I love, love, love the story of the Prophet Yusuf (AS), both in English and Arabic it is so beautiful,
Also the People of the Cave,
And the narrative about Maryam (AS), ma'sha'Allah.
I love, love, love the story of the Prophet Yusuf (AS), both in English and Arabic it is so beautiful,
Also the People of the Cave,
And the narrative about Maryam (AS), ma'sha'Allah.
Once a group of christian priests visited the Prophet a.s. and asked him to tell them the story of seven sleepers because they were thinking that he was copying the the stories of Bible and this story was not in Bible. After that the surah Kahf ( Cave) revealed.
It is believed that these seven people were living in somewhere in Anatolia during the early years of Christians. The Roman Empire was still pagan and persecuting christians and forcing christians to accept their pagan gods. They and a dog with them escaped from this persecution and slept in a cave for 300 years. When they woke up, there was no pagans and persecution.
From the Quran:- [h=2]Or have you thought that the companions of the cave and the inscription were, among Our signs, a wonder? [/h][h=2]@ when the youths retreated to the cave and said, "Our Lord, grant us from Yourself mercy and prepare for us from our affair right guidance."
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[h=2][SIZE=2]So We cast [a cover of sleep] over their ears within the cave for a number of years.
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[h=2][SIZE=2]Then We awakened them that We might show which of the two factions was most precise in calculating what [extent] they had remained in time.
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[h=2][SIZE=2]It is We who relate to you, [O Muhammad], their story in truth. Indeed, they were youths who believed in their Lord, and We increased them in guidance.
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[h=2][SIZE=2]And We made firm their hearts when they stood up and said, "Our Lord is the Lord of the heavens and the earth. Never will we invoke besides Him any deity. We would have certainly spoken, then, an excessive transgression.
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[h=2][SIZE=2]These, our people, have taken besides Him deities. Why do they not bring for [worship of] them a clear authority? And who is more unjust than one who invents about Allah a lie?"
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[h=2][SIZE=2][The youths said to one another], "And when you have withdrawn from them and that which they worship other than Allah , retreat to the cave. Your Lord will spread out for you of His mercy and will prepare for you from your affair facility."
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[h=2][SIZE=2]And [had you been present], you would see the sun when it rose, inclining away from their cave on the right, and when it set, passing away from them on the left, while they were [laying] within an open space thereof. That was from the signs of Allah . He whom Allah guides is the [rightly] guided, but he whom He leaves astray - never will you find for him a protecting guide.
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[h=2][SIZE=2]And you would think them awake, while they were asleep. And We turned them to the right and to the left, while their dog stretched his forelegs at the entrance. If you had looked at them, you would have turned from them in flight and been filled by them with terror.
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[h=2][SIZE=2]And similarly, We awakened them that they might question one another. Said a speaker from among them, "How long have you remained [here]?" They said, "We have remained a day or part of a day." They said, "Your Lord is most knowing of how long you remained. So send one of you with this silver coin of yours to the city and let him look to which is the best of food and bring you provision from it and let him be cautious. And let no one be aware of you.
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[h=2][SIZE=2]Indeed, if they come to know of you, they will stone you or return you to their religion. And never would you succeed, then - ever."
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[h=2][SIZE=2]And similarly, We caused them to be found that they [who found them] would know that the promise of Allah is truth and that of the Hour there is no doubt. [That was] when they disputed among themselves about their affair and [then] said, "Construct over them a structure. Their Lord is most knowing about them." Said those who prevailed in the matter, "We will surely take [for ourselves] over them a masjid."
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[h=2][SIZE=2]They will say there were three, the fourth of them being their dog; and they will say there were five, the sixth of them being their dog - guessing at the unseen; and they will say there were seven, and the eighth of them was their dog. Say, [O Muhammad], "My Lord is most knowing of their number. None knows them except a few. So do not argue about them except with an obvious argument and do not inquire about them among [the speculators] from anyone."
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(Surah Al-Kahf: 9-22)
You may read the links above for more detail and the background of the story
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