ت)كثيرابنتفسيرhttp://www.thaqafnafsak.com/2014/01/ عمان-في-الكهف-أهل-مكان .html

http://mawdoo3.com/ قصة_اهل_الكهف

Ali, A.Yusuf. The Meanings of the Holy Qur’ān. Kuala Lumpur: Percetakan Zafar Sdn Bhd, 2005.

Asad, Muhammad. The Message of the Qur’ān. Gibraltar: Dar al-Andalus, 1984.

Abu Khalil, Dr. Shawqi. Atlas of the Qur’ān. Riydh: Maktabah Dar-us-Salam, 2003

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/536521/Seven-Sleepers-of-Ephesus

http://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2009/10/historicity-of-seven-sleepers-of.html