Al-Kahf (The Cave)

21. “And in like manner We did make (the people) to get knowledge of them that they might know that the promise of Allah is true, and that, as for the Hour (of Judgment), there is no doubt about it. When they disputed among themselves of their affair then they said: ‘Build a building (monument) over them; their Lord best knows of them.’ Those who prevailed over their affair said: ‘We will build over them a place of worship’.”

The End of the Adventure of the Cave

It did not take so long that the story of the migration of those godly gentlemen, the youths of that locality, spread everywhere, and the tyrannical king of the country became very angry of the event.

Therefore, he ordered his men that some special functionaries should search for them all the places, so that if they found any trace of them, they would pursue them until they could capture them and punish them. But the more they searched the less they found.

Now, we may trace the man who was commissioned to buy some food and see what happened to him.

As soon as he entered the city, he terribly surprised, because the shape of the buildings had utterly been changed, the features of people he saw were all unfamiliar to him, their clothes had been altered into some new models.

Even the method of their speaking, customs, and rules of civility were not as before. The ruins of yesterday had given their places to castles, and the castles of yesterday had been changed into ruins.

He still thought that their sleep in the cave lasted one day or half of a day. In that case, he wondered why there were so many changes in the city!

His wonder reached its climax when he put his hand in to his pocket to pay the price of the food he had bought. The seller was watching a coin which belonged to more than three hundred years before that time.

Perhaps, the name of Decianus, the tyrannical king of old time, was seen on it. When the seller asked him to explain about that coin, the man answered that he had obtained it not long ago.

Then, the man himself found out to what a deep and long sleep he and his companions had gone.

This question became known in the city and the people of everywhere told that story one another. A group of those people could not believe that a man could be quickened again after his death. But the adventure of the sleep of the Companions of the Cave became a firm reasoning for those who were the adherents of the belief of resurrection of the body.

Therefore, the Qur’an in this verse says:

“And in like manner We did make (the people) to get knowledge of them that they might know that the promise of Allah is true…”

And there is no doubt about the end of the world and the occurrence of the Hereafter.

The verse continues saying:

“…and that, as for the Hour (of Judgment), there is no doubt about it...”

This sleep and wakefulness, from some points of view, was more wonderful than death and returning to life again, because there passed hundreds of years upon them and their bodies did not decay, while they neither ate any food nor did they drink any water.

Is not this event a proof to the Power of Allah (s.w.t.) upon everything and every deed? Taking such an event in mind, the life after death is certainly possible.

The man sent for buying food quickly returned to the Cave, and informed his companions of the fact. All of them surprised deeply. It was hard and difficult for them to bear that kind of life. They asked Allah that they would forsake this world and transfer unto the neighbourhood of the mercy of Allah, and it happened soon.

They passed away and their bodies were inside the Cave when the people went to see them.

At that circumstance, there occurred a dispute between the adherents of the belief of the resurrection of the bodies and their opponents. The opponents tried that the problem of the sleep and wakefulness of the Companions of the Cave to be forgotten and to take that firm proof from the hands of its adherents.

The Qur’an in this regard implies that when they were disputing upon their affair among themselves, some of them said that they should build a monument over them so that they might disappear from the eyes and that they spoke about them no longer, for their Lord is better aware of their condition.

The verse says:

“…When they disputed among themselves of their affair then they said: ‘Build a building (monument) over them; their Lord best knows of them.’…”

But those who became aware of their secret, and found it as a reasoning for Resurrection, suggested that they would build a mosque beside their graves, in order that their memory could not be forgotten.

The verse says:

“…Those who prevailed over their affair said: ‘We will build over them a place of worship’.”

This meaning shows that building a tomb and a place of worship in reverence of the graves of the saints of the religion not only is not unlawful (haram) but also it is a worthy action with Allah (s.w.t.).

Explanations

1. The Arabic term /’i‘ar/ is applied for an occasional information which is obtained with no searching. In this event, people, without any trouble, became cognizant of the important secret of the Age of the Companions of the Cave by means of their silver coin.

2. In the story of the Companions of the Cave these subjects are referred to:

The Will and Power of Allah, brevity, forsaking the world, migration, concealing of faith, Allah’s succours, and lawful feeding (pure food).

3. None of Allah’s deeds is vain.

4. That ability which can keep those men alive for more than three centuries without any food, is powerful to restore the dead to life, too.

5. Sometimes human beings simply pass by some historical events while they are neglectful of the training effects of those events. The Companions of the Cave passed away after that their adventure was revealed, but, in stead of taking a lesson from it, people were thinking of building a monument over there.