Tafseer of The Cave · Al-Kahf · 18:10
[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."
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The explanation of the word of Allah, the Exalted: إِذْ أَوَى الْفِتْيَةُ إِلَى الْكَهْفِ فَقَالُوا رَبَّنَا آتِنَا مِنْ لَدُنْكَ رَحْمَةً وَهَيِّئْ لَنَا مِنْ أَمْرِنَا رَشَدًا (When the young men took refuge in the cave and said: Our Lord, grant us from Yourself a mercy and prepare for us in our affair the right way) (18:10).
Allah, exalted be His praise, says to His prophet Muḥammad ﷺ: أَمْ حَسِبْتَ أَنَّ أَصْحَابَ الْكَهْفِ وَالرَّقِيمِ كَانُوا مِنْ آيَاتِنَا عَجَبًا — at the time when the young men, the people of the cave, took refuge in the cave of the mountain, fleeing with their religion to Allah. They said, when they sought shelter therein: رَبَّنَا آتِنَا مِنْ لَدُنْكَ رَحْمَةً — out of longing for their Lord, that He would grant them from His side a mercy. And His word وَهَيِّئْ لَنَا مِنْ أَمْرِنَا رَشَدًا — that is to say: they said: Prepare for us ease in what we strive for and seek of Your good pleasure, and in the flight from disbelief (kufr) in You and from the idolatry to which our people invite us — رَشَدًا: that is to say: rightness in acting according to what pleases You.
The scholars differed concerning the reason why these young men reached the cave that Allah has mentioned in His Book. Some said: The reason for that was that they were Muslims upon the religion of ʿĪsā, and that they had a king who worshipped idols; he called them to idolatry, but they fled with their religion out of fear that he would seduce them away from their religion or kill them, and they hid from him in the cave.
An account of those who said this:
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: al-Ḥakam ibn Bashīr related to us, saying: ʿAmr related to us concerning His word أَصْحَابَ الْكَهْفِ وَالرَّقِيمِ: The young men were upon the religion of ʿĪsā, upon Islām, and their king was a disbeliever (kāfir). He had set up an idol for them, but they refused and said: رَبُّنَا رَبُّ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ لَنْ نَدْعُوَ مِنْ دُونِهِ إِلَٰهًا لَقَدْ قُلْنَا إِذًا شَطَطًا (Our Lord is the Lord of the heavens and the earth; we shall never invoke any god besides Him — truly, then we would utter an outrageous statement). He said: They withdrew themselves from their people in order to worship Allah. One of them said: My father owned a cave where he used to shelter his sheep — come, let us go into it. They went into it and at that time were reported missing and searched for. It was said: They have entered that cave. Their people said: We desire for them no graver punishment or torment than that we wall up the cave over them. They built over them and walled up the entrance. Thereafter Allah sent over them a king upon the religion of ʿĪsā, and He caused the structure that was walled up over them to fall away. They said to one another: كَمْ لَبِثْتُمْ? They said: لَبِثْنَا يَوْمًا أَوْ بَعْضَ يَوْمٍ — until it reached: فَابْعَثُوا أَحَدَكُمْ بِوَرِقِكُمْ هَذِهِ إِلَى الْمَدِينَةِ. The money of that time was large. They sent one of them to fetch their food and drink for them. When he wished to leave the cave, he saw at the entrance something that appeared strange to him. He wished to turn back but walked on until he entered the city. He recognized nothing of what he saw. Then he brought out a dirham. The people looked at it and did not recognize him, and they did not recognize the coin. They said: Where did you get this from? This is money of a time other than ours. They thronged around him and questioned him, and they stayed with him until they brought him to their king. The people possessed a tablet on which they recorded what happened. They looked at that tablet, and the king questioned him, and he told him his affair. They looked into the writing as to when he had gone missing. They rejoiced over him and his companions. It was said to him: Go with us and show us your companions. He went off and they went with him, so that he could show them to them. He entered the cave before the people and Allah caused them to fall asleep. Those who had command over the affair said: لَنَتَّخِذَنَّ عَلَيْهِمْ مَسْجِدًا (We shall surely take over them a place of worship).
