Modern Tafsir

Centre for Islamic Studies at SOAS
Towards a Modern Tafsr of Srat al-Kahf: Structure and Semiotics / :
Author(s): Ian Richard Netton and

Source: Journal of Qur'anic Studies, Vol. 2, No. 1 (2000), pp. 67-87
Published by: Edinburgh University Press on behalf of the Centre for Islamic Studies at
SOAS
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Towards a Modern Tafslr of Surat al-Kahf:
Structure and Semiotics
Ian Richard Netton

UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS
1. Introduction
Surat al-Kahf (The Sura of the Cave) belongs mainly to the Meccan period of reve
lation. It is the eighteenth sura of the Qur'an and comprises 110 verses. Its content
has been summarised as follows:
The title of the sura is drawn from a major piece of Qur'anic narrative
which occupies vv. 9-26 and gives the story of 'the Companions of
the Cave' (Ashdb al-Kahf). According to this, a number of young men
seek refuge in a cave, fleeing religious persecution. They fall asleep
and wake after a considerable period of time has elapsed. The story has
parallels in the Christian tradition with the Seven Sleepers of
Ephesus. Another major piece of narrative, this time with a particu
larly mystical orientation, occupies vv. 60-82. This is the story of the
testing of Musa by one of God's Servants who is endowed with great
knowledge. The Servant is not named in the Qur'an but is usually
identified with al-Khadir (al-Khidr). Other major figures mentioned in
this sura, which is one of the most vivid in the entire Qur'an, include
Adam, Iblis, Dhu 'l-Qarnayn and Gog and Magog. It is also in this
sura that Muslims are instructed to use the phrase In shd'a Allah.1
Parallel to this, "Abdullah Yusuf cAli characterises Surat al-Kahf as:
a lesson in the brevity and mystery of Life. First there is the story of
the Companions of the Cave (Ashab al-Kahf) who slept therein for a
long period, and yet thought they had been there only a day or less.
Then there is the story of the mysterious Teacher who shows Moses
how Life itself is a parable. And further there is the story of Dhu al
Qarnayn, the two-horned one, the powerful ruler of west and east, who
made an iron wall to protect the weak against the strong. The parables
refer to the brevity, uncertainty, and variety of this life; to the many
paradoxes in it, which can only be understood by patience and the full
ness of knowledge; and to the need of guarding our spiritual gains
against the incursions of evil.2
68 Journal of Qur'anic Studies
Finally, Shaykh Muhammad al-Ghazali (1335/1917-1416/1996) had this to say, by

way of introduction to the Sura:
Phenomenal existence indicates Allah's Existence, and Revelation

provides guidance to Him. Both are needed for sound belief: study of
Existence and reflection on the Revelation. Surat al-Kahf combines
both elements by taking actual historical events and demonstrating the
Divine Unity through them, and disclosing them as archetypal exam
ples for human beings of every generation.3
'Abdullah Yusuf CAH stresses, therefore, 'brevity and mystery of Life'. Shaykh al
Ghazali stresses the 'study of Existence' and the need for 'reflection on the
Revelation'. We may identify, additionally, a third major leitmotiv of the text and
that is the imposition of reason, order and harmony on seeming, or actual, disorder.
We witness this in al-Khidr's final explanation to Musa of what he has done.4 Its
antithesis, the spreading of disorder in a divinely created and harmoniously ordered
universe, may be seen in the chaotic actions of Ya'juj and Ma'juj (Gog and Magog).5
This essay will firstly examine the structure of Surat al-Kahf and make some brief
comparisons with a very differently structured chapter, Surat Yusuf, and secondly,
seek to identify those archetypes referred to by Muhammad al-Ghazali and signalled
by the text, and to elaborate their function. Such a structural and semiotic analysis is
designed to build upon the three topoi identified above and thereby extend our under
standing of the Sura. To repeat, those topoi are the 'brevity and mystery of life', the
'study of Existence and reflection on the Revelation' and the force of reason and har
mony versus the force of chaos. As signalled by its title, the essay is underpinned by
the employment of the twin methodologies of structuralism and semiotics which
have, by now, become very well known through the writings of Umberto Eco6 and
many others, and which I have deployed in some of my other writings.7 Everything
signifies,8 and the Holy Qur'an itself testifies to this in Q.4L53:
Sa-nurihim dydtindfi' l-dfdq wa-fi anfusihim
We shall show them Our signs on the horizons and in themselves
The Qur'an thus emphasises and exhibits an exoteric and an esoteric semiotic
dimension.
2. Structure and Comparative Structure

Surat Yusuf and Surat al-Kahf are two very different suras, both in their content and
in their structures. The first comprises the longest piece of single extended narrative
in the entire Qur'an; the second may be divided artificially into eight discrete sec
tions, at least for the purposes of analysis and comprehension. The first focuses on
the travails and ultimate triumph of a single figure, the prophet Yusuf; the second
Towards a Modern Tafslr of Surat al-Kahf. Structure and Semiotics 69
surveys the vicissitudes of a variety of major figures who include the Sleepers in the
Cave, al-Khidr, Musa, Dhu 'l-Qarnayn and Gog and Magog. Yet while the structures
of both suras are very different, we can identify in both an intertextual focus: that is,
both suras contain important stories which parallel accounts to be found in the
Christian tradition, i.e., with the story of Joseph in the Book of Genesis9 on the one
hand, and the legend of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus10 on the other. (Islamic tra
dition, of course, prefers to locate the cave of the sleepers in Jordan or another Middle
Eastern site,11 by contrast with the insistence on Ephesus in the Christian account.)12
And the prototype of the Joseph story in both Genesis and the Qur'an may well be
the ancient Egyptian narrative of the Two Brothers.13 To adapt a Leavisite phrase,
both suras share in a series of 'great' literary 'traditions'14 or, to use a more modern
term, both suras constitute an intertext with the data from other traditions.15 This
essay will now examine more closely the structure of Surat al-Kahf before proceed
ing to a more detailed comparative analysis of this and Surat Yusuf in terms of their
relative structures.
2.1 The Elementary Structure of Surat al-Kahf

There are a number of different ways of dividing Surat al-Kahf 'into constituent units.
All are, of course, artificial, but they may be presented as an aid to understanding
what is a very complex and variegated sura. One way is to focus on the two domi
nant stories, those of the Sleepers, after whom the Sura is named, and Moses and al
Khidr, and then treat the other material and storylines as subsidiary. Another is to
regard the Sura as a whole16 which is, nonetheless, divisible into a number of dis
crete, albeit artificial, units, where the topoi identified above, together with the arche
types and theologemes to be discussed below, provide a fundamental link between
the sections. The latter method is employed here and it is suggested that a useful way
in which to come to a deeper understanding of Surat al-Kahf is to divide it into eight
parts:
Introduction of Praise and Warning: vv. 1-8
The Story of the Companions of the Cave: vv. 9-26

The Promise of Hell and Paradise (1): vv. 27-31
The Parable of the Vineyards:17 vv. 32-44

The Transience of Life and the Power and Signs of God: vv. 45-59
The Story of Musa and al-Khidr: vv. 60-82
Dhu 'l-Qarnayn, Gog and Magog: vv. 83-101
The Promise of Hell and Paradise (2) and an Instruction to Muhammad: vv.
102-110
We may compare this eightfold structure with the equally artificial one used by Yusuf
cAli who presents the Sura in twelve 'sections'.18 However, our eightfold division
allows a particular focus on the four main stories19 of the Sura, the themes and the
ologemes of which will be highlighted later.
2.2 Surat al-Kahf and Surat Yusuf: Structures Compared

