2019-01-31T23:12:00-08:00
In this article, we will make a comparison between the Syriac texts that dealt with the story of the Companions of the Cave and the story of the Companions of the Cave in the Holy Qur’an.
First, the Syriac sources
We also talked in the previous article that the Syriac texts that mentioned the story of the Companions of the Cave are historical and poetic texts.
We said that the true date of mention of the story in the source of Zakaria the Eloquent is 569 AD and not 536 AD, because the entire history of Zakaria the Eloquent written in Greek has been lost, and then we cannot rely on that date, but rather we will rely on the date of the one who transmitted it in the year 569 AD.
As for the history of John of Ephesus, there is a difference in the year of the text, either 585 AD or 587 AD, but because its date was lost and it was transmitted by the monk Al-Zoqanini in the year 775 AD, therefore we will adopt the year 775 AD and not the year 585 AD or 587 AD as the date for the appearance of this text.
Therefore, the history of the texts according to Roman times:
1 – A poetic text by Maryam Yacoub Al-Sarouji…. 521 AD
2 – A historical text by Zakaria the Eloquent………….. 569 AD
3 – A historical text by John of Ephesus……….. 775 AD
4 – Historical text by Ibn al-Abri…………… 1286 AD
■ The time of the story of the Companions of the Cave
All Syriac texts agreed that the time of the story was during the reign of King Decius and their awakening during the reign of King Theodosius.
We will cut from the official source of the church
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All Syriac historians agree that the people of the cave fell asleep during the reign of King Decius (249-251 AD), while their awakening occurred during the reign of King Theodosius the Younger (450).
Mar Yaacoub Al-Suruji (521 +) says in his aforementioned poem about the time of their slumber, which is translated: “When Decius went out to visit the villages and cities of his kingdom, he entered Ephesus, inflicted great terror on it, and held a celebration for Zeus, Apollon, and Artemis… There were young nobles who refused to submit to his command. They did not submit to him like the rest of their companions, and they brought faith, as they were meek sheep, and insisted on not burning incense before the gods.”
He says about the time of their awakening: “The eras of the pagan kings passed and their authority disappeared, and peace prevailed in the Holy Church in the world. And the Allah wished to awaken them to the glory of (His Holy Name) and reveal them to the believers to honor them.” He added: “They took the two tablets of lead and read them, and from them they learned their names and their work, so they immediately informed the great king Theodosius so that he would come immediately and see them.”
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1 – A poetic text by Al-Suruji 521 AD (Dacius – Theodosius)
2 – Historical text of Al-Fasih.. 569 AD (Dacius – Theodosius)
3 – Historical text of the Ephesians 775 AD (Dacius – Theodosius)
4 – Historical text of Hebrew. 1286 AD (Dacius – Theodosius)
But all texts do not mention a calendar, as they are based only on the time when the Roman kings ascended to the throne of the empire.
■ What is the miracle of the Companions of the Cave?
They slept in a cave for decades
■ How long did the Companions of the Cave sleep?
Syriac sources place the time of the incident during the reign of the Roman Emperor Decius and its awakening during the reign of Theodosius.
But the Syriac texts did not agree among themselves on determining the period during which the People of the Cave slept. The first sources specify the period at 370 years, and others specify the period at 190 years, some 120 years, and some 188 years.
But it stated that their sleep was during the reign of Decius (249-251) and that their awakening was during the reign of Theodosius the Younger (408-450). According to official sources, the difference in years resulted from the difference in the date of minting of the coins that were found with the boys in the cave, in their various denominations.
1 – A poetic text by Maryam Al-Suruji 521 AD (370 years old)
2 – Historical text of Al-Fasih… 569 AD (120 or 190 years)
3 – Historical text of the Ephesians 775 AD (370 years)
4 – Historical Hebrew text 1286 AD (188 years)
First, look at the eloquent history of Zakaria. It does not specify the existence of an applicable calendar, but rather makes it clear that the event occurred after 38 of the reign of Theodosius.
But a later investigator and historian determined the year of his accession to the king as 408 AD. There is no chronological calendar in the eloquent history of Zakaria, but the calendar came after this date and story.