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, who said: The affair of the people of the Gospel fell into disorder and sins grew great among them and the kings exceeded all bounds, until they worshipped idols and offered sacrifices to the idol-statues. But there were among them still remnants who held fast to the affair of ʿĪsā ibn Maryam, who remained loyal to the worship of Allah and His oneness. One of the kings who did this was a Byzantine king named Daqyānūs (Decius), who had worshipped idols, offered sacrifices to the idol-statues, and killed whoever opposed him from among those who remained upon the religion of ʿĪsā ibn Maryam. He went from village to village in the Byzantine land and left in no village that he came to anyone who professed the religion of ʿĪsā ibn Maryam without killing him, unless he worshipped the idols and offered sacrifices to the idol-statues — until Daqyānūs entered the city of the young men, the people of the cave. When Daqyānūs entered that city, this weighed heavily upon the believers and they hid from him and fled in all directions. Daqyānūs, upon his arrival, had ordered that the believers be tracked down and brought together before him. He had appointed police agents from among the disbelievers of the city, who began to search for the believers in the places where they hid themselves and brought them to Daqyānūs. He brought them before the assemblies where sacrifices were offered to the idol-statues and gave them the choice: death or the worship of the idols and sacrifices to the idol-statues. Some craved life and feared death, so that they fell into trial. Others refused to worship anything other than Allah and were killed. When the steadfast among the believers in Allah saw that, they began to surrender themselves to the torment and death; they were killed and their limbs were cut off and what was cut off was bound and hung on the walls of the city on all sides and at every gate, until the trial became great for the believers: some of them disbelieved and were left alone, others held fast to their religion and were killed.
When the young men, the people of the cave, saw that, they were intensely grieved, until their complexions changed and their bodies grew emaciated. They sought support in the prayer (ṣalāh), the fasting (ṣawm), charity, praise, glorification, declaring the oneness of Allah, magnification, weeping and supplication to Allah. They were young men in the bloom of their lives, free-born from among the sons of the notables of the Byzantines.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, who said: It has reached me that on some of them, because of their youthful age, the gleam of silver was visible. Ibn ʿAbbās said: Thus they remained, in the worship of Allah, their night and their day, weeping to Allah and imploring Him for help. They were eight persons: Makṣalmīnā, who was the eldest and the one who spoke to the king on their behalf; Muḥsaymīlanīnā; Yamlīkhā; Marṭūs; Kashwāṭūsh; Bayrūnus; Dīnaymūs; and Yaṭūnus Qālūs. When Daqyānūs resolved to gather the inhabitants of the city for the idolatry and the sacrificing to the idol-statues, they wept to Allah and implored Him and began to say: O Allah, Lord of the heavens and the earth, we shall never invoke any god besides You — لَقَدْ قُلْنَا إِذًا شَطَطًا — remove from Your believing servants this trial, ward off from them the torment, show mercy to Your servants who believe in You and who are prevented from worshipping You except in secret, so that they may worship You openly. While they were thus occupied, the district chiefs of the disbelievers, who were gathering the inhabitants of the city for the idolatry and the sacrificing to the idol-statues, recognized them. They reported their affair. They had withdrawn into a place of worship of theirs where they worshipped Allah and implored Him, and they expected that they would be denounced to Daqyānūs. Those disbelievers set out until they came upon them in their place of worship and found them prostrate upon their faces, supplicating, weeping and longing for Allah that He would save them from Daqyānūs and his trial. When those disbelievers from among their district chiefs saw them, they said to them: What has held you back from the command of the king? Go to him! Then they left them and reported their affair to Daqyānūs. They said: You are gathering the people to sacrifice to your gods, but here are young men of your household who mock you, who ridicule you, who transgress your command, abandon your gods and take refuge in a place of worship of theirs and of the followers of ʿĪsā ibn Maryam; they pray therein and supplicate to their god and the god of ʿĪsā and the followers of ʿĪsā. You let them do this while they are in the midst of your authority and your dominion — they are eight persons, their leader is Makṣalmīnā and they are sons of the great ones of the city. When they said this to Daqyānūs, he sent for them and they were brought from the place of worship where they were, with weeping eyes and faces in the dust. He said to them: What prevented you from being present at the sacrificing to our gods who are worshipped in the