Al Islam

b. 26:4. (close)

1664. Bakhi‘ being active participle from Bakha‘a which means, he did a thing most effectively, the verse speaks volumes for the Holy Prophet’s concern and solicitude for the spiritual well-being of his people. His grief over their rejection of the Divine Message and opposition to it had almost killed him. God’s Messengers and His Prophets are full of the milk of human kindness. They cry and weep and grieve for mankind. But such is human ingratitude that those very people for whom they feel so deeply persecute them and seek to kill them. (close)

1665. Of all the innumerable things that God has created there is not one which has not its particular use or which is devoid of all good. All of them add to the beauty of human life. Muslims were enjoined always to keep in view the great truth underlying these simple words and to devote their time and energy to delving into the great secrets of nature and to exploring the unlimited properties of elements. (close)

c. 5:49; 6:166; 11:8; 67:3. (close)

d. 18:41. (close)

1666. The verse implies a prophecy that the Christian nations of the West, after acquiring wealth, power and dominion and making great discoveries and inventions, would make God’s earth abound, as the Bible says, in sin and iniquity. Divine wrath would be excited and, as the prophecies uttered by the mouths of God’s great Prophets in the Old and New Testaments and the Qur’an and Hadith, widespread calamities would descend upon the earth and all the progress that they will have made and all their handiworks, their lofty and stately buildings, the beauty of their land and all their pomp, glory and grandeur would be completely destroyed. (close)

1666A. The expression, Ashabul-Kahf, has been variously interpreted as 'People of the Cave;' 'Men of the Cave;' 'Companions of the Cave;' 'Inmates of the Cave' and 'Dwellers of the Cave.' (close)

1667. The verse declares that the Dwellers of the Cave were not strange things. There was nothing about them which might be considered as a departure from the ordinary laws of nature. Curiously enough many fantastic legends have been woven round them. The memorable story of the "Seven Sleepers," as told by Gibbon in his "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," provides an important clue to the solution of the mystery that surrounds the Dwellers of the Cave. 'When the Emperor Decius,' says Gibbon, 'persecuted the Christians, seven noble youths of Ephesus concealed themselves in a spacious cavern in the side of an adjacent mountain, where they were doomed to perish by the tyrant, who gave orders that the entrance of the cavern should be firmly secured with a pile of huge stones.' Now it is a well-known historical fact that early Christians had to suffer untold persecution at the hands of the idolatrous Roman Emperors for their belief in Divine Unity. This persecution began as early as the time of the notorious Emperor Nero who is said to have set fire to Rome; he was fiddling while that great seat of learning and civilization burnt. It continued intermittently till after a brief respite of about forty years it began with renewed fury under Emperor Decius who wanted to restore the religion and institutions of ancient Rome, and with this object in view he began a systematic extermination of Christians. The edicts of Diocletian in 303 A.D., however, surpassed all anti-Christian measures. By these edicts Christian churches in all the provinces of the Empire were demolished, all their sacred books were publicly burnt and the property of the Church was confiscated and Christians were put out of the protection of the land' (Gibbon’s Roman Empire, Enc. Brit. & Story of Rome). To save themselves from this cruel and inhuman persecution its helpless victims sought refuge in hiding in the catacombs at Rome. For this purpose these catacombs were admirably adapted both by the intricacy of their labyrinthine passages and the numerous small chambers and hiding places at different levels which might remain undetected in the dark by pursuers. From the inscriptions on the tombstones in the catacombs it appears that the early Christians were strict monotheists. Jesus has been mentioned only as a shepherd, or a Prophet of God and Mary, his mother, as nothing more than a pious woman. It also appears that Christians who took refuge in the catacombs kept dogs at their entrance which would announce the approach of strangers by their barking. The account of the Dwellers of the Cave thus, in fact, represents the history of early Christians and shows how they suffered untold persecution for their belief in the Unity of God. The position and description of the Cave, as given in v. 18, is of secondary importance. It applies more fully and in greater detail and exactness to the catacombs at Rome than to any other place.

The story of the Dwellers of the Cave may also be taken to apply to Joseph of Arimathaea and his companions. According to William of Malmesbury, Joseph was sent to Britain by St. Philip and having been given a small island in Somersetshire there constructed with twisted twigs the first Christian church in Britain, which afterwards became the Abbey of Glastonbury. According to another account Joseph is said to have wandered into Britain in the year 63 A.D.… According to legends the first Church of Glastonbury was a little wattled building erected by Joseph of Arimathaea as the leader of the twelve apostles sent over to Britain from Gaul by St. Philip (Enc. Brit., 10th edition & 13th edition, under "Joseph of Arimathaea" & under "Glastonbury"). The latest theory, which also finds powerful support from a study of "Dead Sea Scrolls," assigns the caves, in which the early Christians sought refuge and where they committed to writing their beliefs and teachings, to the valley near the Dead Sea.

"Cave" and "Inscription" represent two most prominent aspects of the Christian Faith, viz. that it began as a religion of renunciation and withdrawal from the world and has ended by becoming a religion of entire engrossment in worldly affairs, a religion of business and trade in a world of writings and inscriptions. See also "The Larger Edition of the Commentary," pp. 1486-1490. (close)

1668. The Arabic expression Daraba‘ala Udhnihi means, he prevented him from hearing. The Quranic expression means, 'We prevented them from hearing.' It also means, 'We made them sleep by preventing any sound from penetrating into their ears in consequence of which they would have awakened' (Lane). Literally, the verse means, 'We prevented any sound from penetrating into their ears,' i.e. for a number of years they remained wholly isolated from the affairs of the outside world and did not know what was happening there. (close)

1669. There seemed to be two parties among the early Christians: (a) Those who did not like to dissemble or dissimulate and knowing no compromise with unbelief and idolatry suffered persecution for their faith with patience and fortitude. These people had to seek refuge in caves. (b) Those who thinking prudence to be the better part of valour concealed their faith and saved themselves from persecution. "Two parties" may also refer to the persecutors and the persecuted. (close)

a. 8:3; 47:18. (close)

1670. The verse shows that many fantastic stories were current about the Dwellers of the Cave in the Holy Prophet’s time. The truth about them, however, is that they were young men of noble conduct who had staked their all for the sake of their Lord and that their faith had steadily grown under persecution. (close)

1671. Though their people were against them and mercilessly persecuted them, yet the Dwellers of the Cave could not be intimidated into giving up their religion. God had strengthened their hearts and had bestowed upon them firmness of faith. (close)

b. 21:25; 25:4. (close)

1672. The people to whom the Dwellers of the Cave belonged were idol-worshippers. Such were the Romans. (close)

a. 6:145; 7:38; 10:18; 11:19. (close)