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2.36

Day 41: Tafsir Part 36

SURAH KAHF AYAH 21

Description
This video discusses the 21st ayah of Surah Kahf.

Translation of the Ayah

And that is how we created the unexpected event in which they got discovered so that they (could be referring to the
townsfolk or the people of the cave) may know that Allahs promise is true (the promise is referring to the idea that
resurrection is possible and real). And that the hour there is absolutely no doubt whatsoever in it. While/As/When they
were arguing among themselves (the first part of them being found happened while they were debating and arguing.
They were simultaneous events; the argument could be among the people of the cave themselves or it could be
referring to the other people debating resurrection). Then (this is after the fact) they said (the people that found and
discovered the people of the cave) build a building over them, Allah knows them best (this could be from the people
themselves saying they dont know but Allah does so leave the matter alone, or it could be an interjection from Allah
swt). Those who dominated over their matter said (these are the people that won out in the end and the majority of
people still held the wrong view about resurrection) we will for sure absolutely take up right over them a place of
worship and sajdah.

Tafsir from Classical Texts

Ibn Ashoor

The word
ties this ayah directly to ayah 19

We caused them to be discovered. By who? By the people of the town. The people of
the town was not mentioned or specified in the ayah and was left open
o This can even apply to us discovering them so that we know the cause of Allah

is to cause something to be discovered

is to stumble or to fall upon something and discover it

also to stumble upon the secret or to find out the secret of a person
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a ditch or hole that is dug that a lion can walk over and fall into
o

If someone gets into major trouble or gets himself in a snare they say that he has fallen into a of
evil

The rider might slip and fall

A liar that accidentally told you the truth

it looked unplanned and spontaneous that they were discovered

Question: How come Allah used the word but didnt use words that gave other meanings like uncovered,

became obvious, or became clear?

has something unique to it. That when you come upon something and capture it after you had been
looking and seeking for it and eventually you found it after much struggle
The people of the city were on a vigorous and aggressive hunt for the young men of the cave. It had become a
big deal that they disappeared and their story was famous and remained famous after many generations.
o But eventually they were discovered and it was as if they had found them after a very long and after
generations had gone by and possibly given up looking for them. That is the sense that is captured in this
ayah.

There are many Israelite narrations about some of the details

The name of the man that was sent to town was mentioned
It was mentioned how he was discovered in town
It was mentioned that he had a coin or dirham from the time of the old king so the seller felt like this man had a
treasure and so he brought his case to the attention of the king, and the king had heard about these young men,
and therefore their cave was found
Qortubi says that the King at the time of their resurrection was Muslim but it was the people of the town that
disagreed about resurrection and were still in partial ignorance about that issue
Razi mentions that the king was not Muslim but that he had a reputation of being fair and just
Ibn Kathir mentions that the king was Muslim and that he visited the cave, hugged them, talked to them and
invited them back to the cave
o They said no they wouldnt leave and that they had fulfilled their purpose.
o So he bid them farewell and thats when Allah took their souls
o This narrative is very close to the Christian narrative

The pronoun here could refer to know the young men of the cave or the people of the city at that time so they
could know the promise of Allah is true

The camels were left to themselves

This is an hour or moment of solitude
It is also something that is instantaneous

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A she-camel whose young have been devoured by a beast the connection is that they were small and they
didnt get to live much and their time came quickly
The whole point of this word is something that happens spontaneously and happens very quickly

other word used in the Quran means that The Hour comes out of nowhere

The promise of Allah is true is actually about every promise of Allah is being true
o That Allah will protect His believers, that He will maintain guidance of the believers as long as they are
sincere
And then from this open broad every promise is true, to specifically that the hour is coming and has no doubt in

it

3 words for doubt

when you are unsure about 2 things and dont know which is correct; uncertainty
between 2 things

- to poke holes into someone elses argument and make them doubt it when they used to
be sure about it

when somebody is bothered by their doubts and disturbed by them; they lose sleep
over them, get depressed, get anxious

There are people who are bothered by the accounts of the Day of Judgment and that creates
this and doubt in them. But Allah says the scary nature of it should not lead you to doubt
because the doubt will be far more disturbing than if you had belief in it

Literally is to pull or yank out

It is used figuratively to talk about arguments and debate or discord between people
To leave something

he pulled towards his father, i.e. he looks more like his dad than his mom

Al Shawkaani says that the discovery of the people of the cave didnt happen at the time of the argument of what to
build on top of them, but that it happened before it.

