سَيَقُولُونَ ثَلَـٰثَةٌ رَّابِعُهُمْ كَلْبُهُمْ وَيَقُولُونَ خَمْسَةٌ سَادِسُهُمْ كَلْبُهُمْ رَجْمًۢا بِٱلْغَيْبِ ۖ وَيَقُولُونَ سَبْعَةٌ وَثَامِنُهُمْ كَلْبُهُمْ ۚ قُل رَّبِّىٓ أَعْلَمُ بِعِدَّتِهِم مَّا يَعْلَمُهُمْ إِلَّا قَلِيلٌ ۗ فَلَا تُمَارِ فِيهِمْ إِلَّا مِرَآءً ظَـٰهِرًا وَلَا تَسْتَفْتِ فِيهِم مِّنْهُمْ أَحَدًا Qur’an Al-Kahf (18:22)Sayaqooloona thal a thatun r a biAAuhum kalbuhum wayaqooloona khamsatun s a disuhum kalbuhum rajman bi a lghaybi wayaqooloona sabAAatun wath a minuhum kalbuhum qul rabbee aAAlamu biAAiddatihim m a yaAAlamuhum ill a qaleelun fal a tum a ri feehim ill a mir a an th a hiran wal a tastafti feehim minhum a h ad a n
The future tense in sayaqulun points once again to the legendary character of the story as such, and implies that all speculation about its details is irrelevant to its parabolic, ethical purport.
I.e., for the sake of the self-evident ethical lesson to be derived from their story: an allusion to the first paragraph of verse {21} above.
Based on what has been revealed in the Quran.
The true significance of the story is known only to a few. Most men discuss futile details, which are not in their knowledge.
The controversy in after ages raged about the number of the Sleepers: were they three or five or seven? People answered, not from knowledge, but from conjecture. Gibbon's version, which has now become best known, makes the number of Sleepers seven. The point was immaterial: the real point was the spiritual lesson.
It is unprofitable to enter such immaterial controversies and many others that have been waged about Religion by shallow men from time immemorial. Yet, if there is a matter of clear knowledge from experience that matters, we must openly proclaim it, that the world may be brought to listen to Allah's Truth.
Vulgar story-mongers as such know little of the true significance of stories and parables. We have a clear exposition in the Qur-an. What need is there to go into details of the number of men in the Cave, or of the time they remained there?