58 1" Ibt flJ()tl /fPS if fbe Prophtl
being aware in one's mind and heart of the rcallimirs of human power. Fo r
the second time, the Prop het was called to account by the Transcendent.
\'{!hatevcr adversity one faces, onc's strength and freedo m on earth consist
in remaining constantly aware of one's dependence on the Creator.
O nly later was the Prophet to receive the answers to the three ques-
tions he had been asked. The delay was paradoxically to strengthen the
believers' conviction and to baffle the Prophet's interlo cutors: rus initial
inability to answer and then the belated communication of Revelation
proved that lvluhammad was not the autho r of the Book that was being
constituted and that he did actually depend on his Robb's will.
The answer to th e questio n abo ut ar-mh (the soul) di rectly teferred-
in the same way as the requirement of humility he had previously been
reminded of-to the One's superior knowledge:
They ask you concerning the soul jar-rub]. Say: the soul is of the command
[the exclusive knowledge] of my Lord [RaM, "Educator"]; of knowledge,
it is only a little that is communicated to you. 13
As fo r the rwo stories (that o f the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus and that
of the traveler D hu al-Q arnayn), they arc also told in surah 18 , "The
Cave ." The stories arc teeming with information and details the Quraysh
and the Yathrib rabbis could no t have expected and o f which the Prophet
knew nothing before Revelation. The same surah also tells the story of
J\tioses, who in a moment of forgerfulness and oversight had lapsed into
saying that because of his status as a prophet, "he knc\ll' God then tried
him by confronting him with one who knew more than he did, the char-
acter o f al-Khidr in the Quran, who initiated him to understanding God's
superior knowledge, to patience, and to the wisdom of remaining h umble
and refraining from asking tOO many questions.]4
From the experience o f J\'loses (who was so impatient) to that oft\·!u-
hammad (who forgot his dependence) as well as the teaching addressed
to all human beings (who, of knowledge, have receivcd "only a little''),
cverything reminds l\l uslims of their own fragility and of their need for
God, whatever their starus, and this teaching is present througho ut the
surah "The Cave." Later, th e Prophet was [Q recommend that every
Muslim should read this surah in its e ntirety every Friday so as to remem-
ber, week after week, that they must not forget-forget th emselves, for-
get Him.