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2.1 Day 6: Tafsir – Part 1

CONTEXT OF REVELATION

Description
This video is an introduction to Surat al-Kahf and discusses the context of its revelation.

Introduction to Surah al-Kahf

‫أسباب نزولها‬
Some Context for its Revelation

 Vast majority agrees it was revealed in Makkah

 There are some ayahs they say are Madani but overwhelmingly considered a Mekki surah revealed before
the Prophet (pbuh) migrated to Madinah

Hadith
Ibn Abbas narrated
‫ابن عباس قال‬

‫بعثت قريش انلرض بن احلارث وعقبة بن أيب معيط إىل أحبار يهود بالمدينة‬
Quraish appointed Nadr bin Harith and ‘Uqba ibn Abi Mu’eet to the scribes of some Jews in Madina

a) “‫ ”أحبار‬comes from “‫ ”حرب‬- which is ink

a. people of ink - people that scribe or scholars, people that write a lot
َ
b) ‫يهود‬
َ
indefinite ‫ك َرة‬
ِ ‫ ن‬form- which means some Jews and not all Jews since not all jews held the same exact
views.
The Madani brand of Judaism is very distinct from the kind of Judaism found in Palestine or Babylon

‫فقالوا لهم‬

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Quraish told their 2 ambassadors

‫سلوهم عن حممد‬
Ask them about Muhammad (pbuh)

‫وصفوا لهم صفته‬

and describe his attributes to them, i.e. give them a thorough description of what you know about Muhammad
(pbuh)

‫وأخربوهم بقوهل‬
and also inform them of the Quran he claims to have from Allah

‫فإنهم أهل الكتاب األول‬

ask them this because they are the people of the first book and are a people of scripture

‫وعندهم علم ما ليس عندنا من علم األنبياء‬

and they have in their possession what we don’t have concerning knowledge of the Prophets

‫فخرجا حىت قدما المدينة‬

so they left until they reached Madinah

‫فسألوا أحبار يهود عن رسول اهلل‬

so they asked the scribes of some Jews about the Messenger of Allah (pbuh)

‫ووصفوا لهم أمره‬

and they described him and his mission to them

‫وبعض قوهل‬
and some of his words.
1. This interestingly suggests that they may have even memorized some Quran and recited it to the Jews.
2. Because the Quran was so impactful and its speech was so captivating, it was hard to forget.
That is one of the characteristics of captivating speech: that you can remember it for generations.
Quran permeated society and there are certain expressions in the Quran that are so repeated in the Quran
and so powerful at the same time that they just became part of the vernacular of that society.

‫وقاال‬
and the 2 ambassadors said

‫إنكم أهل اتلوراة‬

You are the people of the Torah

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‫وقد جئناكم تلخربونا عن صاحبنا هذا‬

and we have come to you so you can tell us about this fellow of ours, the Prophet (pbuh)

‫ سلوه عن ثالث نأمركم بهن‬:‫ فقالت لهم‬،‫قال‬

So why don’t you go back and ask him about 3 things that we will instruct you about.
1. ‫ ب ِ ِهن‬- the “‫”هِن‬
the ‫ هِن‬pronoun is used to magnify that we are going to give you some pretty epic questions

‫ فهو نيب مرسل‬،‫فإن أخربكم بهن‬

and if he does tell you about them then he is definitely a Prophet that has been sent

‫ فالرجل متقول‬،‫وإن لم يفعل‬

and if he isn’t able to answer, then he is a man who makes up words-
1. ‫ متقول‬is falsely quotes words and falsely attributes them to Allah

‫فروا فيه رأيكم‬

take a good look yourself of what your opinion is of him
1. This is the rabbi’s clever way of saying that if he doesn’t answer these questions, then you should decide
what you should do with him. They suggest this very cleverly so that it doesn’t get traced back to them

‫سلوه عن فتية ذهبوا يف ادلهر األول ما اكن من أمرهم‬

ask him about some young people who went away many years ago in ancient times and what happened to them
1. This question is general and vague
2. The things that have been specified in the question are
they are young people,
they disappeared a long time ago.
That’s all the question entails does not say anything about being in a cave or that they went to sleep.

‫فإنهم قد اكن لهم شأن عجيب‬

they certainly had a really unique interesting story
1. the word ‫ عجيب‬in this narration is used
ًَ َ َ َ ْ ُ َ َ ْ َ ْ َ َ ْ َ َ َ ْ
When Allah will respond in Surah al-Kahf ayah 9 “‫ف والرقِي ِم اكنوا مِن آيات ِناعجبا‬
َ َْ
ِ ‫ ”أم حسِبت أن أصحاب الكه‬the
ًَ َ
word ‫ عجبا‬comes up in the response

‫ ما اكن نبؤه؟‬،‫وسلوه عن رجل طواف بلغ مشارق األرض ومغاربها‬

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ask him about a man who kept going all around, ‫طواف‬, going around, this guy kept on traveling he reached the east
ends of the earth and the west ends of the earth what was his news? 1.
1. They’re asking about Dhul Qarnayn, but they don’t know him. They just mention some guy that traveled a
lot.

