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4. PIOUS PEOPLE’S DU‘Ā (SUPPLICATION) IN THE QUR’ĀN (3) Among other groups of pious people whose supplications are mentioned in the Qur’ān are: the people of the Cave ()أَصْ َحابُُ ْال َكهْف d. The people of the cave were people who took refuge in a cave escaping from the persecution of their rulers for their belief. They fell asleep for over 300 solar years (309 lunar years). This story was told in the Qur’ān as the Prophet’s answer requested by alNaḍr ibn al-Ḥārith and ‘Uqbah ibn Abī Mu‘īṭ suggested by the Jewish rabbis in Madinah to test him. The rabbis told them: “Ask him about three things which we will tell you to ask, and if he answers them then he is a Prophet who has been sent by Allah; if he does not, then he is saying things that are not true… Ask him about some men in ancient times, what was their story, for there was a strange and wondrous tale (i.e. “People of the Cave”), about a man who travelled extensively and reached the east and the west of the earth (i.e., Dhū ’l-Qarnayn), and about the Rūḥ (soul or spirit).” When they asked the Prophet, he told them: “I will tell you tomorrow about what you have asked me,” but he did not say in shā’ Allāh (“If Allah wills”). For this, Allah delayed giving the answer through Jibrīl (Gabriel). Fifteen days had passed, and Jibrīl did not come to tell him stories they had asked him. This grieved him, as the Makkan people started doubting him. Eventually, Jibrīl came and the Prophet complained for his delay. Gabriel told him that it was up to Allah when he should come. This was a lesson for us to say in shā’ Allāh (“If Allah wills”) before we start doing something. Jibrīl told him about the young men who fled from the persecution of their pagan king for their belief in Allah and took refuge inside a cave. Like the story of Prophet Yūsuf (Joseph) a.s. and many other stories in the Qur’ān, the names of people and places in them were not given, as it is a book of guidance and awakening, not a book of history.