Seven Sleepers of the Cave
The columnist Nazneen Gulamhussein Mukhtar (Arusha, Tanzania) is the headmistress of Yaadgare Murtazawi Madressa, She is a mother to five children and loves writing and reading. She always wanted to inspire children – her favourite audience. Writing has been her passion for as long as she can remember and believes that effective learning takes place through storytelling.
Well children I know you must be wondering how the Ashaabe Kahf managed to get out of the cave. The fact was that they suddenly felt very hungry and they conversed between themselves, saying “We must go and find some food at once” said one “We must have slept for many hours” said the other one “Maybe we slept through the night and a new day has begun” said one.
“I just hope the King and his people are not outside the cave, but we must get out somehow.” Now you can imagine the fact that without being aware of the fact, they had actually slept for at least 300 years and more!
The youths had slept for years and years
They had to stay in the cave due to their fears
In Allah they had complete trust
For them to save their faith was a must
They had slept whilst their hearts were at peace and free
And now as they woke up they felt very hungry!
The stone against the door of the cave was very hard to move, it seemed like an impossible task. The youth looked at one another and then were reminded of a Hadis of the Holy Prophet, that if one had done a good deed only for the sake of Allah (with khulus), and he would pray to Allah for the sake of that deed then his supplication (dua) would be accepted.
So a youth came forward and prayed to Allah, mentioning the good deed he had done only for Allah’s sake. He said
There was a time when we had suffered from famine and drought
A young woman was very hungry and looking for food she went about
She came to the youth and asked for some food
She was needy and alone, the youth understood
So he was ready to take advantage of her state
But the young woman did not agree to the fate
She shivered saying she feared the wrath of Allah
The youth realized and said Astagfirullah!
In this way he helped her for Allah’s sake only
By Allah’s grace the cave opened a tiny bit suddenly
Well, when the cave opened a bit the 7 were thrilled but they knew this was not enough to allow them to go out, so another one from them started praying to Allah and mentioning the good deed which he had done only for Allah’s sake. The youth had Parents who were really old and weak. One night the youth who was a farmer was going to sleep, tired after a hard day of work. As he passed his Parent’s room, his Father woke up and said he was thirsty and wanted some fresh milk. So the youth went out and milked a cow and brought a glass of fresh Milk for his old father, but when he reached he saw that his father was asleep. He thought that if he left his father might wake up and need the drink and he could not disturb his father by waking him up from his sleep, so he stood near the bed the whole night, but his father did not wake up. In the morning he left and did not tell anyone about his good deed. This was something he had done purely for Allah’s sake.
The youth came home tired and wanted to go to bed
His father awoke and asked for milk and forgetting his tiredness he went out instead
He milked the cow and filled a glass with milk warm and sweet
Let me give my old father a good old treat!
But when he reached his father was asleep and snoring
The youth stood awake by his bed tired and yawning
The old man night wake up thirsty he thought
He remained awake all night and with his sleep he fought
Well children, when he mentioned this great deed which he had done only for Allah, the door of the cave opened a tiny bit more, but it was still not wide enough for the 7 to go out. Let us think for a moment, do we do good deeds for Allah’s sake only? Sometimes we recite duas because we want people to note how well we recite and how strong our voice is don’t we? Let us try to do a good deed only for Allah, because
the sawab is truly great. Now when we read Quran we should try to follow what Allah is telling us, and by
making the 7 sleepers an example for us, Allah wants us to follow some of their good acts. I will tell you what happened to make the door open wider next time.
Stay tuned for the next story of Quran is a treasure!
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