Translation of the Meanings of the Noble Qur'an - English Translation - Dr. Waleed Bleyhesh Omary * - Translations’ Index
Translation of the meanings Ayah: (12) Surah: Al-Kahf
ثُمَّ بَعَثۡنَٰهُمۡ لِنَعۡلَمَ أَيُّ ٱلۡحِزۡبَيۡنِ أَحۡصَىٰ لِمَا لَبِثُوٓاْ أَمَدٗا
(12) Then We brought them to life[3753], so that We may Know who of the two parties[3754] is closer to getting right the duration of their stay.
[3753] The expression baʿathnāhum (lit. We resurrected them) is employed because sleep is a kind of death (cf. Ibn ʿUthaymīn, Sūrat al-Kahf): “He is the One Who terminates your ˹lives˺ at night and knows what you earn during the day, then He sets you off ˹again˺ during it ˹the day˺ so that a specified term comes to an end”. (6: 60)
[3754] Given its great length, the duration of their stay in the cave has proven somewhat of an issue of contention among the people of their town after they discovered them (cf. al-Zamakhsharī, al-Biqāʿī, Naẓm al-Durar, Ibn ʿĀshūr). But it is also thought that these ‘two parties’ were the youths themselves when they asked about the duration of their stay right after they woke up (cf. al-Shinqīṭī, Aḍwā’ al-Bayān). Yet, al-Qurṭubī sees that it is the opinion of most exegetes that these two were the youths themselves on the one hand and the people of their town on the other.
It remains that the finer details of their story are not known for sure as there exist many versions of it (cf. Encyclopedia Britannica, “Seven Sleepers of Ephesus”) and the Qur’an leaves some of these out since they only lead to beclouding contention rather than illuminating knowledge. Further, it is of little moral use to get into these debates besides what God Almighty says in His Book as found in this sura. The Noble Messenger (ﷺ) himself is told (Aya 22 below) not to be dragged into these details: “Do not ˹Muhammad˺ argue ˹with anyone˺ in their regard, except cursorily. Do not ˹neither˺ seek the counsel from any of those about them.”
Although this is the most significant part of their story and thanks to which they have been immortalized in history, this one issue of the duration of their stay (which is so precisely calculated in the Qur’an as we will come in see in Aya 25 below; refer also to how many the youth were) goes on to show how little people know and how groundless their knowledge would be if they were left to their own means, to discern something as simple as dates and durations (cf. Ibn ʿĀshūr), especially of the things and beings that we find only records of and can find no traces of which or whom.
[3754] Given its great length, the duration of their stay in the cave has proven somewhat of an issue of contention among the people of their town after they discovered them (cf. al-Zamakhsharī, al-Biqāʿī, Naẓm al-Durar, Ibn ʿĀshūr). But it is also thought that these ‘two parties’ were the youths themselves when they asked about the duration of their stay right after they woke up (cf. al-Shinqīṭī, Aḍwā’ al-Bayān). Yet, al-Qurṭubī sees that it is the opinion of most exegetes that these two were the youths themselves on the one hand and the people of their town on the other.
It remains that the finer details of their story are not known for sure as there exist many versions of it (cf. Encyclopedia Britannica, “Seven Sleepers of Ephesus”) and the Qur’an leaves some of these out since they only lead to beclouding contention rather than illuminating knowledge. Further, it is of little moral use to get into these debates besides what God Almighty says in His Book as found in this sura. The Noble Messenger (ﷺ) himself is told (Aya 22 below) not to be dragged into these details: “Do not ˹Muhammad˺ argue ˹with anyone˺ in their regard, except cursorily. Do not ˹neither˺ seek the counsel from any of those about them.”
Although this is the most significant part of their story and thanks to which they have been immortalized in history, this one issue of the duration of their stay (which is so precisely calculated in the Qur’an as we will come in see in Aya 25 below; refer also to how many the youth were) goes on to show how little people know and how groundless their knowledge would be if they were left to their own means, to discern something as simple as dates and durations (cf. Ibn ʿĀshūr), especially of the things and beings that we find only records of and can find no traces of which or whom.
Arabic explanations of the Qur’an:
Translation of the meanings Ayah: (12) Surah: Al-Kahf
Translation of the Meanings of the Noble Qur'an - English Translation - Dr. Waleed Bleyhesh Omary - Translations’ Index
Translation of the meanings of the Noble Qur’an into English - in progress - translated by Dr. Walid Bleihesh Al-Omari.