Yunus (Jonah) (PUH) : The prophets who were sent not to his own clan but to the people of Nineveh

They mentioned that God sent him to the people of Nineveh and it is a village that belongs to Al-Mosul in Iraq, and it is also an agricultural village near Kufa and it is now beside the shrine of Al-Husain the son of the prince of believers, the martyt of Karbala, may greetings and blessings be upon them who fell there and peace, and Yunus ben Mattâ's (Jonah ben Amittai) story was told by God in many chapters in His holy book, in Al-Nisâ', Al-An`âm, Yunus, Al-Anbiyâ', Al-Sâffât, Al-Qalam..etc. He is also the man of the whale and Dhu'n-Nun [Arabic: Nun = Whale], and perhaps he is one of the Israelites and nothing is known about him except that he is the son of Amittai as it was mentioned in narrations and interpretations. As it was mentioned, he was sent to the people of Nineveh and he was thirty years old that time and they counted as many as one hundred thousand or more, and some said one hundred and thirty thousand, and he lived with them for thirty three years calling them all the time for God and to obey Him and none did answer except of two men, a worshipper and a scholar, and the worshipper's name was Melikha and the scholar's name was Rubeel, and he (Rubeel) was a man from the house of knowledge and prophecy with wisdom and he was an old friend for Jonah before God sent him with prophecy, and Melikha, or Tenukha was a weak man, a woshipper that worships all his time and had no knowledge nor wisdom, and Rubeel was a shepherd and Tenukha was a wood-cutter, and Rubeel had a place near Jonah another than that of Tenukha for his wisdom and his old friendship.

The people of Nineveh were extremely tyrant and Jonah wanted to pray against them, and the worshipper pointed out that he (Jonah) must pray against them and the scholar forbade him and said: God doesn't like to destroy His slaves even if they were disbelievers and they are appointed to the doomsday and their reward would be in hell, and they are in this life reproducing and working on earth and others are having benefits with their works and their crafts and God wants to give time to His servants, and God shall answer your pray upon them and they have among them the handicapped and the children, and by their destruction animals would be so also and the whole land would be destroyed by the destruction of servants. It is mentioned that he (Jonah) didn't listen to him and was not convinced, and the worshipper was insisting on praying against them, and then he prayed against them to be destroyed and God answered his prays in a special time that was appointed by Him and that was after forty days after the pray and after warning them, and perhaps his pray was on the fifteenth of Ramadhan [9th month in lunar calendar], and it is mentioned that the day of the punishment was to be on wednesday in the middle of Shawwâl [10th month in the lunar calendar] and he foretold them about it, but they didn't care about it, but the scholar remained between them and warned them against God's wrath, and when it was the time, Jonah and the worshipper went out of the village waiting for the punishment to be done, and when the signs of the punishment appeared, the scholar ordered them to repent and be faithful and to go out from the village with humiliation and crying for God, and to separate children from their mothers and animals from their offsprings and to cry to God to forgive them, and they did all that and the scholar was with them in all of their conditions, and at the appointed time, the punishment was revealed as a yellow wind the came from the east while they were sitting as we described before, and the punishment turned around over their heads and then spreaded in the mountains and they were saved from the punishment.

And in the second day, thursday the sixteenth of Shawwâl from that year, Jonah and the worshipper Melikha came to see what happened to them and they saw them in the best conditions and nothing was done to them, and for this they say that God never stopped a punishment except for the folk of Jonah, and Jonah used to call them back to the faith but they refuse and he prayed against them and his pray was answered but then it was avoided for what we mentioned before, and then Jonah went out with anger and reached the seashore and saw a ship with a cargo that was near the land so he asked its owners to carry him with them and they answered him and made him ride with them, and when the ship moved and been in the middle of the sea, a large whale appeared for them in front of the ship and blocked its sailing and Jonah moved from his place to the other side and found out that the whale was opening his mouth and wants to swallow him and Jonah ran away with fear, and they said that someone in the ship shouted out and said: one who did a sin let him show himself, but none did answer him and then they made a lot and the arrow pointed at Jonah and they were sure that he was the sinner so he threw himself into the sea and the whale swallowed him, so God said: And lo! Jonah verily was of those sent (to warn), When he fled unto the laden ship, And then drew lots and was of those rejected; And the fish swallowed him while he was blameworthy; And had he not been one of those who glorify (Allah), He would have tarried in its belly till the day when they are raised; Then We cast him on a desert shore while he was sick; And We caused a tree of gourd to grow above him; And We sent him to a hundred thousand (folk) or more, And they believed, therefor We gave them comfort for a while(Al-Sâffât:139-148).

