The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 3) — Page 650
CH. 18 R. 4. AL-KAHF PT. 15 وَلَا تَقُولَنَّ لِشَيْءٍ اِنّى فَاعِلُ ذلِكَ And say not of anything I. 24 غداة am going to do it tomorrow,' 2064 disputed, doubted or questioned his right. means, he elicited the thing. means, the wind draws forth the clouds. means, he disputed or argued with him obstinately (Lane & Aqrab). ,means ظهر عليه Lob (plain) is derived from sbi. e. it was or became apparent, plain, manifest or obvious. A means, he got upon the top of the house; he knew, became acquainted with or got knowledge of him or it; he overcame or subdued; gained the mastery or victory or prevailed over him. They say i. e. such a one is a person whom no one can overcome overpower. (Lane & Aqrab). Commentary: dismiss all such discussion or This verse refers to a popular discussion about the number of the Dwellers of the Cave. The Quran regards all estimates about their number as futile surmises. The words, My Lord knows best their number, as fruitless waste of effort because only God knows what their real number was. The Arabic expression means, (a) none knows their number; the Arabic word being the equivalent of the English word 'few,' signifies 'none'; or (b) the expression means that a very few people have knowledge of the truth about them or are acquainted with their history. These fortunate few know that the Dwellers of the Cave were early Christians who in times of persecution under different Roman Emperors took refuge in the catacombs and that they were several thousands in number. Towards the end of the verse Muslims are admonished not to try to know the details about the Dwellers of the Cave as any effort in this direction will lead them nowhere, rather it is likely to make confusion worse confounded. 2064. Commentary: The verse refers to the time when Christian nations will have attained great power and predominance in the world. Muslims of that time of the present time—are warned that it would be then suicidal on their part to try to fight Christian nations with material means, because the military might and material means of the latter would be too much for any single people or a combination of peoples to fight them successfully. It is to this all- powerfulness of Christian nations of the west in the Latter Days that the well-known ḥadīthe no one will have the power to fight them successfully (Muslim, vol. 4, Chap. on Dajjal) refers. Muslims are warned that in the days of their powerlessness before Christian nations they should not indulge in idle boasts of adopting one scheme or the other against them, but should respond to the call of one whom God would raise to take them out of the slough of despond into 1858