Al-Kahf (The Cave)

19. “And in like manner We did raise them that they might question among themselves. One of them said: ‘How long have you tarried?’ They said: ‘We have tarried a day, or part of a day’. (Finally) they said: ‘Your Lord knows best how long you have tarried. Therefore send one of you with this money of yours to the city and let him see which of them has purest food, and bring you provision from it, and let him behave with (care and) gentleness, and let him not inform any one about you.”

20. “For verily if they prevail against you, they will stone you, or turn you back to their religion, and then never will you succeed.”

Wakefulness After a Long Sleep!

When explaining the commentary of the coming verse, we will detail that the Companions of the Cave’s sleep prolonged so much that it took about 309 years. Thus, it was a sleep like death, and its wakefulness was rather similar to Resurrection.

Therefore, the Qur’an in this verse says:

“And in like manner We did raise them…”

This statement means that in like manner that Allah was able to put them in such a long sleep, He returned them to wakefulness again.

The verse continues saying:

“…that they might question among themselves. One of them said: ‘How long have you tarried?’…”

Then, the verse adds:

“…They said: ‘We have tarried a day, or part of a day’...”

But, finally, since they could not know precisely the length of their sleep, they expressed as follows:

“…(Finally) they said: ‘Your Lord knows best how long you have tarried...”

However, they felt a serious hunger and they needed to eat food, because what they had in reserve in their bodies were consumed.

Therefore, their first suggestion was that they would give the silver coins they had in their possession to one of their own members and send him to the city to see which of the sellers of that city had the purest food to bring them some of it enough for their provision.

The verse says:

“…Therefore send one of you with this money of yours to the city and let him see which of them has purest food, and bring you provision from it…”

Immediately after that, the verse adds:

“…and let him behave with (care and) gentleness, and let him not inform any one about you.”

The reason of that precaution was that they thought if the people of the city were informed of their position, and found them, they would stone them and might bring them back to their own creed, (the creed of idolatry).

Explanations

1. The Arabic term /wariq/, mentioned in the verse, had been called to the silver coins which had the design of the king of that time on them.

2. The Qur’anic phrase /walyatalattaf/ has been occurred exactly in the middle of the Qur’an. It means: ‘conciliation and spiritual intelligence accompanied with kindness’, which itself is a grace that the middle-word of the holy Qur’an has spiritually been made up of conciliation, mercy, and kindness.

3. The wakefulness of the Companions of the Cave had two results. One of them was for themselves that they asked question,

“…that they might question…”,

and the other was for others that they were an illustration of Resurrection and raising in Hereafter.

4. No one should surprise upon the subject of Resurrection and being raised, because every single wakefulness of men from sleep is a kind of raising and Resurrection.