It is probable that the whale casted him on a desert shore as it is shown in the holy phrase, and it is the land of no plants and for this God planted for him a gourd tree to shade him against the sun's heat because he was casted while he was sick, and he was swallowed while he was angry and confused so he is considered a sick as well, and he remained in the billy of the whale for three days, and some said nine hours, and others said seven days..etc. They say that Jonah was delighted for the gourd tree and out of sudden there were an insect that were eating its base so it dried out and the wind carried it away and he was sad for this, and then a call from God came saying: are you sorry for a gourd that doesn't care of itself and the Creator wouldn't care about a village made of one hundred thousand or so that He wants to guide them from their wrong-doing and likes to avoid them from His punishment? Then God sent him back to them and they believed in him and they enjoyed the life for some time.

and Jonah for the people of the Scriptures [meaning jews and christians] is called Yonan ben Amittai [in Hebrew he is called Yonah, so the name seems in Aramaic], and he had a book with advices and regulations, and included in it that God ordered him to go to Nineveh because their evil is growing, and so then Yonan went to escape to a village called Tarshish and so he stayed in Yâfâ (Yafo) and there he found a ship that would sail to Tarshish, so when the ship sailed while he was on it, God sent a severe wind that made the ship almost sinking with everyone on it, and everyone of them was calling his god while Yonan was sleeping in the base of the ship so they woke him up and they made a lot to know who was the reason of the anger of God and the lot pointed to him and then he told them about his story and they wanted to go back to the shore but they couldn't, so he pointed out for them to throw him into the sea so that the anger of God may fled away from them, and they did so and a great whale swallowed him then the sea calmed down after, and the content is almost the same for the truth for which was founded in interpretations and history.

Then, most of what was mentioned of stories and opinions are from the Israelites and some of what was mentioned in them is against what was mentioned in Quran, and they mentioned whatever seemed right in their opinions and ornamented what they understood and manipulated of clues that they hanged on and whoever is interested in their sayings let him check their books, and in the chapter of Al-Qalam it was said to the prophet (PUH): But wait thou for thy Lord's decree, and be not like him of the fish, who cried out in despair, Had it not been that favour from his Lord had reached him he surely had been cast into the wilderness while he was reprobate, But his Lord chose him and placed him among the righteous(Al-Qalam:48-50). In another chapter: If only there had been a community (of all those that were destroyed of old) that believed and profited by its belief as did the folk of Jonah! When they believed We drew off from them the torment of disgrace in the life of the world and gave them comfort for a while(Yunus:98), and what is understood from the holy phrase is that the previous nations that disbelieved in God, when a punishment was revealed on them, their faith would be useless except for the folk of Jonah for their faith was of benefit for them when the punishment was revealed upon them and God carried it away from them, and also God said: And (mention) Dhu'n-Nun, when he went off in anger and deemed that We had no power over him, but he cried out in the darkness, saying: There is no Allah save Thee. Be Thou Glorified! Lo! I have been a wrong-doer, Then we heard his prayer and saved him from the anguish. Thus we save believers(Al-Anbiyâ':87-88).