earth, and from making yourselves equal to the notables of your city and to those of our people who were present? Choose from me: either you sacrifice to our gods as the people have sacrificed, or I kill you! Makṣalmīnā said: We have a God whom we worship; His greatness has filled the heavens and the earth. We shall never invoke any god besides Him for all time, and we shall never agree to what you call us to. But we worship Allah, our Lord — to Him belong the praise, the magnification and the glorification from ourselves, sincere for all time; Him we worship, of Him we ask salvation and good. As for the idol-statues and their worship: with that we shall never agree, and we shall never be worshippers of the devils, nor make ourselves and our bodies their worshippers, after Allah has guided us to Him — out of fear of you or dread of your enslavement. Do with us what you will. Then the companions of Makṣalmīnā said to Daqyānūs the same as he had said. When they said that to him, he ordered that the clothing they wore of the clothing of their notables be removed from them. Then he said: Now that you have done what you have done, I shall exclude you from the circle of my realm, my confidants and the inhabitants of my land. I shall occupy myself with you and bring upon you the punishment that I have promised you. What restrains me from doing this immediately is that I see you as young men of youthful age. I do not wish to destroy you until I have given you a respite. I shall set you a term to reflect and consult your reason. Then he ordered that ornaments of gold and silver that they wore be removed from them. Then he ordered that they be sent away from him. Daqyānūs thereafter set out to another city next to their city, nearby, for some of his affairs.
When the young men saw that Daqyānūs had left their city, they hastened before his return and feared that he would remember them when he returned to their city. They took counsel among themselves that each of them would take a provision for the journey from his father's house, give away a portion of it as charity and take the rest along as provision. Then they would go to a cave near the city in a mountain called Banjalūs, and dwell therein and worship Allah, until, when Daqyānūs returned, they would go to him and stand before him, and he would do with them what he wished. When they decided this among themselves, each of the young men went and took a provision for the journey from his father's house, gave away a portion of it as charity and set off with the remainder of their provision. A dog of theirs followed them along, until they reached that cave in the mountain. They remained therein and had no other occupation than prayer (ṣalāh), fasting (ṣawm), glorification, magnification and praise, seeking the face of Allah, the Exalted, and the life that does not end. They entrusted their provision to one of the young men called Yamlīkhā. He was responsible for their food: he bought their sustenance for them from the city secretly from its inhabitants. That was because he was the most handsome and strongest of them. Yamlīkhā did this: when he entered the city, he laid aside his fine clothes and put on clothes like those of the poor who begged for food therein. Then he took his money and went to the city, bought food and drink for them, listened and spied out the news for them: whether he and his companions were being talked about in the public assemblies of the city. Then he returned to his companions with their food and drink and told them what he had heard of the news of the people. Thus they remained as long as they remained. Then the tyrant Daqyānūs returned to the city from which he had departed for his city — and that was the city of Afāmūs. He ordered the great ones of its inhabitants, so that they sacrificed to the idol-statues. The believers became fearful of that and hid in every hidden place. Yamlīkhā was in the city and bought food and drink for his companions for a portion of their provision. He returned to his companions weeping, with little food. He told them that the tyrant Daqyānūs had entered the city and that they had been talked about, missed and searched for — together with the great ones of the inhabitants of the city — to sacrifice to the idol-statues. When he told them that, they were intensely fearful and fell down, prostrate upon their faces, calling upon Allah, imploring Him and seeking protection with Him from the trial. Then Yamlīkhā said to them: O my brothers, raise your heads, eat of this food that I have brought you and trust in your Lord. They raised their heads, with tears streaming from their eyes out of fear and dread for themselves, and ate of it — this at sunset. Then they sat talking, studying and reminding one another, in their grief and concern over what their companion had brought them of news. While they were thus occupied, Allah caused them to fall asleep in the cave for a fixed number of years, while their dog spread out its legs at the entrance of the cave. There befell them what befell them while they were believers, full of certainty, affirming the Promise; their provision had been laid down beside them.