However one divides up Surat al-Kahf in a quest for deeper comprehension, it is
clear that, from a structural perspective, it stands in sharp contrast with many others
of the Qur'anic suras. The most vivid of all the contrasts must surely be that with
Surat Yusuf. any attempt to divide this into similar discrete units would fail though
one could, of course, compare the individual aspects of the physical rollercoaster of
the hero Yusuf s vicissitudes20 as articulated in Sura 12 with those of the emotional
rollercoaster of the triple testing inflicted by al-Khidr on Musa in Surat al-Kahf.
It is the uninterrupted and seamless narrative that impresses itself upon the reader of
Surat Yusuf. While Yusuf cAli prefers to characterise it as 'less a narrative than a
highly spiritual sermon or allegory explaining the seeming contradictions in life', he
nonetheless admits that 'in subject matter this Surah is entirely taken up with the
story...of Joseph.'21 Rendsburg characterises the Sura of Joseph as 'the best example
of extended narrative in the Qur'an'22 and Robinson clearly agrees, adding: Tt is not
a punishment story [like the extended narratives of Salih and Shucayb] but an edify
ing tale.'23 For Shaykh Muhammad al-Ghazali, not only is Surat Yusuf to be regard
ed as a narrative par excellence but 'the story of Yusuf is an episode of real-life his
tory, not a made-up narrative contrived by a human being.'24 Bishop and Kaddal
locate much of the interest of Surat Yusuf in the fact that 'in itself it is a connected
whole.'25 Following Sayyid Qutb, Abdel Haleem views the story as a drama in 28
scenes.26 For him, 'the structure is built on movement and dialogue with little nar
ration.'27 Mustansir Mir refers to 'a tightly-knit plot.'28 Pace Yusuf cAli then, and
regardless of whether one prefers the word 'narrative', 'drama' or something else, it
is clear that most modern scholars are agreed on the 'wholeness' of Surat Yusuf. In
summary, it may neatly be characterised as the longest formal piece of extended story
telling in the entire Qur'an which, nonetheless, by its lack of proper names, chooses
to emphasise message and content at the expense of form.29 In this respect it resem
bles Surat al-Kahf: the very important figure of al-Khidr is not identified in the text
by name, for example.30 However, as our brief survey of Surat Yusuf has demon
strated, the structure of Surat al-Kahf is self-evidently vastly different from that of
the twelfth Sura, and it does not require an extensive comparative essay to prove that.
3. Identity and Function of the Archetypes: A Semiotic Analysis

Any study of Plato's intellectual universe, and especially his epistemology, involves
us ineluctably in a study of the Platonic Forms, otherwise known as the archetypes
or ideal. For J. C. B. Gosling 'the theory of Forms is born of Socrates out of
Towards a Modern Tafslr of Surat al-Kahf. Structure and Semiotics 71
Heracleitus'.31 Aristotle32 identified Plato's attraction to the latter's view of a sensi

ble universe 'in a state of flux.'33 But Socrates/Plato also sought concrete and
unchanging definition: 'Socrates' persistent pursuit of definitions led him to postu
late Forms as the subject-matter of definitions and of true knowledge ... definitions
seem to be timelessly true, and so the objects of them must be unchangingly as they
are. So beside the world of constantly changing particulars there is a world of
unchanging meanings, or definables, which can be grasped once and for all by the
mind... The Forms are the objects of Socratic definition, and true knowledge is their
apprehension.'34
Plato's work is permeated with his doctrine of Forms. In Book 10 of The Republic,
for example, which deals with 'Theory of Art', Socrates asks: 'Then shall we start by
following our usual procedure? You know that we always postulate in each case a sin
gle form for each set of particular things, to which we apply the same name?'35 He
then goes on to apply the concept to beds and tables.36
Such ideas, developed and recharged in a multiplicity of different ways, radically

influenced the intellectual universes of Islamic scholars as diverse as Shihab al-Din
Abu '1-Futuh Yahya al-Suhrawardi (ad 1153-1191),37 Muhyl '1-Din Abu cAbdallah
Ibn al-cArabi (ad 1165-1240)38 and Mir Damad (d. ad 1631-2).39 Izutsu characteris
es the latter's concept of dahr, 'Meta-Time', as 'the metaphysical dimension of all
non-material things. It is the domain where the eternally immutable Intelligences find
their proper abode, which carry different names ... such as: the platonic Ideas, 'eter
nal archetypes'...'40
However, the application of this fundamental motif of the archetype is not restricted
in its deployment to the Islamic philosophers alone. In different ways, as Shaykh
Muhammad al-Ghazali suggests,41 and clearly shorn of the 'divine prototype' aura
with which Plato himself imbued the motif, it may be shown to have an applicabil
ity to the text of the Holy Qur'an itself, and serve to illuminate both the sense and
the structure of the sacred text.
In an earlier work I coined the word theologeme, modelled on the Levi-Straussian and
Barthesian vocabulary of my theme, gusteme and vesteme. I defined theologeme as 'a
basic unit of theological discourse which can also function as a sign.' Attention was
drawn to the way in which, for example, ritual circumcision functioned as a semeion
or signum in Genesis 17:ll.42 In this section of the essay it is intended to identify
(a) the principal archetypes signalled in Surat al-Kahf (b) their associated, often
material, theologemes, and (c) the functions of the archetypes which lead to their
being characterised as archetypes in the first place. This essay will concentrate main
ly on what I will term here the 'material theologemes'
Reading Shaykh Muhammad al-Ghazali's text, it is clear whom he regards as his

'archetypal examples for human beings of every generation'43 in Surat al-Kahf. they
are (1) the Sleepers in the Cave whose story signals or manifests the supreme power
of God over the whole of human existence;44 (2) the Just Critic in the Parable of the
Vineyards whose story signals the need for balance and a right ownership in the pos
session of worldly goods;45 (3) Moses and al-Khidr whose story signals the idea that
if we 'knew the Unseen' then we would leave everything as it is;46 and (4) Dhu
T-Qarnayn whose every action signals 'piety and righteousness.'47 This essay will
not seek to contradict Muhammad al-Ghazali's presentation but will rather seek to
elaborate upon it while perceiving his data in a slightly different light.
There are five main species of archetype in Surat al-Kahf They will shortly be pre
sented here, in tabular form, with their exemplars, before further discussion of their
theologemes and principal functions in the Sura. Firstly, however, it is useful to
stress here once again that the Qur'an is a text replete with signs. And, as the fifth
Sura, Surat al-Md'ida, shows 48 signs confirm divine messages, even though, as
Surat Yusuf states, many are ignored.49 Surat al-Kahf is no exception in its constant
reference to, and harmony with, the language of semiotics: for example, the Sleepers
in the Cave are characterised as 'wonders' (cajaban) among the signs of God.50
Reference is made to a mockery being made of His signs.51 Much wrong is done by
the man who, having been put in mind of the signs of God, turns his back on them.52
The same refrain is encountered towards the end of Surat al-Kahf where a further ref
erence is made to the deniers of the signs of God.53
In elaborating the following table of major archetypes in Surat al-Kahf this essay
will show below that the archetypes clothe or 'house' the signs and the meanings of
the Text:
SLEEPER Companions of the Cave

PROTO-MUSLIM 1) Companions of the Cave
2) The Just Critic of the Vineyard Owner.
HERO l)Musa
2) Dhu T-Qarnayn
MYSTIC al-Khidr
ANTI-HERO 1) Gog and Magog

2) Wicked Vineyard Owner
The first major archetype in Surat al-Kahf is that of the

