In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, The Most Merciful

Salamu 'Alaykum (Peace be upon you)!

All praise be to the Lord Most High, who sent us miraculous signs during 2024 - the year of the signs - and who blessed us greatly with evidence affirming the preservation and truthfulness of the Quran in its declaration of being from God.

Introduction:

There is a very interesting chapter in the Quran in which God narrates the story of a group of people who had a cave shelter (but one that was wider than a normal cave). They were a group of companions who were true believers, to whom God sent enumerated years. This story has been heavily mistranslated by traditionalists, and you will notice exactly how.

Chapter begins by denying crookedness within the Quran:

God begins the chapter by denying any crookedness in His Book:

18:1 "All praise is due to God who has sent down upon His Servant the Book and has not made therein any crookedness"

And then in the 9th verse, God asks us about some 'enumeration' sign:

"Or have you thought that the companions of the cave and al-Raqim were, among Our signs, a wonder?"

The term “al-Raqim” here has several proposed meanings, but what stood out to me is the primary one that has been disregarded by traditionalists: “the enumeration” This is quite intriguing, especially given the fact that these companions engaged in some form of calculation or counting for a particular reason.

• Classical Arabic dictionary about the word "Raqim" (RQM):

R Q M
The number: the diacritical mark on the book, a numbered book.
The merchant marks his garment: that is, he brands it.
A marked animal is one that has small marks on its hooves, called a "raqmah."
"Raqm" also refers to brocade
"Raqmatan" refers to two opposing, nail-like structures on an animal's legs.

Source: Al-Shahib bin ʿAbbad, Al-Muḥit fi l-Lugha (dc 995 CE)

And:

"RQM: To sew, to stitch (Foc).
To embroider, to decorate (Spanish Dictionary, pp. 320, 329).
To count, to calculate (Humbert, p. 122).
To cauterize, to brand with fire (Veterinary Terminology): To brand with a heated iron (Ibn al-Awwam 2: 465) and in the comments (10), pp. 655, 662.
To mark: Mentioned in Foc's dictionary under the entry Suere.
Number, plural: numbers: A manuscript mark (Introduction 3: 242), a symbol, an inscription (al-Maqqari 1: 367).
Number, plural: numbers: A number sign (Boucher, Humbert, p. 122, Muheet al-Muheet).
The Indian numeral and the science of numerals: Arithmetic (Humbert, p. 122)."

Source: Supplement to Arabic Dictionaries by Reinhart Dozy (d. 1883 CE)

These are youths who broke away from their people:

And then in the very next verse, God quotes these youth invoking Him to provide them with correct guidance:

"When the young men retreated to the Cave and said, “Our Lord, bless us with mercy from Yourself and provide us with correct guidance (rashadan) in our matters.”"

It is highly noteworthy that they used the word “rashadan” when asking to be guided rightly. These were youths who separated from their people and retreated to al-Kahf, which is commonly translated as “the cave,” though the term may describe a larger shelter or cavernous refuge rather than what we typically imagine as a small cave (as per classical dictionaries).

The enumerated years sign:

The very next verse is especially intriguing. God describes the very sign of this "enumeration" and said:

18:11: "So We cast over their announcements in the cave years, an enumeration"

God cast these year-signs as an enumeration over their "Adhanihim" (announcements). This verse has been mistranslated traditionally where they have rendered it as:

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

Or,

"We sealed their ears [with sleep] in the cave for years."

However, it is important to observe that the Arabic text itself does not explicitly mention the word sleep, nor is it implied anywhere in this chapter. Traditional translations introduce the concept of sleep as an interpretive addition because the wording is somewhat unconventional and appears to invite an explanatory assumption. In other words, translators supplied words that they believed were necessary to make the passage fit the broader narrative they understood.

- This is what the Arabic verse literally states:

• فَضَرَبْنَا (So we cast)
• عَلَىٰٓ (over)
• ءَاذَانِهِمْ (their announcements)
• فِى (in)
• ٱلْكَهْفِ (the Cave)
• سِنِينَ (years),
• عَدَدًۭا (a numbering / an enumeration)

The word "Adhanihim" here is traditionally translated as "their ears," but why would God cast or strike something over their ears? Strike what, exactly? Why would He literally strike their ears with something, especially with something as vague as "years, a number of years"?

The expression "to strike over someone's ears" has never been an Arabic idiom meaning "we made them sleep," "we sealed their ears," or anything similar. Some dictionaries do however mention that is means "We informed them."

• Classical Arabic dictionary on the word "Adhanihim":

(Adhan): (A man with large ears) and the Adhan is the announcement, which is notification. Hence, there is nothing wrong with the Adhan for people at a funeral,
and in the Quran:
{And an announcement from God and His Messenger} [Quran 9:3].

Source: Al-Muṭarrizī, al-Mughrib fī Tartīb al-Muʿrib (d. 1213 CE)

As you can see, this same word is used in Quran 9:3 where God said,

"An announcement from God and His messenger..."

The sign God cast over their announcements, namely "years, an enumeration" is the very sign that God asked us about earlier in this chapter when He said:

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

This is what God cast over their announcements; however, it is not stated what they used to make those announcements.

God then said in the very next verse:

18:12: "Then We raised them so that We make evident which of the two parties had better calculated the term for what they had remained."

God raised these believers to make evident their calculation, in contrast to another group of people who had also calculated. He mentions this other group as though it is already understood that they exist, even though they were not referenced anywhere earlier in the chapter, which is very interesting indeed.

• Notice:

- God casts years, an enumeration, over their announcements,

- He called these enumerated years as signs and a wonder,

- He raised them,

He then later in this chapter stated this:

18:26-27: "Say, "God is most knowing about what they remained with. He has knowledge of the unseen 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. Recite what has been revealed to you from the Book of your Lord. None can change His Words, nor can you find any refuge besides Him."

It is very interesting that God is emphasizing His sole divine knowledge over the unseen and how nobody can alter His Words, something a deviant calculating sect is trying to do as we speak.

Chapter 18 - right before chapter 19:

The location of this story is highly noteworthy as well. Why did God narrate a story about two groups who calculated immediately before Chapter 19?

What is particularly interesting is that, in the next chapter, God explicitly states that we should not make haste regarding them and that He is only counting for them a number:

19:84: "So do not make haste toward them. We only count for them a number."

Does this ring any bells?

God revealed enumerated years as signs for one group, while He counts only a number for the second group. What number could this be that a group of people becomes so preoccupied with?

If this does not make you re-evaluate your direction, I do not know what will.

Now, I am not saying that the story in "The Cave" chapter literally is about us, but...

There is simply no reasonable way to argue that these observations are merely imagined or delusional. It is as though God is recounting history in a manner that simultaneously functions as a prophecy, using language and a narrative that can be understood in two distinct ways. One of these readings, in my view, is linguistically stronger, and it is the interpretation I have presented throughout this article.

This chapter also demonstrates that God does indeed provide signs through enumerations, such as the signs revealed in 2024, in which the prophecy of the first Moon landing was portrayed with remarkable symmetry.

• Click here below to find out more about these signs:

The Signs That God Revealed in 2024 - The Signs Of 19/54

Such enumerations must however not be able to be reproduced by humans and Jinn, this is done by including a prophecy of a future major event in history, as has been done in these signs - you do not want to miss them!

With this, I end this post.

/ By Exion.