human nature usually recoils from sights that inspire awe; hence His words, “Had you looked at them, you would certainly have turned away from them in flight and been filled with dread of them” (Qur’an 18:18). This, moreover, establishes the maxim that a report is not the same as direct vision, as the ḥadith puts it, for the information reached people even though neither flight nor fear actually occurred. End of Ibn Kathīr’s citation. His remarks are exceedingly sound, and they overturn the writer’s accusation that the Prophet ﷺ was frightened of the People of the Cave and that a lingering image of that terror remained in his memory.

Fourth point: The author commits a grave blunder in alleging that Allah addressed His Prophet—when He revived the People of the Cave—with the words, “Had you looked at them, you would certainly have turned away from them in flight and been filled with dread of them.” To speak about the Quran without knowledge is a serious offense, and the stern warning against it has already been cited in the ḥadith of Ibn ʿAbbās (d. 68 AH). The very beginning of the verse whose ending the writer quoted suffices to refute him, for Allah says: “You would have thought them awake while they lay asleep. We turned them to the right and to the left, while their dog stretched its forelegs across the threshold. Had you looked at them, you would certainly have turned away from them in flight and been filled with dread of them” (Qur’an 18:18). The noble verse makes it clear that the Companions of the Cave were enveloped in awe only while they slept, so that no one would draw near them, and that had anyone come upon them in that state