‫وسألوه عن الروح ما هو؟‬

Ask him about the ruh. What is this ruh thing?

‫ فهو نيب‬،‫فإن أخربكم بذلك‬

If he can tell you all of that then he is a Prophet

‫فاتبعوه‬
then follow him

‫وإن لم خيربكم‬
and if he doesn’t tell you (they’re dropping another hint and being extremely suggestive in what they would hope
the outcome would be)

‫فإنه رجل متقول‬

then he is a man that makes words up

‫فاصنعوا يف أمره ما بدا لكم‬

then you should do about him whatever you see fit. You decide what you think is best for you. We are not going to
tell you what to do except by subtle subliminal suggestion

‫فأقبل انلرض وعقبة حىت قدما ىلع قريش‬

Al-Nadr and ‘Uqba headed back until they reached Quraish

‫ يا معرش قريش‬:‫ فقاال‬،

they said, “Gathering and leaders of Quraish

‫قد جئناكم بفصل ما بينكم وبني حممد‬

We have come to you with the decisive, the distinguishing argument that will cause separation between yourselves
and Muhammad (pbuh)

‫قد أمرنا أحبار يهود أن نسأهل عن أمور‬

The scribes of the Jews have given us instruction to ask him about certain things

‫فأخربوهم بها‬

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so they informed them what those 3 questions were

‫فجاءوا إىل رسول اهلل‬

so they came to the Messenger of Allah (pbuh)

‫ يا حممد أخربنا‬:‫فقالوا‬
So they said, Muhammad tell us

‫فسألوه عما أمروهم به‬

So they asked him what they were instructed to ask him about

‫فقال لهم رسول اهلل‬

So the Prophet (pbuh) turns back to them and tells them

‫أخربكم غدا عما سأتلم عنه‬

I will tell you tomorrow whatever you asked about.The Prophet is hoping for revelation to come to him so he can
answer these questions

‫ولم يستنث‬
and he didn’t make exception. Which means he didn’t say “If Allah wills.”
َ َ َ َُ ََ
ُ ‫اء‬ َ ‫ إال أن ي َ َش‬.‫َِشء إ ِّن فَاع ٌِل َذَٰل َِك َغ ًدا‬
1. ‫اهلل‬ ِ ِ ِ ْ ‫[ وال تقولن ل‬Surat al-Kahf: 23-24]
2. ‫ إِال‬is called the letter to make the excepton, ‫حرف إستثناء‬
3. basically the Prophet (pbuh) had to say “insha’Allah” “‫”إن شاء اهلل‬

or ‫إال أن يشاء اهلل‬

‫فانرصفوا عنه‬
so they left him

‫ومكث رسول اهلل مخس عرشة يللة ال حيدث اهلل هل يف ذلك وحيا‬
So the Messenger (pbuh) remained for 15 days, and 15 nights went by and Allah has not spoken to him with any
revelation

‫ال يأتيه جربيل عليه الصالة والسالم‬

nor Jibreel coming to him. no direct revelation and not through Jibreel

‫حىت أرجف أهل مكة‬

until the people of Makkah started creating a disturbance. They started creating ruckus in the city
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‫ وعدنا حممد غدا‬:‫وقالوا‬

And they were saying, Muhammad promised us tomorrow

‫ وقد أصبحنا فيها‬،‫وايلوم مخس عرشة يللة‬

And today is the 15th day that we woke up and nothing has happened

‫وال خيربنا بَشء عما سأنلاه‬

he didn’t tell us anything about any of the questions we asked him about

‫وحىت أحزن رسول اهلل مكث الويح عنه‬

until the point where even the duration that revelation hadn’t come started making the Messenger of Allah (pbuh)
sad and no Quran had come.

‫وشق عليه ما يتلكم به أهل مكة‬

And the things that the people of Makkah were saying was becoming hard for him to bear and difficult to listen to.
They started mocking the messenger and the revelation not coming

‫ثم جاءه جربيل عليه الصالة والسالم من اهلل عز وجل بسورة أصحاب الكهف‬
Then Jibreel alayhi alsalam came to him from Allah with the surah of the people of the cave.
1. This suggests that the entire surah came lump sum. \
it doesn’t say “‫( ”ببعض سورة أصحاب الكهف‬some of the surah of the people of the cave)

it says “‫”بسورة أصحاب الكهف‬

so the entire surah was a response.
And also some parts from Surah al-Isr’a were revealed

‫فيها معاتبته إياه ىلع حزنه عليهم‬

in it Allah also reprimanded the Prophet (pbuh) over being too worried about what they say. The messenger was

ً ََ
becoming too overwhelmed and too stressed out about the claims and things they were saying.
ْ َ َ ُ ُْ ْ
َ ‫ىلع آثارهِم إِن لم يؤمِنوا بهَٰذا‬ ْ َ ََ َ َ ْ ٌ َ َ َََ
1. Reference to the ayah “‫ِيث أسفا‬
ِ ‫احلد‬ ِ َٰ ‫[ ”فلعلك باخِع نفسك‬Surat al-Kahf: 6], you’re
ِ
going to kill yourself in grief if they don’t believe in this speech, that sadness might end up killing you so you
need to not be that sad.

