'Abdullāh Ibn 'Abbās / Muḥammad al-Fīrūzabādī
تفسير : ((some) will say) the christians of najran, al-sayyid and his followers who were nestorians, will say: (they were three) they were three young men in the cave, (their dog) qatmir (the fourth, and (some) say) al-'aqib and his followers who were jacobite christians will say: (five) they were five young men, (their dog the sixth, guessing at random) without having definite knowledge; (and (some) say) the followers of al-malik who were melkites: (seven) they were seven young men, (and their dog the eighth. say) to them, o muhammad: (my lord is best aware of their number. none knoweth them save a few) among the believers. ibn 'abbas, may allah be pleased with him and with his father, said: "i am among those few: they were eight young men, and the dog". (so contend not concerning them) so do not argue with them concerning the number of the sleepers of the cave (except with an outward contending) unless you recite the qur'an to them outwardly, (and ask not any of them to pronounce concerning them) do not ask any one of them about their number; enough is what allah has clarified to you.
Jalāl al-Dīn al-Maḥallī
تفسير : they will say, that is, [some of] those disputing the number of the youths [of the cave] at the time of the prophet (s), in other words, some of these will say that they [the youths] were: ‘three; their dog the fourth of them’; and they, some [others] among them, will say, ‘five; their dog the sixth of them’ — both of these sayings were those of the christians of najrān — guessing at random, in other words, out of supposition, not having been present with them [at the time], and this [statement ‘guessing at random’] refers back to both sayings, and is in the accusative because it is an object denoting reason, in other words, [they said this] for the reason that they were [merely] supposing it. and they, that is, the believers, will say, ‘seven; and their dog the eighth of them’ (the sentence is [part of] the subject clause, the predicate of which is the adjectival qualification of sab‘a, ‘seven’ [namely, thāminuhum, ‘the eighth of them’] with the additional wāw [wa-thāminuhum], which is said to be for emphasis, or an indication that the adjective is [semantically] attached to that which it is qualifying). the qualification of the first two sayings as being ‘random’, but not the third, is proof that [the latter] is the satisfactory and correct [number]. say: ‘my lord knows best their number, and none knows them except a few’: ibn ‘abbās said, ‘i am [one] of these “few” [described]’, and he mentioned that they were seven. so do not contend concerning them except with an outward manner [of contention], [except] with that which has been revealed to you, and do not question concerning them, do not ask for opinions [from], any of them, [from] the people of the scripture, the jews. the people of mecca asked him [the prophet] about the story of the people of the cave, and so he said to them, ‘i will tell you about it tomorrow’, but without adding [the words], ‘if god wills’ (inshā’a’ llāhu) and so the following was revealed:
