Ammar Alshukry – The Story of Ashab Al-Kahf the People of the Cave
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AI: Transcript ©
It's a pleasure to be here. All praise
is due to Allah who is magnificent in
his essence, perfect in his attribute, undeniable in
his presence.
All praise is due to Allah who has
the most magnificent names. A praise that is
forever for him. A praise that eternally remains.
May he send peace and blessings in their
most perfect fashion. May he send greetings and
salutations that are complete and everlasting upon the
best of his creation.
Muhammad
may he perfect his rank and elevate his
station for he taught us what we did
not know. And he gave and he gave
and he gave because he loved us so.
To proceed,
we are
tonight going to be embarking
on a beautiful journey going through
a surah that has 4 stories that have
captured our imaginations,
our entire lives, and has captured the imagination
of the ummah for 1400 years.
They are stories that are incredible in their
meaning, incredible in their depth,
incredible in their fantasy,
incredible in that they're real, incredible in their
prophecy
as Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us the
story
of and Allah
tells us the story
of the man with 2 gardens. And Allah
tells us the story of Musa and Al
Khidr. And Allah
tells us the story
of and And it's going to be high
level
because as you can imagine, it's going to
be very difficult to go over all of
that in a few short hours. But I
hope myself and sheikh Ummun
later will be able to articulate just some
of the beautiful gems
that are exhibited
in this amazing surah, surah that
the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam encouraged us to
recite
every single week. And the prophet
told us that whoever recites the first ten
verses
will be protected from a dajjal. The greatest
trial
that mankind will ever experience is the trial
of the antichrist who will come at the
end of times. But the entire surah is
a surah that talks to us about trials.
And so when a person
goes through
and experiences the lessons of this surah regularly,
then they recognize
the trial of persecution in your deen. Like,
the trial of money,
like the owner of the 2 gardens,
the trials that come with knowledge. Yes. Like
Musa, alayhis salaam, and al Khidr. And the
trials that come with power like Dhul Qurnayn.
And these are trials that we're exposed to
every single day. And when a person reflects
on this chapter,
they become better equipped to recognize the trials.
And so what I'll be doing
is I'll be covering
very brief in the next 50 minutes the
first two trials.
The trials of persecution
as manifested in the story of the people
of the cave. Now,
Allah
says, as I'm going to go here,
a quick
introduction. The prophet
was asked by some of the mushrikeen of
Makkah
who were prompted
by
a group from the children of Israel who
had knowledge of the book from before.
And they told the mushrikeen to ask the
prophet
a
number of questions.
Number 1, of a people who went into
a cave and their story is amazing, what
happened to them.
And he was asked to tell them about
the soul. Tell us about the reality of
the soul.
And so the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam,
as you have here this beautiful hadith,
if he is
unable to, then he's a soothsayer.
And the 2 men returned to the Quraysh
and said, and tell him about a man
who traverses the east and the west of
the world,
and to tell them about the soul. And
if he doesn't have this information, then he's
a soothsayer.
But if he does know this information, then
he's a prophet of god. And so Allah
revealed
The prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam told them, insha'Allah,
I will tell you tomorrow. And the prophet
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam did not say, insha'Allah. And
so it was a number of days before
it was revealed. And Allah says So the
verses begin, and I'm just going to kinda
just do a running translation of the verses.
But Allah says, do you think
that and Al Raqim what is Al Raqim?
Some of the scholars held that Al Raqim
was the name of the town that they
were from. Some held that Al Raqim was
actually the plaque that was placed outside of
their cave. Allah
knows best. But Allah says, do you think
that
and Al Raqim were our greatest of signs?
Do you think that they were our greatest
of signs? Meaning Allah
is immediately posing
that there are signs that are much greater
than this story.
In fact, the revelation itself that Muhammad salallahu
alaihi wa sallam is receiving is greater than
the story of these people.
But Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala continues and he
says
that when that group of people went to
the and they said,
And so they went to the cave and
they said, our lord,
give us from amongst you mercy.
And give us guidance.
