لو خُيِّرتَ بين أن تبقى في بيتك بين أهلك وتخفي ما تؤمن به، وبين أن تخرج وحدك إلى مكان لا تعرفه ولا تعرف متى ترجع منه… ماذا تختار؟ في قصة اليوم فتية صغار وقفوا أمام هذا الاختيار بالضبط، وما اختاروه غيّر حياتهم ثلاثة قرون.
﴿إِنَّهُمْ فِتْيَةٌ آمَنُوا بِرَبِّهِمْ وَزِدْنَاهُمْ هُدًى﴾ — فتية، أي شباب صغار في السنّ. كانوا يعيشون في مدينة يُعبد فيها غير الله، وملكُها يجبر الناس على ذلك ولا يقبل منهم غيره. ولم يكن لهم أهل يحمونهم، ولا قوة يدفعون بها عن أنفسهم. وكانوا يعرفون أن أمرهم إن ظهر لم يُتركوا. وهذا هو الموقف الذي اجتمعوا فيه.
فاجتمعوا وقالوا كلمة واحدة حسمت كل شيء: ﴿رَبُّنَا رَبُّ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ لَن نَّدْعُوَ مِن دُونِهِ إِلَٰهًا﴾. ثم قال بعضهم لبعض: ﴿وَإِذِ اعْتَزَلْتُمُوهُمْ وَمَا يَعْبُدُونَ إِلَّا اللَّهَ فَأْوُوا إِلَى الْكَهْفِ﴾ — أي ما دمتم قد فارقتموهم فالجأوا إلى الكهف. فخرجوا من بيوتهم ومن مدينتهم كلها، ودخلوا كهفًا في جبل، ودعوا: ﴿رَبَّنَا آتِنَا مِن لَّدُنكَ رَحْمَةً وَهَيِّئْ لَنَا مِنْ أَمْرِنَا رَشَدًا﴾. ثم ناموا.
والنوم هنا ليس تفصيلًا صغيرًا في القصة؛ هو القصة. ﴿فَضَرَبْنَا عَلَىٰ آذَانِهِمْ فِي الْكَهْفِ سِنِينَ عَدَدًا﴾. دخلوا الكهف يظنّون أنهم يختبئون يومًا أو أيامًا، فإذا الله يحفظهم ثلاثمائة سنة وتسعًا، والشمس تميل عن كهفهم إذا طلعت وإذا غربت فلا تؤذيهم، وهم نائمون لا يعلمون. فعلوا ما يقدرون عليه — أن يخرجوا ويلجأوا — وتولّى الله ما لا يقدرون عليه.
ثم أيقظهم الله، فتساءلوا بينهم: كم لبثنا؟ يومًا أو بعض يوم. وأرسلوا واحدًا منهم بنقودهم يشتري طعامًا، وأوصوه أن يتلطّف ولا يشعر بهم أحد — وهم ما زالوا يخافون ملكًا مات من مئات السنين. فعُرف أمرهم، ووجدوا المدينة التي هربوا منها قد آمنت كلها. والملك الذي خافوه لم يبقَ منه اسم، وهم باقون في كتاب الله يُقرأ خبرهم إلى اليوم.
يقول الله تعالى في القرآن عن نومهم العجيب: {فَضَرَبْنَا عَلَىٰ آذَانِهِمْ فِي الْكَهْفِ سِنِينَ عَدَدًا}. (أي ألقينا عليهم نوماً عميقاً).
من ترك شيئًا لله عوّضه الله خيرًا منه، بطريقة لا تخطر له على بال.
خرج الفتية من بيوتهم وهم لا يعرفون إلى أين يذهبون. ما أصعب شيء تركتَه لأنك تعرف أنه لا يصحّ؟ وماذا شعرتَ بعد أن تركته؟
اختر اليوم شيئًا واحدًا تعرف أن الله لا يحبّه، واتركه اليوم فقط. ثم انظر غدًا هل تستطيع أن تتركه يومًا آخر.
القرآن الكريم، سورة الكهف: 9-26
القصة كلها في سورة الكهف، ومنها عدد سنيّ نومهم وذكر كلبهم. ولم يبيّن القرآن عددهم ولا زمانهم، وما يُروى في ذلك أقوال.
If you had to choose between staying home among your family and hiding what you believe, or walking out alone to a place you do not know and cannot tell when you will leave — which would you choose? In today's story, some young men stood at exactly that choice. What they chose changed their lives for three centuries.
{Indeed, they were youths who believed in their Lord, and We increased them in guidance} — youths, young men. They lived in a city where something other than Allah was worshipped, and its king forced people to it and accepted nothing else. They had no family strong enough to shield them and no power to defend themselves. And they knew that if their faith became known, they would not be left alone. That is the situation they met in.
They gathered and said one sentence that settled everything: {Our Lord is the Lord of the heavens and the earth. Never will we invoke besides Him any deity.} Then they said to one another: {And when you have withdrawn from them and that which they worship other than Allah, retreat to the cave.} So they left their homes and their whole city, went into a cave in a mountain, and prayed: {Our Lord, grant us mercy from Yourself and prepare for us right guidance in our affair.} Then they slept.
The sleep is not a small detail in this story; it is the story. {So We cast a cover of sleep over their ears within the cave for a number of years.} They went into the cave thinking they were hiding for a day or a few days, and Allah kept them there three hundred years and nine, the sun leaning away from their cave as it rose and as it set so it would not harm them, while they slept and knew nothing of it. They did what they could — leave, and take shelter — and Allah took care of what they could not.
Then Allah woke them, and they asked each other: how long did we stay? A day, or part of a day. They sent one of them with their coins to buy food, telling him to be careful and let no one notice them — still afraid of a king who had died centuries earlier. So their story became known, and they found that the city they had fled from now believed. The king they feared left not even a name behind, and they remain in the Book of Allah, their story read to this day.
Whoever gives something up for Allah is given something better in return, in a way they never imagined.
The youths left their homes without knowing where they were going. What is the hardest thing you have given up because you knew it was not right? How did you feel afterwards?
Pick one thing today that you know Allah does not love, and leave it — just for today. Then see tomorrow whether you can leave it another day.
The Quran, Surah Al-Kahf: 9-26
The whole account is in Surah Al-Kahf, including the years of their sleep and the mention of their dog. The Quran does not say how many they were or when they lived; what is told of that is opinion.