Tafsir of Al-Kahf 18:18

Surah Al-Kahf (18)

Verse 18 (Partial): ...and you would think them awake, while they were asleep...

Tafsir:

Know that the meaning of His saying, {and you would think them} is as we previously explained regarding {and you see the sun}: if you were to see them, you would think them {awake} (ayqāẓan).

• Ayqāẓan is the plural of yaqẓ and yaqẓān (Al-Akhfash, Abu 'Ubaydah, and Al-Zajjaj stated this). They cited the verse by Ru'bah as evidence:

  And they found their brethren awake (ayqāẓan).

• Similarly, it is like najd and najdān, and anjād (for those who are not asleep). {while they were asleep} (ruqūd) is a verbal noun used as the passive participle, just as one says a group is rukkūʿ (bowing), quʿūd (sitting), and sujūd (prostrating)—the plural is described by the verbal noun. Whoever claims it is the plural of rāqid (one who sleeps) has gone astray, because the form fāʿil is not pluralized as fuʿūl.

• Al-Wāḥidī said they are thought to be {awake} because their eyes were open while they were sleeping. Al-Zajjaj said that due to their frequent turning over, it is presumed they are awake.

• The evidence for this is His saying: {and We turned them over to the right side and to the left side}.

• There is a difference of opinion regarding the duration of this turning:
  • Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated that they had two turnings each year.
  • Mujāhid said they remained on their right sides for nine years, then were turned onto their left sides and remained asleep for nine years.
  • It is also said they had only one turning on the Day of Ashura.

• My View: These estimations are inaccessible to reason, and the wording of the Qur'an does not indicate them. If there were an authentic report (ṣaḥīḥ khabar), how could we know?

• Ibn 'Abbās (may Allah be pleased with him) said the benefit of turning them was so that the earth would not consume their flesh or cause them to decay.

• My View: This is strange, because when Allah Almighty was capable of preserving their lives for three hundred years and more, why would He not be capable of preserving their bodies without turning them over?

• His saying {to the right} (dhāta al-yamīn) is in the accusative case as an adverb of place, meaning "in the direction of the right side," similar to what we said regarding {their cave leaning to the right} (dhāta al-yamīn).

Verse 19: And [mention] when the young men awoke, they said, "How long have we 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 have remained. So send one of you with this silver coin of yours to the city and let him look to which of them has the purest food and bring you provision from it, and let him be cautious and let no one be aware of you."

Tafsir:

{And [mention] when the young men awoke...}

• {And likewise We awakened them so that they might question one another among themselves.}

• {And [mention] when the young men awoke}: This refers to the time they woke up after their long sleep.

• {They said, "How long have we remained [here]?"}

• {They said, "We have remained a day or part of a day."} They assumed this because they had slept during the day and woke up when the sun was still high or setting.

• {They said, "Your Lord is most knowing of how long you have remained."} They referred the ultimate knowledge to Allah.

• {So send one of you with this silver coin of yours to the city...} This coin was their money.

• {and let him look to which of them has the purest food}: Meaning, the best or most lawful food.

• {and bring you provision from it, and let him be cautious and let no one be aware of you.}

Verse 20: 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."

Tafsir:

{Indeed, if they come to know of you...}

• {Indeed, if they come to know of you, they will stone you or return you to their religion.} This indicates the severity of the disbelief and tyranny of the people of the city.

• {And never would you succeed, then - ever."} Meaning, if they were forced back into that religion, they would never attain success (in the Hereafter).

Regarding the Dog:

{And your dog is stretching out his paws at the entrance...}

• Ibn 'Abbās and most commentators said they fled at night from their king, passing by a shepherd who had a dog that followed them because it shared their faith.
• Ka'b said they passed by a dog that barked at them, so they drove it away. This happened repeatedly. The dog then said to them, "What do you want from me? Do not fear my side; I love the beloved of Allah, so sleep until I guard you."
• ‘Ubayd ibn ‘Umayr said it was their hunting dog.

• {stretching out his paws} (bāsiṭun dhirāʿayhi): Meaning, laying them flat on the ground, not clenched. This is related to the Prophetic tradition forbidding the prayer posture known as "the spreading of the lion" (or "the dog's spreading"): "(He forbade) spreading your forearms like the spreading of the lion/dog."