Now there's a number of things here immediately
from the beginning.
Number 1, Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala calls them
a and
is the plural of and a is a
young person
is a young person.
Between the ages of 13
33,
people who are very, very young.
And Allah
praises them for being a who believed in
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
So number 1, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is
praising young people.
And I want you to appreciate that this
is a surah that was revealed during the
time of the prophet
in Makkah. And the people that were surrounding
him were young people. It was people like
Alib Nabi Talib who accepted Islam at the
age of 8 and Talib Nabi Allah who
accepted Islam at the age of 11 and
Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas who accepted Islam at
the age of 17. The prophet sallallahu alaihi
wasallam was surrounded by teenagers.
And he was surrounded by people in his
20 in their twenties. And in fact, he
was surrounded by some who believed who were
children.
And these people were being mocked
by Quraysh because the elders, the seniors of
Quraysh, were like the only ones who are
following you are youth.
They're not wise like us. They don't have
money like us. They're not knowledgeable like us.
And you're going to see this aspect play
out again and again and again in the
surahs of Surat Al Kahf. In fact, in
the story of the man of the 2
gardens we're going to get to. But the
idea of not being deluded
from the truth because of the weakness
or the perceived weakness of those who follow
the truth.
As we look now and we see how
it the the scene has played out here
in the United States with regards to our
brothers and sisters in Palestine. May Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala free them. I mean,
you saw that the elites
had an opportunity for 10 months and they
didn't take a stand.
And the people in the corporate world had
the opportunity to set a national conversation and
they didn't.
And it wasn't until the students
finally said,
we're going to take a stand and we're
going to create these entrapments and we are
going to force a national conversation
by forcing our universities or pushing for our
universities to divest.
And so the youth at times have the
ability
to mold themselves to the truth in a
way and a readiness to mold themselves to
the truth in a way that elders may
not have.
And they might have a willingness to sacrifice
for the truth that those who have danced
with the dunya do not no longer have
the interest in doing. And Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala is praising. Through this, he's also praising
the youth that were with rasulullah salallahu alayhi
wasallam, the companions.
And recognizing that youth is an incredible period
of time in a person's life when normally,
youth can be very easily distracted. You know,
if you look and you see who are
the people who know all of the latest
songs and who are the people who know
all of the latest Netflix shows and things
like that. It's not your elders. It's the
youth. They're the ones who are usually upkeeping
with regards to entertainment.
And so when a youth diverges
from
entertaining themselves and amusing themselves to death, and
they focus on bigger issues, like the worship
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala,
that is so beloved to Allah that Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala
told us that of the 7 who are
in the shade of Allah on the day
where there is no shade except for his
shade,
A young person
who submits to the worship of Allah, subhanahu
wa ta'ala,
with all of the distractions of youth. And
so Allah
says that they are a group who when
they went to the cave, they said,
They said, our lord, grant us mercy from
yourself.
And this is really beautiful because even as
they're going to the cave, they're not asking
mercy from the king. They're asking mercy from
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Their heart is never
attached to anyone other than Allah. They recognize
that their salvation and their their being saved
is not going to be at the hand
of a king or at the hand of
a judicial court or at the hand of
any international body, but that it is going
to come from Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. And
so they're asking it from Allah.
And Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says, And Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says, and then we struck
their ears causing them to enter into a
deep sleep. And so they entered into the
cave and Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala granted them
sleep. And then
Allah says,
And then we he doesn't say awaken them.
He says, then we resurrected them. And the
fact that Allah
uses the word
which is a word that is that means
resurrection,
is a subtlety, a beautiful subtlety in the
verse indicating that the parallel here that Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala is striking for the mushrikeen
who don't believe in the day of judgment.
They used to ask the prophet
and they used to say, are we going
to be brought back to life after we've
become bones that have been dried up and
broken? And Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is giving
them the example of
after they had slept for 309
years that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala resurrected them.
That is a sign not just for the
but also for the Jews who had sent
the the to come and ask that question.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says and then we
resurrect them.