the Companions of the Cave (Ashdb al-Kahf). It is a pa
Towards a Modern Tafslr of Surat al-Kahf Structure and Semiotics 73
archetype with parallels of one kind or another in many other traditions. One thinks,
for example, of the manifold folktales of the Sleeping Beauty,54 the story of Rip van
Winkle,55 the protagonist in Zakariya Tamir's short story entitled 'Hamza',56 and the
Arab philosophers, the Ikhwan al-Safa' (c. ad lOth/llth cent.) who characterised
themselves, metaphorically, as 'Sleepers in the Cave of our father Adam' (Kunnd
niydman fi kahf abind Adam).51 And, of course, there are the obvious parallels with
the Christian tradition of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus.58 We might also compare
the picaresque adventures of Ibsen's Peer Gynt on awakening, after knocking himself
unconscious on a rock in the Rondane Mountains (Act Two, Scene 4).59
The principal theologeme to be associated with the archetype of the Sleeper in this
Sura is the CAVE.60 Caves have an immense resonance in early Islamic history:
Muhammad received his first revelation of the Holy Qur'an in a cave on Mount
Hira';61 during the hijra he avoided early capture by hiding in a cave, across the
mouth of which a spider spun its web.62 Early Islamic history thus signals that the
cave is a place both of revelation and protection. In a striking parallel, later medieval
Scottish history would find the Scottish leader and King, Robert the Bruce
(1274-1329), taking refuge in a cave on Rathlin Island off the coast of Antrim, and
being inspired by the persistence of a spider.63
In Surat al-Kahf, then, the cave signifies a place of safety and God's protection,64
within the shelter of which one may literally sleep. Even their dog co-operates with
God in protecting the Sleepers, stretching its limbs across the entrance: it too is a
sign of the Deity's protection.65 The function of the Sleeper as archetype is to elicit
a manifestation of God's mercy and power66 and precipitate a test.67 The former are
displayed in abundance throughout the tale and, unlike Musa further on in the Sura,
the Sleepers, whose exact number in the Islamic Qur'anic account is uncertain,68
appear to pass their test!
The second major archetype of the Sura is that of the PROTO-MUSLIM, exempli
fied both by the Companions of the Cave just surveyed, and also by the Just Critic
of the Vineyard Owner. The latter critic is an active exemplar of the archetype whose
obedience and piety parallel those of Ibrahim and Ismacil,69 though not as dramati
cally as the latter's. Here, our principal theologemes are, once again, the CAVE, to
which love of, and fervent belief in, Divine Unity, impel flight,70 and the VINE
YARD.71 In Surat al-Kahf, the cave as a locus for the archetype of the proto-muslim
signifies a place in which Islamic values and beliefs rule. The function of the proto
muslim in that cave is to portray, lucidly in a small and literal frame, monotheism
(vv. 14-15), obedience and submission to God's order (v. 16), God's care of His
faithful (vv. 14, 16), God's guidance and protection (vv. 17, 24), God's omniscience
(v. 19), the truth of God's promise and the Hour of Judgement (v. 21), and the need
to commend all one's actions to the will of God with the key phrase in shd'a Allah12
As a complement to all this, the vineyard as a locus for the archetype of the proto
muslim signifies a place where monotheism should rule (v. 38), and God's writ and
power should be acknowledged lest catastrophe overtake a heedless owner (vv.
39-4-4). Polytheism in the vineyard of the wicked vineyard owner leads to a literal
and moral ruin (vv. 42-43). But while aspects of the first two archetypes, sleeper and
proto-muslim in the Cave, together with their shared theologeme, clearly merge, the
archetype of the proto-muslim with the Vineyard theologeme remains distinctive in
its locus while having much in common, doctrinally, with its fellow in the cave.
The third major archetype of the Sura is that of the HERO, whose prime exemplars
are the Prophet Musa and Dhu '1-Qarnayn. Both are active models of the archetype
in every sense, and share a great tradition of 'questing and testing' in which the hero
goes on a quest and is tested to a greater or lesser degree in its course. Surat al-Kahf,
interestingly, portrays God Himself designing the earth as a kind of test:
That which is on earth

We have made but as
A glittering show for the earth,
In order that We may test
Them [li-nabluwahum]
? as to which of them
are best in conduct.73
Other 'questing and testing' parallels spring easily to mind: one thinks of Jason and
the Argonauts and the search for the Golden Fleece in the Greek tradition;74 in the
Graeco-Latin tradition one notes Orpheus' quest for Eurydice in the Underworld;75
and in the Latin mainstream tradition there is the quest for a homeland by Aeneas in
the Aeneid.16 By way of contrast we may also highlight King Arthur, the Knights of
the Round Table and the quest for the Holy Grail77 in the early British and French
mythical tradition,78 and the protagonist in John Bunyan's later Pilgrim's Progress.19
In the Morte dArthur, it is significant that the reader embarks on a quest as well.
As Helen Moore puts it in her 'Introduction' to the text of the work:
Le Morte Darthur is concerned not only with the practicalities of war

fare, tournaments and love affairs, but also with the interpretation of
these events in the wider context of existence. The romance abounds
in acts of interpretation, decoding and prophecy. In this, the reader's
experience is very much like that of the questing knight errant: just as
the knight sets out into an unknown landscape in search of unknown
Towards a Modern Tafsir of Surat al-Kahf. Structure and Semiotics 75
adventures, and has to puzzle out the meanings of events as he goes

