18. Surah Al Kahf
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
إِذْ أَوَى
الْفِتْيَةُ
إِلَى الْكَهْفِ
فَقَالُوا...
18: 10. Behold, the youths betook themselves to the Cave: they said,
C2337. The bare Christian story (without the spiritual lessons taught in the Quran) is told in Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (end of chapter 33).
In the reign of a Roman Emperor who persecuted the Christians, seven Christian youths of Ephesus left the town and hid themselves in a cave in a mountain near by. They fell asleep, and remained asleep for some generations or centuries. When the wall which sealed up the cave was being demolished, the youths awoke.
They still thought of the world in which they had previously lived. They had no idea of the duration of time. But when one of them went to the town to purchase provisions, he found that the whole world had changed. The Christian religion, instead of being persecuted was fashionable: in fact it was now the State religion. His dress and speech, and the money which he brought, seemed to belong to another world. This attracted attention. The great ones of the land visited the Cave, and verified the tale by questioning the man's Companions.
When the story became very popular and circulated throughout the Roman Empire, we may well suppose that an Inscription was put up at the mouth of the Cave. See verse 9 and n. 2336.
This inscription was probably to be seen for many years afterwards, as Ephesus was a famous city on the west coast of Asia Minor, about forty to fifty miles south of Smyrna. Later on, the Khalifah Wathiq (842-846 A.C.) sent an expedition to examine and identify the locality, as he did about the Dhul al Qarnayn barrier in Central Asia (Appendix VI at the end of this Surah).
A popular story circulating from mouth to mouth would necessarily be vague as to dates and vary very much in details. Somewhere about the 6th century A.C. a Syriac writer reduced it to writing. He suggested that the youths were seven in number; that they went to sleep in the reign of the Emperor Decius (who reigned from 249 to 251 A.D., and who was a violent persecutor of Christianity); and that they awoke in the reign of Theodosius 11, who reigned from 408 to 450 A.D. In our literature Decius is known as Daqyanus (from the adjectival Latin from Decianus), and the name stands as a symbol of injustice and oppression, and also of things old fashioned and out-of-date, as res Decianae must have been two or three centuries after Decius.
... رَبَّنَا آتِنَا مِن لَّدُنكَ رَحْمَةً وَهَيِّئْ لَنَا مِنْ أَمْرِنَا رَشَدًا ﴿١٠﴾
"Our Lord! bestow on us Mercy from Thyself, and dispose of our affair for us in the right way!
C2338. The youths hid in the cave, but they trusted in Allah, and made over their whole case to Him in prayer.
Then they apparently fell asleep, and knew nothing of what was happening in the world outside.
فَضَرَبْنَا
عَلَى آذَانِهِمْ ...
18: 11. Then We drew (a veil) over their ears,
C2339. Drew (a veil) over their ears: i.e., sealed their ears, so that they heard nothing. As they were in the Cave they saw nothing. So they were completely cut off from the outer world.
It was as if they had died, with their knowledge and ideas remaining at the point of time when they had entered the Cave. It is as if a watch stops at the exact moment of some accident, and any one taking it up afterwards can precisely fix the time of the accident.
... فِي الْكَهْفِ سِنِينَ عَدَدًا ﴿١١﴾
for a number of years, in the cave, (so that they heard not):
وَإِذِ
اعْتَزَلْتُمُوهُمْ
وَمَا يَعْبُدُونَ
إِلَّا اللَّهَ
فَأْوُوا إِلَى
الْكَهْفِ...
18: 16. "When ye turn away from them and the things they worship other than Allah betake yourselves to the Cave:
... يَنشُرْ لَكُمْ رَبُّكُم مِّن رَّحمته ويُهَيِّئْ لَكُم مِّنْ أَمْرِكُم مِّرْفَقًا ﴿١٦﴾
your Lord will shower His mercies on you and dispose of your affair towards comfort and ease."
C2346. That is,
'do not be afraid of anything: put your whole case in the hands of Allah: at present you are being persecuted; he will solve your difficulties and give you ease and comfort'.
The public protest ends at verse 15. In verse 16 they are taking counsel among themselves. After they go into the Cave, verse 17 introduces us to the scene where they are lying in the midst of the Cave in tranquil confidence in Allah.
18: 10
Asad When those youths took refuge in the cave, they prayed: “ O our Sustainer! Bestow on us grace from Thyself, and endow us, whatever our condition, with consciousness of what is right!”
Pickthall When the young men fled for refuge to the Cave and said: Our Lord! Give us mercy from Thy presence and shape for us right conduct in our plight.
Transliteration Iz awal fityatu ilal kahfi faqa_lu_ rabbana_ a_tina_ mil ladunka rahmataw wa hayyi' lana_ min amrina_ rasyada_(n).
[ Asad ntoe 9: I.e., God caused them to remain cut off – physically or metaphorically – from the sounds the bustle of the outside world. The classical commentators take the above phrase to mean that God “ veiled their ears with sleep”.
18: 11
Pickthall Then We sealed up their hearing in the Cave for a number of years.
Transliteration Fa darabna_ 'ala_ a_za_nihim fil kahfi sinina 'adada_(n).
18: 16
Pickthall And when ye withdraw from them and that which they worship except Allah, then seek refuge in the Cave; your Lord will spread for you of His mercy and will prepare for you a pillow in your plight.
Transliteration Wa iz-i'tazaltumu_hum wa ma_ ya'budu_na illalla_ha fa'wu_ ilal kahfi yansyur lakum rabbukum mir rahmatihi wa yuhayyi' lakum min amrikum mirfaqa_(n).