[a] The chapter is thus inscribed because it makes mention of the cave wherein the seven sleepers concealed themselves.

[b] Some except one verse, which begins thus, Behave thyself with constancy, &c.

[c] The companions of the cave;] These were certain Christian youths, of a good family in Ephesus, who, to avoid the persecution of the emperor Decius, by the Arab writers called Decianus, hid themselves in a cave, where they slept for a great number of years ^[1] .
This apocryphal story (for Baronius ^[2] treats it as no better, and Father Marracci ^[3] acknowledges it to be partly false, or at least doubtful, tho’ he calls Hottinger a monster of impiety, and the off-scum of heretics, for terming it a fable ^[4] ,) was borrowed by Mohammed from the Christian traditions ^[5] , but has been embellished by him and his followers with several additional circumstances ^[6] .

[1] Al Beidawi, Jallalo’ddin, &c.

[2] In Martyrol. ad 27 Julii.

[3] In Alcor. p. 425. & in Prodr. part. 4, p. 103.

[4] Hotting. Hist. Orient. p. 40.

[5] V. Greg. Turon. & Simeon. Metaphrast.

[6] V. D’Herbelot, Bibl. Orient. p. 189

[d] Al Rakim;] What is meant by this word the commentators cannot agree. Some will have it to be the name of the mountain, or the valley, wherein the cave was; some say it was the name of their dog; and others (who seem to come nearest the true signification) that it was a brass plate, or stone table, placed near the mouth of the cave, on which the names of the young men were written.
There are some, however, who take the companions of al Rakîm to be different from the seven sleepers; for they say the former were three men who were driven by ill weather into a cave for shelter, and were shut in there by the falling down of a vast stone, which stopped the cave’s mouth; but on their begging God’s mercy, and their relating each of them a meritorious action which they hoped might entitle them to it, were miraculously delivered by the rock’s rending in sunder to give them passage ^[1] .

[1] Al Beidawi, ex trad. Noomân Ebn Bashir.

[a] The two parties;] viz. Of the sleepers themselves, or others, who were divided in opinion as to the length of their stay in the cave.

[b] Except God;] For they, like other idolaters, worshipped the true God and idols also ^[2] .

[2] Idem.

[c] The sun declined from their cave, &c.] Lest it should be offensive to them, the cave opening towards the south ^[3] .

[3] Idem.

[d] In the spacious part of the cave;] i.e. In the midst of it, where they were incommoded neither by the heat of the sun nor the closeness of the cave ^[4] .

[4] Idem.

[e] Thou wouldest have judged them to have been awake;] Because of their having their eyes open, or their frequent turning themselves from one side to the other ^[5] .

[5] Idem.

[f] And they turned themselves, &c.] Lest their lying so long on the ground should consume their flesh ^[6] .

[6] Idem, Jallalo’ddin.

[g] Their dog;] This dog had followed them as they passed by him when they fled to the cave, and they drove him away; whereupon God caused him to speak, and he said, I love those who are dear unto God; go to sleep therefore, and I will guard you. But some say, it was a dog belonging to a shepherd who followed them, and that the dog followed the shepherd; which opinion is supported by reading, as some do, câlebohom, their dog’s master, instead of calbohom, their dog ^[7] . Jallalo’ddin adds, that the dog behaved as his masters did, in turning himself, in sleeping, and in waking.
The Mohammedans have a great respect for this dog, and allow him a place in paradise with some other favourite brutes; and they have a sort of proverb which they use in speaking of a covetous person, that he would not throw a bone to the dog of the seven sleepers: nay, it is said that they have the superstition to write his name, which they suppose to be Katmîr (tho’ some, as is observed above, think he was called al Rakîm) on their letters which go far, or which pass the sea, as a protection, or kind of talisman, to preserve them from miscarriage ^[1] .

[7] Idem.

[1] La Roque, Voy. de l’Arabie Heur. p. 74. V. D’Herbel. ubi sup.

[a] Thou wouldest have been filled with fear at the sight of them;] For that God had given them terrible countenances; or else because of the largeness of their bodies, or the horror of the place.
It is related that the Khalif Moâwiyah, in an expedition he made against Natolia, passed by the cave of the seven sleepers, and would needs send somebody into it, notwithstanding Ebn Abbâs remonstrated to him the danger of it, saying, That a better man than him (meaning the prophet) had been forbidden to enter it, and repeated this verse; but the men the Khaliff sent in had no sooner entered the cave, than they were struck dead by a burning wind ^[2] .

[2] Al Beidawi.

