﴿ أَمْ حَسِبْتَ أَنَّ أَصْحَٰبَ ٱلْكَهْفِ وَٱلرَّقِيمِ كَانُوا۟ مِنْ ءَايَٰتِنَا عَجَبًا ﴾

“[AND SINCE the life of this world is but a test, dost thou [really] think that [the parable of] the Men of the Cave and of [their devotion to] the scriptures could be deemed more wondrous than any [other] of Our messages?”

The incident of the Men of the Cave shows symbolically the stages through which true believers have to pass in their lives and the hurdles which they have to surmount. We learn from this incident that true believers sometimes, by force of circumstances, are compelled to take refuge in a ‘cave’. But, from this cave which, to all appearances, was a grave for them, emerged a flood of life and vitality. Where their opponents had planned to end the lives of these young men, a new history began for them from that very same place. If the Men of the Cave are the same individuals known as the Seven Sleepers in Christian history, the story relates to the city of Ephesus. This once famous city, dating back to ancient times, was situated on the west coast of Turkey, where its majestic ruins can still be seen today. During the period 249 to 251 A.D., this area was under the rule of a Roman ruler, Desius. Polytheism was prevalent here and the moon was treated as a god and worshipped. During this period, the message of the Unity of God (monotheism) reached this area through the early followers of Jesus Christ and started spreading. The Roman ruler of this place, who was a pagan, could not tolerate the spread of this monotheistic religion and started persecuting the followers of Jesus Christ. The aforesaid ‘Men of the Cave’ were seven young men from noble families of Ephesus, who embraced the monotheistic religion probably in the year 250 A.D. and who became preachers of that religion. When they were harassed by the authorities, they fled the city and took refuge in a big cave on the side of a nearby mountain.