• {at the entrance} (bi-al-waṣīd): Meaning, the courtyard of the cave. Al-Zajjaj said al-waṣīd is the courtyard of the house or dwelling, and its plural is waṣā'id and waṣad. Yūnus, Al-Akhfash, and Al-Farrā' said al-waṣīd and al-aṣīd are two variant forms, like al-wakāf and al-ikāf. Al-Suddī said al-waṣīd means the door. A cave does not have a door or threshold; rather, the dog was positioned where the threshold of a house would be.

Verse 21: And thus did We make them known to the people, that they might know that the promise of Allah is truth and that the Hour [of resurrection] is coming, when they disputed among themselves concerning their affair, and said, "Construct over them a structure. Their Lord is most knowing about them." Those who prevailed in their affair said, "We will surely take [for ourselves] a place of worship over them."

Tafsir:

{And thus did We make them known...}

• {And thus did We awaken them so that they might question one another among themselves.} (This seems to be a repetition/recap of the previous section's theme, leading into the next point).

• {And thus did We make them known to the people...} (This phrase is often interpreted as Allah making their story known to the people of that time, or making their state known to the people who later discovered them).

• {that they might know that the promise of Allah is truth and that the Hour [of resurrection] is coming...} This event served as a sign confirming the reality of resurrection.

• {when they disputed among themselves concerning their affair...} The people who found them argued about what to do with the sleepers.

• {and said, "Construct over them a structure. Their Lord is most knowing about them."} This was the moderate view, suggesting they should be left alone, leaving the final judgment to Allah.

• {Those who prevailed in their affair said, "We will surely take [for ourselves] a place of worship over them."} This refers to those who held the stronger opinion among the people of the city (who were believers, according to the context of the story), who decided to build a sanctuary over the cave.

Regarding Seeing Them:

{And similarly We caused them to be found, that they [who found them] might know that the promise of Allah is truth and that the Hour is coming...} (This section seems to be a continuation of the previous verse's theme, focusing on the discovery).

• {if you looked down upon them, you would surely turn away from them in flight...}

• {if you looked down upon them} (law iṭṭalaʿta ʿalayhim): Meaning, if you looked over them (from above). It is said: iṭṭalaʿta ʿalayhim means you looked over them. It is also said: aṭlaʿtu fulānan ʿalā shay'in fa-iṭṭalaʿa (I made someone aware of a matter, and he became aware).

• {you would surely turn away from them in flight} (lawallayta minhum firāran): Al-Zajjaj said firāran (flight) is in the accusative case as a verbal noun (maṣdar) because the meaning of wallayta minhum is "you fled from them."

• {and be filled with terror because of them} (wa-lamulī'ta minhum ruʿban): Meaning, filled with fright and fear.

• It is said in Tafsir that their hair and nails had grown long, and their eyes remained open while they were asleep. This is why anyone who saw them would flee in terror. It is also said that Allah made it so that whoever saw them would be seized by intense terror, but the detailed reason for this terror is known best to Allah. This latter view is the sounder one.

• Recitation Variants for {and be filled with terror}:
  • Nāfi' and Ibn Kathīr recited lamulī'ta (with tashdīd on the Lām and a Hamza), while others recited it with a light Lām.
  • It is narrated that Ibn Kathīr also recited it with a light Lām. The meaning is the same, but the tashdīd implies greater intensity.
  • Al-Akhfash said the light form is better in Arabic usage. One says mala'tanī ruʿban (it filled me with terror), and they rarely use mala'tanī. Most of their usage supports this, such as:

    So fill our house with dried curds and ghee.

  • And the saying of another poet:

    And who fills his eyes with anything other than Him, When he heads toward the white pillar stones like idols.

  • And the saying of another:

    Do not fill the bucket while there is still moisture in it.

  • And another:

    The basin became full, and Qutnī said...

  • The heavy form (tathqīl) has also been used, and they cite Al-Mukhbil Al-Sa'dī:

    And when Al-Nu'mān was killed among the people, making it forbidden, He filled the chains of 'Awf ibn Ka'b.

• Recitation Variants for Ru'ban:
  • Ibn 'Āmir and Al-Kisā'ī recited ruʿban (with a ḍammah on the 'Ayn) throughout the Qur'an, while the rest recited it with sukūn (no vowel).