وَإِذِ اعْتَزَلْتُمُوهُمْ وَمَا يَعْبُدُونَ إِلَّا اللَّهَ فَأْوُوا إِلَى الْكَهْفِ يَنشُرْ لَكُمْ رَبُّكُم مِّن رَّحْمَتِهِ وَيُهَيِّئْ لَكُم مِّنْ أَمْرِكُم مِّرْفَقًا (16)
(18:16) Now that you have forsaken them and discarded the deities they worship besides Allah, let us go to such and such a cave for refuge. *11 Your Lord will extend to you His mercy, and order your affairs for you for the best. "
*11) When these God-worshipping youths fled the habitations to take refuge in the hills, the city of Ephesus was the principal centre of idol-worship and sorcery in Asia Minor. There was a great temple dedicated to the goddess Diana, which was well-known in the whole world and attracted devotees from far end wide. The sorcerers, workers of magic and occult arts, sooth-sayers and amuletwriters of Ephesus were well-known and their black business had spread throughout Syria and Palestine, even as far as Egypt. The Jews also had a big share in it, who attributed this art to Prophet Solomon. (Please see Cyclopaedia of Biblical Literature under `Ephesus', for details). The predicament in which the righteous people living in an environment of idolatry and superstition were involved can well be imagined from the remark of "the Companions of the Cave' that occurs in v. 20: "....... if they succeed in over-powering us, they will surely stone us to death or force us back into their Faith. "