Koran 18:9-26

18:9 Or have you thought that the companions of the cave and the inscription were, among Our signs, a wonder?

10 [Mention] when the youths retreated to the cave and said, “Our Lord, grant us from Yourself mercy and prepare for us from our affair right guidance.”

11 So We cast [a cover of sleep] over their ears within the cave for a number of years.

12 Then We awakened them that We might show which of the two factions was most precise in calculating what [extent] they had remained in time.

13 It is We who relate to you, [O Muhammad], their story in truth. Indeed, they were youths who believed in their Lord, and We increased them in guidance.

14 And We made firm their hearts when they stood up and said, “Our Lord is the Lord of the heavens and the earth. Never will we invoke besides Him any deity. We would have certainly spoken, then, an excessive transgression. 15 These, our people, have taken besides Him deities. Why do they not bring for [worship of] them a clear authority? And who is more unjust than one who invents about Allah a lie?”

16 [The youths said to one another], “And when you have withdrawn from them and that which they worship other than Allah, retreat to the cave. Your Lord will spread out for you of His mercy and will prepare for you from your affair facility.”

17 And [had you been present], you would see the sun when it rose, inclining away from their cave on the right, and when it set, passing away from them on the left, while they were [laying] within an open space thereof. That was from the signs of Allah. He whom Allah guides is the [rightly] guided, but he whom He leaves astray – never will you find for him a protecting guide.

18 And you would think them awake, while they were asleep. And We turned them to the right and to the left, while their dog stretched his forelegs at the entrance. If you had looked at them, you would have turned from them in flight and been filled by them with terror.

19 And similarly, We awakened them that they might question one another.

Said a speaker from among them, “How long have you remained [here]?”

They said, “We have remained a day or part of a day.”

They said, “Your Lord is most knowing of how long you remained. So send one of you with this silver coin of yours to the city and let him look to which is the best of food and bring you provision from it and let him be cautious. And let no one be aware of you. 20 Indeed, if they come to know of you, they will stone you or return you to their religion. And never would you succeed, then – ever.”

21 And similarly, We caused them to be found that they [who found them] would know that the promise of Allah is truth and that of the Hour there is no doubt.

[That was] when they disputed among themselves about their affair and [then] said, “Construct over them a structure. Their Lord is most knowing about them.”

Said those who prevailed in the matter, “We will surely take [for ourselves] over them a masjid.”

22 They will say there were three, the fourth of them being their dog; and they will say there were five, the sixth of them being their dog – guessing at the unseen; and they will say there were seven, and the eighth of them was their dog.

Say, [O Muhammad], “My Lord is most knowing of their number. None knows them except a few. So do not argue about them except with an obvious argument and do not inquire about them among [the speculators] from anyone.”

23 And never say of anything, “Indeed, I will do that tomorrow,”

24 Except [when adding], “If Allah wills.”

And remember your Lord when you forget [it] and say, “Perhaps my Lord will guide me to what is nearer than this to right conduct.”

25 And they remained in their cave for three hundred years and exceeded by nine.

26 Say, “Allah is most knowing of how long they remained. He has [knowledge of] the unseen [aspects] of the heavens and the earth. How Seeing is He and how Hearing! They have not besides Him any protector, and He shares not His legislation with anyone.”

Koran 18:9-26

This is Muhammad’s really bad re-telling of The Seven Sleepers of Ephesus. Note that Muhammad was unable to get the number right (7) and added a dog. The cave the seven sleepers slept in, is the name of this chapter, “The Cave”. Here’s the story from before Muhammad retold it, so badly:

Decius (249-251) once came to Ephesus to enforce his laws against Christians — a gruesome description of the horrors he made them suffer follows — here he found seven noble young men, named Maximillian, Jamblichos, Martin, John, Dionysios, Exakostodianos, and Antoninos (so Metaphrastes; the names vary considerably; Gregory of Tours has Achillides, Diomedes, Diogenus, Probatus, Stephanus, Sambatus, and Quiriacus), who were Christians. The emperor tried them and then gave them a short time for consideration, till he came back again to Ephesus. They gave their property to the poor, took a few coins only with them and went into a cave on Mount Anchilos to pray and prepare for death. Decius came back after a journey and inquired after these seven men. They heard of his return and then, as they said their last prayer in the cave before giving themselves up, fell asleep. The emperor told his soldiers to find them, and when found asleep in the cave he ordered it to be closed up with huge stones and sealed; thus they were buried alive. But a Christian came and wrote on the outside the names of the martyrs and their story. Years passed, the empire became Christian, and Theodosius [either the Great (379-395) or the Younger (408-450), Koch, op.cit. infra, p. 12], reigned. In his time some heretics denied the resurrection of the body. While this controversy went on, a rich landowner named Adolios had the Sleepers’ cave opened, to use it as a cattle-stall. Then they awake, thinking they have slept only one night, and send one of their number (Diomedes) to the city to buy food, that they may eat before they give themselves up. Diomedes comes into Ephesus and the usual story of cross-purposes follows. He is amazed to see crosses over churches, and the people cannot understand whence he got his money coined by Decius. Of course at last it comes out that the last thing he knew was Decius’s reign; eventually the bishop and the prefect go up to the cave with him, where they find the six others and the inscription. Theodosius is sent for, and the saints tell him their story. Every one rejoices at this proof of the resurrection of the body. The sleepers, having improved the occasion by a long discourse, then die praising God. The emperor wants to build golden tombs for them, but they appear to him in a dream and ask to be buried in the earth in their cave. The cave is adorned with precious stones, a great church built over it, and every year the feast of the Seven Sleepers is kept.

The Seven Sleepers of Ephesus, Catholic Encyclopedia

As you can see, the Seven Sleepers are early Christians, who were going to be martyred for not believing in the then-current Roman polytheism. Muhammad converts the Christians into Muslims, who reject not Roman polytheism, but Quraysh polytheism. This is an anachronism, proving Muhammad’s story is false. Obviously, Muhammad has made this story into a Muslim vs Quraysh story, showing that the Koran comes not from Allah, who is shown to be imaginary, but from Muhammad and friends, probably from his Syrian companion. After all, how can the Seven Sleepers be Muslim, when they were Christians? And Christians like their now fellow Christian Roman Byzantines. All the people were later attacked by Muslims and forced to be Muslims, thus showing they weren’t Muslim in the first place, before Muhammad the FIRST Muslim.

The best replacement for this passage is: “”, the empty sentence.