So that we could find out which of
the 2 groups is more aware of how
long that they've been,
how long they slept.
And then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says something
incredibly beautiful and profound. He says,
Allah says we are relating their story to
you in truth.
You know what that framing is? That's a
very powerful framing.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in the Quran always
speaks with strength.
You don't get to come, oh mushrikeen,
or oh Jews, and come and quiz the
prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam. You know when you
quiz someone, you're in a position of strength.
I'm testing you to know if you have
the right answer or not. And I'm the
one who deems
whether your answer is correct. But Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala takes that away from them and
he says,
We are the ones who are telling you
the truth regards to their story. You're not
the one who gets quizzed, You Rasool Allah.
You are the one who tells them what
is the truth, and everyone else is coming
from a place of weakness.
The Quran always Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala speaks
with truth. I remember one brother, he accepted
Islam.
And when he accepted Islam, he said, I
had been reading the Quran.
And I read the first page, Surah Al
Fatihah, and it was very beautiful. And then
I rechecked the 2nd page, Surah Al Baqarah.
And within the first five verses, that second
page of Surah Al Baqarah, I realized that
this is the truth from God.
Why? Because Allah says,
This is the book about which there is
no doubt.
And he said people don't talk like that.
You know how people talk? Any book that
you read, a person will apologize.
The author will apologize at the beginning saying
I'm sorry. This is the best research that
I could afford to do with my resources.
And I hope that this
research will promote
further
further instruction or it will further,
will will inspire further research on this topic.
And maybe others will come after me and
be
or there'll be some sort of apology due
to the humility of the author recognizing that
there's going to be mistakes in their work.
Imam al Shabri says, every time I reviewed
my book I would find more mistakes. I
would find more mistakes. And then I finally
I realized
that
completion and perfection is for Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala. No no matter how much I review,
I'm never going to create a perfect book.
And so when Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala introduces
the Quran at the beginning and he says,
this is the book about which there is
no doubt.
No mistakes, no problems, no anything. He says,
I realize that this is coming from Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala. It's coming from God. And
so Allah says,
They are a fitya. A
fitya again, Allah mentions again their youth. They
were young people. They deserved to be praised
because they were a young people who engaged
on the bigger questions of life. Number 1,
why do we worship the idols that we
worship?
Why are we not worshiping Allah
Our people are upon misguidance by the fact
that they're worshiping
other than Allah
And then Allah says
They believed in Allah,
and we increase them in guidance.
And that indicates to us that when a
person takes steps towards guidance, Allah
increases them in guidance.
They were guided throughout their journey. Number 1,
they were guided in the fact that they
were a community of believers
outside of a non muslim or inside of
a non muslim community when there was no
prophet that was sent to them. There's no
indication that there was revelation that came down
to them. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala brought life
to their hearts in a community that was
lifeless when it came to iman. Allah simply
kindled
iman in their hearts. And then Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala guides them to the cave.
And Allah guides them to what will preserve
their religion. Every step that they take is
guided by Allah because of their
And then Allah
says
means to fasten, to tie down.
And so Allah says, we fasten their hearts.
Translation, I mean, that doesn't really mean
it's hard to translate to fasten your heart.
Generally, it's translated as strengthen the heart. But
that idea that Allah made
their hearts firm.
So Allah made their hearts firm. He gave
them strength.
And that happens in a number of places
in the Quran. And there are places of
difficulty. Allah
says that about the people of Badr before
the battle of Badr. Right at the beginning,
Allah
says, we cast upon you sleepiness. Before the
battle, you would think you'd be the most
anxious you've ever been in your life. It's
the first battle that's about to happen in
Islam. And yet Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says,
no, I strengthened your heart and I cast
it upon you sleepiness.
They were relaxed
before the battle of Badr so much that
they were dozing off.
But number 2,
Allah says
about the mother of Musa.
Allah
says
that when the mother of Musa cast her
baby in a basket in a river and
that baby this is incredible.