along, so the reader must embark on a reading quest with the aim of
discovering not only what is going to happen, but how and why. This
feature of the romance is most evident in the Tale of the Sangreal
(Books XIII-XVII) which is concerned not simply with chivalric
achievement, but with the spiritual significance which lies behind the
knight's adventures.80
So many of these remarks could aptly be applied to the reader of the story of al-Khidr
and Musa in the Holy Qur'an, to which we will come in a little while, or that of
Yusuf which we have already briefly surveyed.
Other examples of occasions in literature, religion and myth where the Just Hero is
tested, with or without an accompanying journey or quest, are almost too numerous
to mention: they include Yusuf in prison in both the Qur'anic and the Genesis
accounts,81 the adventures of Hercules and his labours,82 and Beowulf who kills both
the monster Grendel and also Grendel's mother in the Anglo-Saxon tradition, before
being slain himself in a final battle with a dragon.83 Specific parallels with the triple
testing of Musa include the most obvious, that of Christ's three temptations in the
desert.84
In Surat Yusuf, it is the dream which serves as the motor to advance the physical
action and theological message.85 The dream here may be accounted a theologeme par
excellence. But in the portrayal of the first major hero in Surat al-Kahf Musa, the
action is advanced initially by a mysterious FISH. Numerous interpretations of this
fish have been put forward.86 For Yusuf cAli, 'the fish is the emblem of the fruit of
secular knowledge, which merges itself in divine knowledge at the point where
human intelligence is ready for the junction of the two.'87 This fish must also, there
fore, be considered as a major theologeme in our analysis of Musa as hero. Whether
interpreted literally as a physical phenomenon, or mystically and symbolically after
the manner of Yusuf CAH to which we have just referred, the fish is the initial mys
terious focus of, or key in, a mystic quest which leads to the direct encounter with
al-Khidr: Fa-wajada Qabdan min Hbddind}* At the very least, therefore, the fish may
be said to signify divine guidance: it is not the heart of the story of the encounter
between Musa and al-Khidr but the muqaddima. The actual heart of the encounter is
the triple testing of Musa and here three other key theologemes are brought into play.
As al-Khidr later shows to the impatient89 and flawed hero of the encounter, Musa,
whose function as archetype is to precipitate the revelation of this key message, God's
ways are certainly not man's ways and may, indeed, be far beyond his comprehen
sion 90
The three theologemes here are, respectively, a boat, a youth and a wall.91 What is
done to the boat is a sign of God's foreknowledge, indeed omniscience: 'By a sim
ple act of making it unseaworthy, the boat was saved from seizure.'92 The boat here
is not a theologeme in the lucid sense of the 'Ship of Salvation' (Safinat al-Najdt)
metaphor of the Ikhwan al-Safa'.93 The boat only becomes a theologeme, a unit of
theological discourse, not by its intrinsic nature but as a result of what is done to it
by divine intervention, i.e. by God through al-Khidr, and by what this action signi
fies about God. The same holds true of the two other theologemes in the encounter
between Musa and al-Khidr, the Youth and the Wall. The Youth is executed by al
Khidr as a sign of God's justice as well as His omniscience which foresees the future
evil that this youth will perpetrate if allowed to live.94 Finally, the wall as theolo
geme signifies God's generosity because of what is buried beneath it, a treasure which
the Qur'an itself characterises as a mercy (rahma) from the Lord.95
The second major exemplar of the Hero archetype in Surat al-Kahf is Dhu 'l-Qarnayn.
Much ink has been spilled on an identification of this mysterious but noble figure: I
will not duplicate here the extensive remarks of, for example, Yusuf CAH, who
devotes an entire Appendix to the subject,96 nor will I revisit in extenso the exegesis
and etymology of the word al-Qarnayn. It is worth stating, however, that a Pharaonic
identification, (distinct from the classical identification with the historical Alexander
the Great who captured Egypt97), with each qarn representing not so much Upper and
Lower Egypt but the realms of Life and Death, order and disorder,98 has not been ade
quately explored. Yusuf cAli has no doubts on the subject: 'Personally, I have not
the least doubt that Dhu alQarnayn is meant to be Alexander the Great, the historic
Alexander...'99 If this is the case, then it certainly accords very well with our char
acterisation of Dhu 'l-Qarnayn as the second major exemplar of the hero archetype in
Surat al-Kahf
The theologeme best to be associated with him is a BARRIER (sadd, radm).100 Like
the wall, or rather, what is under it, in the Musa-al-Khidr episode, the barrier is char
acterised as a mercy (rahma) from God.101 It becomes imbued with theological sig
nificance because it signifies the power of good inherent and flourishing in Dhu T
Qarnayn as well as God's protective action.102 Analogies with the Cave in the story
of the Sleepers may easily be drawn. The function of Dhu 'l-Qarnayn as hero arche
type is thus to exhibit the Just Ruler,103 chosen by God,104 who embodies and dis
plays in turn the protective qualities of God himself. God's protective power is thus
a leading motif both in this section of the Sura and the earlier one which adumbrat
ed the story of the Sleepers.
The fourth major archetype of Surat al-Kahf is that of the MYSTIC whose prime,
indeed only, exemplar, in this Sura is al-Khidr. He may be characterised not just as
an active but as a transcendent model of the archetype. The figure of al-Khidr, with
Towards a Modern Tafsir of Surat al-Kahf: Structure and Semiotics 77
his implicit 'greenness', has a major and diverse resonance or parallelism in other lit
eratures, myths and traditions whether he appears as Elijah105 or the Green Knight in
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.106 What we have identified as the three theolo
gemes of boat, youth and wall associated with Musa are, of course, closely associat
ed with al-Khidr as well since they participate in the same encounter and are two sides
of the triple testing. These will not be surveyed here again. However, the theologeme
which sets al-Khidr apart from Musa is that of KNOWLEDGE (HLM): wa
'allamndhu min ladunnd cilman.107 Here the identification of Him, knowledge, gnos
tic knowledge, as a fully fledged theologeme or 'unit of theological discourse which
can also function as a sign' is easy to accept for the relationship between God and the
knowledge bestowed on al-Khidr is explicit in verse 65. This theologeme, this
bestowal of knowledge, serves to isolate al-Khidr, set him apart from Musa108 and
signify to the rest of humanity that, as Yusuf CAH points out, al-Khidr now has the
right 'to interpret the inner meaning and mystery of events.'109 The function of the
mystical archetype here is to interpret God's ways (which are not man's ways) to man
in a sometimes painful theodicy, where the interpreter is conscious that he acts not
of his own accord110 but nontheless participates in a traditional master-disciple rela
tionship in which the former seeks to instruct the latter in that higher theodicy. It is
a hard lesson.
In passing, one might also compare here the role of Yusuf in Surat Yusuf, where he
is the gnostic pir interpreting dreams, with the severer and more mysterious figure of
al-Khidr in Surat al-Kahf. Both have God-given knowledge which is deployed to dif
ferent ends and effects. Another focus for comparison is the tale of the Archangel
Raphael and Tobias in the Book of Tobit. Tobias sets out in the company of the angel
who assumes the identity of a certain Azarias, son of Ananias, to recover ten talents
of silver which has been left by his father Tobit in the keeping of 'Gabael son of
Gabrias, at Rhages in Media'111 twenty years before. At the beginning of their jour
ney they catch, kill and part-eat a great fish from the River Tigris. The fish's heart
and liver are kept as a future cure for possession by evil spirits; the gall is kept as a
cure for blindness. Tobias later places the former heart and liver over burning incense
to cast out a demon from the presence of his kinsman's daughter Sarah whom he
wishes to marry. The ten talents of silver are collected, the marriage and its associ
ated feast take place and the gall of the fish is used to heal the blindness of Tobias'
father, when Tobias returns to his parents. Raphael then reveals his true identity as
one of the seven great angels of God and tells them that he has been sent to test their
faith. In words strikingly reminiscent of the Qur'anic al-Khidr,112 Raphael tells them
that 'my presence was not by any decision of mine, but by the will of God.'113
Numerous analogies might be drawn between the story of Tobias and Raphael, that
of Musa and al-Khidr and, indeed, that of Yusuf as well. Two stand out: whereas in
Surat Yusuf'it is the dream that is the theologeme and motor for much of the action,
in the Book of Tobit and Surat al-Kahf it is the fish which takes on this role. In
Surat Yusuf garments serve as symbols of rectitude and physical or spiritual healing
and truth: Joseph's shirt (qamls) is torn from behind;114 another shirt of Joseph's
restores his father Jacob's eyesight.115 In the Book of Tobit it is the fish which has
curative properties while in Surat al-Kahf the fish, as we have seen, is a symbol of
rectitude in that it signals the protagonists have started on the right path and are sub
ject to divine guidance.
In any comparison between the signs, symbols, archetypes and theologemes of Surat
Yusuf and Surat al-Kahf it is clear that the archetype at the forefront of the former,
and quite absent from the latter, is that of the SEDUCER, identified by name as
Zulaykha by the classical mufassirun.116 Yusuf and al-Khidr, by virtue of their mys
tical abilities, clearly have much in common. However, it is very difficult to find a
counterpart to Zulaykha in Surat al-Kahf unless one casts her in a role akin to that
of the Anti-Hero.
The fifth and last major archetype in Surat al-Kahf is the ANTI-HERO. The exem
plars of this archetype in the Sura are active proponents of evil and chaos in their dif
ferent ways. They are the Wicked Vineyard Owner on the one hand, who contrasts
neatly with his Just Critic surveyed above,117 and the pair known as Gog and Magog
on the other; their names are Arabicised as Ya'juj and Ma'juj.118 The Wicked
Vineyard Owner who had made virtual 'gods' of his material possessions,119 epito
mises the chaos of polytheism. It is the function of this Anti-Hero archetype here to
provide a salutary warning of the dangers of shirk. Gog and Magog, whose true iden
tity, like that of Dhu 'l-Qarnayn, has been the subject of much speculation,120 appear
in guises as various as statuary in Guildhall, London,121 and the nicknames of two
giants in the most famous novel by the Victorian writer William Harrison Ainsworth
(1805-1882).122 The latter borrows these names, presumably from Old Testament
rather than Qur'anic sources, and gives them to two of three giants working in the
Tower of London: 'Its arched gothic doorway was guarded by three gigantic warders,
brothers, who, claiming direct descent from the late monarch, Harry the Eighth, were
nicknamed by their companions, from their extraordinary stature, Og, Gog, and
Magog.'123
For Muhammad al-Ghazali, the Qur'anic Gog and Magog 'are part of the 'legions' of
Allah restrained by the action of Dhu 'l-Qarnayn only' and he does not believe that
their actual identity is important.124 Yusuf CAH, however, does identify them, hold
ing that they are Mongol tribes125 while the Old Testament Book ofEzekiel portrays
a certain Gog as king of a country called Magog and 'paramount prince of Meshech
and Tubal.'126 The text forecasts the dire destruction of Gog at the hands of Yahweh
Towards a Modern Tafsir of Surat al-Kahf Structure and Semiotics 79
for, as in the Qur'an, Gog and his land represent the forces of evil and chaos. The
function of Gog and Magog in the Qur'an as exemplars of the Anti-Hero archetype is
to provide an opportunity for God to demonstrate His mighty power through Dhu
'1-Qarnayn.127 Hero thus clashes with Anti-Hero and the former, with God's help,
wins.
In both sets of Anti-Hero, the Wicked Vineyard Owner on the one hand and Gog and
Magog on the other, the theologemes remain the same as for their virtuous opposites:
a vineyard and a wall or barrier. One, however, takes on a subtle, extra dimension
theologically: the Vineyards (jannatayn min acndb)m owned by the wicked man are
an actual locus for, or impetus towards, polytheism, swallowing all the owner's
interests and energies, and they contrast dramatically with the 'Gardens of Paradise'
(janndt al-Firdaws) mentioned towards the end of the Sura in verse 107. The wall
or barrier built as a protection against Gog and Magog continues to function as a sign
of God's ongoing care and protection, even when the spotlight is on these two forces
of chaos rather than Dhu '1-Qarnayn. The ultimate breach of that barrier by Gog and
Magog will be a sign not only of the impending Last Judgement but a final with
drawal of God's care and protection, in preparation for that Judgement.129 A foretaste
of this was described by the Prophet Muhammad himself and his words are recorded
in the Hadith literature.130
4. Conclusion: Harmony versus Chaos

