and about Dhū’l-Qarnayn’ (al-Kahf 83). Here He also says, ‘Or do you think that the Companions of the Cave and the Inscription were something wondrous among Our signs?’ That is, they were not an especially astonishing marvel compared with the momentous reports, dazzling proofs, and extraordinary wonders We have already shown you.
The cave is the cleft in the mountain. Shuʿayb al-Jabbāʾī said that its name was Ḥayzam.
As for al-Raqīm, Ibn ʿAbbās said, ‘I do not know what is meant by it.’ Others held that it was the inscribed tablet on which their names and the details of their affair were written after their time; this view was chosen by Ibn Jarīr and others. Some said it is the name of the mountain that housed their cave— Ibn ʿAbbās and Shuʿayb al-Jabbāʾī said the mountain was called Banjalos. Others maintained it is the name of a valley near the cave, while still others said it is the name of a neighbouring village. Allah knows best.
Shuʿayb al-Jabbāʾī also related that the name of their dog was Ḥimrān.
The Jews’ careful attention to their story and their familiarity with its details indicates that the episode predates what some exegetes claimed—that the youths lived after Jesus and were Christians. The Qur’anic context rather suggests that their people were idolaters who worshipped images. Many commentators, historians, and others state that they lived during the reign of a king called Daqyānūs and that they were the sons of the nobility—some even say the sons of kings.
It is said that they gathered on one of their people’s festival days. Seeing their nation prostrate to idols and venerate statues, they looked with penetrating insight. Allah removed the veil of heedlessness from their hearts and inspired them with right guidance. Realising that their people followed nothing sound, they abandoned that religion and turned to the worship of Allah alone, without partner.
It is further reported that, once Allah had placed the light of tawḥīd in each of their hearts, every one of them withdrew from the populace, and these youths happened to meet in one place. This accords with the authentic ḥadīth in al-Bukhārī: ‘Souls are like conscripted troops; those that recognise one another find harmony, and those that do not recognise one another differ.’ Each asked the others about his state; after sharing what lay within their hearts, they agreed to distance themselves from their people, disavow them, leave their midst, and flee with their religion—an action prescribed in times of tribulation and rampant evil.
Allah the Exalted says, ‘We narrate to you their story in truth: they were young men who believed in their Lord, and We increased them in guidance. We strengthened their hearts when they stood up and said, “Our Lord is the Lord of the heavens and the earth. We shall never invoke any deity besides Him, for then we would have uttered an outrageous falsehood. These, our people, have taken gods other than Him; why do they not bring for them a clear proof?”’—that is, a manifest evidence for what they have chosen and the position they have taken.