The meaning is, and only God knows, in God's saying "deemed that We had no power over him" that he deemed that God will relief him when he goes out from his people and he wouldn't have to tell his message, as in His saying: But whenever He trieth him by straitening his means of life, he saith: My Lord despiseth me(Al-Fajr:16), and "cried out in the darkness" [note that darkness has no plural in English but in Arabic it has and the plural is mentioned in the holy phrase], means the darkness of the night and the darkness of the sea and the darkness in the billy of the whale so they are three levels of darkness, and when he went off in anger, he had anger against his people and for God because they were tyrants and stubborn and forbid him to had have anger against God! how come and he is the infallible prophet and avoided from doing anything against obeying God, and he is a holy prophet that can't deem wrongly about his Creator according to the justice and the Godly wisdom, or even claim that He is not able to deal with him or with others, but everyone is under His rule without a doubt and everything against this should be interpreted in a right way, in opposition to the ideas of some ignorants who said that he was angry against God and for this he was punished and rejected and swallowed by the whale. No doubt that such thing and such ideas do oppose the idea of infallibility and suggests that he didn't know the power and the ability of God in such a way that he would not be forgiven for, and this is as it is said in the tales of Abdul-Wahâb (Al-Najjâr).

We say that there are levels for the gifts and characteristics for the prophets and for the viceroys and also the believers, so they are different in the levels of their good nature like patience, how much they depend on God, complete satisfaction and the presence of mind, and all infallible people that gather around the faith of God share the complete knowledge of His greatness and His will with His mercy and forgiveness and how can He punish the rebellious people, and people in such things do differ in every manner and the difference between them is necessary such as the difference in their faces and shapes and their ages and their possessions and their children and their understanding and so on of such things in deep inside or in obvious for every man of a brain that is able to think and differentiate, and God made them different for purposes that only He knows, so Jonah ben Amittai doesn't have what Moses and Job had of patience and not what Abraham had of dependance on God and no prophet has what is for the beloved to God, Muhammad ben `Abdullah may peace be upon him and on his Household, from all the characteristics and describtions. It is probable then that Jonah (PUH) was weaker than other prophets in such a way that does not conflict with the state of infallibility. So, he called his people for thirty three years as it was told and they didn't listen to him and didn't care about him so he got bored of them and he prayed against them and then got out of their lands because of their bad treatment with him. Then he was tested by being thrown into the sea and being swallowed by the whale, but his faith didn't shake and the connection to his God was not cut and he never stopped to serve his Lord, and he was sanctifying God while he was inside the whale and fearing His punishment and saw nothing but God and seeking no one but Him, and he feared God so much that no one can imagine how much it was, so may peace be upon him and on our prophet and his Household.

As attributed to Al-Bâqir (PUH) he said: Jonah ben Amittai went away from his people and then got back to them with prophecy and a message and they believed in him for four weeks, then he (PUH) said: the punishment arrived on wednesday in the middle of Shawwâl [10th month in lunar calendar] and the punishment also went away from them in the same day, so then Jonah went away with anger on thursday so it took him seven days to reach the sea and then spent seven days inside the whale, and spent seven days under the tree in the desert and then it took him seven days to get back to his people, so the total period of time for his going and coming was twenty eight days, and then he came to them and they believed in him and followed him, and for this God did say: If only there had been a community (of all those that were destroyed of old) that believed and profited by its belief as did the folk of Jonah! When they believed We drew off from them the torment of disgrace in the life of the world and gave them comfort for a while(Younus:98).

Also attributed to Al-Bâqir (PUH): the punishment was revealed upon the folk of Jonah so that they were able to touch it by their spears, so then they wore garments and wools and put robes in their necks and the ashes upon their heads and all of them shouted with one voice to their Lord and said: we believed in the God of Jonah, and then God gave them a relief and pushed the punishment away from them up to the mountains, and in the morning Jonah went to them and he thought that they were doomed but he found them in a good situation, so he got angry and got out until he got into a ship with two men, and then the ship faced storms and the captain said: O folks! my ship has a wanted man, and then Jonah said: I am the one, and he stood up to throw himself and he saw then the fish opening its mouth and he got afraid and the two men stopped him and said to him: you are alone and we are two men, and they made a lot and the arrow pointed to him, and at that time the law was that if the arrow pointed three times in the same direction then it cannot be wrong, and so he threw himself and the whale swallowed him and it journeyed with him the seven seas up to the "sea kept filled" and there Korah is being tortured..etc. ["sea kept filled" or "the filled sea" is a name used in Quran in the chapter of Al-Toor(6) for a sea. Could it be the Mediterranean?]

