وَلَبِثوا في كَهفِهِم ثَلاثَ مِائَةٍ سِنينَ وَازدادوا تِسعًا
They remained in the cave for three hundred years, and they added nine more [to that number].
EXEGESIS
Sinīn (years) is the plural of sanah. As a grammatical rule, we would expect that the word sanah as singular should be used as a specifying accusative for the number three hundred, however, probably the term sinīn is used to emphasise that they remained in the cave for a great number of years. In verse 11 we explained that the term ʿadad, as per So We put them to sleep in the cave for several (ʿadad) years, was meant to discount the number of years as being few. These two expressions (ʿadad and sinīn) are not in contradiction, but rather it is looking at the issue from two different perspectives. In verse 11 the years are discounted, because three centuries is nothing when considering God’s plans; whereas here the amount of years is amplified with the use of sinīn because it is meant to magnify God’s power and His capability of keeping them alive for three centuries.
Izdādū (they added) is the third person plural verb of ziyādah, meaning to add. There is some ambiguity as to who are the ones that are adding the nine years, which is discussed in the following sections.
EXPOSITION
This final verse about the story of the People of the Cave addresses one last correction, which the People of the Book – who had advised the Arab Meccans to enquire about it from the Prophet – had gotten wrong. God gives here the ‘true account’ of how many years they actually slept in the cave. The Christian accounts differ in the length of time that they slept. In turn, God is giving the ‘true account’ by stating that they in fact slept for three hundred years, even accounting for the difference between solar and lunar calendars, as we shall see below.
As for the Christian accounts, Jacques (Jacobus) de Voragine in his Legenda Aurea gives the time of their sleeping as 360 years, Jacob of Serugh gives it as 372 or 350, John of Ephesus gives it as 370, while Zacharias of Mitylene gives it ‘200 years ago, more or less’. The time span between the reign of Decius (249-251 CE) and Theodosius II (402-450 CE) – the two emperors famously mentioned in the Christian accounts – would be approximately 200 years.
As for the Muslim exegetes, they have disagreed about the meaning of this verse and have suggested some difficult to accept possibilities, some of which are discussed later. They are nevertheless unanimous that they added nine more means nine more years, because it is preceded by the mention of years, like someone saying: ‘I have a hundred dirhams and nine more,’ which means 109 dirhams.
The question remains though, that why are we told they added nine more? And who is adding those years?
We should know first that the Arabs had their own lunar calendar, which was based on twelve full cycles of the moon, as opposed to the solar calendar that was used by the Jews and Christians, which was based on one full revolution of the earth around the sun.
On average, a full lunar cycle takes about 29.5 days. Hence, a lunar year has approximately 354 days, whilst a solar year has approximately 365 days. That means each lunar year is about 11 days shorter. Because of this, 309 lunar years would be 3399 days shorter (309 x 11 = 3399). This amount of days would equate to approximately 9 solar years (3399 ÷ 365 ≈ 9.3). More simply put, 300 solar years would equate to approximately 309 lunar years. Therefore, the verse can be understood as referencing both the timekeeping of the Arabs and the People of the Book, who are also being addressed. The People of the Book kept solar years, and the Arabs that they had advised to ask about the story kept lunar years. What they count as 300 years, the Arabs added nine more and counted as 309 years.
It has been reported from Imam Ali (a) that a Jewish man asked him how long the People of the Cave remained therein, to which he replied with this verse. The man then told him that 300 is mentioned in their book, to which the Imam replied that number is in solar years, whilst this is in lunar years.
Some might attempt to criticise this by saying that it is inaccurate since 309 lunar years is not exactly 300 solar years, but rounding figures in such cases is completely normal and acceptable and we should not expect the Quran to mention the time down to the exact day or minute.
It could be noted that there is no acceptable meaning for and they added nine more if we do not accept the above interpretation, instead God should have said ‘and they remained in the Cave for three hundred and nine years’, or something to that effect.
Simply as an observation it is interesting to notice how slowly human society changed for most of its history. Language, money, clothing and so on stayed largely the same over a span of three centuries. When Iamelichos went to the city, the main difference to be noticed was the face and name of the emperor on the coin. Whereas if one went back the same amount of time from today, the differences would be astounding.
REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE
Some exegetes have understood the verse to be quoting the opinion of the Christians on the matter. They claim that it means the People of the Book used to say they slept for 309 years. According to this opinion, God is relating what the People of the Book say about the duration of the sleep, and in the next verse the pronouncement, Allah knows best how long they remained, is meant to negate the opinion of the People of the Book and say that the truth about how long they slept is different and known to God.
Some have said that the statement in the next verse in fact affirms what the People of the Book have said to be true. Some others have said that they added nine more is referring to the People of the Book adding nine years to the correct number of three hundred years, but this is wrong.
Ṭabarī also relates an opinion that the People of the Book thought the time of their sleep until the present time was 309 years, whereas God corrects that, explaining that 309 is the time they spent in the cave. Qurṭubī says God rather corrects them saying it was more than 309 years.
All of these are clearly incorrect as there is no indication in the verse that God is attributing this statement to someone else; evidently it is His own declaration on the matter. Otherwise, the verse should have begun with ‘they will say’, like in verse 22. Furthermore, after the discussion on the number of the sleepers, God proclaimed: Say: ‘My Lord knows best their number’ (verse 22), which indicated that the final number of seven sleepers was the correct one. The statement, Allah knows best how long they remained in the next verse is similar to that, and it follows that it is similarly affirming the number of years mentioned to be the correct amount. There is also nothing in that verse or later ones that indicate the number of years mentioned was incorrect. On the contrary, there are statements which suggests the opposite, such as, And say: ‘The truth is from your Lord’ (verse 29), and, Recite what has been revealed to you from your Lord’s book (verse 27). All this can only lead us to conclude that the number mentioned is in fact the number of years that they slept. Ṭūsī says that as a principle we should not claim that God’s words in the Quran are simply what is being related from others, unless there is evidence for us to claim that.
Some have understood they added nine more as referring to the People of the Cave, meaning they slept for three hundred years and nine more. However, what we mentioned earlier is more suitable.
[1] Tibyan, 7/31.
[2] Mizan, 13/275.
[3] Mizan, 13/275-276.
[4] Sabine Baring-Gould, Curious Myths of the Middle Ages, pp. 93-112, accessed at: https://archive.org/details/curiousmythsofmi00bariuoft/page/92/mode/2up.
[5] As per two different recensions of his writings.
[6] Sydney Griffith, ‘Christian lore and the Arabic Qur’an: the “Companions of the Cave” in Sūrat al-Kahf and in Syriac Christian tradition’, in The Qur’ān and its Historical Context, ed. Gabriel Said Reynolds (Routledge, 2007), pp. 109-138.
[7] See the commentary on verse 9.
[8] See for example, Tabrisi, 6/715; Tabari, 15/152.
[9] Qurtubi, 10/386-387.
[10] See also Baghawi, 3/188; Qurtubi, 10/387; Muhit, 7/164; Ibn Kathir, 5/136; Mizan, 13/276; Nemuneh, 12/392; Tantawi, 8/502. Ibn Kathīr relates this opinion but rejects it, because he believes and they added nine more should be referring to what the People of the Book added (Ibn Kathir, 5/136). Rāzī also briefly quotes this opinion, but says it is mathematically incorrect (Razi, 21/453), but he offers no calculations and no clarification as to what the fault with it is.
[11] Tabrisi, 6/715; Baghawi, 3/188; Alusi, 8/239.
[12] Tabari, 15/152; Thalabi, 6/165. Ṭabrisī claims it was the Jews who believed in this (Tabrisi, 6/715), but since it is a Christian story it is unlikely the Jews would have had any independent reports about it.
[13] Razi, 21/452.
[14] Tabari, 15/152.
[15] Mizan, 13/275.
[16] Tabari, 15/153. See also Thalabi, 6/165.
[17] Qurtubi, 10/386. He also relates the opinion of Ibn ʿAṭiyyah, that 309 years was the duration of their first sleep after which they supposedly went to sleep again, and the statement Allah knows best how long they remained refers to the second time they slept.
[18] Tabari, 15/153.
[19] Mizan, 13/275.
[20] Tibyan, 7/32.
[21] See for example Tibyan, 7/32; Zamakhshari, 2/716.