I have a quick question for you. I
just wanna make sure that everybody's still with
me. Who was
Musa's mother
placing
her baby in the basket to protect her
child from?
Where does the basket go straight to? The
house of who?
Isn't that incredible?
Like, if you're talking about the promise of
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, she's placing her baby
in a basket in a river to save
him from and
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala sends that basket directly
to the house of what is going to
happen to a mother's heart in that
moment? The knees will buckle.
The heart will break.
Allah
says, we she she was going to go
and expose
herself, the baby, the issue.
Allah says
if we did not fasten her heart
so that she could we we held down
her heart. We strengthened her heart.
That she be of the believers.
And I don't wanna go into the tangent
of the story of Musa, but the way
that Allah
protected Musa,
that was the greatest way to protect Musa.
That the wife of Musa falls in love
with this baby. And then all of a
sudden because she believed in the promise of
Allah, That Allah
made Musa not willing to suckle from any
breast of any woman other than his own
mother who was brought. And so now instead
of her
being
living in fear with Musa in her house,
always being protected or trying to protect him
from a wandering pharaoh's armies
and security apparatus and all of these types
of things. She's being brought as the nurse
of her own baby who is now being
raised in the in the royal palace of
Fir'aun
and protected by everyone
and all of the resources.
That's the promise of Allah. But Allah says,
we tied and fastened our heart. We strengthened
our heart. And so when a person's heart
is strengthened,
what does that mean? Well, number 1, it
means to believe in the promise of Allah.
That you believe in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's
promise. Like the mother of Musa, like Ashaab
Al Kahf, they believed in Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala's promise. And so now, you know, I
received
just a message
literally an hour before I got here with
someone sharing a video of everything that's happening
in Palestine.
And they said, you know, sometimes my heart
is just so overwhelmed and so broken that
all of this has been going on and
all we can do is is pray.
Yes. We pray and
sometimes that may be all a person can
do, but our hearts never waver from the
promise of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala says, and I'm gonna come back
to the beginning of Surah Al Qasas for
a
second.
Allah
says,
about
Oh, there's a second mic. I'm fine with
this. Okay. Sure. Whatever.
Bring it over.
Sorry about that. No problem.
Am I not being loud enough? Could you
guys not hear me this whole time?
Can you guys hear me in the back?
Okay.
The problem, Sheikh, is that I have small
ears.
Hold on. Can you hold us for a
second? Of course.
Like that? Can you guys hear me now?
Okay.
So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says,
when we do now Allah at the beginning
of Surah Al Qasas, he talks about
he talks about
and his armies and how he was of
the and
we want to bless
the people who were oppressed.
And we want to make them imams and
leaders.
And we want to make them those who
inherit the land.
And you think to yourself, I want you
to imagine you're going to one of the
children of Israel who's enslaved in Egypt.
And you say to them, no, no, no.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's promise is that is
going to
be replaced
and that you are going to inherit the
holy land and that you're going to leave
from this place that you've been in that
you've been enslaved in for generations.
Are they gonna see any of that? Are
they going to believe any of that?
And give them establishment in the land.
And we wanna show
and Haman and their soldiers
from the children of Israel what they were
avoiding.
And so when a person believes in the
promise of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, that no
matter how dark the night is, they see
the dawn.
They see that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's promise
is true and that Allah's promise is going
to pass and that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
is going to bring authority to those who
are oppressed and that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
is going to break
the
the the the institutions
of injustice
and that Allah
is going to replace them with that which
is better. And that Allah
is going to bring freedom to our brothers
and sisters who are currently,
so oppressed in Palestine and elsewhere. May Allah
allow it to be within our lifetimes so
that we can experience that happiness with them.
So that being said, Allah
the first meaning of is that a person
believes in the promise of Allah. The second
is that a person believes in the deen
of Allah.
That you believe in this deen.
That I am not shaken by whatever doubts
that are presented to me. I am not
shaken by any sort of polemics that people
present to me, that I believe in the
deen of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. A third
ruff is that not only do I believe
in it, a third meaning of this hand
this heart being fastened
is that I am actually able to commit
to the religion.