Also see… Zakaria says: “The governor answered Dionysius (one of the cave boys) saying: How can we believe your words, when the writing and seal of this coin go back two hundred years ago?”
See… How did the governor determine the period of the coin as dating back 200 years? How did the governor know that it was 200 years ago?! This indicates that the coin has a calendar, but there is no mention in these texts of the existence of a calendar. It was usual. The governor’s determination of the age of the coin indicates that there is a chronological calendar on the coin, and then historians and investigators do not need all this difficult process in determining the time of the youth incident and even the duration of the youth’s sleep, based on the time difference between Theodosius and Decius.
This means………..the story specified the time in the time of two kings only, but the process of determining a date for it took place outside the story at a later time and was not determined by the story itself, meaning that the time was determined by investigators or historians later on and imposed on the story.
With evidence
1 – Text of Al-Suruji 521 AD (Dacius – Theodosius) (370)
2 – Text of Al-Fasih.. 569 AD (Dacius – Theodosius) (120-190)
3 – Text of the Ephesians 775 AD (Dacius – Theodosius) (370)
4- Hebrew text. 1286 AD (Dacius – Theodosius) (188)
– The first Syriac text by Al-Suruji talks about the Companions of the Cave, specifying the time period between the two kings as 370 years. (Because that is the period of sleep of the People of the Cave)
If Decius was in the year 250 AD, this means that Theodosius would be in the year 620 AD, while the text of Maryam of Seruji was written in the year 521 AD?!
Is it possible that a text written in the year 521 AD talks about an incident that occurred in the year 620 AD?! The difference is 100 years…then we will have two possibilities. As for the date of Maryam’s text, it is wrong, and this means that the process of establishing a date The story and history of this text are at a late stage, meaning that the calendar was drawn up at a very later stage, and either this incident is not true.
If Theodosius was in the year 450 AD, this means that the time of Decius was in the year 80 AD. This does not agree with the plan of the kings of Rome, as there was no king in the year 80 AD with the name Decius
– The classical text specifies the period of time between the two kings as 120 years, but the text’s author fixed the period to 190 years.
If Decius was in the year 250 AD, this means that Theodosius will be in the year 370 AD, and after the reform of the investigator in 440 AD.
If Theodosius was in the year 447 AD, this means that the time of Decius was in the year 327 AD or in the year 257 AD.
– The third source, which is from the Ephesians, sets the time period between the two kings at 370 years.
If Decius was in the year 250 AD, this means that Theodosius would be in the year 620 AD, while the text of the Ephesus was written in the year 587 AD.
Is it possible that a text written in the year 587 AD talks about an incident that occurred in the year 620 AD?! Then we will have two possibilities: either the date of the Ephesian text is wrong, or this incident is not true.
If Theodosius was in the year 450 AD, this means that the time of Decius was in the year 80 AD. This does not agree with the plan of the kings of Rome, as there was no king in the year 80 AD with the name of Decius.
– As for the Hebrew, the period of time between the two kings is 188 years.
If Decius was in the year 250 AD, this means that Theodosius would be in the year 438 AD.
If Theodosius was in the year 447 AD, this means that the time of Decius was in the year 259 AD.
1 – Text of Al-Suruji 521 AD
(Dacius – Theodosius) (370)
(250m – 620m) or (80m – 450m)
2 – Nas al-Fusih (536 AD) 569 AD
(Dacius – Theodosius) (120-190)
(250m – 370m) or (250m – 440m)
(327 AD – 447 AD) – (257 AD – 447 AD)
3 – Text of the Ephesians (585-587 AD) 775 AD
(Dacius – Theodosius) (370)
(250m – 620m) or (80m – 450m)
4 – Hebrew text 1286 AD
(Dacius – Theodosius) (188)
(250 AD – 438 AD) – (259 AD – 447 AD)
Now notice with me the reasons for the appearance of the period (188) in the Hebrew, and the period 370 in the investigator of the history of the Ephesians, who is the monk Al-Zoqanini.
