وَكَذٰلِكَ أَعثَرنا عَلَيهِم لِيَعلَموا أَنَّ وَعدَ اللَّهِ حَقٌّ وَأَنَّ السّاعَةَ لا رَيبَ فيها إِذ يَتَنازَعونَ بَينَهُم أَمرَهُم ۖ فَقالُوا ابنوا عَلَيهِم بُنيانًا ۖ رَبُّهُم أَعلَمُ بِهِم ۚ قالَ الَّذينَ غَلَبوا عَلىٰ أَمرِهِم لَنَتَّخِذَنَّ عَلَيهِم مَسجِدًا
So it was that We let them come upon them, that they might know that Allah’s promise is true, and that there is no doubt in the hour. As they were disputing among themselves about their matter, they said: ‘Build a building over them. Their Lord knows them best.’ Those who had the say in their matter said: ‘We will set up a place of worship over them.’
EXEGESIS
The expression kadhālika (so it was) literally means ‘in this way’ and should be a continuation of the previous verse, where one of the youths was sent to the city, tried to buy food with his old money, which led to their discovery, meaning ‘by doing that We allowed them to be discovered’.
Aʿtharnā ʿalayhim (we let them come upon them); ʿathara means to become aware of something that was previously unknown, and aʿthara means to make someone aware of an unknown thing. Literally, ʿathara means to fall flat on one’s face; a sin is called ʿatharah because it makes one fall in disobedience. Since the person who falls on his face is looking down at the place where he falls, it has the meaning of becoming aware of something. It is often used in the sense that this was unintended on the part of the person about whom one becomes aware, like in the verse, But if it is found (ʿuthira) that both of them were guilty of a sin (5:107). So, it means here that in this way they were discovered, whilst they very much wished to remain undiscovered. The context of the verse tells us that it was the people of the city who discovered them.
Sāʿah (hour) refers to the final hour, the Day of Resurrection and Judgement.
Amr (matter) is used twice in the verse. There are several possibilities as to what the first matter might mean:
- Bodily resurrection.
- The significance of the miracle they just witnessed.
- Whether the People of the Cave were alive or dead.
- The specifics regarding the People of the Cave, their names, and how long they slept.
The first one is most probable, as that is a major theme of the Christian reports about the People of the Cave and it is to be expected that the Quranic account should be referencing that too. It is also what is most apparent from the context of what precedes it: that they might know that Allah’s promise is true, and that there is no doubt in the hour. There is no problem with combining the second one with the first, in the sense that they debated whether or not the miracle they just witnessed was proof of bodily resurrection or not. In any case, all the options are discussed below.
The second use of the word matter is referring to the debated issue that arose after the People of the Cave died, when the people disputed as to what kind of building should be built over the cave. Although some have argued that both uses of matter in the verse refer to the same issue of resurrection.
Ghalabū is the third person plural for ghalabah, meaning to overcome others. It means those who overcame their opponents in the dispute regarding what to do with the People of the Cave.
Lanattakhidhanna comes from ittikhādh, literally ‘to take’. The emphatic prefix la and suffix anna are to underline the forcefulness of the argument of the second party, who seemed to have been far more invested in the matter.
In this regard, it has been pointed out that the proponents of the previous option wished others to carry out the construction (Build a building), whilst the ones who won the dispute were the ones who were willing to do the actual work (We will set up).
Masjid literally means a place where sajdah is performed; that is, the act where the forehead is placed on the ground in worship. From there it is used for any place of worship.
EXPOSITION
Continuing from the last verse, the story leaps ahead quite a bit, leaving out much of the auxiliary details. One of the youths (most reports identify him as Yamlīkhā/Iamelichos) was chosen to go to the city to get supplies. However, he was soon discovered.
So it was that We let them come upon them: we are not told any details here about how he was discovered, but the clue was given in the previous verse when Iamelichos was told to take some coins with him (which is claimed to have pictured the then emperor Decius).
The reports are varying in their details, but in general they describe him entering the city and noticing its many changes. Its familiar streets were no longer familiar, its people looked different, and most importantly, Christian symbols were openly displayed and people mentioned God and Jesus (a) in their conversations. We can only imagine the extent of his surprise and confusion. According to the reports, he even doubted which city he had come to, asking if this was really the city which he had left only yesterday.