I'm actually able to worship Allah
There are many people who believe,
but their actions don't reflect their belief.
They're not able to stay away from the
haram. They're not able to do that which
is obligatory.
And staying away from the haram is important.
But doing what is obligatory is also very
important.
Last night, just today's Thursday. Okay. On Tuesday
night, I was sitting with a brother
who's talking to me about how he doesn't
pray. And this is a brother who's at
the masjid for years. And I was actually
surprised that he's telling me that I I'm
struggling with my deen. I'm not praying at
all.
Because he had
an idea that you need to pray in
the masjid for the salah to be accepted.
I was like, no. You can pray wherever
you are. But what I try to communicate
to him and to everybody because I see
a lot of people, they forget this notion,
is that a sin is not just that
a person does something that's haram. A sin
is also that a person does not do
something that's obligatory.
And of the greatest obligations
in fact, the greatest obligation
after
believing in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and the
testimony of faith is the establishment of the
prayer.
And so the fact that I pray my
5 daily prayers, that in and of itself
and everything else that comes after, that's part
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala making my heart
fast. That Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gives me
the ability
to actually practice the deen, not simply to
believe in it. And so Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala says,
Allah gave their heart that that that steadfastness
and that strength. And the 4th one, by
the way, that I didn't mention is that
part of
Allah giving your your heart steadfastness
is that you're able to give dawah to
this deen. You're able to argue on behalf
of this deen. You see that this is
what Ashab Al Kahf did. They communicated and
they debated with their king. They debated with
their community. Ibrahim alaihi salam debates with his
community. We all see our brothers and sisters
over the past year or even before that,
people who are able to actually stand on
platforms and to be able to engage with
ideas and defend Islam and defend the Muslims.
That is a high level of steadfastness that
is needed for a person and a high
level of guidance from Allah
that he guides your tongue and that he
guides your heart before that. And that is
part of what Musa made a dua for.
He says,
he
said, oh Allah, make my heart
make my heart or my my breast expanded,
and remove the constriction from my tongue
and make my affair easy and give me
the ability to express my thoughts in a
way that they'll be able to understand. Allah
then says, what did these young men say
when they got up and they stood in
front of their people? They said,
They said we're not going to call upon
a god other than Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
No messenger,
no revelation,
no books, but
Allah
guided
their hearts.
Allah guided their hearts and so they recognized
that only Allah is deserving of being worshiped
and that only that the worship of their
idols was something that should be rejected. They
said, They said, our people
our people
have taken gods other than Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala.
Our people. And so this phrasing from Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala
indicates to us that they did not see
themselves as being separate from society.
They said these are our people.
They didn't have this antagonistic relationship with their
society.
They didn't have a a completely
isolated experience from their society.
They recognized that this is our hope. This
is our people.
And so they wanted goodness for their people.
And they
engaged
their people. And that is a lesson for
all of us That we are in the
United States. This is our people.
And that I need to care about my
people.
I'm in Maryland. The people of Maryland are
my people.
If you're from Virginia, the people from Virginia
are your people.
I don't know if you guys have like
a really rough, like, relationship between Maryland and
Virginia, but I would imagine you do. Is
that correct?
Like the people from Maryland what do you
do you guys ever go to Virginia?
Yes. You do? And people from Virginia go
to Maryland?
Yes. Okay. So then, no. You don't have
a rough relationship then. You guys are are
pretty
You guys need each other. You guys are
family, masha'Allah.
But like in New York, for example, people
from New Jersey always go to New York,
and people from New York never go to
New Jersey.
So I was wondering if that's the same
relationship.
So they said our people.
If they do not come with a sultan,
if they don't come with some sort of
authority, meaning revelation.
From
an
who is worse
than those who lie about Allah? You know,
there's a beautiful verse where Allah
mentions an escalation of sin. If I were
to ask you, what is the greatest sin?
