The People of the Cave

The Qur’an describes the People of the Cave and the Inscription as one of Allah’s signs, though other signs are greater (18:9). The young men sought refuge in the cave and prayed for mercy and right guidance. Allah caused them to sleep for a number of years and then awakened them so it would be known which group best reckoned their period of stay (18:10–12). They were young men who believed in their Lord, and Allah increased them in guidance and strengthened their hearts. They declared that their Lord is the Lord of the heavens and earth and that worshipping any other deity would be an unjust excess (18:13–15).

The passage says that the sun leaned away from their cave at sunrise and passed them on the left at sunset, while they lay in an open space within it (18:16–17). Ibn Hisham explains that the sun’s movement is described as turning aside and that the cave’s open space gave them room.

The Inscription is explained as a record of their story, though other interpretations are recorded, including the cave’s mountain or village. Ibn Hisham glosses “excess” as going beyond the truth and explains the rare words describing the cave’s spaciousness.

The Qur’anic account continues: had a person looked upon the sleepers, he would have turned away in fear. People differed over their number, guessing without knowledge; Allah knows their number best, and the Messenger is told not to dispute about them except openly or ask others for hidden knowledge (18:18–22). The Messenger is instructed not to promise that he will do something tomorrow without saying “if Allah wills,” to remember Allah if he forgets, and to ask for guidance to what is nearer to right (18:23–24). Their stay is given as three hundred years, with nine added (18:25). Allah knows best how long they remained, for the unseen of the heavens and earth belongs to Him (18:26).

Ibn Ishaq relates that Dhu al-Qarnayn was given extraordinary means and travelled to the furthest east and west, ruling the peoples he reached. A report from transmitters of Persian accounts names him Marzuban ibn Mardubah, a Greek from the descendants of Yunan ibn Japheth ibn Noah. Ibn Hisham identifies him as Alexander, builder of Alexandria. Another report describes him as a king who traversed the earth by means placed at his disposal.