The Story of the People of the Cave

praise be to allah who revealed the book to his servant and allowed not therein any crookedness chapter 18 verse 1. i've just recited the opening verse of the chapter that i'm going to be speaking to you about today surah al-kaff with the english title of the cave and this being my first ju mahutbah apologize in advance if make any mistakes first i'd like to read to you three hadees related to this chapter it was narrated in the book of sahih muslim that the messenger of allah said whoever commits to memory the first ten verses of surah al-ghaf will be protected from the trial of the jal in say al-bukhari it was narrated that man was reciting surah al-ghaf in his prayer and in the house there was an animal which got frightened and started jumping when the man finished his prayer he saw mist or cloud hovering over him he informed the prophet of this and the prophet said so and so recite for this mist or cloud was sign of peace descending for the recitation of quran and finally in whoever recites surah al-khaf on jummah will have light shining for him from that jummah to the next one of the reasons have chosen to focus on this surah for my talk today is because of the last hadees i've read to you where the prophet sallallahu alaihi walawa sallam has encouraged us to read this surah every friday and today being friday it made sense to me to bring it to your attention if you are not already acquainted with it or remind you of its importance if you are one of those that regularly recite the surah as part of their friday routine this surah gives us four distinct stories which each relate to type of trial that person might encounter in their lives there's story of group of boys who sought refuge in cave and the trial of faith that they encountered in their lives that is when religion becomes test for you there's the story of rich man and poor man and the trial of wealth there is the story of hazrat musa and al-khida and the trial of knowledge and finally there is the story of king called zulkanen and the trial of power it would be wonderful to go through the entire chapter and talk about each story and each trial in detail but of course we're short of time so i'm going to talk to you about the first story and hope that it will inspire you to read the rest of the surah in your own time inshallah so the name of the surah al-kaf literally translates as the cave and significant portion of this surah deals with the dwellers or the people of the cave this is story that originally forms part of christianity but it's been given more prominence and spotlight by the quran than any christian text here 17 verses are dedicated to the story of these people and you may have already heard of them they're known in english as the seven sleepers briefly their story goes as follows there was group of youths that believed in one god and resisted pressure from their people to worship others beside one god and when it had gotten to the stage where their lives were in danger because of their belief they had to take refuge in cave in fact the quran states in verse 16 that allah told them take refuge in the cave your lord will spread forth for you of his mercy and provide for you profitable course in your affair during this time they fell asleep or they were put to sleep by allah for lengthy period and when they woke up they thought that they'd only been asleep for day or so so they sent one of the group members back into town to buy some food and he used the old money that he had with him and of course by now it had become antique so upon seeing this antique coin the inhabitants of the town were surprised and eventually this act led to their presence being revealed to the people of the town by then however the city had embraced christianity and they were able to live and practice their faith freely for the remainder of their lives now let's talk about this story in some more detail who exactly were these young men why is their story so important that it's given so much attention in the holy quran what is so special about their story that the prophet sallallahu alaiha sallam wants us to remember it every friday now just to put their story into historical context some commentators propose that these youth were from the ancient city of ephesus which is present-day celchuk in turkey and they were there during the reign of the roman emperor decius decius's rule was marred by the torture and execution of many christians and therefore it does make sense that group of young christians may have hidden in cave to escape such persecution and some people said that it was deceived himself that imprisoned them in the cave as sort of death sentence but as we learn in the quran it was allah that sent them there or put this idea in their heads to go there and this was an act of mercy way of finding refuge from their lord in their time of need it is possible that there is truth in the suggestion that after learning that they were already in there decius had ordered the entrance of the cave to be firmly secured with pile of large stones another suggestion however is that these youth sought refuge in glastonbury in england in verse 17 it says and thou mighty see the sun when it rose declined from their cave to the right and when it set leave them behind on the left while they were in wide space thereof this description of how the sun could be seen could easily happen in cave with its mouth to the north situated in the northern hemisphere of the world as this description applies to any country in the northern hemisphere maulana muhammad ali suggests that the whole of europe in one sense answers the description of the cave and this is supported by the fact that christianity spread first in europe ultimately this type of geographic detail and other things like how many people were in the cave how long were they in there for etc these are all left out by allah and there's reason for this verse 22 reads some say there were three the fourth of them their dog and others say five the sixth of them their dog making conjectures about the unseen and others say seven and the eighth of them their dog say my lord best knows their number none knows them but few this verse makes it clear that any guesses as to how many people were in the cave will be no more than guess or an opinion or conclusion formed on the basis of incomplete information only allah knows these details and for the purposes for the purpose of telling their story it's irrelevant