He also adds another possibility. That group of people or nation remained in debate among themselves
generation after generation after the people of the cave disappeared
o So he says the argument is about the men of the cave but not about resurrection.

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And this is indicated by their story that was written at the door of the cave and some had written their
names on it
This is an interesting mix between Christian and Muslim account
The Christians say that the cave was discovered and when it was they were buried alive. And
when they were buried alive, the story continues that some Muslims felt bad about them and
they went there in a quiet hour and wrong the names of the people o fthe cave on the cave
entrance. But this suggests that
the cave is buried, so they cant get out
Peoiple know where the cave is
It is very well known where they died and their names are written there
All of these directly conflict with the Qurans account
Their cave was not discovered
They came out of the cave to get food
The sun was cutting through the people of the cave and the sun was inside so the door
must have been open and it wasnt buried

Imam Razi put a number of different meanings for this part of the ayah and what they were arguing about
1. Its been said that they were arguing about the authenticity of resurrection itself so the people who spoke on
behalf of resurrection used this incident as evidence for the resurrection
o Just live Allah would protect these people for 309 years, He may also bring us back after death
2. The king and his people when they saw the people of the cave and they went to the cave and figured out what
was going on, the people of the cave started arguing about whether the people of the cave died or just fell
asleep again. Thats the second argument it could be about
3. The disagreement is the door should be closed so nobody comes up on them and nobody finds what state they
are on. But then there were others that suggested a masjid should be built there and these were people that
knew Allah and knew what they were talking about (disagreed on this)
4. It is the disbelievers that discovered them said, these people are on our religion so we should build a monument
over them. But then the Muslims argued back and said no theyre Muslims we should build a mosque over them.
5. They argued about duration of their stay
6. They argued about their numbers and their names

They had insight and perhaps they asked for a building to be built because they expected people to come in the
future and do unrespectable things there and vandalizing the area so they wanted to cover it up to stop that
possibility

This is possibly part of the speech of the people that said build a building upon them. Yes, we had a lot
of arguments about what they were really like, but now they died and nothing will be resolved. Allah
knows about them so lets just let it go
Or it could be an interjection from Allah (swt) Himself and He is saying that the young men you just
discovered, their Master knows best about them and about all the quarrels youve had amongst
yourselves
o Allah knows better about them how they lived all this time how they survived without eating
and how their bodies didnt decay and remained alive so just leave it to Allah swt
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Mentioning the fact that they wanted to build a masjid must indicate that these people were Muslims
(problematic)
It wa s also said that these were the people that represent the government because they were obviously the
ones that had the power and the governments official verdict would hold
It seems that the believers were the ones who won because masjids are for believers (problematic)
The people who dominated in this argument were the governmental authorities. The pronoun in goes
back to the same people
They saw that building a masjid would be a way of honoring the people of the cave and would immortalize the
memory of this great event in the eyes of the people. It will bring value to the cave and thus making places of
worship over the graves of righteous people was actually a legacy of the Christians.
Al-Shinqeeti says Allah didnt clarify who won over the argument. He didnt clarify whether those who one the
argument and said build a masjid were Muslim or not.

There is an argument that building a masjid is something that Muslims do and not something disbelievers do
Al-Shinqeeti says, that someone might come along and say that building a masjid over the graves of people is
the act of cursed people as is evident on the tongue of the Prophet (pbuh) and isnt the act of Muslims.
o Hadith in Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim,

(:--
(;

The Prophet (pbuh) at the time of his death in his sickeness, may Allah curse the Jews and the Christians who
took the graves of their Prophets and turned them into masaajid.
o The Prophet warns about what they did and had that not been the case, then his grave (pbuh) would
have been made prominent because he was afraid that his grave would be turned into a masjid
And the reason for that (that these people are not Muslims) is that even the Prophets grave has
so much precaution around it because there is room for shirk around it and people might make
him a means to salvation. And this is basically what the worship of idols entails.
Surah Nuh mentions different Gods and the ayah warns about them. Ibn Abbas says that these
names were actually names ofgood people from nations and when they died, people sat at their
graves and as time passed they began to make pictures of them or statues and when long
enough time passed they started worshipping them

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