The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 3) — Page 678
CH. 18 AL-KAHF companion: 'Bring us our morning meal. Surely, we have suffered much fatigue on account of this journey of '2103 ours. PT. 15 لَقَدْ لَقِيْنَا مِنْ سَفَرِنَا هُذَا نَصَبَّان قَالَ أَرَعَيْتَ إِذْ أَوَيْنَا إِلَى الصَّخْرَةِ He replied, “Didst thou see. 64 when we betook ourselves to فَإِنِّي نَسِيْتُ الْحُوْتَ وَمَا انْسِنِيْهُ إِلَّا the rock for rest, and I forgot the fish and none but Satan الشَّيْطَنُ اَنْ اَذْكُرَهُ ۚ وَاتَّخَذَ سَبِيْلَهُ caused me to forget to mention فِي الْبَحْرِ عَجَبًا it to thee it took its way into the sea in a marvellous manner?'2104 2103. Commentary: "Asking for breakfast" in a vision denotes "weariness" (Ta'tīrul-Anām) and the verse purports to say that at the "junction of the two seas" i. e. when the Holy Prophet comes, the followers of Moses and Jesus would not accept him. They would continue their journey alone and would refuse to admit that the span of life granted to their Dispensation had come to an end. Then after going on their separate way for a long time and being tired of vainly waiting for the Promised Prophet (Deut. 18:18) they would begin to wonder whether he had already come and they had failed to recognize him. In this verse Moses and his young companion (Jesus) stand for Jews and Christians respectively. 2104. Commentary: The pronouns in the expressions, "their fish" (v. 62), "they had gone further" (v. 63) and "we betook ourselves" obviously do not refer to Moses and Jesus because they did not live in the time of the Holy Prophet but to their respective peoples. rock) in the language of) صخرة dreams and visions denotes "a life of vice and sin. " So the expression, when we betook ourselves to the rock, means that when the two seas met i. e. when the Mosaic Dispensation came to an end and a new Prophet and a new Dispensation appeared, then Jews and Christians would be sunk in a life of sin and iniquity. 1886 The words, it took its way into the sea in a marvellous manner, signify that true piety and worship of God would take leave of these people and would become the special mark of another people (the followers of Islam) who would become heirs to Divine favours. The incident of the fish unmistakably points to the whole affair being a vision because when Moses and his young companion were pursuing their journey with the