Surprised and confused, he did not know quite what to make of it. He decided not to tarry but went to look for a shopkeeper to buy food, where he then tried to pay in old coinage. The shopkeeper was taken aback by the coin and immediately recognised it to be ancient in origin. He presumed that the young man had found a long lost buried treasure and demanded the young man to take him to it or else he would have him arrested. A commotion ensued as he protested, after which he was taken to the authorities. When they saw the coins, they asked him the same questions. Again he protested, insisting they were ordinary coins. After some to-and-fro he eventually asked them what has happened to the emperor who was visiting the city yesterday. They told him that no such emperor exists, and that the mentioned emperor died three centuries ago.
Iamelichos was astounded and asked his family to be brought to him, saying he is of a noble house, the son of so-and-so. No one of that name was known in the city, but one of the wiser men in the gathering said he recognised the name from some old writings and eventually produced from somewhere an ancient tablet upon which were written the names of some young men who had been condemned and fled, during the time of so-and-so emperor. One of the names was that which the young man had mentioned. This tablet should be the raqīm (Inscription) spoken of in verse 9, and this is why it was significant, as it proved the story of the young man to be true.
When Iamelichos explained what had happened, what he and his companions had done and why they had fled to the cave, slowly the believers in the gathering realised that this young man was saying the truth and this was a miracle from God, by which He had rescued the young men from torture and execution. So they asked him to take them to their friends. When they arrived, Iamelichos asked that he be allowed to enter first to greet his friends. He went in and told his friends about what had happened. They praised God and then they felt that something is about to overcome them, so they lay down back into their sleeping positions and then God took their spirits and nothing but their bodies remained. The ruler declared this was a miracle and a sign from the Lord.
Yes, contrary to romanticised stories, the youths apparently passed away shortly after awaking. Those who view worldly life as the end goal might be shocked at such a conclusion to this event, however those with a deeper understanding realise that worldly life is simply a short phase in human existence and a testing ground of one’s convictions and morals. This is in effect a reminder of verse 7, Indeed We have made whatever is on the earth an adornment for it that We may test them [to see] which of them is best in conduct. What is important is the hereafter. Nothing else in worldly life matters when compared to that, and is in fact like dust in the wind.
Although some have said that the People of the Cave are still alive today and will not die until the Day of Judgement, but this is contrary to reason, as there would be no purpose in keeping them in such a state. Out of two options, when one is reasonable and the other unreasonable, we must prefer the reasonable one. It is also contrary to the famous reports and the apparent meaning of the final part of this verse as we shall see.
We may also note how the process of their discovery connects to the surah’s main theme. The People of the Cave tried their best not to be discovered and Iamelichos may have been terrified that he was caught, yet God knew that this was bound to happen and He caused His plan to come about with something seemingly insignificant (a coin). What was initially dismay for Iamelichos turned out to be a realisation of God’s plan.
That they might know that Allah’s promise is true, and that there is no doubt in the hour: we are told the reason why God wished the People of the Cave to be discovered. We should keep in mind that there are two different groups being referred to in this statement. The first group is the People of the Cave and the second is the people of the city. However, the verb that they might know is not repeated. The first group is the subject of the statement that Allah’s promise is true. His promise to them was that He would bring about the collapse of the tyrannical rule of idolatry and falsehood and make His religion prevail.
The second group (the people of the city) is the subject for that there is no doubt in the hour, for which the People of the Cave were a clear sign. The People of the Cave should not be included in this because they did not have any doubts about the hour.
Another option is that the promise being referred to here is the resurrection. This is because their preservation for all those years and their subsequent reanimation can be likened to the resurrection. Thus it is possible that both are referring to the people of the city, whom God wished to teach through the events of the People of the Cave the truth of resurrection and the hour.
In any case, the preservation of the youths for all those years in the cave was an undisputable sign that God could and would bring back people on the Day of Resurrection with their bodies. Those who witnessed this should not have doubted the possibility and reality of the hour anymore.