There is also some tidings concerning the father of Jonah, and he is the one called Amittai, and as attributed to Al-Sâdiq (PUH) he said: once David (PUH) said: O Lord tell me who is my companion in heaven, and then God inspired to him: that is Amittai, the fahter of Jonah, he (PUH) continued: then he had a permission from God to visit him, so he went out with his son Solomon until they reached his house, and found out that it was made of palm leaves, and people told them that he (Amittai) is in the market, and they asked for him there and people told them to go to the carpenters, and then they asked for him there and they were told that they are waiting for him to come back, so they sat down waiting for him with the others and then he showed up with a bundle of woods upon his head, and then the people went to him and took off the woods from him, so he thanked God and said: whoever is willing to buy a perfume from me with an exchange of another? So then one man nagotiated the price and another increased the price and so on until he bought it from someone, and then they (David and Solomon) greeted him and he said to them: let's go home, and then he bought food with what he got and then he ground it and kneaded it into a paste and put it then into the fire and he sat talking with them, and then he got his bread when it was made and he broke it into halves and spreaded some salt on it and on his side he put a water carrier, and he sat on his knees and took a piece, and when he put it into his mouth he said: by the name of God, and when he swallowed it he said: thank be to God, and so he did until he finished, and then he took the water and drank with mentioning God's name and when he finished he said: thank be to God, O Lord, whom did You give him what You gave to me? You fixed my vision and hearing and my body and made me strong so that I went to a tree that I didn't plant and didn't care about, and You made it for my living, and You made someone to buy it from me and then I bought with its price some food that I didn't plant, and You made me the fire so that it was cooked so well and You made me eat with desire so that I can be able to obey You, so thanks be to You, and then he cried. Then said David to Solomon: O son, let's go, for I didn't see someone that thank God as much as this man, and they got back from where they came. So may peace and prays of God be upon our prophet and his Household and upon them as well and thank be to God the Lord of the worlds. 

source : The Prophets, Their Lives and Their Stories

Allah s.w.t. berkuasa dalam merencanakan sesuatu kejadian

Suratul Baqarah ayat 67-74

67. Dan(ingatlah), ketika nabi Musa berkata kepada kaumnya: " Sesungguhnya Allah menyuruh kamu menyembelih seekor lembu betina". Mereka berkata :"Adakah kamu mahu menjadikan kami bahan ejekan?". Nabi Musa menjawab : " Aku berlindung kepada Allah agar tidak menjadi salah seorang daripada orang-orang yang jahil".

68. Mereka menjawab :" Mohonkanlah kepada Tuhanmu untuk kami agar Dia menerangkan kepada kami tentang apakah lembu betina itu".Nabi Musa menjawab :"Sesungguhnya Allah berfirman bahawa lembu betina yang tidak tua dan tidak pula muda iaitu pertengahan antara itu, maka lakukanlah apa yang diperintahkan kepadamu".

69. Mereka berkata: " Mohonkanlah kepada Tuhanmu untuk kami agar Dia menerangkan kepada kami apakah warnanya". Nabi Musa menjawab: "Sesungguhnya Allah berfirman bahawa lembu betina itu adalah lembu betina yang bunting yang kuning, yang kuning tua warnanya lagi menyenangkan orang-orang yang memandangnya".

70. Mereka berkata : Mohonkanlah kepada Tuhanmu untuk kami agar Dia menerangkan kepada kami bagaimana hakikat lembu betina kerana sesungguhnya lembu itu(masih) samar bagi kami dan sesungguhnya kami Insya Allah akan mendapat petunjuk (untuk memperolehi lembu itu).

