You may have thought that they were awake, yet they were asleep. We made them turn right and left, while their dog lay with his forelegs stretched across the threshold. If you had looked at them you would have surely turned away and fled with horror at the sight. 18 We roused them from their sleep so that they would question each other about their stay in the cave. One of them said, "How long do you think we have stayed here?" They replied, "A day or part of a day." They added, " Your Lord knows better how long we have stayed here. Let us send one of us with this money to the city to get some pure food so that we might eat. He should be careful so that no one will know about us. If they were to recognize us, 19 "For if they should come upon you, they would stone you or force you to return to their cult, and in that case ye would never attain prosperity." 20 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." 21 [And in times to come] some will say: "[They were] three, the fourth of them being their dog," while others will say: "Five, with their dog as the sixth of them" - idly guessing at something of which they can have no knowledge - and [so on, until] some will say: "[They were] seven, the eighth of them being their dog." Say: "My Sustainer knows best how many they were. None but a few have any [real] knowledge of them. Hence, do not argue about them otherwise than by way of an obvious argument, and do not ask any of those [story-tellers] to enlighten thee about them." 22