History of the Ephesus text (585-587 AD), but the one who brought us the Ephesus texts was the monk Al-Zoqanini in the year 775.
Let’s do the math
775 subtract 585 equals 190
775 subtract 587 equals 188
The Hebrew did this calculation of the period on the basis of calculating a time between the Ephesian text, which is the first source, and the Zognani monk, who transmitted his lost history, did this calculation between his text and the time of the monk, which is the first appearance of the text. She is 188 years old.
As for the man who conveyed to us the history of al-Fusih, he encountered a problem between a previous text that said the period of sleep was 370, and this period made him confused, so he set the period of sleep as 370 as the year of the king’s history, and then after a period of determining the time of the kings, the time calculation between the two kings would be 120 years. Then he would have gotten rid of the problem of 370 years.
Because it is impossible for the first text to mention the duration of sleep to be 370 years and the second text to specify the duration to be 120 years, and the age difference between the two texts is about 12 years, the problem was fixed so that it would not conflict with the eloquent text of Zakaria, who spoke of 200 years being the duration of the sleep of the Companions of the Cave. But based on the calculation between the history of the Ephesian and the transmitter of the monk’s history. So fix the period to 190 years.
This means that the historian who transmitted to us the eloquent history of Zakaria and wrote it in the year 563 AD, lived in a time after the time of the Zoqanini monk in the year 775 AD, meaning that he did not live in the year 563 AD.
In other words… these differences about duration and about the accession of kings confirm that there was a process of setting a chronological calendar and writing it down later on the story, and the process of determining a historical age for it took place at a very late time. And almost after the time of the history of the Zoqanini monk.
If we also pay attention to the date of birth of the authors of these sources, we will find that they are similar.
Al-Suruji, the author of the first text of the Companions of the Cave, was born in 451 AD and died in 521 AD. That is, he was born in approximately the same year that the Companions of the Cave woke up, and in the same year that King Theodosius existed. But the strange thing is that it took him 70 years to talk about this miraculous story, and in the same year of his death.
His birth in the same time as the Companions of the Cave makes us believe that he is the most informed source about the incident, since his surroundings are still talking about the story of the famous and modern miracle.
As for Zakaria the Eloquent, his most important work is a religious history that he wrote in Greek, in which he covered in detail the events of the period that occurred between the years 450 and 491. It was translated into Syriac in summary, and its Greek original was lost. Then it was transmitted in its entirety by the monk who wrote the apocryphal book The History of Zakaria.
Zakaria the Eloquent decided to write his first historical works, and he did not choose a historical period except from 450 AD – 491 AD, that is, his history begins from the year of the awakening of the Boy of the Cave and from the era of King Theodosius as well. Although his history of the story of the Companions of the Cave does not address the calendar, how did he determine his date for this period based on a calendar?
As for John of Ephesus, he wrote an ecclesiastical history in three volumes, each of which contains six books or chapters. The first and second are from the reign of Julius Caesar until the year 571, and the third includes news of the church and the world from the year 571 to 585 and is 418 pages long.
Notice to 450 AD the beginning of the history of Zakaria the Eloquent, and to 571 AD the beginning of the history of John of Ephesus. How much difference do you find between them?!
Approximately 120 years, which is the period of sleep of the Companions of the Cave according to some sayings.
■ How many Companions of the Cave were there?
Syriac sources did not agree on the number of boys. Some sources say that they were 7 boys, and some sources say that they were 8 boys.
Likewise, the names of the boys were not agreed upon in the Syriac sources. The first sources mention specific names, and other sources after that differ from the first sources by one name and two names, and others mention names different from the first and subsequent sources, and the reason, according to the church, is because of the Greek environment, and their names. Greek, so the Syriac scribes listed them and distorted some of them.
1 – Text of Al-Suruji 521 AD (it is not specified, but it names two)
2 – Nas al-Fasih.. 569 AD (7 boys)
3 – Nas al-Zuqanini 775 AD (8 boys)
4- Hebrew text. 1286 AD (7 boys)
These differences confirm that the subject was not objective history as much as it was copies from various other sources, and this is what the main source says, that the Greek environment and their Greek names are the reason for the distortion of the names and the difference in numbers.
