18: The Cave (Al-Kahf)

The Quran is here described as possessing two qualifications. The first refers to its own perfection, there is no crookedness in it; and the second speaks of it as a book suited to make others perfect, for it is called qayyim, as meaning one that rightly directs others.

The Holy Prophet is reported to have said: He who remembers the first ten verses of the chapter entitled The Cave is protected from the tribulation of Dajjāl (the Antichrist) (Sahih Muslim, 6:42). In another report the last ten verses of The Cave instead of the first ten are mentioned (Abu Dawud, 36:12). Now in the first and the last sections of this chapter the Christian doctrine of the divinity of Jesus is condemned. In the first section a warning is given to those who say Allah has taken to Himself a son (v. 4), in the last two to those who take My servants to be friends besides Me (v. 102), and this doctrine, the doctrine of sonship and of the divinity of a servant of God, is the basic doctrine of the Christian religion. Moreover, in the concluding ten verses, a true description of the occupation of Christian nations is given in the words whose effort goes astray in this world’s life (v. 104). The Holy Prophet’s saying quoted above plainly shows that the Dajjāl of the Hadith is the same as the upholders of the erroneous Christian doctrine of the sonship and divinity of Jesus Christ. Christianity, in its present form, being opposed to the true teachings of Christ, is thus the only Antichrist known to the Quran.

The anxiety which the Holy Prophet felt on account of a fallen humanity was so great that he is spoken of here as almost killing himself with grief. His was a life of absolute devotion to the cause of humanity, his only concern being that man should rise to the true dignity for which God had made him. This anxiety was not only for those who were directly addressed by him, but, as the context shows, it was as deep for another people, who attributed a son to the Divine Being, and whom outward finery was to mislead to such an extent as to make them strangers to spiritual truth. Reading the next verse leaves no doubt that the Prophet was shown the earthly embellishments which are so great a trial for Christendom today. The word announcement here refers to the Quran.

The picture drawn here is of the beautiful cities of the modern age, with all their attractions and luxuries, which so engross people that they neither pay attention to the preaching of truth nor to the pursuit of righteousness. The earth will be first beautified to its utmost, we are told here, and then laid waste, by man’s own hands, lofty buildings being reduced to dust and beautiful gardens being turned into bare earth without any vegetation on it. All prophecies made known through the righteous servants of God, the prophets of the Old Testament and Jesus Christ, and then through the Quran and the Hadith, point to world-wide conflicts in the latter days, of nation rising against nation, and of destruction of cities on a vast scale. Science first embellished the earth and science is now turning it into a waste, by its atom bombs and other diabolic inventions.

The Cave stands for the Christian institution of monkery, this being the distinctive characteristic which it assumed soon after its birth. Raqīm means an inscription or a tablet with a writing upon it. The Inscription contains a prophetical reference to an aspect of the Christian religion quite opposed to its first aspect of growth in the Cave. Inscription (or Advertisement) is, in fact, as prominent a feature of the business activities of the Christian nations of today as the Cave was a feature of their religious activities in the early days. The Quran seems to have chosen the epithets to designate the Christian nations by indicating their most prominent characteristics in their early and their latter days. The account from here to v. 22 is generally identified with the memorable story of the “seven sleepers”, Christian youths who took refuge in a cave to escape the persecution of the Roman Emperor Decius around the year 250 C.E. According to the story, the Emperor ordered the entrance to the cave to be blocked with stones. It is stated that the youths fell asleep as soon as they were shut up in the cave, and awoke 187 years after this in the reign of Theodosius (some state 375 years), when the stones were removed to supply building material for some edifice. They then sent one of their number to bring food for them from the city, but he was taken to the judge on presenting a coin of the reign of Decius, and thus the youths were discovered. The story as narrated in the Quran does not credit the unnatural incidents of the above account. It only speaks of some men having taken refuge in a dark cave on account of a religious persecution; where and when it does not state. After they had rested for a part of a day, they made arrangements to get their food from outside (v. 19), and remained in this condition for “a number of years” (v. 11), but were subsequently discovered, and an edifice being built at the mouth of the cave caused their death (v. 21). It mentions conjectures as to their number and the number of years they remained in the cave (v. 22), but does not go beyond saying that there were some men who remained in the cave for some years. However, the story itself is not without a deeper meaning, and more statements than one show that there is a reference to the history of Christianity itself in the story.

