ASHAB UL KAHF – THE PEOPLE OF THE CAVE Ashabul Kahf is a story about a group of young men( Some number of young monotheistic men: the knowledge about the correct number of them is with Allaah) believers who went into hiding after being pursued by soldiers of a cruel king who was an unbeliever. They fled the city together, and took refuge in a cave . While hiding in a cave, due to fatigue, they fell asleep. Allaah caused them to remain sleeping for 309 years, and when they woke the surrounding area had become monotheistic as well. They woke up the next day to find themselves hungry. One of them was asked to go out and buy some food(Halaal food). But,the shop keeper could not accept the money as it was old coins and were no longer in circulation and reported to the matter to the king. By then, the old king had been been succeeded by many many new kings, the current king was a believer. After relating their story, these companions soon realized that they have been sleeping for 300 years.While they were preserved, their faithful dog which followed them perished and what was left was its skeletons and bones. Allaah says: “We caused them to be found that they [who found them] would know that the promise of Allaah is truth and that of the Hour there is no doubt.” [18: 21] STORY IN QUR’AN: “Or have you thought that the companions of the cave and the inscription were, among Our signs, a wonder? [Mention] when the youths retreated to the cave and said, "Our Lord, grant us from Yourself mercy and prepare for us from our affair right guidance." So We cast [a cover of sleep] over their ears within the cave for a number of years. Then We awakened them that We might show which of the two factions was most precise in calculating what [extent] they had remained in time. It is We who relate to you, [O Muhammad], their story in truth. Indeed, they were youths who believed in their Lord, and We increased them in guidance. And We made firm their hearts when they stood up and said, "Our Lord is the Lord of the heavens and the earth. Never will we invoke besides Him any deity. We would have certainly spoken, then, an excessive transgression. These, our people, have taken besides Him deities. Why do they not bring for [worship of] them a clear authority? And who is more unjust than one who invents about Allaah a lie?" [The youths said to one another], "And when you have withdrawn from them and that which they worship other than Allaah , retreat to the cave. Your Lord will spread out for you of His mercy and will prepare for you from your affair facility." And [had you been present], you would see the sun when it rose, inclining away from their cave on the right, and when it set, passing away from them on the left, while they were [laying] within an open space thereof. That was from the signs of Allaah . He whom Allaah guides is the [rightly] guided, but he whom He leaves astray - never will you find for him a protecting guide. And you would think them awake, while they were asleep. And We turned them to the right and to the left, while their dog stretched his forelegs at the entrance. If you had looked at them, you would have turned from them in flight and been filled by them with terror. And similarly, We awakened them that they might question one another. Said a speaker from among them, "How long have you remained [here]?" They said, "We have remained a day or part of a day." They said, "Your Lord is most knowing of how long you remained. So send one of you with this silver coin of yours to the city and let him look to which is the best of food and bring you provision from it and let him be cautious. And let no one be aware of you. Indeed, if they come to know of you, they will stone you or return you to their religion. And never would you succeed, then - ever." And similarly, We caused them to be found that they [who found them] would know that the promise of Allaah is truth and that of the Hour there is no doubt. [That was] when they disputed among themselves about their affair and [then] said, "Construct over them a structure. Their Lord is most knowing about them." Said those who prevailed in the matter, "We will surely take [for ourselves] over them a masjid." They will say there were three, the fourth of them being their dog; and they will say there were five, the sixth of them being their dog - guessing at the unseen; and they will say there were seven, and the eighth of them was their dog. Say, [O Muhammad], "My Lord is most knowing of their number. None knows them except a few. So do not argue about them except with an obvious argument and do not inquire about them among [the speculators] from anyone." And never say of anything, "Indeed, I will do that tomorrow," Except [when adding], "If Allaah wills." And remember your Lord when you forget [it] and say, "Perhaps my Lord will guide me to what is nearer than this to right conduct." And they remained in their cave for three hundred years and exceeded by nine. [Qur’an : 18 : 9-25] THEIR BELIEF IN ALLAAH: Allaah states that they were boys or young men, and that they were more accept ing of the truth and more guided than the elders who had become stubbornly set in their ways and clung to the religion of falsehood. For the same reason, most of those who responded to Allaah and His Messenger were young people. As for the elders of Quraysh, most of them kept to their religion and only a few of them became Muslims. So Allaah tells us that the people of the cave were young men. “And We made firm their hearts when they stood up and said, "Our Lord is the Lord of the heavens and the earth. Never will we invoke besides Him any deity. We would have certainly spoken, then, an excessive transgression.” [18 : 14] GUIDENCE IS FROM ALLAAH ALONE: ALLAAH IS THE ONE, WHO GIVES GUIDANCE “(While as for those who accept guidance, He increases their guidance and bestows on them their Taqwa.” [47:17] It is He who sent down tranquillity into the hearts of the believers that they would increase in faith along with their [present] faith. And to Allaah belong the soldiers of the heavens and the earth, and ever is Allaah Knowing and Wise. [48:4]
Posted on: Fri, 28 Jun 2013 01:10:07 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015