Page "Seven Sleepers" Paragraph 27

The story parallels the Christian version, recounting the story of a group of young believers who resisted the pressure from their people to worship others beside God, and took refuge in a cave, following which they fell asleep for a long time.

When they woke up they thought that they had slept for only a day or so, and they sent one of them back to the city to buy food.

His use of old silver coins revealed the presence of these youths to the town.

Soon after their discovery, the People of the Cave ( as the Qur ' an calls them ) died and the people of their town built a place of worship at the site of their burial ( the cave ).

The Qur ' an does not give their exact number ; rather, it mentions that some people would say that they were three, others would say five and some would say seven, in addition to one dog, and that they slept for 300 years, plus 9, which could mean 300 solar years or 309 lunar years ( 300 solar years are equal to 309 lunar years ).