The meaning is that these people remained cut off from the rest of the world for a number of years. The Quran does not support the story that they remained in the cave for hundreds of years or that they were asleep all this time.

The raising them up might signify raising them up from sleep, as also raising them up into a condition of activity, after their remaining cut off from the world, as stated in the previous verse.

This is to show that the early followers of Christianity were Unitarians — believers in one God only.

This describes the position of the cave, which was so situated that it did not admit sunshine. This could easily happen in a cave with its mouth to the north, situated in the northern hemisphere and above the tropic of cancer. With reference to the history of Christianity it may indicate its coming to Europe.

What is related in this section is clearly applicable to the story of the seven sleepers, as also to the later history of Christianity. In the first case, the meaning is that the youths, who fled for fear of persecution and betook themselves to a cave, slept for some time with a dog at the door of the cave. The whole scene was rather awe-inspiring: a dark cave, in some distant and uninhabited part of the country, with some men sleeping in it and a dog at the door. Applied to the history of Christianity the statement is equally true. In this case it should be borne in mind that ruqūd (“asleep”) also means inactive or stagnant. Similarly aiqāẓ (“awake”) means vigilant or wary. The turning about to the right and to the left, which signifies an uneasy condition while sleeping, may be used as expressing the activities of a man or a nation. Thus there may be a reference here to the lethargy in which the Christian nations remained for a long time, and to their subsequent going about in the world in all directions. It may also be noted that Europeans are generally fond of dogs.

This may refer either to the time for which the youths slept or to the centuries of inactivity of the Christian nations. A day of a thousand years is spoken of in the Quran (see 22:47, etc.), and therefore the word day, applied to the history of a nation, may signify a thousand years.

It was their going out to purchase food that brought them to the knowledge of the outside world. It is not stated how long they continued in this state. Comparing this with v. 11, however, we may say that they passed several years in this condition.

This verse and v. 25 show that these are only conjectures of the people with regard to them. Their number and the number of years during which they remained in the cave are both matters which are said to be only known to Allah. Ibn Abbas is, however, of the opinion that the words condemning the first two as conjectures show that the last-mentioned number, i.e., seven, is correct. (Editor’s Note: In his Urdu commentary, Maulana Muhammad Ali has applied this number to the number of Western powers, whose number varies depending on whether they are counted individually or in groups according to their treaty alliances.)According to Ibn Jarir’s commentary the people referred to in the concluding words, any of them, are the people of the Book, or the Christians. It is clear from this that it is really the history of Christianity that is dealt with in the story of the Companions of the Cave. V. 25, which again speaks of the same people who are spoken of here, makes it clear that it is the history of Christianity that is really aimed at.

Though the words are general, there seems to be a special prophetic reference to the Prophet’s Flight and his taking refuge in a cave. He had entirely to trust in Allah, Who was to bring it about as He thought best for him.

The history of Christianity, which runs like an undercurrent in the story of the Companions of the Cave, finds a clear expression now. There is no tradition that the Companions of the Cave remained in the Cave for three hundred years, but Christianity itself remained in a Cave for full three hundred years. It is a fact that Christianity rose to power with the conversion of Constantine, and at the same time it lost its purity with the formulation of the doctrine of the Trinity, which was promulgated in 325 C.E. It is, moreover, now almost agreed that Jesus Christ was born in 6–5 B.C. So if he began his ministry at the age of thirty, the Christian religion may be said to have been born at about 25 C.E., and thus exactly after three hundred years it lost its purity by the promulgation of the Trinitarian doctrine, emerging at the same time as a State religion. Thus it remained in the Cave for three hundred years. As to adding nine years, to convert solar years to lunar years three years have to be added to every hundred years, and to the three centuries another nine years are thus added.

By “words” are meant here prophecies, because it is the prophecy of the Prophet’s Flight and his final triumph over his enemies that is referred to here. These prophecies, it is claimed, cannot be altered by people, and they must come to pass, however great the opposing forces.

They refused the water of spiritual life in this life, and so they will have no water to quench their thirst in the life after death.