This makes us ask the question: Is it correct that we consider the Syriac sources to be the first sources to mention the story? It is supposed to say that the Greek sources are the first sources to the story.
■ Why did the boys run away to the cave?
According to Syriac sources, the boys believed in Christianity and in Jesus as Savior. Al-Nasarah were persecuted by a pagan Roman king. He issued a decree ordering the eradication of Christianity, and made the central authority in the state take it upon itself to force Al-Nasarah to abandon their religion and offer incense and liquor to the Roman gods. The decree was issued, which It was described as terrifying and terrifying, with Al-Nasarah being tortured if they did not worship idols. The boys refused to worship idols, so they fled with their religion to the cave.
■ Where did the people of the cave lie?
All Syriac sources confirm that the people of the cave rested in a cave located on a hill called Mount Ankilos on the outskirts of the city of Ephesus.
This city of Ephesus is an ancient Greek city located on the western shore of Asia Minor. It was famous before Christ for its port, its profitable trade, and the Temple of Artemis. The Apostle Paul preached the Christian religion to it in the year 54 AD, educated its people, and wrote a letter to it in the year 61 AD. The city later became one of the important centers of Christianity, and the Third Ecumenical Council was held there in the year 431 AD.
Mar Yacoub al-Suruji (521 +) said at the beginning of his poem about the People of the Cave, which I translated: “I would like to tell the listeners the news of the young men, sons of the leaders who are from Ephesus.” He said, through one of the young men, addressing his companions: “There is a rocky cave here at the top of the mountain. Let us go up, brothers, and hide in it for a while.” He also said, through Yamlikha, while addressing the bishop of the city: “I am from the city of Ephesus, and I am the son of Drophorus, one of its leaders.” He also said about the tablet. “On it they wrote: These young men from Ephesus fled before the face of Decius.”
Notice…how the first text of the story of the Companions of the Cave is a poetic text, and how the boys introduce themselves in it, specify their location to us in advance, and specify to us the name of the king as well.
Of course, it is a poetic text that attempts to represent the story in a poetic language, and it should not be criticized as a historical document. But….we adopted it because it is approved by the owners of the main source as a historical document.
■ The boys’ first job after waking up
The Syriac texts say that one of the young men went as usual in the morning and went shopping from the market with silver coins in his hand, but he was confused and afraid of going crazy because of the change that had occurred. He found the sign of the cross carved and people swearing in the name of Jesus Christ.
■ Who exposed the matter of the Companions of the Cave and what was the thing that revealed their secret?
The baker to whom one of the young men went to buy bread from him. The baker was astonished by the coins that the boy gave him, because they were large in size and their minting was different from the stamp of the dirhams circulating in their era. The baker believed that the boy had obtained an ancient treasure, so they arrested him and he confessed before the bishop of the city. And tell them the truth.
■ What did they find in the cave?
When the boy went, accompanied by the governor and a crowd of people, and they reached the cave, they found on the right side of its door a brass box with two silver seals on it, and inside the box, two lead tablets on which was written, “He has fled into this cave from the presence of King Decius. The confessors: Maximilian, son of the governor, Imlich, Martinian, Dionysius, John, Seraphion, Constantius, and Antoninus. He blocked the cave for them with stones.” He also wrote in the last lines of the two tablets a picture of the faith of the confessors.
This box was placed by two Christian servants of King Decius, who hid their faith for fear of the king. They consulted together and wrote a picture of the faith of these confessors on lead sheets, which were placed inside a copper box, sealed, and placed in the structure at the entrance to the cave.
■ Reaction when the truth is discovered
Make these boys a holiday. The king distributed alms to the poor, released the bishops captured in exile, and returned with the bishops to Constantinople, overwhelmed with the joy of the king’s faith, glorifying Allah Almighty for everything that had happened.
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Now let us move to the Holy Qur’an and try to compare the previous points in the text of the Qur’an.
