18: The Cave
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.