18. Surah Al-Kahf

About the verse: فَأْوُوا إِلَى الْكَهْفِ (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.

Commentary In these verses, Allah Ta` ala has told us about three states of the People of Kahf. All three are indeed unique and it was the karamah, a matter 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 mujizah 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 determine 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 extraordinary phenomenon manifested as a karamah. It seems when it was said: ذَٰلِكَ مِنْ آيَاتِ اللَّـهِ (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. (Qurtubi) To put it candidly, Allah Ta` ala had it all arranged for them that sunlight will not reach their bodies. It may have been caused through its particular formation or location or through the barrier of a cloud or something similar when the Sun would start shining, or the very rays of the Sun would be moved away from them in an extraordinary manner. 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, commentators 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 authentic Hadith that angels do not enter a house that has a dog or picture. Then, there is a Hadith of the Sahih of al-Bukhari. There, it has been reported on the authority of Sayyidna Ibn ` Umar ؓ that the Holy Prophet ﷺ 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 narrated by Sayyidna Abu Hurairah ؓ ، 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 ﷺ and it is possible that it may not be so prohibited in the Shari'ah (law) brought by Sayyidna ` Isa Masih (علیہ السلام) . 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 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 'Atiyyah in his Tafsir. In his comments, he says when a dog can reach this station by being in the company 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 Muslims who are weak in deeds but do love the Holy Prophet ﷺ fully and duly. It has been reported in the Sahih of al-Bukhari that Sayyidna Anas ؓ said, "One day, I and the Holy Prophet ﷺ 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)." Hearing this, the man was somewhat ashamed and corrected himself by saying, "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 ﷺ ، we were so happy that we had never been that happy since we embraced Islam." After that, Sayyidna Anas ؓ said, "[ al-Hamdulillah ] I love Allah, His Messenger ﷺ ، Abu Bakr and ` Umar رضی اللہ تعالیٰ عنہما ، therefore, I look forward to being with them." (Qurtubi) 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: لَوِ اطَّلَعْتَ عَلَيْهِمْ (If you had a look at them) is apparently to people at large. Therefore, it does not necessarily follow from it that the Holy Prophet ﷺ 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 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 ؓ 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 (المضیق). 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: لَوِ اطَّلَعْتَ عَلَيْهِمْ (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 لَوِ اطَّلَعْتَ (If you had a look) was to the Holy Prophet ﷺ ] But, Sayyidna 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 ﷺ . 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. (Mazhari) (This report was also referred earlier under The People of Kahf: Place and Period' )

Commentary The word: کَذٰلِک (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: فَضَرَ‌بْنَا عَلَىٰ آذَانِهِمْ فِي الْكَهْفِ 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: کَذٰلِک (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: لِيَتَسَاءَلُوا ، 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: لام (lam) in: لِيَتَسَاءَلُوا (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-Qurtubi) In short, their long sleep was a Divine sign. Similarly, sitting up all awake after hundreds of years - fit and healthy without usual nourishment - 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: وَكَذَٰلِكَ أَعْثَرْ‌نَا (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: قَالَ قَائِلٌ مِّنْهُمْ (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 knowledge about the event rest with Allah. By saying: قَالُوا رَ‌بُّكُمْ أَعْلَمُ بِمَا لَبِثْتُمْ (Your Lord knows best how long you stayed - 19), they dismissed this debate 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: الْمَدِينَةِ (al-madinah) in the phrase: إِلَى الْمَدِينَةِ (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 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 (علیہ السلام) overtook it, they renamed it as Tarsus. The word: بِوَرِ‌قِكُمْ 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 management 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: أَزْكَىٰ (azka) in: أَيُّهَا أَزْكَىٰ 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 حرام Haram, is not permissible without prior investigation.

The word: رجم (rajm) in: يَرْ‌جُمُوكُمْ 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 present faith. This verse tells us that a renegade in their faith used to be punished by being stoned to death in which everyone participated, expressed 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 them. The expression فَابْعَثُوا 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-Qurtubi finds this significant. He quotes Ibn Khuwaizmandad and describes 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. If a group of people shares food, it is permissible - though, individual food intake usually differs with one eating less while the other, more.

