And thou wouldst have thought that they were awake, whereas they lay asleep. And We caused them to turn over repeatedly, now to the right, now to the left; and their dog [lay] on the threshold, its forepaws outstretched. Hadst thou come upon them [unprepared,] thou wouldst surely have turned away from them in flight, and wouldst surely have been filled with awe of them. 18 And likewise we raised them up that they might question among themselves; there spake a speaker from amongst them: how long have ye tarried? They said we have tarried a day or part of a day. They said, your Lord knoweth best how long ye have tarried; now send one of you with this your money unto the city and let him see which food is purest there, and let him bring you a provision thereof, and let him be circumspect, and let him by no means discover you to anyone. 19 “Indeed if they come to know about you, they will stone you or turn you back to their religion – and if so, you will never prosper.” 20 Thus did We make their case known to the people of the city so that they might know that Allah's promise is true, and that there is absolutely no doubt that the Hour will come to pass. But instead of giving thought to this, they disputed with one another concerning the People of the Cave, some saying: "Build a wall over them. Their Lord alone knows best about them." But those who prevailed over their affairs said: "We shall build a place of worship over them." 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