It is arguable that, of the three topoi identified at the beginning of this essay as major
leitmotivs in the text of Surat al-Kahf that of harmony from chaos is the most per
vasive and the most powerful. The apparent chaos of al-Khidr's actions is dissolved
in a harmony of careful exegesis by the Sage himself; the chaos of persecution is
resolved by the harmony of sleep in a protecting cave and a waking to an ordered
environment; the chaos of infatuation with material possessions - a species of shirk
- is destroyed in the critique by the Just Observer who, perhaps like the Arabian
prophets Salih and Shucayb,131 sees a world of disordered fancies replaced by the
order of a strict judgement; and, most obviously, Dhu T-Qarnayn builds the walls or
barriers to safeguard harmony and civilisation and keep out the radical chaos epito
mised so vividly in the figures, or tribes, of Gog and Magog.
In our analysis we have deployed the concept of the theologeme, and identified sev
eral types ranging from the cave to the wall. The concept is not intended to be mere
wordplay or a useless neologism. Not every inanimate object or concept can be a
theologeme. The latter must be able to function as a 'basic unit of theological dis
course', that is, it must have theological significance in its content or context which
it signals or signifies. All the theologemes which we have identified in this essay
have and do precisely that. In their signification they constitute for the Muslim
further examples of those signs which God has promised to show 4 on the horizons
and in themselves' (fi 'l-dfdq wa ft anfusihim)}32
NOTES
1 Ian Richard Netton, A Popular Dictionary of Islam, (London: Curzon Press, 1992),
140 sv 'al-Kahf.
2 'Abdullah Yusuf CAH (Trans.), The Meaning of the Holy Qur'an, New Edn with Qur
Text (Arabic), Rev. Trans., Commentary and Newly Compiled Comprehensive Index
edn, (Beltsville, Maryland: Amana Publications, 1418/1997), p. 706.
3 Muhammad al-Ghazali, A Journey Through the Qur'an: Themes and Messages of t
Holy Qur'an, ed. Abdalhaqq Bewley & Muhammad Isa Waley, trans. Aisha Bew
(London: Dar al-Taqwa, 1998), p. 201.
4 Cf. Q. 18:78-82.
5 Cf. Q.18:94-98; Q.2L96-97.
6 Cf., for example, Umberto Eco, Semiotics and the Philosophy of Language, (Lond
Macmillan, 1984); idem., A Theory of Semiotics, Advances in Semiotics, (Bloomingto
London: Indiana University Press, 1976); John Sturrock (ed.), Structuralism and Sin
From Levi-Strauss to Derrida, Opus (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1979).
7 Cf., for example, Ian Richard Netton, Allah Transcendent: Studies in the Structure
Semiotics of Islamic Philosophy, Theology and Cosmology (London: Routledge, 19
repr. Richmond: Curzon Press, 1994). For a brief survey of other applications of semio
to Islamic culture, see Roger Joseph, 'The Semiotics of the Islamic Mosque', Arab Stu
Quarterly, vol. Ill, no. 3 (Autumn 1981), pp. 285-286.
8 Cf. Netton, Allah Transcendent, pp. 330, 321-335.
9 Genesis 37-50. For the Joseph story in the Old Testament, cf., inter alia, G.W. Co
From Canaan to Egypt: Structural and Theological Context for the Joseph Story,
Catholic Biblical Quarterly: Monograph Series No. 4 (Washington: Catholic Bib
Association of America, 1976).
10 Cf. Nancy N. Roberts, 'A Parable of Blessing: The Significance and Message of
Qur'anic Account of "The Companions of the Cave",' The Muslim World, Vol. LXXX
No. 3-4 (July - October 1993), pp. 295-317, esp. p. 299.
11 Cf. R. Paret, 'Ashab al-Kahf, EI2, vol. I, p. 691.
12 Cf. also Abdullah Yusuf cAli, The Meaning of the Holy Qur'an, p. 709 n. 2337.
13 Northrop Frye {Anatomy of Criticism, Princeton University Press, 1957, p. 135)
marises the story as follows: 'In the Egyptian tale of The Two Brothers, thought to be
source of the Potiphar's wife story in the Joseph legend, an elder brother's wife attem
to seduce an unmarried younger brother who lives with them, and, when he resists he
accuses him of attempting to rape her. The younger brother is then forced to run awa
with the enraged elder brother in pursuit. So far, the incidents reproduce more or less
ible facts of life. Then the younger brother prays to Ra for assistance, pleading the jus
of his cause; Ra places a large lake between him and his brother, and, in a burst of div
exuberance, fills it full of crocodiles.' See also J. R. Porter, The Illustrated Guide to
Bible (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995), p. 50.
14 Cf. F. R. Leavis, The Great Tradition, (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1972).
15 Allon White defines intertextuality as 'a term used to describe the network of text
literary and otherwise, which inform a given work.' ('Joseph Conrad and the Rhetoric of
Enigma' in Andrew Michael Roberts (ed.), Joseph Conrad, Longman Critical Readers,
(London & New York: Longman, 1998), p. 245 n.19).
16 For the intrinsic coherence of the structure of the Holy Qur'an, see Neal Robinson,
Discovering the Qur an: A Contemporary Approach to a Veiled Text, (London: SCM,
1996).
17 Compare Isaiah 5 and Luke 12:16-21.
18 The Meaning of the Holy Qur an, pp. 707-737.
19 The modern Qur'anic scholar, Muhammad al-Ghazali, also focuses on these four sto
ries: see Journey, p. 201.
20 Compare with the fall, and rise again, in very different circumstances of Sir Lancelot
in the Arthurian hero tradition: see James Cable (trans.), The Death of King Arthur
(Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1971), p. 16: 'From his good beginning in The Quest of the Holy
Grail, therefore, Lancelot falls as low as possible at the beginning of the Death of King
Arthur, and this present book [Cable (trans.), The Death of King Arthur] depicts his gradual
rise, entirely through his own psychological development, until his assumption at the end.'
21 The Meaning of the Holy Qur an, p. 544.
22 G.A. Rendsburg, 'Literary Structures in the Qur'anic and Biblical Stories of Joseph',
The Muslim World, vol. LXXVIII (1988), p. 120 n. 11.
23 Robinson, Discovering the Qur an, p. 157.
24 Journey, p. 152. The Pharaoh who cultivated Yusuf is unknown. It may have occurred
during the Hyksos Period (bc 1670-1562) but some scholars believe that Yusuf/Joseph
is post-Hyksos (see Porter, Illustrated Guide, p. 48). We can be slightly more certain
about the Pharaoh who oppressed the Israelites: he has been identified with Ramses II (c.
bc 1279-1212). It is suggested that the Pharaoh of the Exodus under Moses was Ramses'
son Merneptah (c. bc 1212-1204) (see ibid., p. 52).
25 Eric F. F. Bishop & Mohamed Kaddal (trans.), 'The Light of Inspiration and Secret of
Interpretation' Being a Translation of the Chapter of Joseph (Surat Yusuf) With the
Commentary of Nasir Id-Din al-Baiddwi, Chrestomathia Baidawiani, (Glasgow: Jackson,
Son & Co., 1957), p. 7 (Preface).
26 M. A. S. Abdel Haleem, 'The Story of Joseph in the Qur'an and the Old Testament',
Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, vol. I, no. 2 (December 1990), pp. 185, 190 n. 17.
(The whole article is reprinted in idem., Understanding the Qur'an: Theme and Style,
(London & New York: LB. Tauris, 1999), pp. 138-157 under the slightly changed title
'The Story of Joseph in the Qur'an and the Bible').
27 Abdel Haleem, 'The Story of Joseph in the Qur'an and the Old Testament', p. 185.
28 'The Qur'anic story of Joseph: Plot, Themes and Characters', The Muslim World, vol.
LXXVI (1986), pp. 1, 15. See also Rendsburg, 'Literary Structures', pp. 118-120. For more
on the Sura of Yusuf see James L. Kugel, In Potiphar's House, (Cambridge,
Mass./London: Harvard University Press, 1994), sv 'Qur'an' in Index, and esp. pp. 31-65;
and B. Heller, art. 'Yusuf B. Yackub' in H. A. R. Gibb & J. H. Kramers (eds.), Shorter
Encyclopaedia of Islam, (Leiden: EJ. Brill/London: Luzac, 1961), pp. 646-648. Finally,
for the comments of the classical mufassirun on this Sura see, inter alia, al-Tabari, Tafsir
al-Tabari: jdmic al-bayan can tawil ay al-Qur'dn, ed. Salah cAbd al-Fattah al-Khalidi,
(Damascus: Dar al-Qalam/Beirut: Dar al-Shamiyya, 1997), vol. IV [hereafter referred to as
Tab. vol. IV ed. KhalidI], pp. 421-512; ibid., ed. Mahmud Muhammad Shakir, Turath al
Islam, (Cairo: Dar al-Macarif, 1960), vol. XV [hereafter referred to as Tab. vol. XV], pp.
547-586; ibid., vol. XVI (pub. 1969) [hereafter referred to as Tab. vol. XVI], pp. 1-315;
al-Zamakhshari, al-Kashshdf can haqd'iq al-tanzil wa-Quyun al-aqdwll fi wujiih al
ta'wil, (Beirut: Dar al-Macrifa, n.d.), vol. II [hereafter referred to as Zam. vol. II], pp.
300-348; al-Baydawi, Tafsir al-Bayddwi, al-musammd anwdr al-tanzil wa-asrdr al
ta'wil, (Cairo: Matbaca Muhammad cAli Subayh, 1926) [hereafter referred to as Bayd.], pp.
336-352; Ibn Kathir, Tafsir al-Qur'an al-'Azim, (Beirut: Dar al-Qalam, n.d. [1983?]), vol.
II [hereafter referred to as Ibn Kathir vol. II], pp. 403-430; Jalalayn, Tafsir al-Jaldlayn,
(Beirut: Dar al-Macrifa, 1403/1982-3) [hereafter referred to as Jalalayn], pp. 302-320. For
an Arabic verse account of the Joseph story, see R. J. Ebied & M. J. L. Young (eds.), The
Story of Joseph in Arabic Verse: The Leeds Arabic Manuscript 347, Supplement III to the
Annual of Leeds University Oriental Society, (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1975).
29 See Abdel Haleem, 'The Story of Joseph in the Qur'an and the Old Testament', pp.
184-185.
30 See 'Abdullah Yusuf cAli, The Meaning of the Holy Qur'an, p. 727 n. 2411.
31 J.C.B. Gosling, Plato, The Arguments of the Philosophers, (London: Routledge &
Kegan Paul, 1983), p. 141.
32 Metaphysics A 987a 29 seq. Cited in Gosling, ibid., p. 140.
33 Gosling, Plato, p. 141.
34 Ibid.
35 The Republic bk. 10 596a, trans. Desmond Lee, Plato: The Republic, 2nd edn (rev.),
(Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1987), p. 360.
36 The Republic bk. 10 596b, c. For a very useful summary and graphical illustration of
Plato's epistemology, and the incorporation and centrality of his Doctrine of Forms, see
Lee (trans.), The Republic, pp. 398-399. See also the preceding Appendix 1 entitled 'The
Philosophical Passages in the Republic' (ibid., pp. 394-397).
37 See Netton, Allah Transcendent, esp. pp. 263-265; see also al-Suhrawardl, Hikmat al
Ishrdq in Oeuvres Philosophiques et Mystiques, vol. II, ed. Henry Corbin, Academie
Imperiale Iranienne de Philosophie, Publication no. 13, Bibliotheque Iranienne, N.S.,
(Tehran: Academie Imperiale Iranienne de Philosophie/Paris: Librairie Adrien
Maisonneuve, 1977), pp. 143-145. See finally Ian Richard Netton, 'Suhrawardi's Heir?
The Ishraqi Philosophy of Mir Damad' in Leonard Lewisohn and David Morgan (eds.), The
Heritage of Sufism Volume III: Late Classical Persianate Sufism (1501-1750), (Oxford:
Oneworld Publications in association with SOAS Centre of Near and Middle Eastern
Studies, 1999) pp. 225-246.
38 See Netton, Allah Transcendent, esp. pp. 277-278; see also Ibn al-cArabi, Fusus al
Hikam, ed. with commentaries by Abu T-cAla cAfifi, (Beirut: Dar al-Kitab al-cArabi, n.d.,
repr. from the Cairo: al-Halabi edn of 1946), Pt 1, pp. 61, 128, 130.
39 See Netton, 'Suhrawardi's Heir?'.
40 T. Izutsu, 'Introduction' to Mir Damad, Kitab al-Qabasdt, ed. M. Mohaghegh, T.
Izutsu, A. Musavl Bihbahani & I. Dibaji, with English Introduction by T. Izutsu, Wisdom
of Persia Series, No. VII, (Tehran: McGill University Institute of Islamic Studies, Tehran
Branch with Tehran University, 1977), p. 5.
41 See above n.3.
42 See Netton, Allah Transcendent, pp. 79-80; B. Darrell Jackson, 'The Theory of Signs
in St. Augustine's De Doctrina Christiana' in R. A. Markus (ed.), Augustine: A Collection
of Critical Essays, Modern Studies in Philosophy, (New York: Anchor Books, Doubleday,
1972), p. 115.
43 Al-Ghazali, Journey, p. 201.

