النص المفهرس

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Surah Al-Kahf : 18 : 9 - 12
that those bodies are still there and the visitors do count them out but,
somehow, they always make a mistake in giving their correct number.'
After that he said, 'as for the city of Raqyus mentioned by Ibn 'Atiyyah
which is located on the side of al-Gharnatah that faces the Qiblah, I
have myself passed by it so many times and I have seen unusually large
ويترحج كون اهل الكهف بالاندلس لكثرة دين النصارى بها ":rocks in it.' After that, he says
one reason for preferring the possibility of the) " حتّى هى بلاد مملكتهم العظمى
People of Kahf being in al-Andulus could be that it is predominantly
Christian to the extent that this particular region is their largest relig-
ious center - Tafsir al-Bar al-Muhit, p. 102, v. 6).
Tafsir authority Ibn Jarir and Ibn Abi Hatim following a report of
'Awfi from Sayyidna Ibn 'Abbas 4ge say that Raqim is the name of a val-
ley which is located near Ailah ('Aqabah) south of Palestine. And the two
of them along with other Hadith experts also report from Sayyidna 'Ab-
dullah ibn 'Abbas that he said, 'I do not know what Raqim is. But, when
I asked Ka'b al-Ahbar, he said that Raqim is the name of the town
where the People of the Kahf lived before going into the Cave.' (Ruh
al-Ma'ani)
Ibn Abi Shaibah, Ibn al-Mundhir and Ibn Abi Hatim report Sayyidna
'Abdullah ibn 'Abbas 4ge to have said, 'we waged a Jihad against Byzan-
tine forces in the company of Sayyidna Mu'awiyah 4 % which is known as
the battle of al-Madiq (2JI). On this trip, we passed through the site of
the Cave of the People of Kahf. The Qur'an mentions it. Sayyidna Mu'aw-
iyah wanted to go into the cave and see the bodies of the People of Kahf.
Sayyidna Ibn 'Abbas said, 'let us not do so because Allah Ta'ala has al-
ready prohibited someone better than you from seeing them, that is, the
لَوِ الطَّلَعُتَ عَلَيْهِمْ لَوَلَّيْتَ مِنْهُمْ :Rasul of Allah. Is it not that Allah says in the Qur'an
If you had a look at them, you would have fled away) فِرَارًاوَّلَمُلِئْتَ مِنْهُمُ رُعُبًا
from them and would have been filled with awe of them - 18)? But, Sayy-
idna Mu'awiyah did not accept this suggestion of Sayyidna Ibn 'Abbas
perhaps for the reason that the state in which they were portrayed by
the Qur'an related to the time when they were alive and it was not neces-
sary that they would still be found in the same state. Therefore, a few
men were sent to have a look at them. They reached the cave. But, when
they wanted to enter into the cave, Allah Ta'ala sent a punishing wind
upon them that turned all of them out and away from the cave. (Ruh

580
Surah Al-Kahf : 18 : 9 - 12
al-Ma'ani p. 227, v. 15)
The reports and narratives appearing above establish that commen-
tators have given three locations for the site of the Cave of the People of
Kahf. Firstly, in Ailah near 'Aqabah on the shore of the Gulf of 'Aqabah.
Most of the narrations from Sayyidna Ibn 'Abbas favor this interpreta-
tion.
From the personal observation of Ibn 'Atiyyah, and Abu Hayyan's
support, it seems likely that this cave is in al-Gharnatah, al-Andulus
(Spain). Out of these two places, the name of a city or particular building
has also been given as Raqim. Similarly, the name of the great structure
in ruins close to the cave in al-Gharnatah has been cited as Raqim.
Then, none of the two kinds of reports decisively say that this cave was
The Cave of the People of Kahf. Both rely on popular local talk and oral
tradition. As for the old name of the city where the People of Kahf lived,
it has been mentioned as Ifsus (Ephesus as in the Epistle of Paul the Apostle to
the Ephesians - Holy Bible, p. 239), with Tarsus as its Islamic name, in nearly
all Tafsir reports of al-Qurtubi, Abu Hayyan and Ibn Jarir. That this city
was located on the western coast of Asia Minor is a fact accepted by his-
torians. This shows that the Cave is also within Asia Minor. Therefore,
there is no proof to declare any one of these as true and the rest as false.
As for probability, all three are probable. In fact, no one can deny the
very probability that the events relating to these caves, despite being
true, may not be relevant to the Cave of the People of Kahf that has been
mentioned in the Qur'an. May be, it is somewhere else. And it is also not
necessary that Raqim at this place may exclusively be the name of some
city or building. In fact, no one can reject even the probability that
Raqim denotes the inscription engraved with the names of the People of
Kahf on a tablet and placed on the entrance to the cave by some king.
Investigations of Modern Historians
Some contemporary historians have made considerable efforts to de-
termine the place and time of the Cave of the People of Kahf with the
help of Christian and European historical accounts.
Abul-Kalam Azad has declared the present city of Petra near Ailah
('Aqabah) - Arabicized by Arab historians as Batra - as the old city of Ra-
qim. With reference to current historical accounts, he reports the rem-

