285- The Holy Qur’an on the People of the Cave: Ashab al-Kahf (Series: Inviting Reflections)

Among many others, the Holy Qur’an has narrated the story of People of the Cave: Ashab al-Kahf, a presentation before the people as to how Allah, who created us for the first time, can raise us again after our death. The details of the story in the Muslim and Christian sources are almost the same except a few details which are, however, of very serious nature. A historian Edward Gibbon (1737-1794 CE) in his ‘History of The Decline and Fall of The Roman Empire’ has named it the Story of ‘Seven Sleepers’. (Please see vol. 3, pp. 544-545)

This is a mesmerizing folklore stretching from Genesis of Christianity in the 1st century CE until its distension in the 5th century CE. Monotheists revere these occidental “returning heroes” in prodigious exaltation although the tale is shrouded with ambivalent conjectures with no final verdict on its true account. The story of the People of the Cave as summarized by the Qur’an, is that these young people, persecuted by a tyrant pagan king, took refuge in a cave along with their dog. In the cave, they fell in a deep slumber which continued for more than three centuries without affecting their bodily constitution, structure and health. In the meantime, the Roman Empire professed Christianity and a God-fearing king had taken over the control of the country. Now when they woke up and felt hungry, they sent one of them to purchase food for them. He went to the market and offered the coin of the ancient days, and thus residents of the city came to know their story and showed respect to them. After their death, they resolved to erect a worship place in their memory. According to Gibbon, the waking of the Seven Sleepers took place around the years 445-446 CE, in the days of Theodosius who ruled the country during 408 to 450 CE; and the incident took place in the city Ephesus, remains of which can be seen today in the out-skirts of the famous Turkish city Izmir.

The incident of People of the Cave took place, when a large number of people of the Roman Empire, after professing Christianity, had various suspicions and reservations about the idea of Resurrection. Placing the People of the Cave in a prolonged slumber was a sign for people to understand how Allah can raise us again after our death and that resurrection is not beyond the powers of Allah. The Holy Qur’an indicates that the people of the Cave slept there for 309 years. The relevant Qur’anic verse reads:

?"?????????? ??? ?????????? ??????? ??????? ??????? ???????????? ???????" (And they stayed in their cave for three hundred years, adding nine). Surah: 18, Verse: 25

Many Muslim mufassirun (interpreters of the Qur’an), probably calculating the time from the reign-time of Emperor Decius (249-251 CE)---a tyrant Roman king to the time ashab al-Kahf woke up, have held that they remained in the cave for about two centuries. According to Christian tradition the Seven Sleepers woke up after 187 years during the reign of God-fearing Roman king Theodosius ll (r. 408-450 CE). Most Muslim mufassirun (exegetes) borrowed these traditions from previous nations and tried to determine that how long they stayed in the cave.???For example Syed Abu al-A’la Maududi ( Tafhim al-Qur’an, vol. 3, Appendex 1) holds that they lived there for 197 years whereas the Holy Qur’an has stated in clear words that they stayed in the cave for 309 years.

Explaining the dispositions of the People of Cave, the Holy Qur’an further holds, and the Qur’anic verses read:

"??????????? ?????? ?????????? ??? ????????? ??????? ???????" (Then We (Allah) sealed their ears in the cave for a number of years, [We caused them to sleep for a long time]. Ibid, verse: 11

During prolonged sleep of the People of the Cave, Allah says: We turned them over to the right, and to the left, [in order to keep their circulation of blood intact], otherwise they would have died well before. The verse reads:

"??????????????? ????? ?????????? ???????? ?????????" (And We (Allah) turned them over to the right and to the left). Ibid, verse: 18.

Why the turning of the people in a prolonged slumber was necessary? The recent discoveries of medical science have unfolded this mystery. The turning of the bodies of the People of Cave to left and right, as given in the subject verse of the Qur’an, can be explained in the light of medical science:

1. The turning of bodies of the people towards right and left, who were in a prolonged slumber, has an Aesthetic Value that the sleeping persons were not dead but alive.

2. But more importantly, it was to keep their blood pressure intact and flowing in the capillaries through micro vessels along with relieving the pressure on the bony prominences. The usefulness of turning of bodies can be further?understood if we know the circulatory mechanism of our body’s blood in the light of pathophysiology and the main factors contributing to the PUs (Pressure Ulcers) which can develop in the still and static organs of the human body in a few hours.

Now we are in a position to understand, in case of a person lying straight for a longer time, when his soft tissues are compressed between bony prominences and the contact surface, he may suffer from microvascular occlusion with tissue ischemia (lack of blood) and hypoxia (lack of oxygen). Moreover, if the same compression is not relieved there is every likelihood that he may have a PU over the sacrum (back bone) or in any other part of the body.

The Holy Qur’an, 1450 years before, has pointed out that the People of Cave were made to turn right and left for about three hundred years in order to show people who had some doubts about resurrection. The peruse of the verses, concerning People of the Cave, establish the divine character of the Qur’an; and, that these ideas have not been authored by any human being as no such idea ever existed, in any civilization, before the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him.

The Story of Ashab al-Kahf and many other prehistoric events narrated by the Qur’an show that the Holy Qur’an is the most subtle source of prehistoric events. The Qur’an claims:

??"??????? ?????????????? ?????????? ? ?????? ????? ???? ?????? ?????? ??????? ?????????? ????? ??????????? ????????" (Do they not ponder the Quran? Had it been from any other than God, they would have found in it much discrepancy). Surah: 4, verse: 82?

It should also be noted that Allah Almighty, addressing Muhammad, peace be upon, in the story of Yusuf A.S. claims that We (Allah) are informing you about the events you never knew their details:

?"?????? ??????? ???????? ???????? ????????? ????? ??????????? ???????? ?????? ?????????? ?????? ?????? ???? ???????? ?????? ?????????????" (We narrate to you the most accurate history, by revealing to you this Quran. Although, prior to it, you were of the unaware). Surah: 12, Verse: 3?

The wonders of the Qur’an will never come an end as proclaimed by the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. In very recent years a young Pakistani scholar, namely: Rashid Iqbal Malik, after extensive study of published Dead Sea?Scrolls, rise of Christianity in Roman Empire, Biblical literature and the dictates of the Holy Qur’an with regard to the People of Cave, has propounded a new theory and holds:?

The latest discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls predicates more than three centuries’ long sleep [as told by the Holy Qur’an] instead of sleeping time of 187 or 197 years as professed by the Christian literature; and, old and contemporary Muslim interpreters of the Qur’an. The new study of Mr. Malik places the timeline of these youth, when they took refuge in the cave between 34-90 CE coinciding with the Essenes Theory of the Jewish community of that time. In this way these youth were either disciples or followers of the Jesus AS and the empirical evidence found from the DSS also support this. (Please see for details: Rashid Iqbal, “A New Theory on A??āb al-kahf (The Sleepers of the Cave) Based on Evidence from the Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS)”. Al-Bayān – Journal of Qur?ān and ?adith Studies 15 (2017). DOI 10.1163/22321969-12340044. pp. 20-47).??