44 Ibid., p. 202.
45 Ibid., pp. 204-205.
46 Ibid., p. 205.
47 Ibid., pp. 207-208. For the comments of the classical mufassirun on Surat al-Kahf
see al-Tabari, Tafsir al-Tabari: Jdmic al-bayan can ta'wil ay al-Qur'an, ed. Salah cAbd
al-Fattah al-Khalidi, (Damascus: Dar al-Qalam/Beirut: Dar al-Shamiyya, 1997), vol. V
[hereafter referred to as Tab. vol. V ed. Khalidi], pp. 133-214; Zam. vol. II, pp. 471-501;
Bayd. pp. 413-429; Ibn Kathir, Tafsir al-Qur'an al-'azim, (Beirut: Dar al-Qalam, n.d.
[1983?]), vol. Ill [hereafter referred to as Ibn Kathir vol. Ill], pp. 63-97; Jaldlayn, pp.
380-395.
48 Q.5:116-117.
49 Q.12:105.
50 Q.18:9; see cAbdullah Yusuf CAH, The Meaning of the Holy Qur'an, pp. 708-709.
5 1 Q.18:56; see cAbdullah Yusuf cAli, ibid., p. 724.
52 Q.18:57; see cAbdullah Yusuf cAli, ibid., p. 724.
53 Q.18:105; see cAbdullah Yusuf cAli, ibid., p. 736.
54 See Jakob Ludwig Karl Grimm, Briar Rose, The Sleeping Beauty, trans. Anne Rogers,
(New York: Larousse, 1975); idem. Briar Rose: The Story of the Sleeping Beauty, (New
York: H. Z. Walck, [c] 1972). See also Gertrude Jobes, Dictionary of Mythology, Folklore
and Symbols, (New York: The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1961), Part 2, pp. 1466-1467 sv
'Sleep'; Katherine Briggs, A Dictionary of Fairies, (London: Allen Lane, 1976), pp.
370-373 sv 'Sleeping Warriors'.
55 See Washington Irving, 'Rip Van Winkle' in idem., The Sketch-Book of Geoffrey
Crayon, Gent., The World's Classics, (Oxford/New York: OUP, 1996), pp. 32-A9. Susan
Manning describes this as a 'classic of short fiction' (ibid., p. x).
56 Zakariya Tamir, 'Hamza' in Zakariya Tamir, Nidd' Nuh, (The Collected Short Stories:
Noah's Summons), (London: Riad El-Rayyes Books, 1994), pp. 385-389.
57 Rasa'il Ikhwdn al-Safa , (Beirut: Dar Sadir, 1957), vol. IV, p. 18; see also Ian Richard
Netton, Muslim Neoplatonists: An Introduction to the Thought of the Brethren of Purity
(Ikhwdn al-Safa ), (London: Allen & Unwin, 1982; Edinburgh: Edinburgh University
Press, 1991, Islamic Surveys 19), esp. p. 78.
58 See above n.10. For a Judaic tradition of 'long sleepers' see Roberts, 'A Parable of
Blessing', p. 316. See also Louis Massignon, 'Le Culte Liturgique et Populaire des VII
Dormants Martyrs d'Ephese (Ahl al-Kahf)' in Y. Moubarac (ed.), Opera Minora de Louis
Massignon, (Beirut: Dar al-Macarif, 1963), vol. Ill, pp. 119-180.
59 Henrik Ibsen, Peer Gynt, trans. Gerry Bamman & Irene B. Berman, (New York: TCG
Translations, 1992), esp. pp. 59ff.; James Walter McFarlane (ed.), The Oxford Ibsen
Volume III: Brand, Peer Gynt, (London: OUP, 1972), pp. 251-421 (Text of the Dramatic
Poem), 451-504 (Commentary). See also pp. 482-486 for the folk tale of Peer Gynt and
the Boyg. See finally, George B. Bryan, An Ibsen Companion: A Dictionary-Guide to the
Life, Works and Critical Reception of Henrik Ibsen, (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press,
1984), pp. 286-292 'Peer Gynt'.
60 For the views of the classical mufassirun on this theologeme, see Tab. vol. V, ed.
Khalidi, pp. 138-140; Zam. vol. II, pp. 473 ff.; Bayd. p. 414; Ibn Kathir vol. Ill, p. 65;
Jaldlayn, p. 381.
61 Ibn Hisham, al-Sira al-Nabawiyya, ed. Mustafa al-Saqqa et al., Turath al-Islami,
(Beirut: Mu'assasa cUlum al-Qur'an, n.d.), Pts 1-2, pp. 236-237. See T. H. Weir-W.
Montgomery Watt, art. 'Hira", EI2, vol. Ill, p. 462. See also Martin Lings, Muhammad: His
Life Based on the Earliest Sources, (London: George Allen & Unwin/Islamic Texts
Society, 1983), pp. 43-45.
62 See Q.9:40. For a classical reference to this spider and the cave, see al-Zamakhshari's
commentary on this verse: Zam. vol. II, p. 190. (I am indebted to Dr. Hussein Abdul-Raof
of the University of Leeds for this reference.) See also J. Ruska, art. 'cAnkabut', EI2, vol.
I, p. 509 and Abdullah A. al-Ghamdi, 'The Noble Prophet's Emigration to Madinah', The
Muslim World League Journal, vol. XXVII: 1, (Muharram 1420/April-May 1999), p. 26.
For spiders see also Sura 29 (Surat al-cAnkabut), esp. v. 41, and Netton, Popular
Dictionary, pp. 35-36 sv 'al-cAnkabut'.
63 For the legend of the spider and Robert Bruce, see Christopher Lee, This Sceptred Isle
55BC-1901: From the Roman Invasion to the Death of Queen Victoria, (London: BBC
Books/Penguin Books, 1997-98), p. 107; Neil Grant, Kings and Queens, Collins Gem,
(Glasgow: Harper Collins, 1999), pp. 40-41 sv 'Robert I and the Wars of Independence'.
(It is interesting that these two references contain differing accounts of what, exactly, the
spider was trying to do!)
64 Q.18:10-ll, 18.
65 Q.18:18.
66 Q.18:10.
67 Q.18:12; compare v. 7.
68 Q.18:22.
69 See Q.37:102-107.
70 Q.18:16.
71 For the views of the classical mufassirun on this theologeme, see Tab. vol. V ed.
Khalidi, p. 161; Zam. vol. II, p. 483. Bayd. p. 419; Ibn Kathirvol. Ill, p. 74; Jaldlayn, p. 385.
72 Q. 18:24; compare the rather antiquated Christian Latin phrase Deo volente; see also
James 4:15 and the remarks of Roberts, 'A Parable of Blessing', pp. 313-314 citing the
classical exegetes' tafsir of the phrase in shd'a Allah.
73 Q.18:7; trans. cAbdullah Yusuf CA1I, The Meaning of the Holy Quran, p. 708.
74 'Journeys undertaken by heroic figures appear frequently in the mythology of ancient
Greece and other cultures' (Porter, Illustrated Guide, p. 232). See Apollonius Rhodius,
The Argonautica, trans. R.C. Seaton, The Loeb Classical Library, (London:
Heinemann/Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1961); see also idem.,
Argonautiques, ed. Francis Vian & trans. Emile Delage, (Paris: Societe d'Edition 'Les
Belles Lettres', 1976-1981), vols. I?III; and idem., Jason and the Golden Fleece (The
Argonautica), trans. Richard Hunter, The World's Classics, (Oxford/New York: OUP,
1995). For a 'Summary of the Text of Apollonius Rhodius' see Tim Severin, The Jason
Voyage: The Quest for the Golden Fleece, (London: Hutchinson, 1985), pp. 244-260.
75 See Virgil, The Georgics, trans. L.P. Wilkinson, (Harmondsworth: Penguin Books,
1982), bk. 4, pp. 139-142:11.453-527; Ovid, Metamorphoses, trans. Mary M. Innes,
(Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1955), bk. 10, pp. 225-247.
76 Virgil, The Aeneid, A new prose trans, by David West, (Harmondsworth: Penguin,
1991).
77 See Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Wordsworth Classics of World Literature,
(Ware, Herts.: Wordsworth Editions Ltd., 1996), esp. (for the Holy Grail) sv 'SangreaL
(Index).
78 Ibid.
79 John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress, ed. Roger Sharrock, (Harmondsworth: Penguin,
1968).
80 Helen Moore, 'Introduction' to Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, p. X.
81 See Q. 12:35-42; Genesis 39:20-40:14; Ebied & Young (eds.), Story of Joseph, pp. 16
ff. (Arabic), 41 (English trans.).
82 For a general introduction to Hercules, see Pierre Grimal, The Penguin Dictionary of
Classical Mythology, ed. Stephen Kershaw, (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1991), pp.
183-195, 196-197 sv 'Heracles', 'Hercules'. See also Ted Hughes, Tales from Ovid,
(London: Faber & Faber, 1997), pp. 151-163 and Ovid, Metamorphoses, trans. Mary M.
Innes, bk. 9, pp. 203-211.
83 See Michael Alexander (trans.), Beowulf: A Verse Translation, (Harmondsworth:
Penguin, 1973), esp. pp. 76-77, 100-101, 137-141.
84 Matthew 4:1-11; Mark 1:12-13; Luke 4:1-13. Christian and Judaic scripture seems
to betray a penchant for doing things in threes: see, for example, 1 Kings 18:34, 2 Kings
1:9-16.
85 See Q.12:4-6, 36-42, 43-49; see Netton, Popular Dictionary, pp. 261-262 sv 'Yusuf
(2)'; and Muhammad al-Ghazali, Journey, pp. 156-157.
86 For the views of the classical mufassirun, see Tab. vol. V ed. Khalidi, pp. 181-184;
Zam. vol. II, p. 491; Bayd., p. 423; Ibn Kathir, vol. Ill, pp. 81-82; Jaldlayn, pp. 389-390.
87 The Meaning of the Holy Qur'an, p. 726 n. 2408.
88 Q.18-.65.
89 Q.18:78.
90 Q.18:79-82.
91 For the views of the classical mufassirun on the boat, the youth and the wall, see Tab.
vol. V ed. Khalidi, pp. 187 ff.; Zam. vol. II, p. 493 ff.; Bayd., p. 424 ff.; Ibn Kathir, vol. Ill,
p. 86 ff.; Jaldlayn, pp. 391 ff.
92 cAbdullah Yusuf cAli, The Meaning of the Holy Qur'an, p. 730 n. 2422; see Q.18:79.
93 See Ikhwan al-Safa', Rasa'il, vol. IV, p. 18.
94 See Q. 18:80-81.
95 Q.18:82.
96 See The Meaning of the Holy Qur'an, Appendix VI, pp. 738-742. See also Muhammad
al-Ghazali Journey, p. 207.
97 See 'Abdullah Yusuf CA1I, The Meaning of the Holy Qur'an, Appendix VI; see also
Robin Lane Fox, Alexander the Great, (London: The Folio Society, 1997), esp. pp. 184 ff.
98 See Stephen Quirke, Who Were the Pharaohs? A History of their Names with a List of
Cartouches, (London: British Museum Publications, 1990), pp. 10-11. Ian Shaw and Paul
Nicholson (British Museum Dictionary of Ancient History, London: British Museum
Press, 1995, pp. 74-75 sv 'crowns and royal regalia') note, however: 'With unification
these two crowns [the white crown of Upper Egypt and the red crown of Lower Egypt] were
combined to become the 'Two Mighty Ones', the double crown'. If this older, more geo
graphical view is adopted, then clearly the qarnayn of Dhu '1-Qarnayn could have been
the dual crown of Upper and Lower Egypt worn by an Egyptian Pharaoh.
99 The Meaning of the Holy Qur'an, p. 740. Fox (Alexander the Great, p. 186) seems to
support this: 'Alexander is said to have been crowned as Pharaoh of upper and lower
Egypt...' and on a silver four-drachma coin of Lysimachus, c.290 BC, in the British
Museum, Alexander is portrayed wearing both a horn (my italics) and a diadem (see ibid.,
illustr. facing p. 62).
100 Q.18:94, 95.
101 Q.18:98.
102 Q.18:97.
103 See Muhammad al-Ghazali, Journey, p. 208.
104 Q.18:84.
105 See A. J. Wensinck, art. 'Al-Khadir (al-Khidr)' EI2, vol. IV, p. 903.
106 See Brian Stone (trans.), Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, 2nd edn,
(Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1974). For a further, very modern development of this motif,
see Iris Murdoch's novel The Green Knight, (London: Chatto & Windus, 1993). For the
disciple-master, or pir-murid, relationship, compare the story of the Archangel Raphael
and Tobias which will be outlined further on in this essay. For more on al-Khidr himself,
see Wensinck, art. 'Al-Khadir (al-Khidr)'; Ian Richard Netton, 'Theophany as Paradox: Ibn
al-cArabi's Account of al-Khadir in His Fusus al-Hikam', Journal of the Muhyiddin Ibn
cArabi Society, vol. XI (1992), pp. 11-22; Man Omar, 'Khidr in the Islamic Tradition', The
Muslim World, vol. LXXXIII, Nos. 3-4 (July-October, 1993), pp. 279-294. For the views
of the classical mufassirun on al-Khidr, see Tab. vol. V ed. Khalidi, p. 182; Zam. vol. II, p.
492; Bayd., p. 424; Ibn Kathir, vol. Ill, pp. 81-82; Jaldlayn, pp. 390.
107 Q.18:65.
108 See Netton, 'Theophany as Paradox', pp. 12-13.
109 The Meaning of the Holy Qur'an, p. 727 n. 2412.
110 Q.18:82.
111 Tobit 4:20; trans. Henry Wansbrough (General Editor), The New Jerusalem Bible,
Standard edn, (London: Darton, Longman & Todd, 1985), p. 630.
112 See Q. 18:82.
113 Tobit 12:18; trans. Wansbrough, The New Jerusalem Bible, p. 637. For the whole of
the story of Raphael and Tobias, see Tobit 5-12.
114 Q. 12:27-28; Ebied & Young (eds.), Story of Joseph, pp. 14 ff. (Arabic Text), 38 ff.
(English trans.)
115 Q.12:93, 96. See also Annemarie Schimmel, 'Yusuf in Mawlana Rumi's Poetry' in
Leonard Lewisohn (ed.), The Legacy of Medieval Persian Sufism, (London & New York:
Khaniqahi Nimatullahi Publications, 1992), pp. 45-59, esp. pp. 45, 55. See also
Robinson, Discovering the Qur'an, p. 149; Ebied & Young (eds.), Story of Joseph, pp. 25
(Arabic text), 54 ff. (English trans.)
116 See Barbara Freyer Stowasser, Women in the Qur'an, Tradition and Interpretation,
(New York & Oxford: OUP, 1994), pp. 50-56; see also Ebied & Young (eds.), Story of
Joseph, pp. 14 ff. (Arabic text), 38 ff. (English trans.) Joseph's much vaunted and leg
endary beauty, which causes the women to cut themselves in Q. 12:31, may be compared
with the beauty of a saint in another tradition, Chaitanya Deb (1486-1533). See Nadezhda
Korabelnik, 'The Peculiarities of God's Veneration in the Religious Doctrine of the
Medieval Bengali Saint Chaitanya', (Paper presented to the International Medieval
Congress, University of Leeds, 12-15 July 1999).
117 See Q. 18:32-44.

