ONE AYAT A DAY
هٰٓؤُلَاۤءِ قَوْمُنَا اتَّخَذُوْا مِنْ دُوْنِهٖٓ اٰلِهَةًۗ لَوْلَا يَأْتُوْنَ عَلَيْهِمْ بِسُلْطٰنٍۢ بَيِّنٍۗ فَمَنْ اَظْلَمُ مِمَّنِ افْتَرٰى عَلَى اللّٰهِ كَذِبًاۗ
Hā'ulā'i qaumunattakhażū min dūnihī ālihah(tan), lau lā ya'tūna ‘alaihim bisulṭānim bayyin(in), faman aẓlamu mimmaniftarā ‘alallāhi każibā(n).
These, our people, have taken besides Him deities. Why do they not bring for [worship of] them a clear evidence? And who is more unjust than one who invents about Allāh a lie?"
Their Belief in Allah and their Retreat from their PeopleFrom here Allah begins to explain the story in detail. He states that they were boys or young men, and that they were more accepting of the truth and more guided than the elders who had become stubbornly set in their ways and clung to the religion of falsehood. For the same reason, most of those who responded to Allah and His Messenger were young people. As for the elders of Quraysh, most of them kept to their religion and only a few of them became Muslims. So Allah tells us that the people of the cave were young men. Mujahid said, "I was informed that some of them wore some kind of earrings, then Allah guided them and inspired them to fear Him, so they recognized His Oneness, and bore witness that there is no god besides Him."وَزِدْنَـهُمْ هُدًى(and We increased them in guidance.) From this and other similar Ayat, several scholars, such as Al-Bukhari and others, understood that faith may increase, that it may vary in degrees, and that it may fluctuate. Allah says:وَزِدْنَـهُمْ هُدًى(and We increased them in guidance.) as He said elsewhere:وَالَّذِينَ اهْتَدَوْاْ زَادَهُمْ هُدًى وَءَاتَـهُمْ تَقُوَاهُمْ(While as for those who accept guidance, He increases their guidance and bestows on them their Taqwa.) 47:17فَأَمَّا الَّذِينَ ءامَنُواْ فَزَادَتْهُمْ إِيمَـناً وَهُمْ يَسْتَبْشِرُونَ(As for those who believe, it has incre…