The Glorious Qur`an

18: the Cave (kahf)

This chapter is arranged in twelve sections and consists of 110 Meccan verses.

Howeververse 28 and verses 83-101 on Double Horns (XI) date from the Madinese period. It was revealed after The Pall 88 and before Bees 16. and it forms a series of narratives in the manner of Joseph's story in Chapter 12 and Stories 28.

The chief narration concerns the so-called "Sleepers in the Cave " who are mentioned in Edward Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (ch. XXXIII, end) which that historian calls a legend. These sleepers were young men who were persecuted because they did not want to become associators or to worship other deities or idols. It is clear this is an allegory and that their number does not matter. It apparently refers to the difficulties of belief within the Christian church during its early centuries. This story is important since it shows how religions previous to Islam had become corrupted, and how some early Christians resisted such ideas.

Towards the end, Moses' mystic journey after Truth is related (IX-X). Double Horns may give the story of Alexander the Great which interested the Middle East as much as it did medieval Europe (XI). Most of this is allegorical, as we are clearly told at the end of the story of the Sleepers, and it should not be taken too literally; the collection of  tales merely provides us with a running commentary on significant events.

Other sections deal with the sin of association, the virtue of tolerance, Hell and Heaven IV), and charming parables like the Grateful and Ungrateful Farmers (V); Rain from Heaven (VI); and Diabolis' meeting with Adam (VII). It ends with the little gem called The Words of the Lord " (XII). As a whole the style resembles that of Chapter il on Noah (See the Introduction to Chapter 72 Sprites on the allegorical style). Pickthall's explanation in his introduction to this chapter is also clear and easy to read.