As they were disputing among themselves about their matter: as we said, the matter at dispute here was resurrection. It is called their matter, because there was apparently at the time a heated ongoing debate about the nature of resurrection with some claiming that it was only the spirit that is resurrected whilst the body is permanently destroyed. Alternatively, matter refers to the People of the Cave, meaning ‘when the people of the city then began to debate about the People of the Cave’, meaning they began to debate what to do with them after they had died, with some of them saying, Build a building over them.
It is reported that by the time the People of the Cave awoke, idolatry had been abandoned and people were believers (Christians). The emperor at their time was himself a Christian and he had tired of the ceaseless debate and he prayed to God for guidance and an end to the disagreement. Although many reports mention that the king met Iamelichos and was involved in their story and went to the cave, it is not clear if this means the governor of the city or province, or the actual Byzantine emperor. It is more likely the former, because if the emperor himself were involved in this event, we should expect it to be recorded in imperial chronicles.
There are alternative theories about the matter of the dispute. Some have said the people disputed what to do with the bodies that remained and the cave itself, as it seems they were unsure whether or not the recently awoken youths were dead or perhaps alive and had simply returned to another long sleep.
According to some, this dispute was between the believers and polytheists, each claiming a greater right to them, as they disputed whether or not to build a temple over them or a church, or debating the significance of the event they just witnessed, whether it was a miracle or something else.
Build a building over them: there is an omission again in the storytelling, and as we mentioned the youths died shortly after being discovered. This can be surmised from the Quranic account as well, since after we are told they were discovered we are immediately informed of how the people disagreed in what way they should be buried (as indicated by the expression over them), allowing us to understand that there was not a long gap between the two events and that the People of the Cave did not live out long lives amongst the people in the new century in which they awoke. The goal of them being discovered had been achieved and the sign of God had been witnessed. After that there was no reason to keep the People of the Cave from their promised reward.
Once people realised the miracle they had witnessed, they decided to honour the People of the Cave as saints. Some of them then suggested that they should build a mausoleum there to honour them, or perhaps to bar the entrance to protect their remains from being robbed by visitors seeking blessings.
Their Lord knows them best: this has several possibilities. The most apparent is that they said ‘their Lord knows best whether they will wake again’. In this sense, the purpose of building the mausoleum might have been to not bury them in case they wake up once more. It could also be a statement made by God that ‘their Lord knows best about that which they were debating’ when they disagreed about the People of the Cave, but this is more of a disjointed phrase in that case, whilst the former fits the order of the phrases more neatly.
Those who had the say in their matter: it is not clear who is meant by this, it could be the ruler or authorities, or a group of believers who managed to convince the authorities.
We will set up a place of worship over them: they decided to build a church over the site so that people might pray there.
Some have suggested that a group of the believers initially wished that no building should be built at the cave so as to not disturb the People of the Cave. However, there was insistence amongst the people that a structure should be erected to honour them and remember them and God’s miracle. The believers then compromised and said that if a structure must be built then let it at least be a masjid. Others have said that the place of prayer was meant to be used for worship by the People of the Cave once they wake up, but this is unlikely.
To summarise, the verse can be understood to include two main clauses. The first speaks of the significance of the discovery, ‘so it was that We allowed the people of the city to discover the People of the Cave, so that they might know God’s promise about the end of idolatry (or resurrection) and that the final hour is true, which related to a matter about which they were disputing among themselves’. The second relates to the aftermath of the discovery subsequent to the abrupt death of the People of the Cave to which the people reacted in two different ways. Some of them said ‘let us construct a mausoleum over them, as they could still be alive, God knows best whether they will awake again or not’ whilst the winning argument was ‘instead of a mausoleum let us instead build a church, so that people may benefit of their holiness and remember God’s miracle’.
INSIGHTS FROM HADITH
- It has been reported from Ibn Abbas that the Prophet declared that the People of the Cave will be from amongst the helpers of Imam al-Mahdī (a).
Note: On the assumption that they died, this hadith must be construed as their return (rajʿah) at the time of Imam al-Mahdī (a).
REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE
This verse has divided scholars greatly as the pronouns and words have quite a deal of ambiguity to them if we ignore the context. The various suggested meanings could probably be combined in thousands of different ways. The best approach to the verse is to understand it in the framework of the reason for its revelation, namely, what was discussed in the Introduction about the questions posed to Prophet Muhammad (s). As such, this verse is making reference to the known story of the People of the Cave Because that context was known and it is expected that the audience is familiar with it, the verse approaches the topic in a brief and succinct manner, which will leave a reader unfamiliar with the story puzzled as to the verse’s ambiguity.
The closing phrase of the verse has sparked much debate amongst scholars of different schools. Some have used it as proof that it is allowed to build mosques (or places of worship) over places where people are buried, in order to respect them, naturally with the caveat that worship and respect are two different matters.
Other schools of thought have proscribed the building of any sort of mosque over the grave of prophets or great scholars, the idea being that this would lead to worshipping the individuals therein, and they report several traditions from the Prophet in this regard. Ālūsī also severely rejects the building of a mosque over graves, but says that such a proscription has two conditions, that the grave is overly venerated (muʿaẓẓam) and that prayer is directed towards it.
Ālūsī proposes that if one wishes they could argue that the mosque was built at the cave and near (ʿind) the youths and not over their graves, much like the mosque of Medina and the grave of the Prophet. This is somewhat contradictory to the verse itself, which states We will set up a place of worship over them, and not ‘near (ʿindahum) them’ or ‘over their cave’.
It should be kept in mind that the whole story is related in order to venerate the People of the Cave and therefore when the Quran keeps silent on the construction of the mosque and does not censure it, this could be considered evidence that it was allowed. That being said, no jurist has based their legal ruling on this verse alone, and rather they have relied on narrations to establish their opinion regarding this matter.
In any case, there is no reason to assume that erecting a mosque at the gravesite of a believer would somehow automatically endanger monotheistic worship of God. Certainly if anyone were to pray to graves or prostrate towards them that would be a major sin, but this is not something that is necessitated by the existence of such mosques.
Some have reported that once discovered, the youths prayed to God to return them to sleep and through miraculous means God did not allow people to find them again. Others have said that the youths barred the entrance with stones so no one might enter it again. According to some other reports, once they slept everyone who tried to enter found themselves overcome with fear and unable to enter. That is when they decided to seal the cave by building a place of worship over it. All these are suggested based on the assumption that they did not die but went to sleep again.
It has been said that the matter that was being disputed amongst the people was the exact number of sleepers in the cave and how long they had slept, and when they could not reach a conclusion about it they said Their Lord knows them best; but this is contrary to the more well-known reports.
Echoing the Christian narratives, many exegetes also mention that the emperor ordered the People of the Cave to be placed into golden caskets, but they appeared in a dream and said they despised gold and he replaced their coffins with simpler ones.
INSIGHTS FROM OTHER TRADITIONS
The account of Jacques de Voragine in his Legenda Aurea has the youths awaking during the reign of emperor Theodosius. He also mentions that the shopkeeper to whom the coin was given thought that the young man had discovered a great treasure, so he took him by force wishing to compel him to reveal the location of the treasure.
[1] Tantawi, 8/492. See also Thalabi, 6/163; Baghawi, 3/185.
[2] Raghib, p. 546.
[3] Mizan, 13/263-264.
[4] Tibyan, 7/43.
[5] Mizan, 13/267. In other words, he means that those who believed the youths were a miracle from God proving resurrection were the ones whose say overcame the others in the matter.
[6] Raghib, p. 611.
[7] Nur, 5/156.
[8] This is apparently incorrect though, see the commentary on verse 9.
[9] Tabari, 15/143; Ibn Kathir, 5/133. Some reports mention Ephesus as being the city, see Tabari, 15/145; see also Tarikh, 1/457.
[10] Tabari, 15/145; Razi, 21/447; Qurtubi, 10/379; Ibn Kathir, 5/133.
[11] Tabari, 15/147; Alusi, 8/223.
[12] Tibyan, 7/25; Tarikh, 1/457; Tabari, 15/143, 147; Suyuti; 4/212-215. See also Qummi, 2/32-33; Thalabi, 6/147-156; Baghawi, 3/173-175; Bidayah, 2/135-139; Alusi, 8/223.