71. Nabi Musa berkata :" Sesungguhnya Allah berfirman bahawa lembu betina itu adalah lembu betina yang belum pernah digunakan untuk membajak tanah dan tidak pula untuk mengairi air, tidak cacat, tidak berbelang". Mereka berkata : "Sekarang barulah kamu menerangkan hakikat lembu betina yang sebenarnya". Kemudian mereka menyembelihnya dan hampir saja mereka tidak melaksanakan perintah itu".

72. Dan (ingatlah), ketika kamu membunuh seorang manusia lalu kamu saling tuduh menuduh tentang itu. Dan Allah hendak menyingkapkan apa yang selama ini kamu sembunyikan.

73. Lalu Kami berfirman:"Pukullah mayat itu dengan sebahagian anggota lembu betina itu!". Demikianlah Allah menghidupkan kembali orang-orang yang telah mati, dan memperlihatkan padamu tanda-tanda kekuasaanNya agar kamu mengerti.

74. Kemudian setelah itu hatimu menjadi keras seperti batu, bahkan lebih keras lagi. Padahal dicelah batu-batu itu memang ada yang mengalir sungai-sungai daripadanya dan dicelahnya  memang ada yang terbelah lalu keluarlah mata air daripadanya dan dicelahnya memang ada yang meluncur jatuh kerana takut kepada Allah. Dan Allah sekali-kali tidak lupa daripada apa yang kamu kerjakan.

Pembunuhan.....kesusahan....

Pada zaman nabi Musa telah berlaku satu jenayah pembunuhan dalam kalangan bani Israel. Pembunuh tidak diketahui dan masing-masing mempertahankan diri daripada mengaku salah dalam masalah pembunuhan ini. Ini menyebabkan mereka saling menuduh antara satu sama lain dalam masalah ini. Untuk menyelesaikan masalah ini, mereka telah menemui nabi Musa. Nabi Musa telah memohon kepada Allah agar Dia membuka rahsia tentang pembunuhnya yang sebenar. Allah telah mewahyukan kepada nabi Musa supaya memerintah kepada bani Israel untuk menyembelih seekor lembu betina tetapi Dia tidak menerangkan secara jelas mengenai keadaan dan sifat sebenar lembu tersebut. Sekiranya mereka menerima penerangan mengenai lembu itu secara terperinci kemungkinan besar mereka akan terus melaksanakannya.

Tetapi memang telah menjadi sikap dan sifat yahudin iaitu sentiasa mencanggah dan mahu lari daripada tanggungjawab yang diperintahkan oleh Allah. Mereka telah bertanya kepada nabi Musa tentang umur lembu betina itu. Nabi Musa menjelaskan bahawa lembu itu tidak tua iaitu pertengahan antara keduanya. Kemudian mereka bertanya pula tentang warnanya dan nabi Musa memberitahu mereka bahawa lembu itu berwarna kekuningan iaitu kuning tua yang menyejukkan mata memandang.

Mereka terus bertanya mengenai pekerjaan lembu itu dan nabi Musa terus menyatakan bahawa lembu itu amat disayangi oleh tuannya, tidak pernah digunakan untuk membajak tanah mahu pun mengairi air. Akhirnya setelah berpuas hati dengan keterangan yang diberikan ole nabi Musa barulah mereka melaksanakan apa yang telah disuruh walau pun pada mulanya mereka hampir tidak ingin melaksanakannya.

Kemudian nabi Musa menyuruh mereka supaya memukul tubuh mayat lelaki yang dibunuh itu dengan sebahagian daripada lembu betina yang disembelih tadi. Mereka melaksanakannya dan tiba-tiba dengan kuasa Allah mayat tadi hidup apabila ditiupkan oleh Allah ruh. Mayat yang dihidupkan semula oleh Allah itu terus menerangkan mengenai pembunuhnya yang sebenar. Setelah menerangkan segala-galanya maka dia dimatikan semula oleh Allah. Golongan bani Israel yang menyaksikan peristiwa ini merasa begitu takjub dan kehairanan. Begitulah antara kuasa Allah yang Maha Berkuasa di dalam membuat sesuatu walau pun ia berkaitan dengan perkara yang pelik.

