The People of the Cave, according to many interpreters and historians, lived during the lifetime of a king called "Diqyanus" and they were sons of some nobles or kings. They met on a feast day and saw the rituals their people were performing in worship of the idols. At this very moment, Allah removed the veils from their hearts and they realized hat their people were wrong-doers. Consequently, they deserted the religion of their people and resorted to the worship of Allah Alone. It is also said that each one of them when guided by Allah to the True Religion, abandoned his people and they coincidentally gathered in one place.
Imam Muslim transmitted in his Sahih the following Prophetic Hadith which supports this meaning: Abu Hurairah reported Allah's Messenger (Peace be upon him) as saying: "Souls are troops collected together and those who familiarized with each other (in the heaven from where these come) would have affinity, with one another (in the world) and those amongst them who opposed each other (in the Heaven) would also be divergent (in the world)."
They asked one another about their affair and hence, they agreed on deserting and abandoning their people and fleeing with their true religion.
seven sleepersScholars differed on the location of this cave. Some of them said: It is in the land of Aylah (i.e. Jerusalem). Others said: It is in the land of Ninawa (Iraq). And others said: it is in ash-Sham (Syrian territories).
However, On the sixties, an archeologist called Muhammad Tayseer Zabyan discovered a cave in Jordan, six miles away from Amman, in a region called" Ar-Rajeeb" whose description goes with that which is mentioned in the verses. Sheikh Abu Al-A'la Al-Maududi visited it and agreed with many scholars who viewed the same opinion.
The full Story in the Quran
Allah says:
{Or have you thought that the companions of the cave and the inscription were, among Our signs, a wonder? [Mention] when the youths retreated to the cave and said, "Our Lord, grant us from Yourself mercy and prepare for us from our affair right guidance." So We cast [a cover of sleep] over their ears within the cave for a number of years.
Then We awakened them that We might show which of the two factions was most precise in calculating what [extent] they had remained in time. It is We who relate to you, [O Muhammad], their story in truth. Indeed, they were youths who believed in their Lord, and We increased them in guidance. And We bound [i.e., made firm] their hearts when they stood up and said, "Our Lord is the Lord of the heavens and the earth. Never will we invoke besides Him any deity. We would have certainly spoken, then, an excessive transgression. These, our people, have taken besides Him deities. Why do they not bring for [worship of] them a clear authority? And who is more unjust than one who invents about Allah a lie?"
[The youths said to one another], "And when you have withdrawn from them and that which they worship other than Allah, retreat to the cave. Your Lord will spread out for you of His mercy and will prepare for you from your affair facility." And [had you been present], you would see the sun when it rose, inclining away from their cave on the right, and when it set, passing away from them on the left, while they were [laying] within an open space thereof. That was from the signs of Allah. He whom Allah guides is the [rightly] guided, but he whom He leaves astray – never will you find for him a protecting guide.
And you would think them awake, while they were asleep. And We turned them to the right and to the left, while their dog stretched his forelegs at the entrance. If you had looked at them, you would have turned from them in flight and been filled by them with terror. And similarly, We awakened them that they might question one another. Said a speaker from among them, "How long have you remained [here]?"
They said, "We have remained a day or part of a day." They said, "Your Lord is most knowing of how long you remained. So send one of you with this money of yours to the city and let him look to which is the best of food and bring you provision from it and let him be cautious. And let no one be aware of you. Indeed, if they come to know of you, they will stone you or return you to their religion. And never would you succeed, then – ever."
And We caused them to be found that they [who found them] would know that the promise of Allah is truth and that of the Hour there is no doubt. [That was] when they disputed among themselves about their affair and [then] said, "Construct over them a structure. Their Lord is most knowing about them." Said those who prevailed in the matter, "We will surely take [for ourselves] over them a masjid (mosque)."
They [i.e., people] will say there were three, the fourth of them being their dog; and they will say there were five, the sixth of them being their dog – guessing at the unseen; and they will say there were seven, and the eighth of them was their dog. Say, [O Muhammad], "My Lord is most knowing of their number. None knows them except a few. So do not argue about them except with an obvious argument and do not inquire about them among [the speculators] from anyone."
And never say of anything, "Indeed, I will do that tomorrow," Except [when adding], "If Allah wills." And remember your Lord when you forget [it] and say, "Perhaps my Lord will guide me to what is nearer than this to right conduct."
And they remained in their cave for three hundred years and exceeded by nine. Say, "Allah is most knowing of how long they remained. He has [knowledge of] the unseen [aspects] of the heavens and the earth. How Seeing is He and how Hearing! They have not besides Him any protector, and He shares not His legislation with anyone."} [al-Kahf: 9-26]
This was common in the previous eras and periods prior to Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him). But, Islam rejects this deed (building places of worship over the graves of anyone even if it is a Prophet): the Prophet (Peace be upon him) said:
"May Allah curse the Jews and Christians for they built the places of worship at the graves of their Prophets." The Prophet (Peace be upon him) was warning (Muslims) against what the previous nations used to do with the graves of their pious people.
Abu Hurairah (May Allah be pleased with him) reported Allah's Prophet (Peace be upon him) as saying that "Sulaiman lbn Dawud, the Messenger of Allah, observed: I will have an intercourse with seventy wives during the night; all of them will give birth to a male child who will fight in the cause of Allah. His companion or the angels said to him: Say, "If Allah wills." But he (Sulaiman) did not say so, and he forgot it. And none of his wives gave birth to a child, but one who gave birth to a premature child. Allah's Messenger (Peace be upon him) said: Had he said lnsha'Allah (if Allah so willed), he would not have failed and his desire would have been fulfilled."