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Surah Al-Kahf : 18 : 9 - 12
nants of a cave in the mountain and of some mosque adjacent to it. In
confirmation, he refers to the Book of Joshua in the Old Testament
(18:27) where the place has been mentioned as Raqm or Raqim. According
to him, this is the place now called Petra. But, this has been considered
doubtful as the reference to Raqm or Raqim in the Book of Joshua is con-
nected with the inheritance of Bani bin Yamin (Benyamin). Then, this
territory was located west of River Jordan and the Dead Sea where the
city of Petra could have not possibly been located. Therefore, contempo-
rary archaeologists are very reluctant in accepting Petra and Raqim as
one and the same. (Encyclopaedia Britannica 1946, v. 17, p. 658)
Commentators in general have pointed out to the city of Ifsus, a
major Byzantine city on the western coast of Asia Minor the remains of
which are still found twenty or twenty five miles south of the modern
Turkish city of Izmir (Samarna).
Maulana Sayyid Sulaiman Nadwi while mentioning the city of Petra
in his book, Ard al-Qur'an, has put Raqim in parenthesis. But, he has
not given any evidence in support of the proposition that the old name of
the city of Petra was Raqim. Maulana Hifzur-Rahman Sihwarwi has
also adopted this view. For evidence, he refers to Torah: The book of
Numbers and the book of Isaiah and gives the name of Petra as
Raqimah. (Da'irah al-Ma'arif al-'Arabiyah)
When a cave was discovered in a desolate jungle area close to 'Am-
man in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the Archaeological Depart-
ment of the Government started digging operations on that site in the
year 1963. After having removed the upper strata of topsoil and rocks,
they found six coffins filled with bones and stones, and two graves. To-
wards the south side of the cave, they found inscriptions on rocks in By-
zantian script. Local people think that this is the place called Raqim
close to which is this cave of the People of Kahf. Allah knows best.
My revered teacher and master, Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanavi, rely-
ing on Tafsir Haqqani, has reported the following historical account of
the place and time of the People of Kahf. According to this account, when
the People of Kahf had escaped the tyranny of the king of the time and
taken shelter in the cave, the time was the year 250 A.D. Then they re-
mained asleep for three hundred years. Thus, it comes to a total of 550

582
Surah Al-Kahf : 18 : 9 - 12
A.D. And the Holy Prophet
¿ was born in 570 A.D. Therefore, this event
of their wakening occurred twenty years before the birth of the Holy
Prophet 5. Then, in Tafsir Haqqani as well, their locale has been deter-
mined as the city of Ifsus or Tarsus that used to be in Asia Minor. Its
ruins still remain. And Allah knows best the reality of it.
These historical and geographical details have been given here from
the reports of classical commentators, then from contemporary histo-
rians. This humble writer had already submitted that neither does the
understanding of any verse of the Qur'an depend on these, nor does any
essential part of the objective for which the Qur'an has related this story
belongs thereto. Then, relevant reports and stories and their indicators
and connections are so different that, despite all investigations and ef-
forts, it is just not possible to take any categorical decision in this mat-
ter. Having preferences and inclinations is all that is left to do here. But,
in our time, educated people have acquired an increased taste in histori-
cal investigations. It is for this satisfaction that these details have been
reported for they, by way of introduction and hypothesis, tell us at least
this much that this event came to pass after Sayyidna 'Isa en close to
the time of the Holy Prophet &g. And that most reports seem to agree on
this being near the city of Ifsus or Tarsus. Even then, Allah knows best.
And the truth is that we, after all these investigations, are standing
where we had started from - that there is no need to fix an exact loca-
tion, nor can this be fixed with any certain modality. The Tafsir and
Hadith authority, Ibn Kathir has said exactly this about it:
قَدُ أَخُبَرَنَا اللهُ تَعَالَى بِذْلِكَ وَآَرَادَ مِنَّا فَهُمَه، وَتَدَبُّرَهُ وَلَمُ يُخْبِرْنَا بِمَكَانِ هذَا الْكَهُفِ
فِىُ أَىِّ الْبِلاَدِ مِنَ الْأَرْضِ إِذُلاَ فَائِدَةً لَنَا فِيْهِ وَلاَ قَصُدٌ شَرُعِىٌ
Allah Ta'ala has already told us about that. And He expects us
to understand it and deliberate into it. And He did not tell us
about the location of this Cave in a particular city out of this
earth because there is nothing beneficial for us in it nor does
any religious objective hinge upon it - Ibn Kathir, v. 3, p. 75.
When did the event relating to the People of Kahf come to pass
and why did they take shelter in the Cave?
This segment of the story is also the same upon which neither does
the understanding of any verse of the Qur'an depend, nor does it influ-
ence the objective of the story in any significant way, nor do the Qur'an

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Surah Al-Kahf : 18 : 9 - 12
and Sunnah make any statement about it. What we have here is no
more than historical stories. Therefore, in Tafsir al-Bahr al-Muhit, Com-
mentator Abu Hayyan has said:
، وَالرُّوَاةُ مُخْتَلِفُوْنَ فِىٌ قِصَصِهِمُ وَكَيْفَ كَانَ إِجْتِمَاعُهُمُ وَ خُرُوُجُهُمُ وَلَمْ يَأْتِ فِى
الْحَدِيثِ الصِّحِيْحِ كَيُفِيَّةُ ذُلِكَ وَلاَ فِى الْقُرَّان -
And narrators differ in stories about them, and about how they
got together and moved out, and the mode and manner of that
has neither been mentioned in any authentic Hadith nor in the
Qur'an - al-Bahr al-Muhit, p. 101, v. 6.
However, when we provided some information about the site of the
remnants of the People of Kahf a little earlier, it was in consideration of
the curiosity of contemporary temperament. For the same reason, we are
providing here brief notes of information regarding the period and
causes of the passing of this event from exegetic and historical reports.
As for a detailed and comprehensive description of this story, the re-
spected scholar, Qadi Thana'ullah Panipati has reported it on the author-
ity of different narratives in his Tafsir Mazhari. But, given here is a
brief version of the event that Ibn Kathir has presented with reference to
many early and later commentators. He says:
"The Ashab al-Kahf were the progeny of kings and chiefs among
their people who were idol-worshippers. Once their people went out of
the town to participate in some religious festival of theirs. This was a
place where they met every year, worshipped their idols and sacrificed
animals to please them. Their king was a tyrant. Called Daqyanus, he
used to force his people to worship idols. That year, when everyone had
gathered together in this festival, these young men identified as the
Ashab al-Kahf also reached there and saw their people taking rocks
carved with their own hands as God, worshipping them and sacrificing
for them. At that time, Allah Ta'ala blessed them with the good sense to
shun this absurd practice of their people. Thus, when they used their rea-
son, they arrived at the conclusion that this worship belongs to none but
that supreme Power who has created the heavens and the earth and
everything therein. This thought crossed the minds of those few young
men simultaneously and they started moving away from there to avoid
the absurd practice of their people in the fair name of worship. The first
young man who withdrew went far from the crowd and sat down under a

