The Cave
In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.[18:12]
Then We roused them, in order to test which of the two parties was best at
calculating the term of years they had tarried!
* v.12 : Roused them: or raised them up from their sleep or whatever condition they had fallen into (xviii, 18), so that they began to perceive the things around them, but only with the memories of the time at which they had ceased to be in touch with the world.
* When they awoke to consciousness, they had lost all count of time. Though they had all entered together, and lain together in the same place for the same length of time, their impressions of the time they had passed were quite different. Time is thus related to our own internal experiences. We have to learn the lesson that men as good as ourselves may yet differ as to their reactions to certain facts, and that in such matters disputes are unseemly. It is best to say. "Allah knows best" (xviii. 19).