The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 3) — Page 637
PT. 15 AL-KAHF 4. According to Abū Ḥayyān there is a cave in Spain which is supposed to contain the dead bodies of the Dwellers of the Cave and also of their dog. Ibn Abi ‘Attiyyah also claims to have seen the cave where according to him the corpses of have remained for four or five hundred years. He writes that there are to be found near Granada the ruins of a town which is called the town of Decius. It contains very weird tombs built of stones (Muḥīt, vol. 6, p. 102). 5. Identical accounts have been given by Ibn Kathir and by 'Abdur Razzaq and Ibn Ḥātim in Durr-e- Manthur (vol. 4, p. 224). Some commentators of the Quran have gone so far as to give even the names of the Dwellers of the Cave. For instance, Ibn Kathīr (vol. 6, p. 131) has, on the authority of Ibn 'Abbas, given the names of these people and their number. 6. 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, 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 should be seven firmly secured with a pile of huge stones. They immediately fell into a deep slumber, which was miraculously prolonged, without injuring the powers of life, during a period of one hundred and eighty- CH. 18 seven years. At the end of that time, the slaves of Adolius, to whom the inheritance of the mountain had descended, removed the stones, to supply materials for some rustic edifice; the light of the sun darted into the cavern, and the seven sleepers were permitted to awake. After a slumber, as they thought, of a few hours, they were pressed by the calls of hunger and resolved that Iamblichus, one of their members, should secretly return to the city to purchase bread for the use of his companions. The youth could no longer recognize the once familiar aspect of his native country; and his surprise was increased by the appearance of a large cross, triumphantly erected over the principal gate of Ephesus. His singular dress and obsolete language confounded the baker to whom he offered an ancient medal of Decius as the current coin of the empire; and Iamblichus, on the suspicion of a secret treasure, was dragged before the judge. Their mutual inquiries produced the amazing discovery that almost two centuries had elapsed since Iamblichus and his friends had escaped from the rage of a pagan tyrant. The bishop of Ephesus, the clergy, the magistrates, the people, and, it is said, the Emperor Theodosius himself, hastened to visit the cavern of the Seven Sleepers, who 1845 bestowed their benediction, related their story, and at the same instant peaceably expired" (chapter 33). The story of the Dwellers of the Cave may also be taken to apply to Joseph of Arimathea and his companions. According to William of Malmesbury, Joseph was sent to