The Cave of the Seven Sleepers is located in the village of Al-Raqim, suburb of Amman. So I decided to make a brief stop to visit the said cave on the way to the Dead Sea. I however only managed to see the outside of the cave only because the caretaker had gone home as it was already 5.50 pm and passed his normal working hours. Had managed to have an idea of how it looks inside from the internet though.
The Cave of the Seven Sleepers is mentioned in the Holy Qur'an in a Sura named Al-Kahf. The story concerns a group of young men escaping from persecution by a local pagan ruler who fall asleep in a cave. Based on what I gathered from Wikipedia:span>
| read further....... | [-] |
" The Islamic version is related in Surah (Chapter) Al-Kahf (18, "The Cave"), of the Qur'an. During the time of the Prophet Muhammad, the Jews of Medina challenged him to tell them the story of the sleepers knowing that none of the Arabs knew about it. According to tradition, God then sent the angel Gabriel (or Jibreel) to reveal the story to him through Surah Al-Kahf. After hearing it from him, the Jews confirmed that he told the same story they knew.
Mohammed was challenged by the people of Makkah who did not believe in his message and prophethood by a question that the people of Makkah passed to him from the Jews. The Jews knew that Mohammed would only be able to tell the story if he was indeed a prophet. The Jews told the non-believers of Makkah to ask Mohammed "who are the youngs who disappeared, and how many were they?". Mohammed had no clue and told that he would answer them tomorrow, waiting for the answer to be revealed to him through Gebreil. However, the answer was revealed to Mohammed in a complete Surah named after the cave (Al-Kahf) of the seven sleepers. The Quran revealed the exact story that the Jews knew of, and it answered the questions (how many were the youngs, and for how many years they disappeared) similarly to the information they had. The Quran confirmed that they slept for 309 years, which Jews know of. The Quran however did not give an exact answer to how many were they. It mentioned that some people would tell they are 3 or 5 or 7 in addition to one dog. Jews did not know exactly how many were they 3 or 5 or 7, and were astonished when they knew that the Quran gave all the possible numbers they would suspect for the sleepers.
Mentioning the story in the Quran and the concurrent events that happened before revealing the story is claimed to confirm that the Quran was revealed by God and it contains only the words of God and not those of Mohammad, since it contained information that Mohammad did not know of.
The Qur'an states that the period of time these sleepers spent in the cave was three hundred years during which the calendar of their people was changed from solar to lunar and, as a result, the period of their sleep has increased to 309 (lunar) years. When they woke up, they had no idea they slept for centuries and thought they only slept a few hours. When they sent one of them to buy food, the coins he used to buy food were out of circulation and drew the attention of the town's people. After the story was widely known, the sleepers died. The Qur'an also mentions a dog among the sleepers, in the 18th verse of the 18th chapter, Surah Al Kahf.
Thou wouldst have deemed them awake, whilst they were asleep, and We turned them on their right and on their left sides: their dog stretching forth his two fore-legs on the threshold: if thou hadst come up on to them, thou wouldst have certainly turned back from them in flight, and wouldst certainly have been filled with terror of them.
(Surah Al Kahf, Qur'an: 18)
The ninth verse of Surah Al Kahf touch upon this group's extraordinary situation. As the narrative unfolds, it is seen that their experiences are of an unusual and metaphysical nature. Their entire life is full of miraculous developments. The tenth verse tells us that those young people sought refuge in the cave from the existing oppressive system, which did not allow them to express their views, tell the truth, and call to Allah's religion. Thus, they distanced themselves from their society.
Do you consider that the Companions of the Cave and Ar-Raqim were one of the most remarkable of Our Signs? When the young men took refuge in the cave and said: 'Our Lord, give us mercy directly from You and open the way for us to right guidance in our situation. (Surah Al Kahf, Qur'an: 9-10)
So We sealed their ears with sleep in the cave for a number of years. Then We woke them up again so that we might see which of the two groups would better calculate the time they had stayed there. (Surah Al Kahf, Qur'an: 11-12)
The reason for this state of sleep was their surrender to fate and peace, because Allah, arranges everything for the benefit of the believers.
The Qur'an also states that the number of sleepers will be known to God, and only a handful of people. It has not been mentioned that there were seven sleepers.
They will say: 'There were three of them, their dog being the fourth.' They will say: 'There were five of them, their dog being the sixth,' guessing at the Unseen. And they will say: 'There were seven of them, their dog being the eighth.' Say: 'My Lord knows best their number. Those who know about them are very few.' So do not enter into any argument concerning them, except in relation to what is clearly known. And do not seek the opinion of any of them regarding them. (Surat Al Kahf, Qur'an: 22)"
0 comments:
Post a Comment