584
Surah Al-Kahf : 18 : 9 - 12
tree. After that, came another and he too sat there. Similarly, came the
third, and the fourth, and each one of them kept taking a seat under the
tree. But, none of them were familiar with each other, nor did they know
as to why they had come there. The truth of the matter is that they were
brought together on that spot by the Power that lit the light of faith in
their hearts."
The real foundation of nationalism and collectivism
After having transmitted that, Ibn Kathir comments that people
tend to take nationalism and common race as the cause of cohesion and
union in social life. But, the reality lies in what has been said in a
Hadīth of Sahih al-Bukhari, that unity or disunity first germinates in
souls, then it affects the bodies in this world. Souls that have experi-
enced congruity and unity among them in 'azal (eternity) go on to be-
come mutually connected and get molded into the form of a confrater-
nity. As for those that did not have the experience of this mutual
congruity and unity - in fact, remained separated there - they will re-
main separated here too. Take this very event as an example and see
how the same thought crossed everyone's mind separately and it was
this thought that brought everyone unconsciously together.
In short, these people got together at one place all right, but every-
one was concealing his belief from the other lest this person reports him
to the king and he gets arrested. After having remained there all togeth-
er in silence, one of them spoke out, 'brothers, there must be some rea-
son why all of us have broken away from our people and reached here. It
seems appropriate that we all should get to know each other's thoughts.
Thereupon, one person declared, 'the truth is that the faith and worship
in which I found my people involved gave me the certitude that this
whole thing is false. 'Ibadah or worship should be for One Allah who is
most exalted in His majesty and who has no partner or associate in the
act of the creation of this universe.' This broke the ice. Others were
prompted to speak out and they all declared that this was the thought,
the belief that separated them from their people and brought them
there.
Now they were an ideologically unified group enjoying mutual fellow-
ship and friendship. They set up a separate House of Worship for them-
selves where they would assemble and worship Allah who is One and

585
Surah Al-Kahf : 18 : 9 - 12
who has no partner in His divinity.
But, by and by they became the talk of the town. Backbiters told on
them before the king who ordered that they all should be brought to him.
When they came into the royal court, the king asked them about their
belief and its mores. Allah gave them the courage to state their belief in
the Oneness of Allah. In fact, they invited the king himself to believe as
they did. This is precisely what has been mentioned in the verses
وَرَبَطْنَا عَلَى قُلُوُبِهِمْ إِذْ قَامُوا فَقَالُوا رَبُّنَا رَبُّ السَّمُوْتِ وَالْأَرْضِ لَنُ نَّدُعُوَا مِنْ دُوُنِةٍ إِلَهًا :appearing next
And We made their hearts firm. And when they) لَّقَدُ قُلْنَا إِذَا شَطَطًا (الى قوله) كَذِبًا
rose, they said, "Our Lord is the Lord of the heavens and the earth; and
we shall never invoke any god other than Him, for then we would be
saying something far from the truth. These are people of ours. They have
taken to gods other than Him. Why do they not bring a proof in their
favor? So, who is more unjust than the one who fabricates a lie against
Allah?" - al-Kahf, 18:14,15)
When these young men acted bold before the king and invited him to
believe, he turned the call down and threatened them with drastic ac-
tion. He had the princely robes they donned on their bodies taken off in
reprisal so that they may think and change their behavior. In order that
they actually do so, he gave them respite for a few days saying that they
were young, therefore, he did not wish to kill them right away. In fact,
he wanted them to have the time to think over it. Then, if they reverted
to the faith of their people, they will be allowed to live as usual, other-
wise they would be killed.
It must have been the mercy of Allah Ta'ala on His believing ser-
vants that this respite given to them opened an escape door for them.
They ran from there and took refuge in a cave.
Usual reports carried by commentators agree that these people were
followers of the faith of Sayyidna 'Isa Masih del. Ibn Kathir and most
commentators have mentioned it. However, Ibn Kathir has not accepted
it. According to him, had these people been the followers of the Christian
faith, the Jews of Madinah would have not suggested that a question be
asked about them just because of their mutual hostility and thus would
have not given them that importance. But, this is not a sufficient basis
because of which all reports should be rejected. When the Jews of Madin-

586
Surah Al-Kahf : 18 : 9 - 12
ah proposed that such a question should be asked, they were simply look-
ing at it as a unique event - very similar to the question about
Dhul-Qarnain which was also on that basis. That there was no Jew-
ish-Christian prejudice involved in questions of this nature is fairly obvi-
ous here.
In Tafsir Mazhari, based on a report from Ibn Ishaq, these people
have been identified as monotheists who, after the decline of the original
Christian faith, were among the rare remnants still adhering to the true
faith of the Sayyidna 'Isa Meal and to pure monotheism. In this report of
Ibn Ishaq too, the name of the oppressive king has been given as
Daqyanus while the city in which these young men lived before they
went into hiding in the cave has been called Ifsus.
Then, the event has been described in the same manner in the report
of Sayyidna 'Abdullah ibn 'Abbas
as well and the name of the king
has been given as Daqyanus. The report of Ibn Ishaq also adds that the
name of the king of the people who were followers of the faith of
Sayyidna Masih and had taken over the country at the time the Ashab
al-Kahf woke up was Baidusis.
So, at least the strong likelihood of the People of Kahf being commit-
ted to the true faith brought by Sayyidna 'Isa Masih S
stands proved
from the reports as a whole, and that they belong to the post-Masih peri-
od, and that the Mushrik king they ran from was called Daqyanus. At
the time they woke up after three hundred and nine years, the name of
the righteous and believing king who ruled the country has been named
as Baidusis in the report of Ibn Ishaq. If this is seen in conjunction with
the contemporary calendar, it is possible to determine their period, at
the least as a matter of conjecture and approximation. Trying to deter-
mine it any more than that is needless, nor there exist the means to ac-
quire this knowledge.
Are the People of Kahf still alive?
In this matter, the correct and obvious approach is that they have
died. Tafsir Mazhari carries the detailed report of Ibn Ishaq. According
to this report, when the People of Kahf woke up, their unique event be-
came the talk of the town. They went to meet the king. When they took
leave of king Baidusis, they bid farewell to him and prayed for him. The