[b] Your Lord best knoweth the time ye have tarried;] As they entered the cave in the morning, and waked about noon, they at first imagined they had slept half a day, or a day and a half at most; but when they found their nails and hair grown very long, they used these words ^[3] .

[3] Idem.

[c] Into the city;] Which some commentators suppose was Tarsus.

[d] That there is no doubt of the last hour;] 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.

[e] Concerning their matter;] 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 sleepers, after they were really dead; one saying, that they were dead, and another, 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 ^[4] .

[4] Idem.

[f] Those who prevailed in their said, We wil build a chappel over them;] 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 Decianus, 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 chappel over them.

[g] Some say, The were three, &c.] This was the opinion of al Seyid, a Jacobite Christian of Najrân.

[a] Others say they were five, &c.] Which was the opinion of certain Christians, and particularly of a Nestorian prelate.

[b] Others say, They were seven, &c.] And this is the true opinion ^[1] .

[1] Idem, Jallalo’ddin.

[c] Say not of any matter, I will surely do this tomorrow; unless thou add, If God please;] 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 vouchsafed 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 ^[2] .

[2] Al Beidawi.

[d] Remember thy Lord, &c.] i.e. Give the glory to him, and ask pardon for thy omission, in case thou forget to say, If it please God.

[e] Three hundred and nine years;] Jallalo’ddin supposes the whole space was three hundred solar years, and that the odd nine are added to reduce them to lunar years.
Some think these words are introduced as spoken by the Christians, who differed among themselves about the time; one saying it was three hundred years, and another, three hundred and nine years ^[3] . The interval between the reign of Decius, and that of Theodosius the younger, in whose time the sleepers are said to have awaked, will not allow them to have slept quite two hundred years; tho’ Mohammed is somewhat excusable, since the number assigned by Simeon Metaphrastes ^[4] is three hundred and seventy-two years.

[3] Idem.

[4] Ubi sup.

[f] Do thou make him to see and to hear;] This is an ironical expression, intimating the folly and madness of man’s presuming to instruct God ^[5] .

[5] Al Beidawi, Jallalo’ddin.

[g] Read that which hath been revealed unto thee, without making to make any change therein;] As the unbelievers would persuade thee to do ^[6] .

[6] Idem.

[h] Let not thine eyes be turned away from them, &c.] That is, Despise not the poor believers because of their meanness, nor honour the rich because of their wealth and grandeur.

[i] Whose heart we have caused to neglect the remembrance of us;] The person more particularly intended here, it is said, was Ommeya Ebn Khalf, who desired Mohammed to discard his indigent companions, out of respect to the Koreish. See chap. 6 p. 103.

[a] Gardens of eternal abode;] Literally of Eden. See chap. 9. p. 158.

[b] Two men;] Tho’ these seem to be general characters only, designed to represent the different end of the wicked, and of the good; yet it is supposed, by some, that two particular persons are here meant. One says they were two Israelites and brothers, who had a considerable sum left them by their father, which they divided between them; and that one of them, being an unbeliever, bought large fields and possessions with his portion, while the other, who was a true believer, disposed of his to pious uses; but that in the end, the former was ruined, and the latter prospered. Another thinks they were two men of the tribe of Makhzûm: the one named al Aswad Ebn Abd’al Ashadd, an infidel; and the other Abu Salma Ebn Abd’allah, the husband of Omm Salma (whom the prophet married after his death,) and a true believer ^[1] .

[1] Al Beidawi.

[c] And he went into his garden;] Carrying his companion with him, out of ostentation, and to mortify him with the view of his large possessions ^[2] .

[2] Idem.

[d] I shall find a better garden in exchange;] Vainly imagining that his prosperity was not so much the free gift of God, as due to his merit ^[3] .

[3] Idem.

[a] The mountains to pass away;] For being torn up by the roots, they shall fly in the air, and be reduced to atoms ^[1] .

[1] Idem. See Prelim. Disc. §. p. 82.

[b] See chap. 2. p. 4, and ch. 7. p. 117, &c.

[c] Who was one of the genii;] Hence some imagine the genii are a species of angels: others suppose the devil to have been originally a genius, which was the occasion of his rebellion, and call him the father of the genii, whom he begat after his fall ^[2] ; it being a constant opinion among the Mohammedans, that the angels are impeccable, and do not propagate their species ^[3] .

[2] Jallalo’ddin, &c.

[3] See the Prelim. Disc. §. IV. p. 71, &c.

[d] A valley of destruction between them;] i.e. Between the idolaters and their false gods. Some suppose the meaning is no more than that God will set them at variance and division.

