You might have thought them awake, though they were sleeping. We turned them about to the right and to the left, while their dog stretched its paws at the entrance. Had you seen them you would surely have become filled with terror and turned your back on them in flight. 18 Even so We roused them that they may question one another. One of them asked: "How long have you stayed here?" They said: "A day or less than a day." "Your Lord knows best," they said, "how long you have stayed. So send one of you to the town with this money of yours to look for wholesome food and bring it for you; but he should be careful not to let your presence known. 19 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." 20 And this is how We made them known for people to know that the promise of Allah is true and that there is no doubt concerning the Last Day; when the people began disputing among themselves regarding them, they said, “Construct a building over their cave”; their Lord well knows them; those who dominated in this matter said, “We promise we will build a mosque over them.” 21 Anon they will say: they were three the fourth of them their dog. And they will say: they were five, the sixth of them their dog - guessing at the unknown - and they will say: they were seven, the eighth of them their dog. Say thou: my Lord is the Best Knower of their number; there knew them only a few; so debate thou not regarding them except an outward debating, and ask not regarding them anyone of them. 22