HKB
you to any one. Verily if they come up against you, they will stone you, or force you to return to their religion; and then shall ye not prosper forever.
x Lest it should be offensive to them, the cave opening towards the south.1 y i.e., In the midst of it, where they were incommoded neither by the heat of the sun nor the closeness of the cave.2 z Because of their having their eyes open, or their frequent turning themselves from one side to the other.3 a Lest their lying so long on the ground should consume their flesh.4 b This dog had followed them as they passed by him when they fled to the cave, and they drove him away; whereupon GOD caused him to speak, and he said, I love those who are dear unto God; go to sleep therefore, and I will guard you. But some say, it was a dog belonging to a shepherd who followed them, and that the dog followed the shepherd; which opinion is supported by reading, as some do, câlebohom, their dog's master instead of calbohom, their dog.5 Jallalo'ddin adds, that the dog behaved as his masters did, in turning himself, in sleeping, and in waking. The Mohammedans have a great respect for this dog, and allow him a place in paradise with some other favourite brutes; and they have a sort of proverb which they use in speaking of a covetous person, that he would not throw a bone to the dog of the seven sleepers; nay, it is said that they have the superstition to write his name, which they suppose to be Katmîr (though some, as is observed above, think he was called al Rakîm), on their letters which go far, or which pass the sea, as a protection, or kind of talisman, to preserve them from miscarriage.6 c For that GOD had given them terrible countenances; or else because of the largeness of their bodies, or the horror of the place. It is related that the Khalif Moâwiyah, in an expedition he made against Natolia, passed by the cave of the seven sleepers, and would needs send somebody into it, notwithstanding Ebn Abbâs remonstrated to him the danger of it, saying, That a better man than him (meaning the prophet) had been forbidden to enter it, and repeated this verse; but the men the Khaliff sent in had no sooner entered the cave, than they were struck dead by a burning wind.7 d As they entered the cave in the morning, and waked about noon, they at first imagined they had slept half a day, or a day and a half at most; but when they found their nails and hair grown very long, they used these words.8 e Which some commentators suppose was Tarsus.
1 Idem. 2 Idem. 3 Idem. 4 Idem, Jallalo'ddin. 5 Idem. 6 La Roque, Voy. de l'Arabie Heur. p. 74. Vide D'Herbel. ubi sup. 7 Al Beidâwi. 8 Idem.