It is after these things that people hanker in this life, but the ornaments and robes of this life are transitory. The righteous, who in this life desire and struggle for only spiritual ornaments and moral beauty, find these visible in the after-life. However, these prophecies were in one sense brought to fulfilment in this very life also. The Arabs, whose only wealth consisted of their camels and horses, and whose clothes were made of skins or cloth of rough textures, found the treasures of Rome and Persia laid at their feet, and the bracelets of gold and the silk brocade interwoven with gold, which they had never seen before, were now brought to them in abundance, while the gardens of Mesopotamia and Persia were given to them for a permanent heritage.

The parable set forth here is undoubtedly to illustrate the condition of the Christian and the Muslim nations. The former received an abundance of the wealth of this life, as is indicated by the gardens of the parable, while the latter, though poorer in worldly possessions, were richer in the heavenly blessings of Allah. The former reject the message of Truth, of which the latter are the bearers, and their vaunt is the same as that of the wealthy man in the parable: I have more wealth than you, and am greater in followers (v. 34).

By the “Hour” is meant the hour of doom which must overtake every people who reject the Truth.

Here we have an exact description of the havoc that is being wrought in the world before our eyes by modern wars.

Making the earth a levelled plain indicates the removal of all those mighty obstacles which stood in the way of the advancement of Truth, and these are the mountains which are made to pass away; see 20:105–107.

This comprehensive book is the same as is spoken of in 17:13–14. There is not the slightest action, good or bad, which does not leave its effect behind.

Iblīs is one of the jinn or the evil spirits, so it is an error to take him for an angel or a good spirit. The spirit of evil is always rebellious, and it is against this that man is warned, so that he should resist every evil tendency.

It is when man becomes so iniquitous as to turn away from the truth and so callous as not to care for the evil that he does that a veil is placed over his heart.

The personal pronoun their refers to the opponents of Truth, earlier as well as later.

Some reports give his name as Joshua, the son of Nun, the man who afterwards appears so prominently in the history of Israel. The incidents narrated in verses 60–82 may be the actual experience of Moses or this journey may simply be an Ascension of Moses, like the Ascension (Mi‘rāj) of the Holy Prophet, referred to in the last chapter. What is stated in the next section makes the latter view more probable.

The loss of the fish was, according to a report, to serve as a sign that the goal had been attained (Bukhari, 3:44). There is nothing either in the Quran or in the Hadith to show that this was a roasted fish. Taking refuge on the rock shows that they were staying at a place which was flooded by the river, and Moses’ companion, when hastening for refuge, forgot to take the fish along with him. The wonder is not expressed at the fish having gone down into the river, but because he had forgotten to mention the loss to Moses.

His name was Khaḍir (Bukhari, 3:44).

That the youth himself deserved death is abundantly clear. His inordinacy had now reached an extreme when it was feared that his innocent parents would be involved in the trouble which must befall him as a result of his wrongdoing. The circumstances were known to Khaḍir, though not to Moses.

The interpretation of the three incidents shows a manifestation of Divine wisdom in what takes place in the everyday life of man. Divine laws, as manifested in nature, are really working towards ultimate good, though sometimes they may appear to the outward eye to be working to the detriment of somebody. The beneficent hand of Allah that works in nature is always directing humanity to the goal of great good, though that goal must necessarily be reached with apparent loss. Sometimes the loss is only apparent, as in the case of making a hole in the boat; there was no real loss, but the apparent loss served a great purpose and brought much benefit to the owner. The second instance is that in which there is real loss to a person, but it is for the good of humanity at large, for life must be sacrificed for the ultimate good of humanity. The third instance shows that, for the good of humanity, deeds must be done which bring no immediate reward, and that good done by one generation is not devoid of benefit to the next. Moses himself had, in fact, to undergo the experience of his teacher, and the incidents seem no more than prophetic allegories of Moses’ own life-work. Moses had to lead his people to a place where they thought they had only been brought to be drowned; but their safe passage through the sea showed that it was for their good. Then he had to order his men to fight against an iniquitous people and to put them to death, but he was not shedding human blood to no purpose, for it was really a step towards the evolution of a better race. And finally, his devoting his own life to the Israelites, descendants of a righteous man, corresponded to his teacher’s building the wall for the orphans without claiming recompense. Read in this light, the narration is clearly an Ascension of Moses, foreshadowing the great events which were to befall him.

