J. F. Campbell Collection > Koran: or, Alcoran of Mohammed

240. AL KOKA:?. chap, xvm,
city;" and Itc him see which of its inJuihitants hath the best and cheapest
Jood, and let him bring you provision from him ; and let him behave cir-
cumspectly, and not discover you to any one. Verily if they come up
against you, they will stone you, or force you to return to their religion ;
and then shall ye not prosper for ever. And so we made their people
acquainted with ivhat had happened to them; that they might know that
the promise of GoD is true, and that there is no doubt of the last hour ;*
when they disputed among themselves concerning their matter." And they
said. Erect a building over them : their Lord best kuoweth their condition.
Those who prevailed in their affair answered, We will surely build a chapel
over them.' Some say, The sleepers were three; and their dog was the
fourth:* and others say, They were five; and their dog was the sixth ;^
guessing at a secret matter : and others say, They were seven ; and their
dog was the eighth/ Say, My Lord best knovveth their number : none
shall know them, except a few. Wherefore disimte not concerning them,
except with a clear disputation,* according to what hath been revealed unto
thee: and ask not any oi the C%ri5^ta?i.v concerning them. Say not of any
matter, I will surely do this to-morrow; unless thou add, If God please.*
And remember thy Lord, when thou forgettest,^ and say My Lord is able
to direct me with ease, that I may draw near unto the truth of this matter
rightly. And they remained in their cave three hundred years, and nine
* Which some commentators suppose was Tarsus.
* The long sleep of these young men, and their waking after so many years,
being a representation of the state of those who die, and are afterwards raised to
life.
" i. e. Concerning the resurrection ; some saying that the souls only should be
raised, others, that they should be raised with the body ; or, concerning the sleep-
ers, after they were really dead ; one saying, that they were dead, and another,
that they were only asleep : or else concerning the erecting a building over them,
as it follows in the next words; some advising a dwelling-house to be built there,
and others a temple.*
* When the young man who was sent into the city went to pay for the provision
he had bought, his money was so old, being the coin of Dccianus, that they imagined
he had found a treasure, and carried him before the prince, who was a Christian,
and having heard his story, sent some with him to the cave, who saw and spoke
to the others: after which they fell asleep again and died : and the prince ordered
them to be buried in the same place, and built a chapel over them.
* This was the opinion of al Seyid, a Jacobite Christian of Najran.
y Which was the opinion of certain Christians, and particularly of a Nestoriaa
prelate.
* And this is the true opinion.*
* " Speak not of them but with knowledge, and relate not their history to th'd
unbelievers." — Savary.
» It is said, that when the Koreish, by the direction of the Jews, put the three
questions above mentioned to Mohammed, he bid them come to him the next day
and he would give them an answer, but added not, if it please God; for which reason
he had the mortification to wait above ten days, before any revelation was vouch-
safed him concerning those matters, so that the Koreish triumphed, and bitterly
reproached him as a liar: but at length Gabriel brought him directions what he
should say ; with this admonition, however, that he should not be so confident for
the future.*
" The Turks act strictly up to this maxim of their prophet. They never give a
positive answer. If they are asked. Will you come ? Will you go ? Shall you com-
plete this business ? they always end their reply with en cha Allah, If God please."
— Savary.
^ i. e. Give the glory to him, and ask pardon for thy omission, in case thou forge*
to say. If it please God.
* Al Beidawi, * Idem, Jallalo'ddin. « lidem.