[a] A threat hath been denounced against them;] viz. Of their calamity at Bedr (for the Koreish are the infidels here intended), or their punishment at the resurrection ^[1] .

[1] Al Beidawi.

[b] Those former cities;] That is, the towns of the Adites, Thamûdites, Sodomites, &c.

[c] For a long space of time;] The original word properly signifies the space of eighty years and upwards. To explain this long passage the commentators tell the following story: They say that Moses once preaching to the people, they admired his knowledge and eloquence so much, that they asked him whether he knew any man in the world who was wiser than himself; to which he answered in the negative: whereupon God, in a revelation, having reprehended him for his vanity (tho’ some pretend that Moses asked God the question of his own accord), acquainted him that his servant al Khedr was more knowing than he; and, at Moses’s request told him he might find that person at a certain rock, where the two seas met; directing him to take a fish with him in a basket, and that where he missed the fish, that was the place. Accordingly Moses set out, with his servant Joshua, in search of al Khedr; which expedition is here described ^[2] .

[2] Idem, Al Zamakhshari, Al Bokhari, in Sonna, &c.

[d] The meeting of the two seas;] viz. Those of Persia and Greece. Some fancy that the meeting of Moses and al Khedr is here intended, as of the two seas of knowledge ^[3] .

[3] Idem.

[e] They forgot their fish, &c.] Moses forgot to inquire concerning it, and Joshua forgot to tell him when he missed it. It is said that when they came to the rock, Moses falling asleep, the fish, which was roasted, leaped out of the basket into the sea; some add, that Joshua making the ablution at the fountain of life (of which immediately), some of the water happened to be sprinkled on the fish, which immediately restored it to life ^[4] .

[4] Idem.

[f] The fish took its way freely in the sea;] The word here translated freely, signifying also a pipe or arched canal for conveyance of water, some have imagined that the water of the sea was miraculously kept from touching the body of the fish, which passed through it as under an arch ^[5] .

[5] Idem.

[a] One of our servants;] This person, according to the general opinion, was the prophet al Khedr; whom the Mohammedans usually confound with Phineas, Elias, and St. George, saying that his soul passed by a metempsychosis successively through all three. Some, however, say his true name was Balya Ebn Malcân, and that he lived in the time of Afridûn, one of the ancient kings of Persia, and that he preceded Dhu’lkarnein, and lived to the time of Moses. They suppose al Khedr, having found out the fountain of life and drunk thereof, became immortal; and that he had therefore this name from his flourishing and continual youth ^[1] .
Part of these fictions they took from the Jews, some of whom also fancy Phineas was Elias ^[2] .

[1] Idem. V. D’Herbelot, Bibl. Orient. Art. Khedher, Septemcastrens. de Turcar. moribus, Busbeq. Epist. I, p. 93, &c. Hotting. Hist. Orient. p. 58, &c., 99, &c., 292, &c.

[2] R. Levi Ben Gerson in append. l. I, Reg. I, 27.

[b] He made a hole in the ship;] For al Khedr took an axe, and knocked out two of her planks ^[3] .

[3] Al Beidawi.

[c] He slew him] By twisting his neck round, or dashing his head against a wall, or else by throwing him down and cutting his throat ^[4] .

[4] Idem.

[d] A certain city;] This city was Antioch; or, as some rather think, Obollah, near Basra, or else Bâjirwân in Armenia ^[5] .

[5] Idem.

[e] He set it upright;] By only stroking it with his hand; tho’ others say he threw it down and rebuilt it ^[6] .

[6] Idem.

[a] Certain poor men;] They were ten brothers, five of whom were past their labour by reason of their age ^[1] .

[1] Idem.

[b] A king;] Named Jaland Ebn Karkar, or Minwâr Ebn Jaland al Azdi ^[2] .

[2] Idem.

[c] That their Lord might give them a more righteous child, &c.] It is said that they had afterwards a daughter, who was the wife and the mother of a prophet; and that her son converted a whole nation ^[3] .

[3] Idem.

[d] Two orphans;] Their names were Asram and Sarim ^[4] .

[4] Idem.