‫ والرجل الطواف‬،‫وخرب ما سألوه عنه من أمر الفتية‬

and this surah also included the news of what they asked about regarding the matter of the young men and also
the man who went all around, Dhul Qarnayn

ً َ ْ ْ ِ ُ ُ ََ َِ َْ ْ ُ ُ َ َ َ َُ َْ َ
“‫لروح مِن أم ِر ر ِّب وما أوت ِيتم م َِن العِل ِم إِال قل ِيال‬
ُّ ‫وح ۖ قل ا‬ ُّ
ِ ِ ‫[ "ويسألونك ع ِن الر‬Surat al-Isr’a: 85]
They ask you about the ruh, tell them the ruh is from the command of my rabb

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This is in Surat al-Isr’a which is the surah before al-Kahf and the one that answered the third question.

COMMENTS
1) The Jews asked these questions for dubious, sneaky and undercutting reasons.
a) These are people of the book, they have knowledge of Messengers are.
i) they know of literally dozens of messengers.
ii) they know all messages of all messengers are the same and their fundamental questions are
(1) who is Allah?
(2) what is the role of a human being?
(3) what is his relationship with Allah?
(4) What is going to happen to human beings after they die? These are the fundamental questions.
b) They did not ask any of these fundamental questions through their 3 questions
c) If somebody was able to answer all 3 of their original questions correctly, would that mean that they are a
messenger?
i) No it wouldn’t. These questions have nothing to do with validating someone or invalidating someone as
a Messenger, especially if they come from the background of Jewish scholarship.
ii) The Jews were not genuinely interested in finding out whether or not he is a Messenger. They are
interested in convincing the Quraish that he is not a Messenger so hopefully they end up killing him.
(1) They do this because it angered them and offended them that the word of Allah went to an Arab.
They’re trying to sabotage the Messenger of Allah (pbuh).

2) Dhul Qarnayn is a mysterious figure in history

a) up until now there is disagreement about who he is
b) If the Prophet (pbuh) said Dhul Qarnayn is this guy and this is who he was, there would have been many
other people that would have disagreed with him and said it was someone else.
c) Today, there are 40 opinions on who Dhul Qarnayn is
d) The Jews are hoping that the Prophet comes up with an opinion on this issue because once he opens his
mouth he’s going to get tangled in that controversy

3) Tell us about the ‫روح‬

a) ‫ روح‬is used for the soul of the human being.

i) ‫ روح‬is what Allah puts inside the human being when inside the belly of his mother
ii) ‫ روح‬is also the word used for Jibreel ‘alayhi alsalam
َ ْ َ َ ْ َ ْ َ َ َٰ َ َ َ
iii) ‫ روح‬is also used for the Quran itself in one place, in Surat al-Shura ayah 52 “ ‫وحا ِم ِْن‬
ً ‫ك ُر‬ ‫وكذل ِك أوحينا إِيل‬
َ َ
ۚ ‫”أ ْم ِرنا‬
iv) If the Prophet (pbuh) answers one of these, it would be correct but they could say no that’s not what
we meant. We meant the other ones.
v) Idea was to trap him. ‫ روح‬is ambiguous.

ُ ََ َِ َْ ْ َ َ َ َُ َْ َ
(1) reality of human soul is difficult to decipher
ً َ ْ ْ ِ ُ ُ ُ
vi) “‫الروح مِن أم ِر ر ِّب وما أوت ِيتم م َِن العِل ِم إِال قل ِيال‬
ُّ ‫وح ۖ قل‬ ُّ
ِ ِ ‫[ "ويسألونك ع ِن الر‬Surat al-Isr’a: 85] ‫ روح‬belongs to
the decision of my Master, meaning Jibreel ‘alayhi alsalam, your soul and revelation that comes is all
part of Allah’s command.

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(1) He didn’t end up opening the topic.

4) Tell us about the young men who disappeared a long time ago
a) the people of the cave have nothing to do with the Jews
i) It is a story celebrated by Christians
ii) It doesn’t occur in the Bible
iii) It doesn’t occur in the new Testament
iv) By the best Christian records, the people of the cave were discovered alive 120 years before the
Prophet (pbuh) was born
v) The Jews say the Prophet will know about this obscure discussion that the Christians are having if he is
really a Prophet
vi) What the Christians believe of the saints is directly in contrast to the concept of Tawhid in Islam
(1) so if the Prophet (pbuh) does agree to know about them, then he is stumped because he will end
up violating Tawhid.

Allah revealed the entire surah as a response. What is the surah responding to?
1) The Messenger (pbuh) doesn’t know anything about the people of the cave.
a) Allah (swt) has that knowledge, Christians have detailed knowledge and Jews have some vague knowledge
b) What do the Christians know of the people of the cave? It is their story and they celebrate it
i) “Quran and its Biblical Subtext” by Gabriel Said Reynolds
(1) author’s intention was to disprove the Quran by saying it took the stories of the people of the Book
and plagiarized them inaccurately
(a) meaning the Quran was not good at copying Christian legends
(2) Quran came as a record to correct the older record and that is why it is different

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