587
Surah Al-Kahf : 18 : 13 - 16
king was still there when they went back to the place only to lie down
where they had been lying for such a long time. And that was exactly
when Allah Ta'ala sent death to them.
At this stage, the following report from Sayyidna 'Abdullah ibn
'Abbas 40 has been reproduced by Ibn Jarir, Ibn Kathir and many more
from among the commentators:
قَالَ قَتَادَةُ غَزَا ابْنُ عَبَّاسِ مَعَ حَبَيْبِ بُنِ مَسْلَمَةَ فَمَرُّوْا بِكَهُفٍ فِىُ بِلاَدِ الرُّوُمِ فَرَأَوْا فِيْهِ
عِظَامًا فَقَالَ قَائِلٌ هَذِهِ عِظَامَ آَهُلِ الْكُهُفِ فَقَالَ ابْنُ عَبَّاسٌٍ لَقَدُ بَلِيَتُ عِظَامُهُمُ مِّنُ
اكْثَرَ مِنُ ثَلْثِمِائَةِ سنَةٍ (ابن كثير)
Qatadah says that Sayyidna Ibn 'Abbas dee participated in a
Jihad in the company of Habib ibn Maslamah when they
passed by a cave in the Roman territory. There they saw bones
in it. Then someone said, "These are the bones of the People of
Kahf.' Thereupon, Ibn 'Abbas said, "The bones of them have
already become dust more than three hundred years ago' - Ibn
Kathir.
These were particular segments of the story that were neither de-
scribed by the Qur'an, nor by the Hadith of the Holy Prophet 2g. In addi-
tion to that, neither does some specified purpose of this event or the
understanding of any verse of the Qur'an depend on it - nor can any cate-
gorical decision be arrived at in these matters on the basis of historical
reports. As far as the remaining segments of the story already described
within the text of the Qur'an are concerned, their details appear under
the commentary on relevant verses.
Up to this point, the Qur'an had mentioned this story in brief. De-
tails follow.
Verses 13 - 16
نَحُنُ نَقُصُّ عَلَيْكَ نَاهُمُ بالْحَقّ ﴿ إِنَّهُمْ فِتْيَةٌ أَمَنُوابِرَبِّهِمُ وَزِدْنْهُمُ
هُدَّى ﴿٢﴾ وَّرَبَطْنَا عَلَى قُلُوبِهِمْ إِذْقَامُواْ فَقَالُوا رَبُّنَا رَبُّ السَّمُوْتِ
وَالأَرُضِ لَنْ تَّدْعُوَاْ مِنْ دُوُنِةٍ إِلَهَا لَّقَدُ قُلْنَآ إِذَا شَطَطًا ﴿١٤) هَؤُلَاءٍ
قَوْمُنَا أَتَّخَذُوا مِنُ دُونِهِ آلِهَةً * لَوْلاَ يَأْتُوُنَ عَلَيْهِمُ بِسُلُطْنٍ ،بَيِّنٍ* فَمَنْ

588
Surah Al-Kahf : 18 : 13 - 16
أَظْلَمُ مِمَّن افْتَرَى عَلَى اللّهِ كَذِبًا ﴿٥ُ﴾ وَإِذا عُتَزَلْتُمُوْهُمُ وَمَا يَعْبُدُوُنَ
إِلَّ اللّهَ فَأُوًّا إِلَى الْكَهُفِ يَنْشُرْلَكُمُ رَبُّكُمُ مِّنْ رَّحْمَتِهِ وَيُّهَيِّئُ لَكُمُ مِّنُ
آَمُرِكُمُ مِّرْفَقًّا ﴿١٦﴾
We narrate to you their story with truth. They were
young men who believed in their Lord and We
increased, them in guidance. [13] And We made their
hearts firm and when they rose, they said, "Our Lord is
the Lord of the heavens and the earth; and we shall
never invoke any god other than Him, for then we
would be saying something far from the truth. [14] These
are people of ours. They have taken to gods other than
Him. Why do they not bring a clear proof in their favor?
So, who is more unjust than the one who fabricates a lie
against Allah? [15]
And when you have turned away from them, and those
they worship, except Allah, then seek refuge in the cave
and your Lord will unfold His mercy for you and pro-
vide you ease in your matters." [16]
Commentary
The word: 4 (fityah) in: ) (They were young men - 13) is the plu-
ral of: 2 (fata) which means someone young. According to Tafsir schol-
ars, this word indicates that the time ripe for correction of deeds and mo-
rals, and the inculcation of guidance and righteousness, is invariably the
time when one is young. When old, formerly acquired deeds and morals
become so deeply rooted that - no matter how evident becomes the truth
against these - it is very difficult to break loose from their shackles.
Those among the noble Companions who responded to and believed in
the call of the Holy Prophet
were, after all, mostly young people. (Ibn
Kathir, Abu Hayyan)
The first sentence of verse 14:ْوَرَبَطْنَا عَلى قُلُوُبهم (And We made their
hearts firm) refers to the event described by Ibn Kathir a little earlier.
This tells us that Allah made the hearts of these people firm when the
king who was cruel and worshipped idols summoned them in his court
and questioned them. This was a matter of life and death. But, despite
their apprehension for the worst, Allah Ta'ala made His love, awe and
grandeur prevail over their hearts which empowered them to face any

