• The youths seeking protection of the Lord were made to sleep for centuries in the cave to prove, how man can be made to live long beyond the ordinary expectation and how time could be passed without being felt, until the Day of Judgment

Al-Kahf Verses 13 – 17

نَحْنُ نَقُصُّ عَلَيْكَ نَبَأَهُمْ بِالْحَقِّ إِنَّهُمْ فِتْيَةٌ آمَنُوا بِرَبِّهِمْ وَزِدْنَاهُمْ هُدًى

We relate unto thee their story with the truth; verily, they were youths who believed in their Lord and We increased them in guidance. (18:13)

وَرَبَطْنَا عَلَىٰ قُلُوبِهِمْ إِذْ قَامُوا فَقَالُوا رَبُّنَا رَبُّ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ لَنْ نَدْعُوَ مِنْ دُونِهِ إِلَٰهًا لَقَدْ قُلْنَا إِذًا شَطَطًا

And We strengthened their hearts with steadfastness, when they stood up then said they: “Our Lord is the Lord of the heavens and the earth, Never will we call other than Him any god, for indeed then we should have uttered extravagantly.” (18:14)

هَٰؤُلَاءِ قَوْمُنَا اتَّخَذُوا مِنْ دُونِهِ آلِهَةً لَوْلَا يَأْتُونَ عَلَيْهِمْ بِسُلْطَانٍ بَيِّنٍ فَمَنْ أَظْلَمُ مِمَّنِ افْتَرَىٰ عَلَى اللَّهِ كَذِبًا

“These our people have taken gods other than Him; why do they bring not a clear authority in their support? who is there more unjust than he who forges against God, a lie.” (18:15)

وَإِذِ اعْتَزَلْتُمُوهُمْ وَمَا يَعْبُدُونَ إِلَّا اللَّهَ فَأْوُوا إِلَى الْكَهْفِ يَنْشُرْ لَكُمْ رَبُّكُمْ مِنْ رَحْمَتِهِ وَيُهَيِّئْ لَكُمْ مِنْ أَمْرِكُمْ مِرْفَقًا

And when ye have left them and what they worship but God, betake yourselves for a refuge unto the Cave, your Lord will extend unto you His mercy, and provide for you means of (safety and) ease.” (18:16)1

وَتَرَى الشَّمْسَ إِذَا طَلَعَتْ تَزَاوَرُ عَنْ كَهْفِهِمْ ذَاتَ الْيَمِينِ وَإِذَا غَرَبَتْ تَقْرِضُهُمْ ذَاتَ الشِّمَالِ وَهُمْ فِي فَجْوَةٍ مِنْهُ ذَٰلِكَ مِنْ آيَاتِ اللَّهِ مَنْ يَهْدِ اللَّهُ فَهُوَ الْمُهْتَدِ وَمَنْ يُضْلِلْ فَلَنْ تَجِدَ لَهُ وَلِيًّا مُرْشِدًا

And thou mightest see the sun, when it rose, decline from their cave unto the right and when it set, leaving them away unto the left, while they were in the cleft2thereof; This3is of the signs of God; Whomsoever God guideth, he is guided aright, and whomsoever He leaveth to stray, never shalt thou find for him any guide to guide (him) aright. (18:17)

Commentary

Verse 13

The story was revealed to the Holy Prophet to answer the questions borrowed by the heathens of the Quraysh of Mecca, from the Jewish scholars of Najran. The young men who took refuge in the Cave are addressed as those who believed in God, which indicates that though after Jesus, most of the people had returned to idol worship, shifting their idolatry from the idols of the imaginary deities to the idols of the fanciful images of Jesus and Mary. There were still some true believers in God who followed Jesus faithfully in his original teachings without anything of an innovation of their own viz. the Trinity, which does not find any mention of it even in the present version of the Bible edited by the Christian Church started in the name of Jesus, by the pagan Emperor Constantine of Rome. Some state that the duration was 375 years. According to (M.F.A.)4 300 years.

This verse establishes the fact that the story related in this surah was revealed to the Holy Prophet and not a knowledge acquired from any other source.

Verse 14

When they awoke and found the mouth of the Cave closed, each one began praying with his conviction and faith in the Lord. One of the men prayed saying, “Lord! Once I paid a labourer a full day’s wages while he had only worked for half the day. He did not receive the amount and went away. With that amount due to the labourer, I purchased a calf and it multiplied into a big herd. When the same labourer after some time returned to me in very affluent circumstances, I took him to the flocks of the animals multiplied from that one calf purchased of his money. The man did not believe and took it to be a joke, hut I took an oath and handed the whole herd to him”. “Lord! If what I have done was only for Thee, let this closure at the Cave be opened.” The prayer was heard and one-third of the closure gave way.

Another one of them prayed saying, “Lord! When during a famine a helpless beautiful woman came to me for some wheat, I wanted her to yield to my carnal desire of fornication, but the woman did not agree and went away. Again, she came to me for help and again I laid the same condition, which she did not agree to. At last, when she came for the fourth time, she agreed, but when I wanted to hold her, she began to tremble. On being asked the reason for such a violent fear, she said that she was afraid of God. On hearing this I left her free and sent her with the provision she had asked for, and myself wept to be pardoned by Thee. Lord! If what I did was only for Thee, to please Thee, O’ Lord! Let the closure at the entrance be opened.”

God caused another third of the closure to be opened. When the two-thirds of the Cave was open, another one of the refugees prayed saying, “Lord! Once I took milk for my old parents and since they were asleep, I did not like to disturb them. I waited for them the whole night until they awoke, and in the meantime, the whole herd of my sheep perished and I did not mind. If this what I did, was for Thee O’ Lord! let the closure be opened.” The whole entrance was cleared of the closure.

The story begins from verse 18:13 and from verse 18:9 to 18:12 the matter is only introductory. The whole story has a special emphasis on the spiritual aspects of the human life and the strength of conviction or faith in God and God’s reward for it. It also indicates how the Almighty Author of the Universe, is Supreme in His powers and in His Independent Will, to enforce the wondrous working of the latent factors of the truth about the phenomenon of time and its calculation in the internal and the external life of men.

Verse 15

It is a historic fact that for the first three centuries after the departure of Jesus from this world, the people were involved in an admixture of the heathen cult of Rome with the other imaginary deities formulated from the adulterated beliefs of the Jews, the Christians and the Sabaeans.

Verse 16

Here is related what the people discussed among themselves, saying, that when they did not agree with the heathens in their faith and wanted to take refuge in the Cave with the conviction that God will surely shower His Grace and take care of them as regards their needs and the comforts therein and thus to hand over their case to God.

Verse 17

This verse gives out the actual position of the Cave with its physical situation and the comfortable accommodation provided for the sincerely devoted ones to God, and in what tranquillity of heart and confidence in Him, the faithful ones lay there, resting in perfect peace of mind and body.

• 1. A state comparable to the condition of the Holy Prophet and his Kinsman in their refuge in the ‘Shiʿb Abi Talib’ & the firmness and certitude about the ultimate success.
• 2. Open space surrounded by mountains.
• 3. Saving a handful of believer in the midst of the multitude of the enemies and the same is applicable to the safety of the Ahl al-Bayt and their handful of devotees after the Holy Prophet.
• 4. Minhaj al-Fada’il al-Ahl al-Bayt