Tafsir of Surah al-kahf Ayah 19-20
And similarly, We caused them to wake up so that they might ask one another. One of them said, ‘How long have you slept here?’ They said, ‘We have slept a day or part of a day.’ Others said, ‘Your Lord knows best how long you have slept. Send one of you to the town, and give him these silver coins. Let him look for the tastiest food and bring you provision thereof. Let him be cautious so that no one would know about you.
Indeed, if they find you, they will stone you to death, or force you to return to their creed, and then you will never succeed.
Tafsir
Waking up, Perplexity, Caution
The ayat narrate the condition of the young men of the cave after they woke up.
And similarly, We caused them to wake up so that they might ask one another. One of them said, ‘How long have you slept here?’ They said, ‘We have slept a day or part of a day.’ Others said, ‘Your Lord knows best how long you have slept. Send one of you to the town, and give him these silver coins. Let him look for the tastiest food and bring you provision thereof. Let him be cautious so that no one would know about you. [19]
As We, Allah, had caused them to sleep; similarly, We caused them to wake up so that they would ask one another about how long they slept (maybe they felt that they slept for long time).
One of them said, ‘How long have you been sleeping in this cave? ‘Another person replied, ‘We stayed a day (maybe he thought as the sun set).’ However, when they realized that the sun did not set, another person said, ‘We stayed asleep for some hours of the day.’
(Others said, ‘Your Lord knows best how long you have slept.)
Then, some of them said that Allah knew exactly how long they had been sleeping in the cave.
The Scholars inferred from the young men’s inquiry that they did not find any change in their bodies indicating that they slept for such a long time, i.e. they woke up in the same state. None of them became old, and neither did their hair color to white. Therefore, they thought that they slept for some time of a day or a day.
After talking about how long they had been sleeping, the young men said,
(Send one of you to the town, and give him these silver coins. Let him look for the tastiest food and bring you provision thereof. Let him be cautious so that no one would know about you.)
The young men said, ‘Send one of you to the town, and give him these silver coins to buy some food for us, i.e. the town meant is the town they used to live in before their sleep in the cave. When he would reach the town, let him go to its market and buy us the tastiest and most blessed food. Let him be cautious so that no one in the city would know him.’
This ayah clearly indicates that adopting means to reach an end is lawful and does not contradict dependence on Allah, Exalted is He.
Indeed, if they find you, they will stone you to death, or force you to return to their creed, and then you will never succeed. [20]
This ayah presents the reason why the young men asked their fellow to be cautious when he was to go to the market to buy them food. It means asking the person who will go to buy you food to be cautious, so no one in the town will know about your whereabouts. That is because if anyone knows about you, they will stone you to death or force you to return to disbelief in the Oneness of Allah, and if you do so, you will never succeed in this life and the Hereafter.
The previous two ayat eloquently expressed the condition of those young men while they were secretly discussing their affairs after they woke up from their very long sleep.
It appears from their discussion they did not realize how long they slept, that many generations had passed since they slept, that their town, which they left, had changed, and that their enemies had perished.
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