Commentary Described in this verse which opens with the words: وَكَذَٰلِكَ أَعْثَرْ‌نَا عَلَيْهِمْ (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 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 references to historical narratives). During his time, it so happened that differences 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, '0 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 period does it belong to? He was confused. He showed it to other shopkeepers. 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 section 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 who had ordered that such a tablet should be inscribed to declare them as proclaimed offenders, to preserve their names and addresses and to have them arrested on sight. Some other reports say that there were people in the royal court who disapproved of idol-worship by heart and took the People of Kahf as votaries of truth. But, they did not have the courage to declare it openly. What they did was to have this tablet inscribed to be kept as memorabilia. The name of this tablet was Raqim because of which the People of Kahf were also called the People of Raqim. So, this king knew something about this event and at that time he was busy praying to Allah that He would somehow make his people believe that making dead bodies rise again was not beyond His most perfect power. Therefore, when he inquired into the background of Tamlikha, he was convinced that the man was one of the People of Kahf. He said that he used to pray to Allah in the hope that He would somehow make him fortunate enough to meet the people who had run away from Daqyanus for the sake of their faith. Now that Allah had perhaps heard his prayer, he was grateful. May be there is, in this event, some decisive proof that makes people believe in the rising of the dead. After saying this, he asked this man to take him to the Cave from where he had come. The king arrived there with a retinue of people from the city. When the Cave came close, Tamlikha asked the king to wait there for a while so that he could go in and inform his companions about the situation. He would tell them that the king was there to meet them along with his people and that the king was a believer, a monotheist and so were his people. If he failed to do that, and the king appeared there unannounced, it was likely that they might take him to be their enemy like the previous one. When Tamlikha went in the Cave, he related the whole story before his companions. They were pleased. They greeted the king showing due respect for him. Then they returned to their Cave. And as most narratives have it, when Tamlikha related the whole story before his companions, they died and could not meet the king. At this stage, Abu Hayyan has reported a narrative in al-Bahr al-Muhit which says that after the meeting, the People of the Cave took leave of the king and the visiting citizens and went into the Cave. It was at that time that Allah Ta` ala sent death to them. Allah knows best the reality as it is. However, the people of the city now had before them a marvel of Divine power manifested so decisively and clearly. They came to believe in the working of that power. They saw living human beings kept alive for three hundred years without food and things essential in life. And then, they also saw them raised intact, healthy and fit after having been kept asleep for such a long time. With all this in view, why should it be at all difficult for that power to make these bodies come alive after having met their death? Through this event, their perception that the resurrection of bodies was a far out proposition stood refuted. They now realized that taking the Power of the master of the universes on the analogy of the power of human beings was an act of ignorance by itself. A hint was made towards this very aspect in the words: لِیَعلَمُوآ اَنَّ وَعدَ اللہِ حَقُّ وَأَنَّ السَّاعَةَ آتِيَةٌ لَّا رَ‌يْبَ فِيهَا (so that they realize that Allah's promise is true and that there is no doubt about the Hour). It means, 'Allah raised the People of Kahf after having kept them asleep for a long time so that others realized that His promise to raise the dead on the Last Day of Qiyamah was true, and that there was no doubt about the coming of the Qiyamah.' People differed after the death of Ashab al-Kahf As for the holiness of the People of Kahf, everyone agreed about that and thought of making a memorial for them close to the Cave. However, there was a difference of opinion on the nature of the building. Some reports tell us that idol-worshippers, still left in the city, also used to visit the site. They proposed that it should be a public welfare building. But, the king and the official in his government were believers who played a dominant role in public affairs. They proposed that they should make a mosque over there so that it serves as a memorial to them and also becomes the cause of saving people from idol-worship in the future. At this place in the Qur'an, the reference to this difference of opinion is hemmed in by the sentence: رَّ‌بُّهُمْ أَعْلَمُ بِهِمْ (Their Lord knows them best). Regarding the meaning of this sentence, Tafsir al-Bahr al-Muhit has mentioned two probabilities. (1) This was said by the same people from the city present there, because when a memorial was proposed after their death, people thought of inscribing a tablet mentioning the names and the details about the people of the Cave for the memory of whom the building was to be dedicated. And so they started talking variously about the background details concerning the People of Kahf. In the end, when their differences remained unresolved, they said: رَّ‌بُّهُمْ أَعْلَمُ بِهِمْ (their Lord knows them best). After saying that, they turned to the main job at hand which was raising a building in their memory. Those who were dominant decided to make a mosque. (2) Then, the probability that this was said by Allah Ta` ala also exists here as it warns people who indulged in mutual disputations around baseless issues during that time. They are being told here that they do not know the reality and they do not have the sources to arrive at that knowledge. Why, then, would they waste their precious time in futile argumentation? Then, it is also possible that the warning was beamed at Jews and others who used the crutch of this event to indulge in baseless debates during the blessed time of the Holy Prophet ﷺ . Pure and High is Allah who knows best. Ruling This event tells us that making a masjid for Salah near the graves of men of Allah is no sin. As for the Hadith in which words of curse have appeared against those who make the graves of prophets a masjid, it means making the graves as such a place of sajdah or prostration - which is, by consensus, Shirk, and Haram. (Mazhari)