Sunday school 101 everybody would say, shirk. It
is to worship other than Allah. And yet
this is a very interesting verse. When you're
going home with your family, you can quiz
them on it and you can flex on
people who aren't here and you can test
them on this verse too. Allah says,
Say my lord has only forbidden.
Are sins that are born out of lust.
K? So shamelessness, indecency,
all of that is
fornication, adultery, that's So my lord has forbidden
and sin
and transgression against people without rights. So now
we're talking about
robbery. We're talking about about,
abuse. We're talking about murder. Right? All of
that where you are aggress
you are the aggressor against somebody else.
And that you commit shirk with Allah, so
now we're higher.
Sultana what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has not
brought down any revelation for. So you're committing
shirk associating partners with Allah, which is the
greatest sin and yet Allah
says still something beyond that.
And that you say about Allah but you
do not have knowledge.
And so that's really interesting.
We know shirk is the pinnacle. Why does
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala say after that that
you say about Allah what you have no
knowledge of? You have to appreciate this.
That for shirk to ever happen
anywhere in the world,
so whether it's the Greeks worshiping their gods
or whether it is Jesus Christ being taken
as the son of god or anybody claiming
divinity anywhere
or anyone claiming the existence of gods anywhere,
for that to happen,
someone
along the way had to have spoken about
Allah without knowledge.
Someone must have said,
if you worship these idols,
they will bring you closer to Allah.
That's what the mushrikeen said. They said, we're
worshiping these idols because they bring us closer
to Allah. Well, someone along the way must
have said that. And did he have knowledge
from Allah? Did Allah tell him that? Or
did he lie about Allah?
So the greatest of sins is that a
person in this verse talking about the escalation
of sin is that a person speaks about
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala without knowledge. And then
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says
This is a beautiful verse. Allah
says, and then the people of the cave,
these these young men, they separated
from their people. And they said, go to
the cave.
Your lord
will spread out for you from his mercy.
Who goes to a cave
thinking that that is going to be a
place of mercy
other than someone who's just really, really optimistic?
You're going to a cave.
You're going to a place that's dark.
You're going to a place that's secluded.
You're going to a place that has 0
amenities, and yet,
you are expecting to find the mercy of
Allah in the darkest of places.
You are expecting
to experience the mercy of Allah even when
you are in the cave of your own
story, even as you're going through the darkness
of your own story, that you still are
optimistic
in the mercy of Allah. In fact, they
are spreading this word
is to spread. They're expecting the mercy of
Allah to envelop them there.
That is how no. It it it has
nothing to do with what they think of
the cave. It has everything to do with
what they think of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And so as I'm going through
the the the difficulty
of poverty,
I know that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is
a and so I am expecting
to be enriched by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
because that is what I believe about Allah.
As I'm going through the difficulty of illness,
I know that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is
a and so I am looking forward to
the incredibleness of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's
ability
to heal me as I go. There's there
is no ailment there is no ailment
that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala cannot heal.
And so it doesn't matter how dark it
is, how difficult it is.
Allah
will create for you from himself that mercy.
And that Allah
will prepare for you in this affair of
yours, Mirfaq,
ease. The Mirfaq in Arabic is is what
joint? What joint is it? It's your your
elbow here. Your elbow is your Mirfaq. And
so why is that word being used? You
know,
the elbow here is is a communicator.
It's it's being communicated at ease. Imagine if
your arm was stiff, if you didn't have
an elbow. How difficult would it be for
you to do things? And yet this existence
of this elbow makes your life so easy
and so this word
is ease. That facilitation that Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala will provide for you. And then Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala says,
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala then says, and then
look,
the cave
if you were to see how the sun
would go
past their cave
from
the right to the left. And Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala says and you can go deeper
into this and the mufasreen, you know, have
beautiful gems on this. But just in brief,
that the cave
you know, the scholars even debated where the
cave is, you know, and I'm sure every
country that wants tourism, they claim that the
cave is there, and so people go there.
But there's nothing to indicate that the cave
we don't know where the cave is. So
if you have
a photo album
on your phone from when you went to
the cave of the 7 sleepers, then, you
know, I hate to break it to you.
