18. Al-Kahf (The Cave) |
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Maududi's Introduction |
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This Surah takes its name from v. 9 in which the word (al-kahf) occurs.
This is the first of those Surahs which were sent down in the third
stage of Prophethood at Makkah. We have already divided the life of the Prophet
(Allah's peace be upon him) at Makkah into four stages in the Introduction to
Chapter VI. According to that division the third stage lasted from the
fifth to the tenth year of Prophethood. What distinguishes this stage
from the second and the fourth stages is this. During the second stage
the Quraish mainly resorted to ridiculing, scoffing, threatening,
tempting, raising objections and making false propaganda against the Prophet
(Allah's peace be upon him) and his followers in order to suppress the Islamic
Movement. But during the third stage they employed the weapons of
persecution, man handling and economic pressure for the same purpose.
So much so that a large number of the Muslims had to emigrate from
Arabia to Habash, and those who remained behind were besieged in
Shi'ib Abi Talib along with the Prophet (Allah's peace be upon him) and his family. To add to
their misery, a complete social and economic boycott was applied
against them. The only redeeming feature was that there were two
personalities, Abu Talib and Hadrat Khadijah, whose personal influence
had been conducive to the support of two great families of the Quraish.
However, when in the tenth year of Prophethood these two persons died,
the fourth stage began with such revere persecutions as forced the Prophet
(Allah's peace be upon him) and all his Companions to emigrate from Makkah.
It appears from the theme of the Surah that it was revealed at the
beginning of the third stage when in spite of persecutions and
opposition, migration to Habash had not yet taken place. That is why
the story of "Ashab-i-Kahf" (the Sleepers of the Cave) has been
related to comfort and encourage the persecuted Muslims and to show
them how the righteous people have been saving their Faith in the past.
This Surah was sent down in answer to the three questions which the
mushriks of Makkah, in consultation with the people of the Book, had
put to the Prophet (Allah's peace be upon him) in order to test him. These were: (1) Who were
"the Sleepers of' the Cave" ? (2) What is the real story of Khidr? and
(3) What do you know about Zul- Qarnain? As these three questions and
the stories involved concerned the history of the Christians and the
Jews, and were unknown in Hijaz, a choice of these was made to test
whether the Prophet (Allah's peace be upon him) possessed any source of the knowledge of the
hidden and unseen things. Allah, however, not only gave a complete
answer to their questions but also employed the three stories to the
disadvantage of the opponents of Islam in the conflict that was going
on at that time at Makkah between Islam and un-belief:
While the Quran turned the tables on the questioners who had tried to "expose" the Prophet (Allah's peace be upon him), in the end of the Surah the same things have been reiterated that were stated at its beginning: "Tauhid and the Hereafter are absolutely true and real and for your own good you should accept these doctrines, mend your ways in accordance with them and live in this world with this conviction that you are accountable to Allah: otherwise you shall ruin your life and all your doings shall be set at naught." |
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