589
Surah Al-Kahf : 18 : 17 - 18
eventuality of death or distress. The outcome was that they proclaimed
their belief clearly and courageously saying that they did not worship
anyone or anything other than Allah and would not do that in future as
well. People who firmly resolve to do something for the sake of Allah,
this is how they receive help from Allah Ta'ala.
About the verse: ◌ِفَأُوا إِلَى الْكَهُف (then seek refuge in the Cave - 16), Ibn
Kathir says that the course adopted by the People of Kahf was that they
left the city in which it was not possible to worship Allah and took refuge
in the Cave. This is the Sunnah, the way of all prophets. They migrate
from such places and opt for a place where 'Ibadah could be done.
Verses 17 - 18
وَتَرَى الشَّمُسَ إِذَا طَلَعَتُ تَّرُوَرُ عَنْ كَهُفِهِمُ ذَاتَ الْيَمِيْنِ وَإِذَا
غَرَبَتُ تَّقْرِضُهُمُ ذَاتَ الشِّمَالِ وَهُمُ فِىُ فَجُوَةٍ مِّنْهُ ذَلِكَ مِنُ أَيْتِ
اللّهِ، مَنْ يَّهُدِ اللّهُ فَهُوَ الْمُهْتَّدِ وَمَنْ يُضْلِلُ فَلَنُ تَجِدَ لَهُ، وَلِيًّا مُّرُشِدًا
﴿١٧﴾ وَتَحُسَبُهُمُ اَيْقَاظًا وَّهُمُ رُقُوُدٌ مُّ وَنُقَلِّبُهُمُ ذَاتَ الْيَمِيْنِ وَذَاتَ
الشِّمَالِ شَّدٍ وَكَلْبُهُمُ بَاسِطٌ ذِرَاعَيْهِ بِالْوَصِيْدِ * لَوِ اطَّلَعُتَ عَلَيْهِمُ
لَوَلَّيْتَ مِنْهُمْ فِرَارًا وَلَمُلِئْتَ مِنْهُمُ رُعُبًا ﴿١٨﴾
And you see the sun, when it rises, it turns away from
their Cave towards the right; and when it sets, it by-
passes them towards the left - and they are in the hollow
thereof. That is one of the signs of Allah. Whomsoever
Allah guides is the one who gets the right path and
whomsoever He lets go astray, you will find for him no
one to help, no one to lead. [17] And you think they are
awake while they are asleep. And We turn them on their
sides, right and left. And their dog has its forelegs
stretched out to the doorstep. If you had a look at them,
you would have fled away from them and would have
been filled with awe of them. [18]
Commentary
In these verses, Allah Ta'ala has told us about three states of the Peo-

590
Surah Al-Kahf : 18 : 17 - 18
ple of Kahf. All three are indeed unique and it was the karamah, a mat-
ter of wonder, that manifested itself in an extraordinary way around
these people devoted to Allah (a thing of wonder that manifests itself at
the hands of a prophet of Allah is called a mu'jizah or miracle, while if it
appears at the hand of some other pious persons, it is called 'Karamah').
First of all, to be overtaken by continuous sleep for a long time and to
stay alive in that state without eating and drinking is by itself a matter
of wonder, and certainly contra-habitual and extraordinary. Its details
will appear in the verses that follow. Given here is one state of their long
sleep, that is, Allah Ta'ala had arranged for their protection in the Cave
in a way that the Sun would pass by them morning and evening but
would not shine over their bodies inside the Cave. The advantages of the
sunshine passing by them were things like the stabilization of the traces
of life, moderation and balancing of the effects of wind, chill and heat
etc. And then, the Sun not hitting their bodies directly may have also
been a factor in keeping their bodies and dress protected.
This arrangement of keeping them shielded from direct sunlight
could also be conceived if the cave lies situated in a particular structural
position and the opening of its entrance happens to face south or north
in a way that sunlight does not get in there naturally. Ibn Qutaibah
went to the trouble of making elaborate mathematical calculations to de-
termine the peculiar location of this Cave precisely in terms of latitude
and longitude. (Mazhari) Contrary to this was the approach of al-Zajjaj
who said that the staying of sunshine away from them was not because
of any inherent situation or formation of the Cave, instead, it was an ex-
traordinary phenomenon manifested as a karamah. It seems when it
was said: ◌ِذلِكَ مِنُ أيتِ اللّه (That is one of the signs of Allah) at the end of the
verse, it was obviously there to prove that this arrangement of protection
from the Sun was not the outcome of any particular formation or location
of the Cave. Instead, it was a sign of the perfect power of Allah Ta'ala.
(Qurțubī)
To put it candidly, Allah Ta'ala had it all arranged for them that sun-
light will not reach their bodies. It may have been caused through its
particular formation or location, or through the barrier of a cloud or so-
mething similar when the Sun would start shining, or the very rays of
the Sun would be moved away from them in an extraordinary manner.