Tawakal....kesenangan

Al-Syeikh Sya’rawi melalui tafsirnya menyatakan bahawa di sana terdapat seorang lelaki Bani Israel yang salih yang mencari rezeki yang halal dengan penuh keimanan. Ketika hampir menemui ajalnya, beliau hanya memiliki seekor anak lembu betina sedangkan beliau mempunyai isteri dan anak yang masih kecil. Apa yang patut dilakukan dengan hanya memiliki anak lembu betina.

Akhirnya beliau menghadap Allah seraya berdoa, “Ya Allah, aku simpankan anak lembu betina ini kepadamu untuk anak kecilku ini.” Kemudian dilepaskan anak lembu tersebut  ke sebuah ladang tanpa mewasiatkan kepada seseorang pun kecuali menyerah kepada Allah. Apabila anak tersebut besar, kata ibunya, “Ayahmu dahulu pernah meninggalkan pada kamu simpanan di sisi Allah, iaitu anak lembu betina.” Lantas ditanya di mana mungkin didapatinya. Jawab ibunya, “Jadilah seperti ayahmu yang bertawakkal untuk simpan kepada Allah. Begitulah kamu bertawakal untuk minta kepada Allah.”

Selepas anak tersebut berdoa, tiba-tiba datang lembu tersebut, diambilnya untuk ditunjuk kepada ibunya. Ketika berjalan, kaum Bani Israel melihatnya seraya berkata, “Inilah lembu yang kita cari yang dituntut oleh Tuhan.” Mereka menawarkan dengan tiga dinar. Jawab si anak yang salih ini, “Saya perlu bertanya ibu dahulu.” Mereka merasa bimbang lantas menawarkan pula dengan enam dinar. Jawab ibu tersebut, “Ia tidak dijual.” Akhirnya, selepas ditawar, lantas berkatalah anak itu, “Saya tidak akan menjualnya kecuali dipenuhi pada belulangnya dengan emas.” Mereka terpaksa melaksanakan kehendak anak tersebut.

Allah adalah sebaik-baik pentadbir...dia yang menyusun tiap-tiap suatu perjalanan hidup...pemberi nikmat juga hakim yang adil....kisah ini adalah merupakan iktibar kepada manusia yakin kepada kekuasaan Allah s.w.t....

Source : Al-Quran Nur Qarim, Qishasyul Anbiya

People of The Cave and The Inscription (Seven Sleepers of Ephesus)