Commentary The verse opens with the word: سَيَقُولُونَ (sayaqulun: Some will say).Who are these people who will say? There are two probabilities therein. (1) They could be the people who had differed among themselves during the time of the People of Kahf about their name and lineage, already mentioned in the previous verse. Out of these very people, some had made the first statement, some others, the second and still others, the third. (Mentioned in al-Bahr al-Muhit from al-Mawardi) (2) The second probability is that the pronoun in 'sayaqulun' could be reverting back to the Christians of Najran who had argued with the Holy Prophet ﷺ about the number of the People of Kahf. They had three sects among them. One sect was called Malkaniyah. They made the first statement about the number, that is, gave the number as three. The second sect was Ya` qubiyah. They went by the second statement, that is, they were five. The third sect was Nasturiyah. They made the third statement, saying that they were seven. However, some said that this third statement was that of Muslims. What finally happened was that the third statement turned out to be true as it appears from the hint given by the Qur'an, and the word of the Holy Prophet ﷺ . (Al-Bahr al-Muhit) . The hint is that the former two views about their number have been termed by the Qur'an as 'conjectures' while the third view has appeared without such a comment. (Mul} ammad Taqi Usmani) The use of the conjunction waw:(and) in: وَثَامِنُهُمْ (wa thaminuhum: and the eighth of them) is worth noticing here. At this place, three statements have been reported about the number of the People of Kahf - three, five and seven - and after each, their dog has been counted. But, no conjunction 'waw' has been introduced in between their number and the count of the dog in the first two statements. The sentence: ثَلَاثَةٌ رَّ‌ابِعُهُمْ كَلْبُهُمْ (Three, the fourth of them being their dog) and the sentence: خَمْسَةٌ سَادِسُهُمْ كَلْبُهُمْ. (Five, the sixth of them being their dog) appear without that conjunction 'waw.' But, the arrangement is different in the third statement. Here, the word: سَبْعَةٌ (Seven) is followed by a connective 'waw' attached to the text of: وَثَامِنُهُمْ كَلْبُهُمْ (and the eighth of them is their dog). Giving its reason, commentators say that early Arabs used to count up to seven digits, after which the number that followed was counted as separate, similar to its present counterpart, the number 9 where units end and the tens begin. Therefore, while counting from three to seven, they would not use the connective To give a number after seven, they would state it separately with the help of a connective 'waw' - and for this reason, this 'waw' (and) was called the 'waw° (and) of 'thaman' (eight). (Mazhari and others) The names of the People of Kahf The fact of the matter is that the names of the People of Kahf do not stand proved authentically from any Sahih Hadith. Names given in exegetical and historical reports differ. The closest out of these is the report given on the authority of Sayyidna ` Abdullah ibn ` Abbas ؓ by al-Tabarani in al-Mu'jim al-Ausat with sound chains of narrators. The names given there are: Muksalmina مُکسلمِینا Tamlikha تَملِیخَا Martunis مَرطُونس Sanunis سنونس Sarinunisy سَارینونس Dhu Niwas ذونواس Ka'astitiunis کِعسططیونس Basic rule in debatable matters: Avoid long-drawn argumentation Referring to the animated efforts to determine the number of the People of Kahf, and other matters, the text says: فَلَا تُمَارِ‌ فِيهِمْ إِلَّا مِرَ‌اءً ظَاهِرً‌ا وَلَا تَسْتَفْتِ فِيهِم مِّنْهُمْ أَحَدًا (So do not argue about them except [ with ] an apparent argumentation. And do not ask anyone of these about them). The rule of conduct, a golden legacy of the Qur'an, taught in these two sentences to the Holy Prophet ﷺ are, in fact, significant guiding principles for the learned among the Muslim community. The thing to do when difference arises on any issue is to state what is necessary clearly. If people, even after that, elect to pursue a course of unnecessary debate, one should offer cursory comments in the light of the earlier presentation and conclude the debate. Any effort to dig deeper to affirm one's claim or to make the extra effort to refute the assertion of debaters should be avoided - for nothing good would really come out of it. Moreover, any further prolongation of the debate and altercation would result in uncalled for waste of time as well as pose the danger of mutual bickering. The second line of guidance given in the other sentence is that the optimum information given to him through Divine revelation about the People of Kahf should be taken as perfectly sufficient and satisfactory for all practical purposes. Let him not worry about finding more and asking oth-ers. As for asking others, it could have another aspect too. May be, the question asked is to expose their ignorance or to disgrace them. This too would be contrary to the high morals prophets have. Therefore, restraint was placed on asking both kinds of questions, either for additional investigation, or to prove the addressee ignorant and disgrace him.

