You would have thought they were awake, though they lay asleep. We turned them over, to the right and the left, while their dog lay at the cave's entrance with legs outstretched. Had you looked down and seen them, you would have surely turned your back and fled in terror. 18 And similarly We awakened them so that they may enquire about each other; a speaker among them said, “How long have you stayed here?” Some among them said, “We have stayed a day or part of a day”; the others said, “Your Lord well knows how long you have stayed; therefore send one of you to the city with this silver coin – he may then check which food available there is purer, in order to bring some of it for you to eat – and he must be courteous and not inform anyone about you.” 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 thus did We make (men) to get knowledge of them that they might know that Allah's promise is true and that as for the hour there is no doubt about it. When they disputed among themselves about their affair and said: Erect an edifice over them-- their Lord best knows them. Those who prevailed in their affair said: We will certainly raise a masjid 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