The Qur’an in Surah al-Kahf recounts the story of the Companions of the Cave (Ashab al-Kahf), young believers who withdrew from their people’s shirk and were miraculously preserved in sleep. While many exegetes have linked this story to sites in Jordan or Anatolia, the internal details of the verses reveal striking parallels with the Kailasa Temple at Ellora in India, long associated with Shiva and his companions.
A key detail is their animal companion: “And their dog stretched its forelegs at the threshold” (18:18).
Their miraculous state is also highlighted: “You would think them awake, while they lay asleep, and We turned them to the right and to the left” (18:18). In Hindu mythology, Shiva sometimes enters deep stillness or meditation, a form of symbolic 'cosmic sleep', as when he drank the deadly poison during the churning of the ocean (Samudra Manthan) to protect the world. The Qur’an’s phrasing of laying down and being turned mirrors this imagery.
When they awoke, they declared: “These, our people, have taken gods besides Him. Why do they not bring for them a clear authority?” (18:15). Hindu tradition later transformed such figures into gods themselves. The Qur’an corrects this distortion, preserving their true rejection of shirk and affirmation of tawhid..
The Qur’an records: “So send one of you with this wariq of yours to the city, and let him see which food is purest” (18:19). The word wariq means silver coins, but shares its root with waraq (leaf). At Kailasa both are present. Lakshmi, carved within the temple, is goddess of coins, while Shiva’s favoured offering is the bel leaf. The Qur’anic choice of word reflects both elements, as if to point directly to the ritual symbolism.
Taken together, the cave itself, the dog companion, the sleep, the protest against false gods, the shrine built above them, and the wariq of coins and leaves form a consistent pattern. The Qur’an preserves the true account of monotheistic believers whom Allah protected as a sign. Hindu tradition preserved fragments but altered them into idolatry. Ellora may where the Ashab al Kahf were.
The Qur’an ends the narrative with ambiguity: “They will say, three, and their dog the fourth… and they will say, seven, and their dog the eighth. Say: My Lord knows best their number; none knows them except a few” (18:22). The exact number and details remain hidden with Allah. The lesson is not speculation, but the certainty of divine preservation, the rejection of shirk, and the endurance of tawḥīd.
16/08/2025