591
Surah Al-Kahf : 18 : 17 - 18
All these probabilities exist within the verse. There is no need to insist
upon fixing any of these as the absolute reality.
The People of Kahf during their long sleep were in a state that
an onlooker would have taken them to be awake
The second state of the People of Kahf pointed out is that there were
no signs of sleep on their bodies in spite of having been put to sleep for
such a long period of time. In fact, they were in a condition that anyone
who looked at them would think that they were awake. Generally, com-
mentators say that their eyes were open. The body is relaxed in sleep
but this relaxation was not there. The change in the momentum of
breathing that comes upon the sleeping was also not there. It is obvious
that this state too was nothing short of being extraordinary, a kind of
Thaumaturgy (karamah), in which the apparent consideration of wisdom
was their protection lest someone taking them to be asleep attacks them,
or steals things with them. Then, the changing of sides to the right and
the left could also give an onlooker the realization of their being awake.
And then, there was a particular benefit as well in changing sides - in
that the dust they were sleeping on does not eat into an unchanged side.
The dog of the People of Kahf
At this point, we have a question on our hands. It appears in an au-
thentic Hadith that angels do not enter a house that has a dog or pic-
ture. Then, there is a Hadith of the Şahin of al-Bukhari. There, it has
been reported on the authority of Sayyidna Ibn 'Umar see that the Holy
Prophet
said, "Whoever keeps a dog, except the one used for hunting
or guarding livestock, has two qirats deducted every day from his reward
(qirat or karat is the name of a small weight)." And in the report narrat-
ed by Sayyidna Abu Hurairah 4e6, there is the exception of a third kind
of dog, that is, a dog kept to guard land produce.
Based on these Hadith reports, one can ask as to why did these
worthy men of Allah take a dog with them? One answer to this could be
that the prohibition of keeping a dog is an injunction of the Shari'ah
brought by the Holy Prophet and it is possible that it may not be so
prohibited in the Shari'ah (law) brought by Sayyidna Isa Masih all.
Then, it is reasonably imaginable that these people who had property
and livestock may have kept a dog for their protection from intruders
and since the faithfulness of a dog is well known, the dog followed them

592
Surah Al-Kahf : 18 : 17 - 18
when they went out from the city.
Good Company is a Blessing - Even for a dog!
Ibn 'Atiyyah says that his father told him that he heard a sermon of
Abu al-Fadl Jawhari in the Hijrah year 469 at the Great Mosque of
Egypt. Speaking on the Mimbar, he was telling everyone, 'whoever loves
good people, he too gets a share from their goodness. See when the dog of
the Ashab al-Kahf loved them and followed them closely as if appended
with them, Allah Ta'ala mentioned it in the Qur'an'.
Al-Qurtubi mentions this report of Ibn 'Ațiyyah in his Tafsir. In his
comments, he says when a dog can reach this station by being in the com-
pany of the righteous and the saintly, imagine how high the station of
true believers and pure monotheists who love righteous men of Allah
would be. In fact, there is comfort and good news in this event for Mus-
lims who are weak in deeds but do love the Holy Prophet
fully and
duly.
It has been reported in the Şahin of al-Bukhari that Sayyidna Anas
said, "One day, I and the Holy Prophet
were coming out of the
Masjid. We met a person at the door. He asked, "Ya Rasulallah, when
will the Qiyamah come?" He said, "What preparations have you already
made for Qiyamah? (In view of which you want it to come soon)." Hear-
ing this, the man was somewhat ashamed and corrected himself by say-
ing, "I have not collected a lot of prayers, fasts and charities for
Qiyamah, but I love Allah and His Messenger." He said, "If so, [on the
day of Qiyamah] you shall be with those whom you love." Sayyidna Anas
says, "when we heard this bliss of a sentence from the Holy Prophet
we were so happy that we had never been that happy since we em-
braced Islam." After that, Sayyidna Anas said, "[al-hamdulillah] I love
ورضى الله عنهما Abu Bakr and Umar , صلى الله عليه وسلم Allah, His Messenger
therefore, I look forward to being with them." (Qurțubi)
Allah Ta'ala had invested the People of Kahf with such awe as
would make an onlooker run in terror
The address in verse 18:ْلَواطَلَعُتَ عَلَيُهم (If you had a look at them) is ap-
parently to people at large. Therefore, it does not necessarily follow from
it that the Holy Prophet " too could be filled up with awe generated by
the state of the People of Kahf in their Cave. So, the address here is to

593
Surah Al-Kahf : 18 : 17 - 18
common people. They are being told that, were they to cast a look at
them in that state, they would have fled away from them in terror and
the resulting awe of them would have gripped them all over.
What was the basis of this awe and what were the reasons for it?
This is something in which debate is useless - therefore, the Qur'an, and
Hadith have not explained it. The truth of the matter is that Allah
Ta'ala, in His wisdom, had created such conditions for their protection
that the Sun stays away from their bodies, and the onlooker takes them
to be awake and is filled with awe of them and is consequently unable to
see them fully. It is possible to have these conditions prevail by way of
particular physical causes as well as by way of an extraordinary input or
as the working of wonder (karamah). Now, when the Qur'an and Hadith
have not determined any particular reason for it, debating it with hollow
conjectures is futile. Preferring this approach, Tafsir Mazhari cites Ibn
Abi Shaibah, Ibn al-Mundhir and Ibn Abi Hatim in support. They have
reported an event relating to Sayyidna 'Abdullah ibn 'Abbas de who
says: 'we waged a Jihad against Byzantine forces in the company of
Sayyidna Mu'awiyah
which is known as the battle of al-Madiq
(JaJI). On this trip, we passed through the site of the Cave of the People
of Kahf. The Qur'an mentions it. Sayyidna Mu'awiyah wanted to go into
the Cave and see the bodies of the People of Kahf. Sayyidna Ibn 'Abbas
said, 'let us not do so because Allah Ta'ala has already prohibited
someone better than you from seeing them, that is, the Rasul of Allah.'
Then, he recited this very verse: ◌ْلَواطَلَعُتَ عَلَيْهم (If you had a look at them,
you would have fled from them and would have been filled with awe of
them - 18). [This tells us that, in the sight of Sayyidna 'Abdullah ibn
'Abbas, the address in LIJ (If you had a look) was to the Holy Prophet]
But, Sayyidnā Mu'awiyah did not accept his opinion [perhaps, because
he may have taken the address as being to common people and not to
the Holy Prophet . Or, it may be that the Qur'an has portrayed the
condition of the time when the People of Kahf were alive and asleep.
Now a long time had passed since they died. It was not likely that they
would still have the same atmosphere of awe around them]. However,
Sayyidna Mu'awiyah, with his position unchanged, sent a few men to
find out the facts. But, when they stepped into the Cave, Allah Ta'ala
sent a hot wind upon them because of which they could not see anything.