When the next day dawned, Daqyānūs missed them and searched for them but did not find them. He said to the great ones of the city: The affair of these young men who have gone away fills me with regret. They thought that I was angry with them over what they had done at the beginning of their affair, in ignorance of what they did not know of my affair. I would not act unjustly toward them and would not call any of them to account if they repented and worshipped my gods. If they had done that, I would have left them alone and not punished them for what had previously escaped them. The great ones of the city said to him: You have no reason to show pity for corrupt, rebellious and disobedient people who hold fast to their wrongdoing and disobedience. You had already set them a term and deferred them from the punishment that you had imposed on others. If they had wished, they would have returned within that term, but they showed no repentance, do not turn back and did not repent of what they had done. They had all that time squandered their money in the city. When they learned of your return, they fled and were not seen thereafter. If you wish them to be brought to you, then send to their fathers, put pressure on them and compel them: they will lead you to them, for they are hiding from you. When they said this to the tyrant Daqyānūs, he became intensely enraged. Then he sent for their fathers, who were brought. He questioned them about them and said: Tell me about your rebellious sons who exceeded my command and abandoned my gods — bring them to me and inform me of their whereabouts. Their fathers said to him: As for us, we have not transgressed your command and have not come into conflict with you. We have worshipped your gods and sacrificed to them. Do not kill us for the sake of rebellious people who have gone away after squandering and gambling away our monies in the markets of the city. They have climbed up to a mountain called Banjalūs, and there lies a far land between it and the city, in flight from you. When they said that, he let them go and began to deliberate what he would do with the young men. Allah, the Almighty, cast into his innermost being the thought to order that the cave be walled up over them — this as a favour from Allah; He wished to favour them and to favour the bodies of the young men, so that nothing circulated or strayed about with them. He wished to bring them back to life and make them a sign for a community that would inherit the rule after them, and so that it would become clear to them that the Hour is surely coming, without doubt, and that Allah raises up those who are in the graves. Daqyānūs ordered that the cave be walled up over them and said: Let these rebellious young men who have abandoned my gods die as they are in the cave, of thirst and hunger. Let their cave that they have chosen for themselves be their grave. The enemy of Allah did this while he thought that they were awake and knew what he was doing with them. But Allah had caused their souls to die with sleep, and their dog spreads out its legs at the entrance of the cave — Allah had caused it to undergo the same as them. They are turned over on their right side and their left side.
Then there were two believing men who were in the household of the king Daqyānūs and kept their faith (īmān) hidden: the name of one was Baydrūs and the name of the other was Rūnās. They took counsel that they would write down the affair of the young men, the people of the cave — their lineage, names, the names of their fathers and the story of their affair — on two plates of lead. Then they would fashion for that a chest of copper, lay the two plates therein, record this at the entrance of the cave in the middle of the structure, and seal the chest with their signet ring. They said: Perhaps Allah will cause believing people to appear before these young men before the Day of Judgement, so that whoever finds them and reads this writing knows their affair. They did this and built the structure over it. Daqyānūs and his contemporaries who were with him continued to exist as long as Allah willed that they should remain. Then Daqyānūs died and the generation that was with him, and many generations after that, and one generation followed upon another.