God said: Or deemest thou that the People of the Cave and the Inscription are a wonder among Our portents? When the young men fled for refuge to the Cave and said: Our Lord! Give us mercy from Thy presence, and shape for us right conduct in our plight(Al-Kahf:90-10), and then: And (it is said) they tarried in their Cave three hundred years and add nine(Al-Kahf:25). The most famous narration is that the people of the cave were seven and the eighth was there dog and they are from a roman city that was called Aqsus (Ephesus) and they had a good king but he died and they got weak and differ among themselves after that, and then a king from Persia that was called Daqyânus [Decius, Dacius] arrived with one hundred thousand soldiers and invaded Ephesus and made it as a capital for him and built a castle that got an area of a league by league and built in that castle a court that was one thousand cubit by one thousand cubit of area and all made of glass. The talk about that is long and no need to mention it here for no use of it but to take what is required for this matter, and some of what they said is that in the castle there were four thousand golden cylinders and one thousand lamps made of gold and connected with chains made of silver, and he made for himself a golden bed with its legs made of silver and spotted with jewels and to his left and right he made chairs made of gold and silver for the scholars and the priests and the rulers and workers and also he had servants and made them wear the silky clothes and made crowns for them and made them stand over his head with golden columns whenever he wanted to sit in his court, and he chose six servants as ministers for himself and made three of them to his right and three of them to his left and the names of them were: Tamlikhâ (Malcus), Mixelmina (Maximian), Martoolus (Martinian), Ninonus (John?), Sârinus (Saraphim) and Daryunus (Dionysius?), and he used to ask for their advice in most of his matters and they were so close to him, and he made them above all for certain characteristics that they had and no one did, and then there is a long story about the conditions of this king with amazing and weird matters showing how tyrant he was and how arrogant. It is told by the prince of believers (PUH) by the way of the prophet (PUH) as been told by the Archangel (Gabriel) (PUH) as said by God, and this narration was told by the way of Ibn `Abbâs and it was at the time of the first caliphate [first caliphate was Abu-Bakr] when a group of jewish rabbis came to him and asked him about the keys of heaven and what are they, and who warned his people and it wasn't of people nor djinn, and five things that walked upon the face of earth and weren't created in the wombs, and some other stuff. The narrator said: the principle knocked down his head and appointed the prince of believers, `Ali ben Abi-Tâlib (PUH) to answer the questions and he did answer them according to what was mentioned in their Torah, and after each answer he did ask them: isn't that mentioned in your Torah? and they said: yes it is as you mentioned exactly, and one of the questions was about the people of the cave and the inscription and about their king and their land and their names and what were their jobs and what was their end and how it was with them when they left their jobs and got out of their land, and the prince of believers (PUH) answered all of that with details until they got amazed for it was exactly as it was mentioned in their Torah, and some of it was: and when the king looked at what God gave him, he turned to be a tyrant and called himself a god instead of the true God, and called for that all of his nobles so whoever obeyed him he would give him gifts and whoever denied so he would kill him.

He made for them in each year a festival, and while it was their festival and the priests were on his right and the rulers to his left, they told him that the persians are invading and the sadness got him badly that the crown fell down from his head, and then Tamlikhâ (Malcus) looked at him and he was one of the three men to his right and then he said to himself: if Dacius was a god as he claims then he shouldn't be sad and wouldn't be afraid and wouldn't eat or drink and wouldn't sleep even, and those things are not deeds of a god, and those six ministers used to gather everyday in a place that belongs to one of them whenever Dacius didn't need them and at that time they were in Malcus's place having something to eat, and he said to them: O brothers, there is something in my heart that kept me away from drinking and eating, and they said to him then: and what is that? he then said to them: I've looked for long time into the sky and I asked who did build it and lift it up high without pillars and without something to hang it with, and who made a sun and moon to run in it and who did ornament it with stars, and then I looked to earth and thought about it for long time and I asked who did make it plane over the waters and who kept it with mountains and I thought for long time about myself and asked who did made me out of my mother's womb as a child and who did feed me and who did make me grow, those things have another maker other than the king Dacius. After he spoke these words, they fell down over his legs kissing them and said: by you God had guided us so then tell us what to do? Then Malcus got up and sell some fruit from his own garden by three thousand coins and he put them into a bag and they went up their horses and got out of the city, and when they were away for three miles, Malcus said to them: O brothers, the after-life came and the ornaments of life are gone, get off your horses and walk by your legs may God give you a relief, so then they got off and walked for seven leagues until a shepherd met them and they said to him: would you give us some milk or water, and then the shepherd said to them: I have what you like, but I see that your faces like those of kings and I think you are running away from Dacius, and he asked many times until they made him to promise, and they told him their story and he fell down on their legs kissing them and he told them that he felt in his heart what they felt in his heart, and then he got the sheeps back to their owners and he came back with a dog following him. Then the one asking the prince of believers (PUH) asked: O `Ali what was the name of the dog and what was his color? Then said the prince of believers (PUH): the dog was white with some black spots and his name was Qatmeer, and then the men feared that the dog would make them obvious for others by his barking and they threw stones on him and then God made the dog speak and he said to them: let me guard you against your enemies. Then they went along until they reached a cave that was called Al-Waseed, and inside the cave there were some trees and springs, so they ate from the fruit and drank some of the water and night came over and they remained in the cave and the dog at the cave's entry, and God then commanded the angel of death to take out their souls and commanded some angels to flip them to the left and right, and it is a long story and Quran mentioned in brief the main points of it.