But there's nothing to indicate to us that
there is that we know where the cave
is. And by the way, it's an important
concept here is that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
in the Quran doesn't detail
a lot of places,
a lot of,
you know,
specific
details like the place and the time and
who the king was and a lot the
characters. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala doesn't mention that
because it's not about them. It's about the
lessons that you receive. The Quran is in
a book of history. The Quran is in
a book of science. The Quran is a
book of guidance.
And so whether or not you know where
the cave is, you learn the benefit of
the story all the same. And so Allah
says that the sun rises past their cave.
And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala doesn't say that
the sun rises over their bodies, but Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala says it rises past their
cave to indicate to us that the sunlight
is coming into the cave, the air is
coming into the cave. And the scholars ask,
obviously they say if the sun hit their
their bodies
then it would affect their bodies in certain
different ways.
And that brings up the discussion about whether
their bodies were preserved
miraculously
or why is Allah
saying that he turns them from the right
to the left. Allah turns them from the
right to the left. Allah turns them to
the right to the left. Some said some
of the mufasirid said interestingly that that's part
of the preservation.
That Allah
is preserving their bodies. If you're sleeping on
one side for 300 years, it might mess
up your spine.
But Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is turning them
back and forth. But other scholars said, no.
Hold on a second. That that's not the
case at all because Allah doesn't say that
he turns the dog over left and right.
And the dog was preserved just as they
were preserved. And so
Allah is not turning them over to preserve
their bodies, but Allah
is turning them over. And this is a
beautiful meaning also that Allah
is turning them over to indicate
his constant
care and looking after them.
That even as Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is
preserving their bodies, but he doesn't just leave
them be in their state for 309 years.
They are
regularly being tended to. They are regularly being,
watched over. And so Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
says Allah
subhanahu
wa ta'ala mentions their dog.
And this the scholars mention a beautiful gem
about this. And they say
that
a dog
was immortalized
in the Quran
because of the company that he kept.
Who are your friends?
Don't answer that.
But just think about it. Who are your
friends?
The company that you keep
the Quran is revealed. That's it.
But the company you keep can be your
Jannah and it can be your hellfire.
The prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam says, a
person is upon the deen of their friend
on the religion of their friend. Their intimate
friend. So let them pay attention, very close
attention,
to who they keep as their intimate friends.
This dog
is in the Quran
because
of the company that the dog kept.
And I didn't realize that it's 7:20 already,
so let me hurry up. So
I'll just do a quick overview here of
the rest. He says and then Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala says
Allah subhanahu Oh, sorry. I skipped a lot
right there. So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
says,
you think that they were asleep while they
were awake.
And then
hold on.
And then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentions that
he resurrected them. Allah says,
and then we
what's the word mean? It means to resurrect.
So again, that theme of resurrection happens again.
And then Allah
says that they asked between them. One of
them said, how long have you been asleep
for? One of them said,
maybe we're asleep for a day or or
or half of a day.
Okay? And then they said,
Allah knows best how long you've been asleep.
And this is a beautiful etiquette
that the scholars mentioned from this verse.
Some people will sit and debate with you
about nonsense for hours.
Do you have any factual information? No. Do
I have any factual information? No. But our
group chat is gonna be lit for the
next 6 hours
debating this issue.
And Allah
shows us here. How long were you asleep?
A day, half a day. Allah knows best.
Now let's move on to something that's more
practical. Let's go look for some food.
Their mentality is incredible.
Their maturity is incredible. Remember they're young people.
And then they said,
let one of you go with this currency
that you have
and let them go back into the city
and
go and find the best of food
and let them be
gentle. Let them be subtle. Something interesting the
scholars mentioned
is that this word,
is right in the middle of the Quran.
Some who have counted the words of the
Quran,
when they placed which word where am I
looking for this word right here?
This word right here is the exact middle
of the Quran which is beautiful because
it is speaking about
being gentle.
And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is
He is the subtle and He is the
gentle.
