وَإِذِ اعتَزَلتُموهُم وَما يَعبُدونَ إِلَّا اللَّهَ فَأووا إِلَى الكَهفِ يَنشُر لَكُم رَبُّكُم مِن رَحمَتِهِ وَيُهَيِّئ لَكُم مِن أَمرِكُم مِرفَقًا
When you have dissociated yourselves from them and from what they worship except Allah, then take refuge in the cave. Your Lord will unfold His mercy for you, and He will help you on to ease in your affair.’
EXEGESIS
Iʿtazaltumūhum (you have dissociated yourselves from them) comes from iʿtizāl meaning to remove oneself from somewhere. Here it refers to abandoning their people and their idolatry.
The word except suggests that there were some amongst their people who worshipped God too, possibly alongside their idols, and that the youths were determined to keep away from all of those false gods and only worship the one God. In this sense, except could be understood as min dūn (besides). There is another possibility for the meaning of except and that is that it is a discontinued exceptive (istithnāʾ munqaṭiʿ), meaning that no one of their people worshipped God. The first option could be argued to be supported by the apparent meaning of the previous verse, These – our people – have taken gods besides (min dūn) Him. On the other hand, if we consider the historical context of the story, we know that the People of the Cave were early Christians living under Roman rule in either Ephesus or Philadelphia, and Roman religion did not incorporate the idea of ‘God the creator’ into their pantheon in the same way as Arab polytheism; the only close equivalent would be Jupiter, who is not a good fit for such a concept of an ‘over-deity’.
Furthermore, Tabatabai has pointed out that even the Arab polytheists who believed in ‘God the creator’ did not actually worship him. Faḍl-Allāh criticises this by saying the verse We only worship them so that they may bring us near to Allah (39:3) belies such an argument. However, it is not clear that such an act would actually constitute worship of God.
It has been said that the youths themselves never worshipped anyone besides God. Hence, the statement idh could be understood as ‘since’ rather than When, meaning: Since you have dissociated yourselves from them and from what they worship, and you have made this decision and decided to stand by it, take refuge in the cave.
The al in al-kahf (the cave) is a definite article and indicates that they had a particular cave in mind for their retreat.
Yanshur (unfold) is from nashr which means to spread open (basṭ). Here it means God spreading out His mercy and unfurling it in its vastness to encompass the youths in their difficult situation.
Yuhayyiʾ (help) comes from tahiyyah, meaning to prepare, to make arrangements, to furnish.
Mirfaq has various meanings, such as that which benefits, that which brings about ease, and to deal kindly with someone. So, yuhayyiʾ lakum min amrikum mirfaqa means: He will furnish you with ease in your affair.
EXPOSITION
When you have dissociated yourselves from them: while there may have been some doubt if the previous verse was stated in front of others or not, this is certainly a statement that the youths said to each other after their confrontation with the emperor/ruler/people had ended. It has been said that it was their leader Maximilian who said this to the others, while others report that it was Iamelichos who spoke these words. It is also uncertain if they said this while in the city or after they had fled the city.
Most likely, after their declaration the emperor was faced with a conundrum. The youths were of noble families and executing them may have created tension and enmity he wished to avoid. Seeing as they were young, he granted them respite, probably telling them to go and speak with their parents and abandon the foolish notions they had, or else face the consequences of their insurrection. The youths then likely gathered at night in secret, to discuss and plan their next move. They declared that they had now dissociated themselves publicly from their people and should leave the city at once.
And from what they worship except Allah: this dissociation was both physical and ideological. They left their city and their people for the cave, but also ideologically distanced themselves from what their people worshipped.
Then take refuge in the cave: their decision to stand up for the truth and disassociate themselves from the polytheism of their people meant that they could not safely remain amongst them, so they decided to flee to a nearby cave. Perhaps it was the brashness of youth, but it seems like they had no plan as to what should follow when they decided to stand up with their declaration of truth. Fleeing to a nearby cave certainly appears to be a hasty and last-minute decision. They had no plan when they went to the cave (as attested by the fact that when they woke up they sent one of their number back to the city to buy food), and when they prayed for God’s aid they probably were not even themselves capable of imagining how that help would be possible, and definitely did not know how it would actually unfold. This resonates strongly with the main theme of the surah.
