The incident of the sleepers of the cave as per modern knowledge.

The question is “Is it possible for a person to live for some hundred years even though in sleep?” If accept that it is possible while awake then such a possibility in sleep raises some difficulties because it will mean that he will live without food for 300 years while an existence that long will need one hundred ton of food and one hundred thousand litres of water.

These are the scientific questions that are raised about it. Is this is reason that when some people did not find any proof as an answer they began to deny it and declared this incident to be a fairy tale.

The situation now is that the most current scientific studies on the one side and the discoveries about the living beings on the other declare that things are not as easy as imagined.

We present herewith views from a research articles by the modern day scientists to help our leaders know their view.

In one such article about whether man will control death it is said:

“Metalinkif who was a biologist in 1930 tried to prove that the nature has the capacity for eternal life and it is the duty of science to unravel this mystery.” He further says, “ the common microbes are based on a single called Protozoa’s do not die because they multiply into various cells so it should not be surprising that those creatures that are based on hundred thousand and more may have the capacity for eternal life. We scientists are duty bound to study this secret.”

In the same article under the sub-heading “Six million years of sleep” that such ideas began to take root and then Professor Itinger gave it a meaningful look. He says, “We can now talk about eternal life because its possibility has been established in the realm of ideology and technically we have reached a stage where we can make it practical.”

He then talks about the continuity of life and ads:

“When the temperature of the body reaches a nadir point then life in that body becomes very faint or slow and is nearly out of control of the time. When our body reaches 0 degree centigrade then the energy needed for one second of life is normally enough for hundred of years.

Then he talks about the salt that has existed for a hundred million years and they contained the bacteria of the modern time. They came into contact with the right atmosphere and became alive and multiplied (actually these germs woke up after a hundred million years).

 Professor Itinger says that crystals existed from some six million years were gathered and sowed and every one was surprised that they too became alive. In this way it has been proved that these small creatures have had an existence since six million years ago.

His view is that this is possible for mankind also and this freezing is just a few moments before death under special circumstances and the organs of the human body are not affected adversely.(1)

It is not our assumption that the sleepers of the cave had been in frozen state all we say is that if the sleep is very deep  and the organs of the body work slow then the need of the body decreases to such a level that the energy stored in it may be enough for hundred of years. This was no ordinary sleep but one that was ordered by God and in a place where there was no scope for sunshine.

Verse 17 of Sarah Kahf says:

“You would have seen the sun when it rose declining to the right from their cave and when it set turning away from the left.”

The issue of long sleep has been resolved and we know that many animals hibernate during the entire winter. The movement of life nearly comes to a standstill in such a sleep and there is just a mild temperature in the body; the heartbeats become slow but regulated and hardly felt. You can compare the human body like an oven with only a few embers of fire left. A big oven needs a lot of fire for an entire day and the heat of them embers may fulfill its needs for centuries. (2)

The scientists say that some cold blooded animal do sleep in the winter but the hot blooded animals do so too.

Life grinds to a slow pace and the fat in their body is used for sustenance.

Our purpose is not describe the sleep of the people of the cave but two remind you about two things as verse 18 of Surah Kahf says:

“Had you seen then you would certainly have run away from them in terror.”

The second point is that this sleep cannot be compared to the normal sleep and it is possible that the requirements of the body diminish to a level where the need for food is least of negligible.

1. Mujalla Danastiniha Aazar 1321 (solar Calendar) issue no 80.

2. Dairatol Ma’arif about sleep in winter.