And let them
not
let nobody
notice you. Let nobody see us you. Why?
Because if your community finds out about you,
they will stone you or they will force
you back into their religion and you're never
going to be successful. Now
one important concept here
that we see amongst the people of the
cave
is their lack of seeking conflict with their
community.
Even though they're young and young people are
prone to want action, yes,
they go to the cave.
And the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam taught us
this. You know, I I was at an
encampment
at the beginning of the year and some
young people were at the encampment. They
were they were really trying to rile up
the police officers.
And while they were trying to do that,
at the end, the police officers just came
and they they broke down the encampment but
they didn't arrest anybody.
And so one of the brothers who was
organizing it, he told me personally later. He
said, man, I'm really disappointed.
I said, disappointed in what? He said, you
know, nothing happened.
They kinda just
broke the encampment, but they, you know
and I said to him, why would you
seek out conflict with cops?
Why would you seek that out?
He says,
he says, do not seek
do not seek to meet an enemy on
a battlefield.
And ask Allah to preserve you and protect
you. But if it does happen, then be
steadfast.
If I'm protesting,
I'm engaging,
I am following the law, but yet somebody
comes and harasses me or I get arrested
or what have you, then then then be
steadfast.
Be brave. Be courageous.
But I don't go seeking escalation. I don't
go seeking conflict.
And these people, Ashab Al Taaf, were not
going seeking conflict with their people. They weren't
trying to engage the security apparatus of their
people. They weren't trying to go and and
and Allah
showcases
their maturity. He
says, And guess what? If they overwhelm us,
they were a minority who recognized that they
were a minority. And they said, if they
overwhelm us, they were they're going to force
us back into their religion or they're gonna
kill us. And if they force us back
into their religion,
they did not have the license that the
Muslim community has, the of Muhammad salallahu alayhi
wa sallam, where a person is able to
say kufr
if their life is being threatened. The people
before us, the ummas before us, they did
not have that luxury. They did not have
that gift from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says,
You're never gonna succeed that way
if you return back to kufr because you're
tortured or because you're being persecuted. In any
case, when the guy goes to the marketplace
and he's got his super old currency from
300 years ago, people say, hey. Where are
you from?
And he says, what do you mean? I'm
from here. I was just gone for a
day and a half. And they say, no.
And then
becomes this big deal and they realize that
this currency is from the nation of such
and such that existed in this particular time
period 309
years ago. It becomes a big deal. He
gets summoned to the king. And guess what?
They find out that that people who they
had fled had
because of their persecution,
they had fled from in a cave, they
now had all become believers.
And so, Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala he says,
We
made them
discovered
so that they could come to know that
the promise of Allah is true. Who would
come to know that the promise of Allah
is true? That those 7 people
or those sleepers who fell asleep in the
cave, they would come to know that Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala's promise is true.
Allah promised
that the believers would be successful.
You may not live to see it in
your lifetime.
They had to sleep for 309 years to
see it. But the promise of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala is surely going to come to
pass and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala wanted them
to witness
the fulfillment of that promise. He wanted to
give them that gift. And then after that,
they themselves would pass away. And Allah knows
best they passed away shortly after. After everybody
came and saw them, they passed away. And
Allah knows best as to why
they would pass away. But I have a
personal theory, so just take this with a
grain of salt. It's not something But just
that, if you've ever seen people who have
been in prison for a very long time
and then they come out,
you see how difficult they have adjusting back
into
and so you can imagine a person everybody
thinks time travel would be amazing if I
go into the future a 1000 years.
I don't know if it will be.
I don't know if you'll be able to
hang with the advancement of technology and how
everything's changed in society. I don't know if
you'd be comfortable.
And Allah knows best. Maybe that was from
his mercy.
Maybe because of the difficulty. Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala knows best of the difficulty of that
experience of them having fast forwarded time 309
years that they be then asked to live
a normal life in that future society. And
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala knows best. So
Allah
says, and then Allah mentions the numbers.
And Allah says
At the end of the day, only Allah
is