[e] Dhu’lkarnein.] Or, The two-horned. The generality of the commentators ^[5] suppose the person here meant to be Alexander the Great, or, as they call him, Iscander al Rûmi, king of Persia and Greece; but there are very different opinions as to the reason of this surname. Some think it was given him because he was king of the East and of the West, or because he had made expeditions to both those extreme parts of the earth; or else because he had two horns on his diadem, or two curls of hair, like horns, on his forehead; or, which is most probable, by reason of his great valour. Several modern writers ^[6] rather suppose the surname was occasioned by his being represented in his coins and statues with horns, as the son of Jupiter Ammon; or else by his being compared by the prophet Daniel to a he-goat ^[7] ; tho’ he is there represented with but one horn ^[8] .
There are some good writers, however, who believe the prince intended in this passage of the Korân was not Alexander the Grecian, but another great conqueror, who bore the same name and surname, and was much more ancient than he, being contemporary with Abraham, and one of the kings of Persia of the first race ^[9] ; or, as others suppose, a king of Yaman, named Asaab Ebn al Râyesh ^[10] .
They all agree he was a true believer, but whether he was a prophet or no, is a disputed point.

[5] Idem, Al Zamakhshari, Jallalo’ddin, Yahya.

[6] Scaliger, de Emend. temp. L’Empereur, not. in Jachiad. Dan. viii. 5. Gol. in Alfrag. p. 58, &c.

[7] Schickard. Tarikh Reg. Pers. p. 73.

[8]

[9] Abulfeda, Khondemir, Tarikh Montakhab, &c. V. D’Herbel. Bibl. Orient. Art. Escander.

[10] Ex trad. Ebn Abbas. V. Poc. Spec. p. 58.

[f] He found it to set in a spring of black mud;] That is, it seemed so to him, when he came to the ocean, and saw nothing but water ^[11] .

[11] Al Beidawi, Jallalo’ddin.

[g] A certain people;] An unbelieving nation, who were clothed in the skins of wild beasts, and lived upon what the sea cast on shore ^[12] .

[12] Iidem.

[a] Either punish them or with use gentleness;] For God gave Dhu’lkarnein his choice, either to destroy them for their infidelity, or to instruct them in the true faith; or, according to others, either to put them to the sword, or to take them captives: but the words which follow confirm the former interpretation, by which it appears he chose to invite them to the true religion, and to punish only the disobedient and incredulous.

[b] The place where the sun riseth;] i.e. That part of the habitable world on which the sun first rises.

[c] And he found it to rise on certain people, &c.] Who had neither clothes nor houses, their country not bearing any buildings, but dwelt in holes underground, into which they retreated from the heat of the sun ^[1] . Jallalo’ddin says they were the Zenj, a black nation lying south-west of Ethiopia. They seem to be the Troglodytes of the ancients.

[1] Iidem.

[d] The two mountains;] Between which Dhu’lkarnein built the famous rampart, mentioned immediately, against the irruptions of Gog and Magog. These mountains are situate in Armenia and Adherbijân, or, according to others, much more northwards, on the confines of Turkestân ^[2] . The relation of a journey taken to this rampart, by one who was sent on purpose to view it by the Khalîf al Wathec, may be seen in D’Herbelot ^[3] .

[2] Al Beidawi.

[3] Bibl. Orient. Art. Jagiouge.

[e] Who could scarce understand what was said;] By reason of the strangeness of their speech and their slowness of apprehension; wherefore they were obliged to make use of an interpreter ^[4] .

[4] Al Beidawi.

[f] Gog and Magog waste the land;] The Arabs call them Yajûj and Majûj, and say they are two nations or tribes descended from Japhet the son of Noah, or, as others write, Gog are a tribe of the Turks, and Magog of those of Gilân ^[5] , the Geli and Gelæ of Ptolemy and Strabo ^[6] .
It is said these barbarous people made their irruptions into the neighbouring countries in the spring, and destroyed and carried off all the fruits of the earth; and some pretend they were man-eaters ^[7] .

[5] Idem. V. D’Herbel. ubi supra.

[6] V. Gol. in Alfrag. p. 207.

[7] Al Beidawi.

[a] The commentators say the wall was built in this manner. They dug till they found water, and having laid the foundation of stone and melted brass, they built the super-structure of large pieces of iron, between which they laid wood and coals, till they equalled the height of the mountains; and then setting fire to the combustibles, by the help of large bellows, they made the iron red hot, and over it poured melted brass, which filling up the vacancies between the pieces of iron, rendered the whole work as firm as a rock. Some tell us that the whole was built of stones joined by cramps of iron, on which they poured melted brass to fasten them ^[1] .

[1] Idem, &c.

[b] When the prediction of my Lord shall come to be fulfilled, &c.] That is, when the time shall come for Gog and Magog to break forth from their confinement; which shall happen sometime before the resurrection ^[2] .

[2] See the Prelim. Disc. §. IV. p. 81.

[c] To press tumultuously like waves, &c.] These words represent either the violent irruption of Gog and Magog, or the tumultuous assembly of all creatures, men, genii, and brutes, at the resurrection ^[3] .

[3] See ib. p. 87.