594
Surah Al-Kahf : 18 : 19 - 20
(Mazhari) (This report was also referred earlier under 'The People of Kahf:
Place and Period')
Verses 19 - 20
وَكَذِلِكَ بَعَثْنُهُمُ لِيَتَسَآءَ لُوا بَيْنَهُمُ ، قَالَ قَاتِلٌ مِّنُهُمُ كَمْ لَبِئْتُمُ ، قَالُوْا
لَبِثْنَا يَوْمَّا أَوْ بَعُضَ يَوْمٍ * قَالُوا رَبُّكُمْ أَعْلَمُ بِمَا لَبِثْتُمُ + فَابْعَثُوَّا أَحَدَ كُمُ
بِوَرِقِكُمُ هذِهٍ إِلَى الْمَدِيْنَةِ فَلْيَنْظُرُ أَيُّهَا أَزْكِى طَعَامًا فَلْيَأْتِّكُمْ بِرِزْقٍ
مِّنْهُ وَلَيَتَلَطَّفُ وَلاَيُشْعِرَنَّ بِكُمْ أَحَدًا ﴿١٩) إِنَّهُمُ إِنْ يَظْهَرُوْا عَلَيْكُمُ
يَرْجُمُوْكُمُ أَوُيُعِيُدُوْكُمُ فِىُ مِلَّتِهِمْ وَلَنْ تُفْلِحُوَّا إِذَا آَبَدًا ﴿ ٢﴾
And similarly We raised them up so that they ask each
other. One of them said, "How long did you stay?" They
said, "A day, or part of a day." They said, "Your Lord
knows best how long you stayed." So, send one of you
with this silver (coin) of yours to the city and let him
look around which of the eatables are the purest and let
him bring you some food therefrom. And he must be po-
lite and must not let anyone know about you. [19] If they
know about you, they will force you to revert to their
faith and in that case, you will never find success. [20]
Commentary
The word: JUK (kadhalik) in the first sentence is for comparison.
The purpose at this place is to describe the mutual likeness of two
events. One of these is the event of the long sleep of the People of Kahf
for an equally long period of time mentioned in the beginning of the
story under the verse: فَضَرَبُنَا عَلَى أَذَانِهِمُ فِى الْكَهُفِ سِنِينَ عَدَدًا :"So, We veiled their
hearing (putting them to sleep) in the Cave for a number of years - 11."
The second event relates to the rising of these people from that long
drawn sleep - intact, healthy and fit despite the absence of any
energy-giving intake - and becoming wide awake. Both are alike in being
signs of the power of Allah Ta'ala. For this reason, when 'raising them
up' was mentioned in this verse, the word: JUK (kadhalik: 'And
similarly') was used to indicate that the way their sleep was not like the
habitual sleep of common people, very similarly, their rising too was
distinct from natural habit. Then, as for the next statement after that:

595
Surah Al-Kahf : 18 : 19 - 20
rt@ meaning 'so that they ask each other [as to how long the sleep
was],' it is not the reason of 'raising them up.' Instead, it is a mention of
a usual phenomenon. Therefore, the particle: y (lam) in:
(liyatasa'alu: so that they ask) has been identified as the lam of 'aqibah
(consequence) or sairurah (result) meaning that which naturally follows
as a sequel. (Abu Hayyan, al-Qurțubi)
In short, their long sleep was a Divine sign. Similarly, sitting up all
awake after hundreds of years - fit and healthy without usual nourish-
ment - was also another perfect Divine sign. And it was also Divinely in-
tended that they too should come to know that they have been sleeping
through hundreds of years, therefore, it began with questions asked
between each other and ended at the incident mentioned in the next
verse: 02130", (And in this way We made them known - 21). It means
that the people of the city knew their secret and, despite the difference
in determining the period of their stay, everyone believed that they had
been sleeping in the Cave for a long period of time.
Given in: 4 JU Ju (One of them said - 19) is the detail of what was
said briefly at the beginning of the story (12) - that they differed about
the period of their stay in the Cave and that one of them did say the
right thing. According to this detail, one person from among the People
of the Cave ventured to pose the question as to how long did they sleep.
Then, came the response from some that said, 'a day, or part of a day' -
because, these people had entered the Cave in the morning and when
they woke up, it was evening. Therefore, they thought, that was the day
they had entered the Cave and the duration of their sleep was just about
a day. But, some from among these very people realized that, perhaps,
this was not the day they had entered the Cave. If so, who knows how
many days have gone by? Therefore, they decided to let this particular
قَالُوا رَبُّكُمْ أَعْلَمُ بِمَا لَبِثُمُ : knowledge about the event rest with Allah. By saying
(Your Lord knows best how long you stayed - 19), they dismissed this de-
bate as unnecessary and turned their attention to the need of the hour,
that is, to send a man to the city to bring some food from there.
The word : ◌ِالمَدِينَة (al-madinah) in the phrase:ِإِلَى الْمَدِينَة (ila al-madinah:
to the city) proves at least this much that there used to be a big city close
to the Cave where they had stayed. In his Tafsir al-Bahr al-Muhit, Abu
Hayyan has said that the name of the city at the time the People of Kahf