Commentary The story of Ashab al-Kahf is due to end on the four verses cited above. In the first two of these, the Holy Prophet ﷺ and his Ummah has been taught to say ` Insha'Allah Ta’ ala along with the promise or affirmation of doing something in the future. Because, who knows if one does or does not live, and even if one does, will one be able to do or not to do that? Therefore, a believer should be confident about it in his or her heart, and confess to it verbally as well that in the event of making a commitment to do something next day, what will be said will be: If Allah Ta` ala wills, I shall do this thing tomorrow.' This is what the saying of Insha'Allah means. In the third verse (25), a decision has been given on a controversy. This was a debate in which people had held different opinions during the time of the People of Kahf, and equally different were the sayings of the Jews and Christians of the contemporary period about it, that is, the period of time they kept sleeping in the Cave. It was stated in the verse that those were three hundred and nine years. This is, so to say, a clarification of the statement made briefly at the beginning of the story: فَضَرَ‌بْنَا عَلَىٰ آذَانِهِمْ فِي الْكَهْفِ سِنِينَ عَدَدًا (So We veiled their hearing [ putting them to sleep ] in the Cave for a number of years - 11). After that, those who still differ with it have been warned once again that they are not the ones who know the reality of things as they are. The One who knows it all is none else but Allah with whom rests the knowledge of all that is unseen in the heavens and the earth. He is All Hearing. He is All Seeing. The time duration of three hundred nine years given by Him should be enough for their satisfaction.

Saying 'Insha'Allah' on doing something in the future The background of the revelation of the first two verses has been reported in Lubab from Sayyidna ` Abdullah ibn ` Abbas ؓ in the following manner. When the people of Makkah acting as coached by the Jews, asked the Holy Prophet ﷺ about the story of Ashab al-Kahf etc., he promised to answer that next day without having said Insha'Allah. The least shortcoming issuing forth from the close ones brings some or the other notice of caution. Therefore, no revelation came for the next fifteen days. Naturally, the Holy Prophet ﷺ was grieved and the Mushriks of Makkah had their opportunity to laugh and ridicule. After this interval of fifteen days, when the answer to the questions asked was revealed, these two verses were revealed along with it as a measure of guidance. They told him that, should he need to say something about what he was going to do the next day, he should invariably affirm it by saying Insha'Allah, for everything depends on the intention and will of Allah Ta` ala. These two verses, it will be noted, have been introduced at the end of the story of the People of Kahf. Ruling Firstly, these two verses (23, 24) tell us that saying Insha'Allah in the given situation is mustahabb (recommended). Secondly, they tell us that, should this part of the statement be left unsaid inadvertently, then, one may say it at the time one remembers. This injunction relates to the particular matter for which these verses have been revealed. It means that the purpose is simply to say this word to invoke Divine blessing and to confess to one's servitude and not to make the statement contingent or conditional. Therefore, it does not follow from here that one would do the same in buying and selling transactions and contracts where conditions are imposed and on this rests the contract between parties. Is it possible to impose a condition whenever one remembers later in case one had for-gotten to include the condition at the time of signing the original contract? The difference of some jurists exists in this issue details of which appear in books of Fiqh.

