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Study Piece - The Youth of the Cave

I've been watching tafseers by my favorite scholar Nouman Ali Khan. One in particular intrigued me, a lecture on Sura Al-Kahf. He explained that some suras give correction and direction on historical events like wars and jurisprudence. Sura Al-Kahf is different. There is a reason why we are urged to read it each Friday. This sura is so full of archetypal, symbolic and historical meaning you could spend your lifetime studying it and never know all there is to know.
Nouman presents a case for the Catholic history involving the sleepers in the cave. He sites the need to honor the legacy of what came before and take it further. He discusses the Jacobite Christians of Syriac and Arabia and their knowledge of the Youth of the cave. My Catholic background never mentioned this story, or at least I was never formally taught about it. My plan is to research this story and see how it relates to what the Qur'an has to say.
Apparently the Arabic Christians had festivals relating to the youth's story so it was considered auspicious and vitally important to them. The oldest historical record is not Syriac. It stems from the Greek theologian Stephen of Ephesus. There are also many murals in churches that depict the sleeping youths and sometimes their dog in a small space, sometimes on top of each other, sometimes with halos, sometimes not. The Catholic version describes the youth as martyrs. It also confirms the resurrection of body and soul together. Early Catholics began to treat the youth as saintly and capable of intercession. This idea is ironic because they were persecuted for making a religious and political stand against their polytheistic King by refusing to worship idols. My next task is to learn more about these youth. To be continued...

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