[13] Tabrisi, 6/710.
[14] Muhit, 7/158.
[15] Tabari, 15/148; Zamakhshari, 2/711.
[16] Alusi, 8/221.
[17] Tabrisi, 6/709; Razi, 21/447; Ibn Kathir, 5/132; Mizan, 13/264-265.
[18] He is named as Theodosius in many sources, such as Tabari, 15/143-144, who quotes Ibn Isḥāq. However, this is apparently just taken from Christian sources. The report by Ṭabarī also mistakenly gives the length of Theodosius’ reign as sixty-eight years. The account given by Ṭabarī is also problematic in the sense that it portrays the event of the People of the Cave as revolving around Theodosius, heaping praise on him and going into detail about how pious he was and how saddened he was because of his people not believing in bodily resurrection, and that God sent the People of the Cave as an answer to his prayer and to affirm his kingdom. Moving the focus of the story in this way is contrary to the Quranic account which does not even make mention of emperors or rulers, focusing the story and praise on the youths instead.
[19] Tarikh, 1/457; Tabari, 15/143; Tabrisi, 6/709-710; Suyuti, 4/214; Zamakhshari, 2/711-712; Qurtubi, 10/378.
[20] Razi, 21/447.
[21] Muhit, 7/158.
[22] Tabari, 15/148-149; Razi, 21/447.
[23] Mizan, 13/266. Tabatabai considers the expression Their Lord knows them best as opposed to ‘our Lord’ as supporting the position that the speakers were polytheists and not believers. This is speculative though and the expression does not necessitate such an understanding. There are plenty of examples of prophets (who are of course definitely believers) using the expression ‘your Lord’ (11:3, 11:52, 20:90).
[24] Tabrisi, 6/710.
[25] Zamakhshari, 2/711; Muhit, 7/159. See also Mizan, 13/265-266 which argues that the polytheists wished for the entrance of the cave to be sealed because they did not want the People of the Cave to be known and famous, since they were not convinced that the miracle they had witnessed proved resurrection. The same position is adopted by Nemuneh, 12/382. However, what is more correct and supported by the textual evidence and historical records is that the matter being debated was amongst Christians and was about the possibility of bodily resurrection; it was not the same dispute as that between the Muslims and idolaters during the time of Prophet Muhammad (s) about the possibility of resurrection itself.
[26] Tibyan, 7/25; Tabrisi, 6/710.
[27] Tabrisi, 6/710; Muhit, 7/158.
[28] Tabrisi, 6/710.
[29] Tibyan, 7/25; Tabari, 15/143.
[30] Alusi, 8/225.
[31] Tabrisi, 6/710.
[32] Alusi, 8/217.
[33] Mizan, 13/267.
[34] For that story see the commentary of the previous verses, especially verse 9.
[35] Nemuneh, 12/388; Nur, 5/156; Mudarrisi, 6/390-391. See also the discussion in Alusi, 8/225-226.
[36] Qurtubi, 10/379-380; Ibn Kathir, 5/133-134. Qurṭubī comes out strongly against this practice, whereas Ibn Kathīr is more hesitant about the issue.
[37] Alusi, 8/226.
[38] Alusi, 8/227.
[39] Tibyan, 7/25-26; Tabrisi, 6/710.
[40] Alusi, 5/234.
[41] Tabrisi, 6/710; Alusi, 8/223; Tantawi, 8/493.
[42] Zamakhshari, 2/712; Qurtubi, 10/379; Muhit, 7/158.
[43] Although he does not mention it, it should be Theodosius II. See Bartlomiej Grysa, ‘The Legend of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus in Syriac and Arab Sources’, in Orientalia Christiana Cracoviensia 2 (2010), pp. 45-59, accessed at: http://czasopisma.upjp2.edu.pl/orientalia/article/download/1011/895.
[44] Sabine Baring-Gould, Curious Myths of the Middle Ages, pp. 93-112, accessed at: https://archive.org/details/curiousmythsofmi00bariuoft/page/92/mode/2up.