Seven Sleepers of Ephesus in the Quran: Difference between revisions

This article discusses the [[Qur'an|Qur'anic]] story of the "[[Companions of the Cave]]" and its relation to a 5^th century [[Syria|Syrian]] [[legends|legend]] called the "Seven Sleepers of Ephesus".

===Legends in the Qur'an===

While it is impossible to know the exact details of how Prophet [[Muhammad]] came to know the story of the Seven Sleepers, we do know that he had ample opportunities during his 62 year life. Muhammad traveled to Syria while he was a caravan trader and he may have heard the story there. Visitors to Mecca would have included Syrian Christians, who would have known this popular story as well. Muhammad's followers also could have related this story after contact with Christian communities near the Mediterranean and in Arabia. In short, there were numerous ways in which this story could have be told to the author of the Qur'an during his lifetime.

== Parallels to the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus==

In the Syrian legend, we are told that there is some doubt about the time the sleepers were in the cave. Apparently, this disagreement among Christians was still an issue in the 7^th century when this story was first told to the early Muslim community. The Qur'an relates that Allah has woken the sleepers as a way to test who could calculate the length of their stay the best.

The author of the Qur'an does not provide a definitive answer for the number of sleepers, stating the possibility that there were three, five, or seven. The Syrian legend clearly and emphatically states in the first sentence that the story is about seven sleepers.   

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^th 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.

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 Day of Judgement. 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.

The Syrian narrative, in its content and structure, is successful in achieving its purpose.  The youths awakening to find that their home town has been converted to Christianity is a compelling ending and the mere existence of the youths provides the affirmation of a bodily resurrection. However, in the Qur'anic narrative the youths awaken to the same 'polytheists' and are only questioned by each other concerning the length of their sleep. There is no argument made for why Allah could not have begotten a son, nor an answer provided for what benefits the youths were meant to gain from their long sleep.

Since it is found within the Qur'an, some Islamic [[apologists]] have tried to defend the historicity of the story.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://quransmessage.com/travelogues/seven%20sleepers%20FM3.htm|title= The Sleepers of the Cave - The Quran, Historical Sources and Observations|publisher= The Quran and its Message|author= Joseph A Islam|date= January 25, 2013|archiveurl= http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fquransmessage.com%2Ftravelogues%2Fseven%2520sleepers%2520FM3.htm&date=2013-12-04|deadurl=no}}</ref> However, there are significant reasons to doubt its historical authenticity. Not only is it scientifically impossible for the human body to live three hundred years but there is evidence that this story may have been invented as a political and theological polemic within the Syrian Christian Church. These facts, along with connections to many pre-existing legends about sleeping heroes, strongly suggest that this story of the Seven Sleepers should be placed in the category of myth and legend.

While the complete story of the Seven sleepers was not first written down until the 6^th century, the story was known in Syria by the middle of the 5^th century.  It is first mentioned by Bishop Stephen of Ephesus (c. 448-451 CE) <ref>{{cite web|url= |title= Ephesus after Antiquity: A Late Antique, Byzantine and Turkish City|publisher= Cambridge University Press|author= Clive Foss|date= 1979|page= 43|archiveurl= |deadurl=no}}</ref> and it is also referenced by Bishop Zachariah of Mitylene (c. 465-536 CE).<ref name="Mitylene"> {{cite web|url= http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/zachariah02.htm|title= Zachariah of Mitylene, Syriac Chronicle: Book II Chapter 1|publisher= M.A. Methuen & Co|author= F. J. Hamilton, D.D. and E. W. Books (trans.)|date= 1899|archiveurl= http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tertullian.org%2Ffathers%2Fzachariah02.htm&date=2013-12-04|deadurl=no}}</ref> During this time period, a number of theological controversies were taking place in Syrian Christian communities.<ref>{{cite web|url= |title= The Church of the Ancient Councils|publisher= Crestwood, New York: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press|author= Peter L’Huillier|date= 1996|pages= 199-201|archiveurl= |deadurl=no}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url= |title= The Acts of the Council of Chalcedon vol. 3|publisher= Liverpool University Press|author=Richard Price and Michael Gaddis|date= 2007|pages= 1-3|archiveurl= |deadurl=no}}</ref> Among these was a debate over the nature of the resurrected body. Called the Origenist controversy, this theological disagreement began in [[Egypt]] during the late 4^th century and by the middle of the 5^th century had spread into Asia Minor. Origenists claimed that the resurrected body of the believer was not the same physical body they had during life. Stephen records that the bishops of his time regarded the miracle of the Seven Sleepers as a divine answer to the controversy. In his work, Zachariah of Mitylene uses the case of the Seven Sleepers as evidence toward defending the orthodox position on the resurrection:

It seems all too convenient that this miracle of physical preservation would suddenly occur right at the height of a theological controversy about the resurrection of the physical body.  This should lead us to be skeptical of the historical nature of these events as it points to the story being invented solely as a polemic for one side in a theological debate.

Located just outside of the ancient city of Ephesus in Turkey, the Grotto is a network of catacombs, tombs, and graves around a cave on the eastern slope of Panayirdag hill.  Archaeological evidence collected in the 1920s CE has verified that some of the tombs at the site in Ephesus date back to the middle of the 5^th century but it also showed that the cave was in use at least two centuries prior. Among the items collected were pottery shards with Christian symbols along with inscriptions on the walls dedicated to to the seven sleepers.  Other pieces of pottery contained images of Greek and Roman gods.<ref name="Honigamann"> Ernest Honigmann, “Stephen of Ephesus and the Legend of the Seven Sleepers,” in Patristic studies (Studi e testi), Biblioteca apostolica vaticana, 1953</ref>  

Located near Amman Jordan, this site has alternatively been identified as the one mentioned in Surah Al Kafh. It was discovered by the Jordanian archaeologist Rafiq Wafa Ad-Dajani in 1963 CE.<ref name="amman">{{cite web|url= http://www.ammancity.gov.jo/en/services/histdetails.asp?id=3|title= Kahf Ahl Al-Kahf (Cave of the Cavemen)|publisher=Greater Amman Municipality|author= |date= accessed December 5, 2013|archiveurl= http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ammancity.gov.jo%2Fen%2Fservices%2Fhistdetails.asp%3Fid%3D3&date=2013-12-05|deadurl=no}}</ref> The cave and tomb have become a tourist destination and the locals refer to it as Al-Raqim, or the cave of the inscription. However, beyond local tradition, there seems to be little that links this site to the story of the Seven Sleepers.   

Numerous other sites, in Muslim countries, have also been offered as possible locations of the cave in the Qur'anic story. In Turkey (Ammuriyag Hadj Hamza: subterranean cave of an ancient Greek convent, and Tarsus; grotto), Syria (Damascus: the Ahl al-Kahf Mosque, with seven qibla in the crypt), Egypt (Cairo: cave of the Maghwari in Moqattam), in North Africa there are numerous sites. This attests to how easy it is to find a cave, cemetery, and religious building situated in the same location.<ref>Geneviève Massignonn, [http://www.dcbuck.com/Articles/Pilgrimage/Pilgrimage.html "The Veneration of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus"], 1963 <small>([http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dcbuck.com%2FArticles%2FPilgrimage%2FPilgrimage.html&date=2013-12-05 archived])</small>.</ref>

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