Seven Sleepers of Ephesus in the Quran: Difference between revisions

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 homilie 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>