Dhu-l-qarnain literally means the two-horned one, or one belonging to two generations or two centuries. The reference here seems to be to the two-horned ram of Daniel’s vision (Daniel, 8:3), which he interpreted as the Kingdoms of Media and Persia, which were combined into a single kingdom under one ruler, Cyrus, who is erroneously called Darius in the Bible (Encyclopedia Biblica and Jewish Encyclopedia, Art. ‘Darius’). The reference in Daniel’s vision is, however, not to Cyrus but to Darius I Hystaspes (521-485 B.C.), “who allowed the Jews to rebuild their temple… His liberality towards the Jews is in complete accord with what we know otherwise of his general policy in religious matters towards the subject nations” (Enc. Biblica, ‘Darius’). The reference in the Quran in the history of Dhu-l-qarnain is to Darius I: “Darius was the organizer of the Persian Empire. His conquests served to round off the boundaries of his realm in Armenia, the Caucasus, and India, and along the Turanian steppes and the highlands of Central Asia” (Jewish Enc., ‘Darius I’). The following remarks in the Encyclopaedia Britannica strengthen this view: “Darius in his inscriptions appears as a fervent believer in the true religion of Zoroaster. But he was also a great statesman and organizer. The time of conquests had come to an end; the wars which Darius undertook, like those of Augustus, only served the purpose of gaining strong natural frontiers for the empire and keeping down the barbarous tribes on its borders. Thus Darius subjugated the wild nations of the Pontic and Armenian mountains, and extended the Persian dominion to the Caucasus; for the same reason he fought against the Sacae and other Turanian tribes”. The references to Darius being a fervent believer in the true religion of Zoroaster, to his subduing the barbarous tribes on the borders, to his gaining strong natural frontiers for the empire, and to his fighting against the Sacae clearly point him out as the Dhu-l-qarnain of the Quran.

This signifies the western-most point of his empire.

Being a true follower of Zoroaster, the well-known Persian prophet, Darius seems to have invited these tribes to his religion.

Darius goes first westward to the Black Sea (v. 85–86). Then he undertakes an eastward journey — the land of the rising sun. The description of the people found here, a people who had no shelter from the sun, is a description of the barbarous aboriginal tribes on the shores of the Caspian.

The three journeys alluded to seem to have been undertaken with the object of strengthening the frontiers of the empire, the most important of these being that spoken of here, the part of the frontier between the Caspian and the Black Seas, where the Caucasus afforded a natural protection against the attacks of the Scythians. The two mountains are the mountains of Armenia and Azarbaijan. The people settling there spoke a different language and could not understand the Iranian language.

In the Bible, Ezekiel 38:2 contains the words: “Son of man, set your face against Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him”. North of the Caucasus we find two rivers bearing the names of Tobol and Moskva, on the latter of which is situated the ancient city of Moscow, and on the former the more recent town of Tobolsk. It seems almost certain that these two rivers received their names from the two tribes of Ezekiel 38:2, the Tubal and Meshech, and then gave their names to the two above-mentioned cities. This view is in accordance with the opinion of ancient writers like Josephus, who settle the Magog north of the Caucasus. Thus the name Magog stands for tribes which occupied territories to the north and north-east of the Black Sea, tribes which gave their names directly or indirectly to the towns of Tobolsk and Moscow. Another point worth considering is the presence of the gigantic effigies of Gog and Magog in Guildhall, London, which can be traced to a very early period in English history. This makes it probable that the Angles or the Saxons had in very ancient times some connection with the Scythians or other tribes living north of the Caucasus or the Black Sea. It may be deduced from this that the ancestors of the present Teutonic and Slav races, the main nations of eastern and western Europe respectively, are the Gog and Magog spoken of in the Quran, both these races originating from the same land. The next statement, that the tribes found by Darius between Azerbaijan and the Armenian mountains were constantly harassed by their northern neighbours, the Scythians, is also borne out by history. “About 512 Darius undertook a war against the Scythians … The purpose of this war can only have been to attack the nomadic Turanian tribes in the rear, and thus to secure peace on the northern frontier of the empire” (Encyclopaedia Britannica, Art. ‘Darius’). The barrier referred to in this and the following verses is the famous wall at Derbent, on the western shore of the Caspian, which had iron gates and numerous watch-towers for defence. Its name, Alexander’s wall, is a misnomer due to the mistake made by Muslim historians in supposing Dhu-l-qarnain to be Alexander.

