The People of the Cave

The People of the Cave are young believers who, to flee persecution and preserve their faith, took refuge in a cave. God plunged them into a miraculous sleep of more than three centuries, then woke them — a radiant sign of His power and His protection of sincere believers.

In a city where false deities were worshipped, young people believed in God alone. To escape persecution and keep their faith intact, they withdrew to a cave, imploring God to guide them and prepare a way out for them.

God strengthened their hearts. They had proclaimed: 'Our Lord is the Lord of the heavens and the earth; we will never invoke any deity other than Him.'

In the cave, God made them sleep for years. One would have thought them awake, while they slept; God turned them now to the right, now to the left, and their dog watched at the entrance, paws extended. The sight was such that anyone who had discovered them would have fled in terror.

They remained thus for three hundred years, and nine more. Then God woke them. Thinking they had slept only a day, they realised, when one of them was sent to buy food, that the world had changed — a living proof for the people of their time that God protects His own and that He resurrects the dead.

The People of the Cave teach that preserving one's faith is worth every sacrifice, and that God never abandons those who take refuge in Him. Their sleep of three centuries is also a sign that resurrection, which seems impossible to people, is easy for God.

نَّحْنُ نَقُصُّ عَلَيْكَ نَبَأَهُم بِالْحَقِّ ۚ إِنَّهُمْ فِتْيَةٌ آمَنُوا بِرَبِّهِمْ وَزِدْنَاهُمْ هُدًى

Nous allons te raconter leur histoire en toute vérité. Ce sont des jeunes gens qui ont cru en leur Seigneur et dont Nous avons renforcé la foi.

18:13

وَرَبَطْنَا عَلَىٰ قُلُوبِهِمْ إِذْ قَامُوا فَقَالُوا رَبُّنَا رَبُّ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ لَن نَّدْعُوَ مِن دُونِهِ إِلَٰهًا

Nous avons raffermi leurs cœurs lorsqu’ils se sont levés pour proclamer : « Notre Maître est le Seigneur des cieux et de la terre. Jamais nous ne vénérerons d’autres divinités que Lui, sans quoi nous commettrions une grave injustice.

18:14