Seven Sleepers of Ephesus in the Quran: Difference between revisions

The [[Qur'an|Qur'anic]] story of the "[[Companions of the Cave]]"  has traditionally been explained by the Islamic narrative as proof of [[Allah]]'s divine power whereby he miraculously caused 7 youths to fall asleep and awaken after more than 300 years. Yet comparison with the literary milieu of the Qur'an, 7th century Chrisian culture in the Middle East, reveals parallels to the 7 Sleepers of Ephesus, a Christian legend dating from the 5th century which tells the story of Christian youths being persecuted by the pagan Roman Emperor Decius in the 3rd century. The youths seek shelter in a cave, fall asleep for over 200 years, and venture out only to find that the Empire is now Christian. Their faith confirmed, the youths then die and are embraced by the Lord. Rather than a mere exhibition of god's power, the original story was a parable meant to emphasis the ability of Christian faith to overcome persecution, a celebration of the Christianization of the Roman Empire and an answer to heretics at the time of the story's composition who doubted the literal nature of the physical Resurrection. As the Qur'an does not preserve the entire story, but appears to merely refer to it, the [[tafsir|mufassirun]] of later generations misinterpreted the story, leaving out key components and failing to relay the underlying message of the original parable.   

The story of the companions of the cave is found in the 18^th [[surah]] of the Qur'an, [[The Holy Qur'an: Al-Kahf (The Cave)|al-Kahf]] (the Cave), for which the surah is named. It relates the tale of a young group of believers, who fall into a supernatural sleep in a cave, only to awaken hundreds of years later. This story mimics a story found in the Syriac homily by a Christian bishop named Jacob of Serugh (521 CE).<ref name="Reynolds">Reynolds, Gabriel Said. "Seven Sleepers" in [http://books.google.com/books?id=H-k9oc9xsuAC&pg=PA720 Medieval Islamic Civilization], ed  Josef W. Meri, Routledge, 2004, p. 720, ISBN 9780415966900 </ref> His story tells of seven young Christians in Ephesus (an ancient Greek city now situated in modern-day [[Turkey]]), who hide from an evil emperor in a cave, fall into a supernatural sleep for hundreds of years, and awaken to find that their home town has been converted to Christianity.<ref name="Gold">Jacobus de Voragine, Archbishop of Genoa, 1275 First Edition Published 1470. "Seven Sleepers" in [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/goldenlegend/GoldenLegend-Volume4.asp The Golden Legend: Volume IV] <small>([http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fordham.edu%2Fhalsall%2Fbasis%2Fgoldenlegend%2FGoldenLegend-Volume4.asp&date=2013-12-04 archived])</small>.</ref>  

It is well known that the Qur'an contains many stories that were first told in Jewish and Christian communities around the Middle East. This includes [[Parallelism Between the Qur'an and Judeo-Christian Scriptures|apocryphal and legendary tales]] that originated in Syria between the 2^nd and early 7^th century CE. One of the most widespread of these stories was the legend of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus. Popular in both [[Europe]] and the Middle East during medieval times, this story was translated into Latin and found its way into many Christian works of that era. It also became very prominent in the Muslim world because of its inclusion in the Qur'an. After the Renaissance and Enlightenment of the 16^th century, this story fell out of favor and was largely dismissed as mythical. Since the tale is not found in the Bible, it was also rejected by the majority of the world's Christian churches without any theological consequence. The feast day for the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus is no longer observed by the Roman Catholic Church (it is now referred to within the church as a "purely imaginative romance"), and the story today is virtually unknown among the Protestant churches.

*{{external link| url = http://www.answering-islam.org/Quran/Sources/s18.html| title = The Fellows of the Cave| publisher = [[Answering Islam]]| author = | date = | archiveurl = http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.answering-islam.org%2FQuran%2FSources%2Fs18.html&date=2013-12-05| deadurl = no}}

[[Category:Islamic mythology]]