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Kathīr, on the authority of Mujāhid, who said: The people of the cave were sons of the notables of their city and its nobles. They went out and gathered together behind the city, without prior arrangement. A man of them — the eldest — said: I find in myself something that I do not think anyone else finds. They said: What do you find? He said: I find in myself that my Lord is the Lord of the heavens and the earth. They said: We find it too. They all stood up and said: رَبُّنَا رَبُّ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ لَنْ نَدْعُوَ مِنْ دُونِهِ إِلَٰهًا لَقَدْ قُلْنَا إِذًا شَطَطًا. They resolved to enter the cave. Over their city at that time there ruled a tyrant named Daqyānūs. They remained three hundred years and nine years sleeping in the cave.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Abī Rawwād, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUbayd ibn ʿUmayr, who said: The people of the cave were young kings with neck-collars and bracelets and braids in the hair, and they had a hunting dog with them. They went out for a great feast of theirs, in pomp and retinue, and they took along their gods whom they worshipped. Allah cast faith (īmān) into the hearts of the young men and they believed, and each of them hid his faith from his companion. They said within themselves, without the faith of the one having been shown to the other: Let us go away from the midst of this people lest the punishment for their crime strike us. A young man of them went away until he reached the shade of a tree and sat down in it. Then another went out and saw him sitting alone. He hoped that he held the same opinion as he, without that having been shown of him. He came to him and sat down beside him. Then the others came one by one and sat down beside them. They gathered together. Some said: What has brought you together? And others said: What has brought you together? And each hid his faith from his companion out of fear for himself. Then they said: Let two young men of you go out and be alone, so that they may swear to each other that neither of them will disclose the affair of the other, and then each communicate to the other his affair — for we hope to be of one affair. Two young men went out and swore to each other. Then they spoke and each communicated to the other his affair. They came back rejoicing to their companions, in agreement upon one affair. And behold, they were all believers. And behold, there was a cave in the mountain near them. Some said to others: Go to the cave — يَنشُرْ لَكُمْ رَبُّكُمْ مِنْ رَحْمَتِهِ وَيُهَيِّئْ لَكُمْ مِنْ أَمْرِكُمْ مِرفَقًا (Your Lord will spread out His mercy over you and prepare for you in your affair a relief). They entered the cave, with their hunting dog with them. They fell asleep, and Allah cast them into a single sleep. They slept three hundred years and nine years. He said: Their people missed them and searched for them and sent messengers, but Allah hid their tracks and their cave from them. When they could not reach them, they wrote their names and lineage on a tablet: So-and-so son of so-and-so, and so-and-so son of so-and-so, sons of our kings — we missed them on the feast of such-and-such, in the month of such-and-such, in the year such-and-such, during the reign of so-and-so son of so-and-so. They laid the tablet up in the treasury. That king died and an Islamic king with Muslims gained rule over them, and generation followed upon generation. They remained in their cave three hundred years and nine years.
Others said: No, their flight to the cave was a flight from the pursuit of a ruler who was pursuing them on account of an accusation of an offence that was alleged to have been committed by a companion of theirs.
An account of those who said this:
Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, saying: Ismāʿīl ibn Sharūs informed me that he heard Wahb ibn Munabbih say: A disciple of ʿĪsā ibn Maryam (ḥawārī) came to the city of the people of the cave and wished to enter it. He was told: At its gate stands an idol-statue; no one enters it without bowing down to it. He was averse to entering it and went to a bathhouse, and remained therein in the vicinity of that city. He worked in it and hired out his services to the owner of the bathhouse. The owner of the bathhouse saw blessing in his bathhouse and his sustenance increased. He began to offer him Islām and he opened himself to him, and young men of the city became attached to him. He began to inform them about the heaven and the earth and the hereafter, until they believed in him and affirmed him. They were equal to him in beauty of appearance. He had made it a condition with the owner of the bathhouse: The night belongs to me — place nothing between me and the prayer (ṣalāh) when it comes in. So it was until the son of the king arrived with a woman and entered the bathhouse. The disciple rebuked him and said: You are the son of the king, and you bring this insolent woman along? He was ashamed and went away. He returned a second time. He said to him the same. He cursed him, rejected him and paid him no heed until he entered and the woman entered with him. They both died in the bathhouse. People went to the king and told him: The owner of the bathhouse has killed your son. They searched for him, but they could not reach him because he had fled. They asked: Who was his company? The young men were named by name. They searched for them. They left the city and passed by a companion of theirs on his field — and he was upon the same (faith) as them. They mentioned that they were being searched for. The dog went with them, until the night brought them to the cave. They entered it and said: Let us stay here this night, then tomorrow — if Allah wills — we shall see what your judgement is. Allah caused them to fall asleep. The king set out with his companions and followed them until he found that they had entered the cave. Whenever anyone wished to enter the cave, he was filled with terror, so that no one was able to enter it. A spokesman said: If you had been able to reach them, would you have killed them? He said: Yes. He said: Then build up the entrance of the cave over them and let them die therein of thirst and hunger. That they did.