596
Surah Al-Kahf : 18 : 19 - 20
left was Ifsus and now, the name was Tarsus. Al-Qurtubi has said in his
Tafsir that during the time idol-worship and ignorance prevailed in this
city, its name was Ifsus. But, when the believers of that time, that is, the
followers of Sayyidna Masih &gel, overtook it, they renamed it as
Tarsus.
The word: " (with this silver [coin] of yours - 19) tells us that
these good men had also brought some money with them when they
came to the Cave. From here we know that the procurement and man-
agement of essential expenditures in life is not contrary to the norms of
Zuhd (abstention from worldly desires) and Tawakkul (trust in Allah).
(Al-Bahr al-Muhit)
The word: ازكى (azka) in :أَيُّهَا ازْكَى طَعَامًا (which are the purest - 19) means
what is clean and pure. According to the Tafsir of Ibn Jubayr, it denotes
Halal food. They were alert to the need for such precaution because at
the time they had left the city, people used to slaughter animals in the
name of idols and that was what they sold in the market. Therefore,
they stressed upon the man going out to bring food only after making
sure that it was Halal.
Ruling
This tells us that eating food in any city, bazaar or hotel, where most
of the food available is Haram, is not permissible without prior investiga-
tion.
The word: (rajm) in: " means 'they will stone you to death
- 19.' It will be recalled that the king had warned them - before they went
to the Cave - that they will be killed if they kept adhering to their pre-
sent faith. This verse tells us that a renegade in their faith used to be
punished by being stoned to death in which everyone participated, ex-
pressed collective anger and lent a hand in killing him.
Perhaps, the punishment for adultery committed by a married man
or woman by stoning to death, as proposed in the Shari'ah of Islam, may
be aimed at exposing the one guilty of this abominable act at the cost of
all norms of modesty and propriety. The execution of the culprit was to
remain public with everyone joining in so that two things were ensured -
let that disgrace be at collective level, and let all Muslims express their
wrath practically so that no one dares repeat this act of shame among
.

597
Surah Al-Kahf : 18 : 21
them.
The expression: ◌ْفَابٌعَثُوا أَحَدَكُم (So, send one of you - 19) tells us that the
group in the Cave picked up a man from among them to go to the city
and gave him the money to buy food which he would bring back.
Al-Qurțubi finds this significant. He quotes Ibn Khuwaizmandad and de-
scribes some rulings deduced from here.
Rulings
1. Partnership in capital is permissible - because, this amount was
shared by all.
2. Power of attorney or delegation of management is permissible in
capital, that is, one person can, as an authorized agent, disburse from
shared capital with the permission of others.
3. If a group of people shares food, it is permissible - though, individu-
al food intake usually differs with one eating less while the other, more.
Verse 21
وَكَذْلِكَ أَعْثَرْنَا عَلَيْهِمُ لِيَعْلَمُوَّا أَنَّ وَعُدَ اللَّهِ حَقُّ وَّانَّ السَّاعَةَ لاَرَيْبَ
فِيْهَا ◌َّ ◌ِذْ يَتَنَازَعُونَ بَيْنَهُمْ آَمْرَهُمْ فَقَالُوا ابْنُوا عَلَيْهِمُ بُنْيَانًا ﴿ رَبُّهُمُ
أَعْلَمُ بِهِمْ، قَالَ الَّذِيْنَ غَلَبُوا عَلَى أَمْرِهِمُ لَتَّخِذَنَّ عَلَيْهِمُ مَّسُجِدًا
And in this way We made them known to the people so
that they realize that Allah's promise is true and that
there is no doubt about the Hour. When they were dis-
puting among themselves in their matter, they said,
"Erect a building over them. Their Lord knows them
best." Said those who prevailed in their matter, "We will
certainly make a masjid (mosque) over them." [21]
Commentary
وَكَذَلِكَ أَعُثَرُنَا عَلَيْهمْ :Described in this verse which opens with the words
(And in this way We made them known) is the disclosure of the secret of
the People of Kahf before the residents of the city. Along with it given
there is a view of His wisdom, and of the belief in the Hereafter and the

598
Surah Al-Kahf : 18 : 21
Last Day when the dead will rise again, and that they will ultimately be-
lieve in it. How this came about has been mentioned briefly in Tafsir
al-Qurtubi as follows:
The secret of the People of Kahf:
How did the people of the city learn about it?
When the People of Kahf went out, the Mushrik king Daqyanus, the
oppressive ruler of that city died. Centuries went by. Then, it was taken
over by people who were pure monotheists. Their king was a righteous
man (whose name has been given as Baidusis in Tafsir Mazhari with ref-
erences to historical narratives). During his time, it so happened that dif-
ferences became rampant on the issue of the dead rising again on the
day of Qiyamah. One sect rejected the possibility of human bodies rising
again after the process of decomposition, disintegration and dispersal as
scattered particles all over the world. Baidusis, the king of the time,
started worrying about ways to dispel these doubts. When nothing
worked, he got into ragged clothes, sat down on a heap of ash and
prayed to Allah. Lamenting and pleading earnestly, he said, 'O Allah,
now it is up to Thee to make things work out in a way that the belief of
my people gets corrected and they take to the right path.' On one side
was this king engaged in his plaint and prayer while, on the other side,
Allah Ta'ala arranged to have his supplication answered in His own
way. The People of Kahf woke up. They sent one of their men (reportedly
named Tamlikha) to the city bazaar to buy food. He went to a shop and
paid for the food he bought in the form of a silver coin dating back to the
time of king Daqyanus who reigned there three hundred years ago. The
shopkeeper was taken aback. Where did this coin come from? What peri-
od does it belong to? He was confused. He showed it to other shopkeep-
ers. Everyone said that the man had struck some treasure and was there
with a coin from it. This man told them that nothing of that kind had
happened to him and the coin was his own.
The shopkeepers detained him and produced him before the king. As
said earlier, this king was a righteous man of Allah. It is said that he
was aware of the old state treasure house and in its archaeological sec-
tion he had also seen the tablet inscribed on which there was a list of the
names of the People of Kahf along with the description of the incident of
their escape. According to some, the cruel king Daqyanus was the one
.