Seven Sleepers of Ephesus in the Quran: Difference between revisions

Seven Sleepers of Ephesus in the Quran (view source)

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 The Syrian account identifies the Emperor persecuting the seven young men as Trajan Decius, who reigned from 249 - 251 CE.  Since the story first originated around the middle of the 5<sup>th</sup> century (circa 450 CE) a sleep of 200 years would be the more accurate number.  Given this connection, some Islamic apologists have back-peddled on the number of 300 given in the Qur'an, re-interpreting it as a number given by the people at the time and not a definitive number given by Allah.
+===Summary===
+It is obvious that these two accounts are telling the same story. They are virtually identical in the events they describe and both contain striking similarities in key details. Both story mention youths, a cave, a long sleep, buying bread with coins, and the promise of the resurrection. Since the Syrian legend pre-dates the Qur'anic story by almost two centuries, it should be clear that the author of the Qur'an is simply retelling the Syrian story.  The Qur'an even suggests in verse 18:9 that the audience is familiar with the story as they should have already "reflected" upon it.
+==Differences==
 ===Vagueness of the Qur'an===
 While there are many similarities between the two stories, the author of the Qur'an seems to be unclear on a few details. He refuses to give an exact number of sleepers, instead giving a vague range of numbers and says that only Allah knows the right number. He is not specific on the time frame, offering a number of years but nothing definitive. He does not mention any names, fails to mention where these events took place, and does not state when this story happened. This evidence suggests that the author was only vaguely familiar with the story and may have heard it shortly before he recited it.
-===Summary===
-It is obvious that these two accounts are telling the same story. They are virtually identical in the events they describe and both contain striking similarities in key details. Both story mention youths, a cave, a long sleep, buying bread with coins, and the promise of the resurrection. Since the Syrian legend pre-dates the Qur'anic story by almost two centuries, it should be clear that the author of the Qur'an is simply retelling the Syrian story.  The Qur'an even suggests in verse 18:9 that the audience is familiar with the story as they should have already "reflected" upon it.
 ==Historicity==