Little did they know!

As-Salamo alaicum;

For someone who hasn’t written anything in ages, to take this task upon myself and write about what touched me the most in Sorat Al-Kahf is quite overwhelming. So please bare with me and kindly excuse ALL my shortcomings.

Here goes..

Darkness! Fear! And Impending death!

All this, if not much more was the state which the ‘Fitya’ boys, young adults, Ashab Al-Kahf, were in when they fled for their lives and their religion. They had to escape and run as their tyrant king had denied them the right to worship Allah when they had faced him earlier and literally stood their ground fighting for their faith!

وَرَبَطْنَا عَلَى قُلُوبِهِمْ إِذْ قَامُوا فَقَالُوا رَبُّنَا رَبُّ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ لَنْ نَدْعُوَ مِنْ دُونِهِ إِلَهًا لَقَدْ قُلْنَا إِذًا شَطَطًا

14. And We made their hearts firm and strong (with the light of Faith in Allah and bestowed upon them patience to bear the separation of their kith and kin and dwellings, etc.) when they stood up and said: "Our Lord is the Lord of the heavens and the earth, never shall we call upon any ilah (god) other than Him; if we did, we should indeed have uttered an enormity in disbelief..”


So, not knowing what the future held for them, they took off during the night. Where did they head to though? Safety and security is what they needed most. The Cave was their destination.

وَإِذِ اعْتَزَلْتُمُوهُمْ وَمَا يَعْبُدُونَ إِلَّا اللَّهَ فَأْوُوا إِلَى الْكَهْفِ يَنْشُرْ لَكُمْ رَبُّكُمْ مِنْ رَحْمَتِهِ وَيُهَيِّئْ لَكُمْ مِنْ أَمْرِكُمْ مِرفَقًا

16. (The young men said to one another): "And when you withdraw from them, and that which they worship, except Allah, then seek refuge in the Cave, your Lord will open a way for you from His Mercy and will make easy for you your affair (i.e. will give you what you will need of provision, dwelling, etc.)."

Please close your eyes and imagine a cave. Personally, I see it dark! I see a hard, tough and rigid hole in a mountain! God only knows what the temperature was like!

But how did the Fitya see it?

10. (Remember) when the young men fled for refuge (from their disbelieving folk) to the Cave, they said: "Our Lord! Bestow on us mercy from Yourself, and facilitate for us our affair in the right way!" ِ

إِذْ أَوَى الْفِتْيَةُ إِلَى الْكَهْفِ فَقَالُوا رَبَّنَا آتِنَا مِنْ لَدُنْكَ رَحْمَةً وَهَيِّئْ لَنَا مِنْ أَمْرِنَا رَشَدًا

Mercy, from The Most Merciful! Why that in particular? You see, as we studied Allah’s names and contributes we understood that many of His names actually come under the umbrella of The Most Merciful; Al-Ghafoor (The All Forgiving), Al-Wadood (The All Loving), Al-mu’tee (The All Giving) and various other ones. Hopefully we’ll learn more from "Hope".

Little did they know, that light after darkness, security after fear, finding a safe haven after being a refugee and best of all sleep and slumber during all the calamity of the tyrant king would be the result of their patience and bravery! They were destined not only to sleep miraculously for 3 HUNDRED YEARS but that their story would be recited by Muslims every Friday to add LIGHT to the reader’s life!

You see, they stood up and faced adversity knowing what their odds were. A tiny number of young men dynamically confront an oppressor and a nation realizing the severity of their situation. Where as many of us sadly, think twice if not more before voicing our beliefs to those closest to us. Although all we fear is slightly being reprimanded.

After studying the verses I honestly tell you that I keep on forgetting that it’s Al-kahf not al- NOOR (Light). It made me see it in a completely new light. This was the case throughout the sorah. “Faith M.D.” described it as did Dr Steven Covey as a Paradigm Shift. In life generally we judge things based on our perception when reality, sometimes, couldn’t be further than our assumption. “Oyster” describes it well with the story of the Two Gardens. (Oyster, plz share ur thoughts with us on this)

So was the case with Moosa, alaihi as-salam with Al-Khudher, not once nor twice but thrice! Little did he know!

The loss of a loved one, the separation of couples, or being poor or unwell could feel devastating!

But subhan Allah, time passes, situations evolve and one tends to see the bigger picture of how all the previous heartache, sleepless nights n agony, many many times were meant only, to pave the way to a better today... Subhan Allah, little did we know!

But no-one describes the shift in paradigm better than Allah subhanah, Himself towards the end;

قُلْ هَلْ نُنَبِّئُكُمْ بِالْأَخْسَرِينَ أَعْمَالًا
الَّذِينَ ضَلَّ سَعْيُهُمْ فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا وَهُمْ يَحْسَبُونَ أَنَّهُمْ يُحْسِنُونَ صُنْعًا

103. Say (O Muhammad): "Shall We tell you the greatest losers in respect of (their) deeds?
104. "Those whose efforts have been wasted in this life while they thought that they were acquiring good by their deeds!

May none of us be included in the previous verse, ameen.