118 SeeQ.18:94.
119 See Q. 18:42; see also 'Abdullah Yusuf 'All, The Meaning of the Holy Qur'an, p. 720
n. 2382.
120 See 'Abdullah Yusuf 'All, The Meaning of the Holy Qur'an, p. 733 n. 2439 and
Appendix VI in ibid., pp. 738-742, esp. pp. 739-740.) See also A. J. Wensinck, art.
'Yadjudj. wa-Madjudj' in H. A. R. Gibb & J. H. Kramers (eds.), Shorter Encyclopaedia of
Islam, p. 637.
121 See 'Abdullah Yusuf 'All, The Meaning of the Holy Qur'an, p. 740.
122 See his The Tower of London: A Historical Romance, (London: George Routledge &
Sons Ltd., 1895). See also Victor I. Scherb, 'Assimilating Giants: Gog and Magog in
Medieval English Literature and Pageantry', (Paper presented to the International
Medieval Congress, University of Leeds, 12-15 July 1999).
123 (My italics) Ainsworth, Tower of London, p. 18; see also pp. 40, 81-85, 200-204,
402-411. The name Og, of course, does not appear in the Qur'an.
124 See Journey, p. 208.
125 See The Meaning of the Holy Qur'an, p. 740. For the views of the classical mufas
sirun, see Tab. vol. V ed. Khalidi, pp. 201-203; Zam. vol. II, p. 478; Bayd., p. 427; Ibn
Kathir, vol. Ill, pp. 91-92; Jaldlayn, pp. 393-394.
126 Ezekiel 38:3, trans. New Jerusalem Bible, p. 1453. See also the whole of Chapters 38
and 39.
127 See Q.18:94-97. Compare Ezekiel 38:16, 39:1-8, 13.
128 Q.18:32.
129 SeeQ.21:96-97.
130 See Muhammad Muhsin Khan and Muhammad Taqi-ud-Din al-Hilali (eds.),
Interpretation of the Meanings of the Noble Qur'an in the English Language, 15th rev.
edn., (Riyadh: Maktaba Dar al-Salam, 1996), p. 381 n. 1 citing al-Bukhari; see, for the
original source, Muhammad Muhsin Khan (ed.), Sahih al-Bukhdri: The Translation of the
Meanings of Sahih al-Bukhari: Arabic-English, 3rd rev. edn, (Chicago: Kazi
Publications, 1979), vol. IX, pp. 187-188, nos. 249, 250.
131 See Q.7:73-79, 85-93.
132 Q.4L53.