As for the period of sleep in the Cave given as three hundred nine years in the third verse (27), this statement concerning the time duration, as evident from the sequential arrangement of the Qur’ an, is but from Allah Ta’ ala. Ibn Kathir has declared this to be the position of the majority of commentators, earlier and later. Abu Hayyan and al-Qurtubi have also adopted this view. But, they have also reported another saying from Qatadah and others. It holds that this statement of three hundred nine years is also the saying of some of those who had differed and that the saying of Allah was what was said later: اللَّـهُ أَعْلَمُ بِمَا لَبِثُوا (Allah knows best how long they stayed - 26). The reason is, had the earlier statement giving the duration as three hundred nine years been the word of Allah, there would have been no occasion for saying: اللَّـهُ أَعْلَمُ بِمَا لَبِثُوا (Allah knows best how long they stayed) after that. But, the majority of commentators have said that both these sentences are the word of Allah. The first one describes reality as it is. The second one warns those who differ with it. They have been told that once the statement giving the duration has come from Allah, accepting it is mandatory. Since He is the One who really knows, trying to differ with Him on the basis of mere conjectures and opinions is (to make an understatement) unreasonable. The question that arises here is about the manner in which the Holy Qur'an has described the duration of stay. First it mentions three hundred years. After that, it has said that added to those three hundred there are nine. The number three hundred nine was not given initially. According to commentators, there is a reason for it. Since the Jews and Christians followed the Solar Calendar, their count remained three hundred years. And since Islam goes by the Lunar Calendar in which three more years are added every hundred years, therefore, three hundred years of Solar Calendar become nine more years in accordance with the Lunar Calendar. It was to tell the difference between the two years that this expressive diction was employed.

Yet another question arises here about the People of Kahf. During their time and then within the blessed period of the Holy Prophet ﷺ ، the Jews and Christians had their differences about two things - the number of the People of Kahf and the duration of their sleep in the Cave. The Qur'an does describe both. However, it has done so with a difference. The number was not mentioned explicitly. Rather, only a hint has been given by not refuting the view which was correct. But, the fixed duration was declared in very clear words: وَلَبِثُوا فِي كَهْفِهِمْ ثَلَاثَ مِائَةٍ سِنِينَ وَازْدَادُوا تِسْعًا (And they stayed in their Cave for three hundred years and added nine -25). The reason is that this very remarkable diction of the Qur'an strongly suggests that this debate on the number of the people of Kahf is virtually useless. No worldly or religious issue relates to or depends on it. Yes, this unusual sleep for such a long period of time, being healthy and fit without food and drink and then sitting up in good shape after such a long time is certainly a working model of Resurrection. That there is a Day of Judgment and that there is a Hereafter can be argued on this basis. Therefore, the period of sleep was stated very clearly. People who deny the extraordinary miracles, or people who are in the habit of explaining them away overawed by the objections of modern day Jewish and Christian orientalists, have not spared even the Qur'an. For example, in the case of this verse (25), they have tried to use the explanation of Qatadah as a prop to reject the duration of three hundred nine years as the saying of those very people who were differing among them-selves. But, they have erred. The statement: (for a number of years - 11) which appears in an earlier sentence of the Qur'an cannot be called the saying of anyone other than Allah Ta’ ala! To prove the miraculous nature of the event even this much is sufficient that someone remains asleep for years and years and then rises and sits up all intact, fit and alive. Allah knows best.