Tanwîr al-Miqbâs min Tafsîr Ibn ‘Abbâs
((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.
Tafsir Ibn 'Abbas, trans. Mokrane Guezzou
© 2021 Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought, Amman, Jordan (http://www.aalalbayt.org) ® All Rights Reserved
Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, this work may not be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the Great Tafsirs Project, Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought (aalalbayt@aalalbayt.org)