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Towards a Modern Tafsr of Srat al-Kahf: Structure and Semiotics / :

Author(s): Ian Richard Netton and

Ian Richard Netton

Parallel to this, "Abdullah Yusuf cAli characterises Surat al-Kahf as:

Finally, Shaykh Muhammad al-Ghazali (1335/1917-1416/1996) had this to say, by

Phenomenal existence indicates Allah's Existence, and Revelation

Sa-nurihim dydtindfi' l-dfdq wa-fi anfusihim

We shall show them Our signs on the horizons and in themselves

2. Structure and Comparative Structure

2.1 The Elementary Structure of Surat al-Kahf

Introduction of Praise and Warning: vv. 1-8

The Story of the Companions of the Cave: vv. 9-26

The Parable of the Vineyards:17 vv. 32-44

2.2 Surat al-Kahf and Surat Yusuf: Structures Compared

3. Identity and Function of the Archetypes: A Semiotic Analysis

Heracleitus'.31 Aristotle32 identified Plato's attraction to the latter's view of a sensi

Such ideas, developed and recharged in a multiplicity of different ways, radically

Reading Shaykh Muhammad al-Ghazali's text, it is clear whom he regards as his

SLEEPER Companions of the Cave

ANTI-HERO 1) Gog and Magog

The first major archetype in Surat al-Kahf is that of the

That which is on earth

A glittering show for the earth,

In order that We may test

Le Morte Darthur is concerned not only with the practicalities of war

adventures, and has to puzzle out the meanings of events as he goes

4. Conclusion: Harmony versus Chaos

43 Al-Ghazali, Journey, p. 201.

117 See Q. 18:32-44.

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