■ The time of the incident of the Companions of the Cave
It never happened in the past, the Qur’an talks about it as news (prophecy)
{We narrate to you their report with the truth. Indeed, they are young men who believed in their Allah, and We have increased them in guidance.} {And thus We have caused them to know that the promise of Allah is true and that the Hour is of no doubt.}
■ What is the miracle of the Companions of the Cave?
They will be a sign to people, and the Qur’an does not specify the nature of this sign
{When the young men took refuge in the cave and said, “Our Allah, give us mercy from You and provide us with guidance in our affairs.}
■ How long did the people of the cave sleep?
The Qur’an does not mention the story of sleeping and waking up. Just young men in a cave, and the Qur’an does not talk about sleep at all, and it never specifies a period of time. Only Allah knows how long they stayed.
{And they remained in their cave for three hundred years, and nine more. (25) Say, “Allah knows best what they remained for, the unseen of the heavens and the earth. He sees and hears through it. They have no guardian besides Him, and He does not associate with anyone in His judgment.}
■ How many Companions of the Cave were there?
The Qur’an does not specify the number at all. Only Allah and those with knowledge know the number.
{They will say: There are three, the fourth of whom is their dog, and they will say: Five, the sixth of whom is their dog, according to the unseen, and they will say: Seven, and the eighth of them is their dog. Say, “My Allah knows best their number.” Only a few know them. So do not quarrel with them except in open dissent, and do not consult any of them concerning them.}
■Why did the boys go to the cave?
The Qur’an does not talk about young men who were subjected to injustice or persecution by a ruler or king, but rather about young men who wanted to be what people could be.
{When the young men took refuge in the cave and said, “Our Allah, give us mercy from You and provide us with guidance in our affairs.}
■ What do these boys believe?
Believers in one Allah
{And when you separated from them, and they worshiped none but Allah}
■ Where is the cave located?
The Qur’an does not specify the name of a city, village, or mountain, but the Qur’an calls us to search for this cave.
{Then seek refuge in the cave. Your Allah will spread for you of His mercy and prepare for you ease in your matter.}
He gives us signs that lead us to the location of the cave
{And you will see the sun, when it rises, turning away from their cave to the right, and when it sets, approaching them to the left, while they are in a gap from it. This is one of the signs of Allah. Whoever Allah guides is the rightly guided, and whoever He leads astray, you will never find for him a guardian or guide. (17) And you think they are waking up while they are asleep, and We turn them over to the right and to the left, while their dog is spreading out his arms. If you saw them, you would flee from them and you would be filled with terror from them.}
■ Does the Qur’an talk about a mountain or a village called Al-Raqim?
No, the Qur’an talks about the Companions of the Cave and Ar-Raqim. He did not say a village or a mountain.
{Or did you think that the Companions of the Cave and Ar-Raqim were a wonder among Our signs?}
■ What is in the cave?
Al-Fatiya and Al-Raqim
Al-Raqim is the book
{A Book Numbered (20) witnessed by those close to Him}
■ The boys’ first work after being sent
The Qur’an does not speak to young people, but to the people who will find the cave.
{And thus We sent them to inquire among themselves. Someone among them said, “How long have you stayed?” They said, “We have stayed a day or part of a day.” They said, “Your Allah knows best how long you have tarried.” So send one of you with this paper of yours to Medina, and let him see which of them has the purest food, and let him bring you a provision from it, and be gentle, and let no one perceive you. (19) Indeed, if they prevail over you, they will stone you or send you back to Devour them, and then you will never succeed.}
■ Is the story only to prove the Day of Resurrection?
No… but so that people may obtain the Raqim, and so that people may know how long they have been following the religion of Allah, and so that criminals may know that Allah’s promise is true and that the Hour is beyond doubt and that its date is near.
{Then We sent them to know which of the two parties was more accountable when they had remained for a while.}
{If they prevail against you, they will stone you or return you to their religion, and then you will never succeed.}
{And thus We caused them to know that Allah’s promise is true and that the Hour is of which there is no doubt}
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We’re almost done with the comparison.
In the next and final article, we will provide a detailed interpretation of the verses of the story of the Companions of the Cave, and of Surat Al-Kahf in its entirety, as the Hour may be near.
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