In general, Dacius then checked them out and asked about them and he had been told that they escaped away, so he went after their traces until he reached the cave and he saw them lying like dead he built the door of the cave and blocked it and said: if I wanted to punish them more I would be able to punish them more than what they had punished themselves. Then they remained like that for three hundred and nine years as it was told by Quran, and then God resurrected them and they found the spring dry as well as the trees and they were amazed for that and hunger overtook them, and Malcus went then to bring some food for them and they were afraid that anyone else would be captured, so he wore the clothes of the shepherd so that no one would identify him, and when he reached the city he saw many things changed and saw many roads that he didn't see before and he saw a flag that was written on it "La Ilaha Illa Allah, 'Eesâ Rasool Allah" (No god but God, Jesus is the prophet of God). Then he went into the city and went to a baker and asked him about the city's name and he answered: Aqsus (Ephesus), then he asked about the king and he answered: his name is `Abdul-Rahmân, and then he paid for him one coin for the bread and the man was amazed for its weight and shape. Then they took Malcus and got him into the king's court and he told the king about his story and that his friends are in the cave and the people got amazed and started to kiss his hands and feet, and then they went to the cave and before reaching it, Malcus went into the front so that his folks won't get scared and think that their enemies reached them, and when he told them the story they said: O Malcus, want to make us an argument for the worlds? Then they chose that God would take their souls and so they prayed for that and He answered their prayers and He knocked down the entry of the cave against people, and then the faithful king came with group of people and built a mosque (temple, church) over that place.Then said the prince of believers (PUH) to the rabbi that asked: does it coincide with what was mentioned in your Torah? and he answered: you didn't add a letter nor neglected a letter and I testify that no other god but God and that Muhammad is His servant and His prophet. That was the end of the narration as it was mentioned exactly for sometimes and by the general meaning for other times. Also, the prince of believers (PUH) did visit them with a group of people and a group of the prophet's folks and he did so by a command from the prophet (PUH) and he spoke to them and they spoke to him and he asked them and they did ask him and he told them the greets of the prophet (PUH) as it was told in some narrations that were told by trusted scholars, and Al-Þa`labi mentioned that in his interpretations and he mentioned as well miracles of the prophet (PUH) and of the prince of believers (PUH). And as attirbuted to Al-Sâdiq (PUH) that he said that the people of the cave kept their faith a secret and showed their disbelieving so their reward for showing the disbelieving was greater than keeping the faith as a secret.

As for the inscription, as attributed to `Ali ben Ibrahim that they were two boards of copper that was written on them the story of the men and what Dacius wanted from them and how was their end. Some said that Al-Raqeem (The Inscription) was the name of the valley that had that cave. Some said that it was the name of the village that they went out from. Some said that the people of Al-Raqeem (The Inscription) are those three people  that went into a cave and it was blocked by a stone and they were saved by saying the best of their deeds and those three are different from the men of Dacius with the shepherd that joined them. Quran didn't mention them but history and the narrations told by the Household pointed out for their existance. As attributed to Al-Sâdiq (PUH) that he said: three people went out wandering on the lands and while they were worshipping God in a cave in a mountain, suddenly there showed up a rock that fell down and blocked the cave, so some of them said: O servants of God, by God nothing will save you from this unless you mention what you did purely for the sake of God, and then everyone of them started to mention what they did purely for the sake of God, and when all of them said what they have, God then made a relief for them and the rock was removed from the cave's entry by the power of their faith, and it was another story, and thanks be to God the One who brings success.

 source : The Prophets, Their Lives and Their Stories