al-Kahf

Dhū l-Qarnain building the wall in the fight against Gog and Magog ( Persian miniature painting 16th century)

Al-Kahf ( Arabic الكهف, DMG al-Kahf 'The Cave') is the 18th sura of the Koran , it contains 110 verses . It is mostly dated towards the end of the second Meccan period (615–620).

After praising God and the book, the main part of the sura comprises three stories: first the legend of the “people of the cave” from which the sura takes its name, or of the seven sleepers of Ephesus (verses 9-26). Verses 23–24 contain the obligation to always end a statement with reference to the future with Inshallah (God willing). Ibn Ishaq's Sirat Rasuhl Allah provides a history of its origins . Mohammed is said to have been asked to answer three questions to prove his prophethood. Mohammed had promised to do this the next day, but forgot to restrict this announcement with “God willing”. For this reason it took 15 days for Gabriel to bring him Surah al-Kahf with the three answers.

Verses 60–98 contain two narratives, both of which can be traced back to the Alexander novel . The first story (60-82) is about Moses and his nameless companion, who appears as Moses' spiritual teacher and is identified in tradition with al-Chidr . The reference to the "confluence of the two seas" and the source of immortality missed by Moses and his teacher (60–61) recalls the episode with Gilgamesh and Utnapishtim from the Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh , which is in turn a source for some legendary parts of the Alexander romance. As a second story, verses 83-98 describe Dhū l-Qarnain ,ذو القرنين / 'The one with the two horns', who is identified by most Muslim commentators with Alexander the Great and who proved himself in the fight against Gog and Magog . The two horns are interpreted differently: as the two directions (east and west) that his empire has grasped, as the two horns on his crown, the two braids of hair on his head or as a symbol of the power with which he has the people subjugated. Az-Zamachscharī mentions the following interpretation: The two horns are the areas of the Greeks and Persians or the Greeks and Turks .

In the rest of the sura, themes from the Meccan sermon can be found: Muhammad's loyalty to his mission, the transience of this world and admonitions to the unbelievers. Verse 109 describes the infinity of God's speech : "If the sea were ink for the words of my Lord, the sea would dry up before the words of my Lord dry up."

Individual evidence

↑ Guillaume, Alfred, Ibn Isḥāq: The life of Muhammad, a translation of Ishāq's Sirat Rasul Allah . Pakistan Branch, Oxford University Press, Karachi 1967, ISBN 0-19-636033-1 , pp. 136.137 .
^ William Montgomery Watt : Art. Al-Iskandar. In: Encyclopaedia of Islam 2. A., Vol. 4 (1997), 127.
^ Adel Theodor Khoury : The Koran. Translated and commented by Adel Theodor Khoury. Gütersloher Verlagshaus, Gütersloh 2007, ISBN 978-3-579-08023-9 , pp. 299-307.

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[1] Guillaume, Alfred, Ibn Isḥāq: The life of Muhammad, a translation of Ishāq's Sirat Rasul Allah . Pakistan Branch, Oxford University Press, Karachi 1967, ISBN 0-19-636033-1 , pp. 136.137 .

[2] William Montgomery Watt : Art. Al-Iskandar. In: Encyclopaedia of Islam 2. A., Vol. 4 (1997), 127.

[3] Adel Theodor Khoury : The Koran. Translated and commented by Adel Theodor Khoury. Gütersloher Verlagshaus, Gütersloh 2007, ISBN 978-3-579-08023-9 , pp. 299-307.