The blocks of iron were needed for the iron gates in the wall.

From the historical narration of the past, the subject is now changed to the future. Gog and Magog are described as two nations, and after describing the history of these nations, whose depredations on peaceful nations were brought to an end by Darius, we are now told that Gog and Magog will again be let loose in the latter days. In fact, this is clearly foretold in another chapter of the same period: “when Gog and Magog are let loose and they sally forth from every elevated place” (21:96). The crumbling of the wall which withheld Gog and Magog for a time is thus explained by the Quran itself as the letting loose of Gog and Magog. Just as the building of the wall indicated the confinement of Gog and Magog to their own territorial bounds, the crumbling of the wall means that they will at some future time be let loose and will then dominate the whole world. This domination is spoken of in the Hadith in various ways. According to one hadith, “No one will have the power to fight against them” (Sahih Muslim, 52:20). According to another, “they will drink the water of the whole world” (Kanaz al-‘Ummāl, vol. 7, p. 2157). As shown earlier, the ancestors of Gog and Magog are the Slav and Teutonic races, and in the world-domination of Gog and Magog is thus clearly hinted the domination of the European nations over the whole world, and the prophecy has thus found fulfilment in our days.

A mighty conflict of nations is clearly spoken of here, and the words no doubt refer to some catastrophe like that which is predicted in the Gospels in the words: “For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows” (Matthew, 24:7–8). The Quran makes it clear that the reference in nation rising against nation is to the great European conflicts of modern times. Gog and Magog, or the European nations, having subdued the whole world, could not agree on the division of the spoils, and they are rushing at one another’s throats, and the whole world being subject to them, their struggle has assumed the form of a world conflict. But if the first part of the verse speaks of the destruction due to these wars, the second part raises a great hope. A mighty Revolution will come about. That is what is meant by the blowing of the trumpet. The revolution would unite them; it would drive them to one common faith. Material benefits having turned man into the enemy of man, a spiritual awakening will, we are told, be brought about which will change the world entirely. Instead of cutting one another’s throats people will learn to love one another, and they will all be but one nation. There is a broad enough hint here at the nation of Islam, for there is but one faith, the faith of Islam, which has been able to weld diverse people into one whole. The day of peace for this world will dawn with the dawning of the idea on the mind of man that there is only a single nation, the human nation, that lives on this earth: “Mankind is a single nation” (2:213).

These words complete the picture of the great conflict spoken of in the previous verse. It describes the severity of the conflict, which will reduce the world to a veritable hell. There was hell raging on this earth in World War 2. What a World War 3 may bring, no one can say.

The reason is given in these words why these disasters will be brought on man: These are people whose eyes are under a cover from My Reminder. In fact, they are so estranged from God that they cannot even bear to hear His Reminder. So thoroughly have lust and greed engrossed the civilized world!

The Christians are meant here, because theirs is the most prominent example of having taken a servant of Allah, a prophet, for God. In fact, Jesus Christ is the only person whom the Quran recognizes as a righteous servant of God and who has been taken for God by a large part of the world.

This is a clear description of the present attitude of the civilized nations to their moral and spiritual needs — their effort is entirely wasted in this world’s life, and they cannot give a moment’s consideration to the life after death. The portrait of the material civilization, to which Christianity has led, as drawn in this section, attains to its most vivid clearness in these words. Manufacture is the one speciality and pride of the West. But they are so engrossed in the contest of manufactures that they have no thought of God left in their minds.

Their deeds are fruitless because what they do relates to the vanities of life. They have no vision for the higher values of life, for the ultimate end, which is here spoken of as the meeting with the Lord. Hence we are told that no balance will be set up for them on the day of Resurrection, because all their deeds relate to this life, and end where this life ends.

In these words there is a refutation of the Christian doctrine that “the word was with God”, or that “the word was God” (John 1:1). The words of God are so numerous, we are here told, that the sea would be exhausted, if it were to serve as ink for writing them. In fact, everything created is a word of God according to the Quran, and things created know no end.