interestingly when the words some say sayakuluna or they say appear in other parts of the holy quran very often this happens when the references to something quite foolish or senseless things for example in surah al-baqarah chapter 2 verse 111 it says they say none shall enter the garden except he who is jew or the christians these are their vain desires and in surah al-anam chapter 6 29 it says they say there is nothing but our life of this world and we shall not be raised again similarly in surah maryam chapter 19 verse 88 they say the beneficient has taken to himself son these are just few examples that show that whenever allah quotes such foolishness it's subsequently answered with his wisdom and that's exactly what happens in verse 22 of surah al-ghaf as well when allah says say my lord best knows their number this is signal to us that discussions about the specific number of people in the cave are futile because only allah knows and by indulging in those details you're basically straying and from the real point of the story and missing the real moral and similarly in terms of the length of their stay verse 25 reads and they remained in their cave 300 years and they add nine so upon first glance it seems that here we are being told that they were in the cave for three hundred or three hundred and nine years and then the very next verse reads knows best how long they remained in other words it's emphasized once again that the length of their stay is known only to allah and these issues are not the important part of the story which sometimes in christian retellings of this story even in islamic retellings of the story people tend to get bogged down with and obsessed with as if this was history lesson when allah subhana tala leaves gaps in his narrative he does it on purpose he's doing it so that our attention is drawn to the essence and the moral of the story which is the real priority so what exactly is the real point of this story found three morals here first of all at its root the story of the people of the cave is about religion becoming trial for you and being tested on your faith and we see this happen every day still are muslims that choose to wear the veil or keep beards not tested every day when they have to go out into societies that label them as extremists or terrorists are ahmadis in pakistan and elsewhere not tested every day when they have to hide who they are just so that they aren't jailed for saying assalamu alaikum or worse so that they aren't killed simply for belonging to this jamaat or even on much smaller scale at school or university are young people not tested when they feel peer pressure to behave in certain way that may be against islam when faced with the trial of religion what did these young men do they turned to their lord and said rabbana our lord grant us mercy from thyself and provide for us right course in our affair repeat this dua our lord grant us mercy from thyself and provide for us right course in our affair this is such wonderful beautiful prayer that anyone can use in the face of any trial but especially young people living in societies when they encount where they encounter trials every day such as the trial of temptation you are basically saying allah you help me out of my problems you take me under your wing give me your merciful guidance and this story is evidence that when you do that when you put your faith in allah and turn to him to guide you out of your problems he will do so in such way that you can't imagine he will find solutions for you that you couldn't have found yourself and he will arrange for your protection in the most unexpected ways secondly another key point to note is that the youth stuck together indicating the importance of righteous companionship in the face of trials but also throughout your life in fact verse 28 highlights this explicitly and keep thyself with those who call on their lord morning and evening desiring his goodwill and let not thine eyes pass from them desiring the beauty of this world's life so one of the ways to protect yourself from the trial of religion is to keep yourself in good company now imagine if one of these boys had said you know don't really want to go into cave this is this is not really worth it let's just join the rest of the town and their beliefs why are we putting ourselves through this how different their story would have been if that was the way that even one of them thought but they were all so steadfast and firm in their beliefs that their story is enshrined in our holy book and there for us to remember and learn from i'd just like to point out that these were not prophets they were regular young people no different from you and and we have to learn from them and from their example and understand here how important it is to be selective about who you spend your time with and hadith from sahih bukhari is relevant to adhere the prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam said the example of good companion in comparison with bad one is like that of the musk cellar and the blacksmith's furnace from the first you would either buy musk or enjoy its good smell while the furnace would either burn your clothes or your house or you would come away having experienced its repugnant smell and in another hadith the prophet said the believer is to the believer like parts of building each of them supporting the other finally these verses indicate that we can protect ourselves from trials and temptations by being active not passive in other words if person thinks that they may be harmed in particular place because of their faith they should move to another place for the sake of practicing their religion just like the youth moved and sought refuge in the cave and there are actually directions related to this in the quran as well in surah al-nisa chapter 4 verse 97 it says as for those whom the angels cause to die while they are unjust to themselves the angels will say what were you doing they will say well we were weak in the earth the angels will say was not allah's earth spacious so that you could have migrated therein so if you remember at the start of the khutba told you that there are four trials discussed in surah al-kaff and alhamdulillah we have just been through the first the trial of religion brothers and sisters hope you will find the time to read understand and learn from the other three discussed in this chapter in your own time and make recitation of this surah part of your friday every friday inshallah