Having said that, the definitive article of the cave, rather than saying ‘a cave’, indicates that the cave they went to was known to them from before, and may have been a place in which they had previously gathered, perhaps to worship and discuss their faith which they kept hidden from others. Their decision to meet there was thus a natural one. If they left all together at once, they would surely be recognised and caught. However, if they left one by one they could slip out of the city incognito and unnoticed. They should then rendezvous at the cave which they all knew – a cave far enough from the city that they would not be immediately found – and they could then plan their next move more carefully.
Your Lord will unfold His mercy for you: as they had no real plan, all they could do was rely on God and hope for the best. So it is that with faith and reliance that the primitive abode of the cave for which they exchanged the comfort of their luxurious dwellings, became a homestead of the Lord’s mercy.
The cave can also be considered symbolic in this regard. A cave is the most primitive dwelling of man, devoid of all the comforts available to civilisation. In effect they exchanged all worldly luxuries for the sake of God. A parallel can be drawn to Prophet Joseph (a) who exclaimed, My Lord! The prison is dearer to me than to what they invite me (12:33). So it was that the dark and cold cave the youths took refuge in was lit and warmed by faith and love for Him.
And He will help you on to ease in your affair: some have suggested that the confidence with which they state that by going to the cave God will help them and unfold His mercy means it is possible that one of them was a prophet, or that a prophet in their time informed them that such a thing would happen. However, what is more apparent is that they said this in the spirit of reliance on God (tawakkul), without knowing with full certainty what would happen, but hoping for God’s aid.
The verse is without doubt evidence that dissociation from vice, evil, and false beliefs results in God granting from His mercy: ‘I dissociate myself from you and whatever you invoke besides Allah. I will supplicate my Lord. Hopefully, I will not be disappointed in supplicating my Lord.’ So when he had left them and what they worshipped besides Allah, We gave him Isaac and Jacob, and each We made a prophet (19:48-49).
The youths did not receive revelation that this would happen, but true faith brings with it the realisation that anyone who abandons sin and turns to God with sincerity will find Him, Indeed I am going toward my Lord, who will guide me (37:99).
It has been proposed that unfold His mercy refers to the spiritual aid of God, whilst ease in your affair denotes physical support and relief.
REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE
Some have claimed this verse is what God said to the youths and not something that one of the youths said, but this is highly unlikely.
[1] Tabrisi, 6/699.
[2] Tabrisi, 6/700; Mizan, 13/254.
[3] Tabari, 15/138.
[4] Tibyan, 7/20; Tabrisi 6/700; Zamakhshari, 2/707; Mizan, 13/253-254.
[5] Alusi, 8/210.
[6] See the commentary on verse 9.
[7] Mizan, 13/352.
[8] Fadlallah, 14/288.
[9] Muhit, 7/150.
[10] Mizan, 13/253.
[11] Nemuneh, 12/363.
[12] Zamakhshari, 2/707.
[13] Tabrisi, 6/701; Baghawi, 3/182-183.
[14] Mizan, 13/253.
[15] Qurtubi, 10/367.
[16] Tabrisi, 6/700.
[17] Muhit, 7/150.
[18] Nemuneh, 12/365-366.
[19] Instead of for example saying ‘perhaps your Lord …’
[20] Zamakhshari, 2/707. Ṭūsī mulls that perhaps one of them was a prophet, not for this reason, but because of the miraculous nature of their sleep (Tibyan, 7/22).
[21] See Zamakhshari, 2/707; Mizan, 13/253; Tantawi, 8/484.
[22] Tantawi, 8/484.
[23] Nemuneh, 12/363.
[24] As related by Qurtubi, 10/367.