They will say: The pronoun refers to those who engaged in their story during the time of the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, from the People of the Book and the believers. They asked the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, about them, and he delayed the answer until it was revealed to him concerning them. Thus, it was revealed, informing about what will occur among them regarding their disagreement about their number, and that the correct one among them is the one who says: seven, and the eighth of them is their dog. Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said: I am one of those few. It has been narrated that the chief and the elder and their companions from the people of Najran were with the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, and the mention of the companions of the cave came up. The chief, who was a Jacobite, said: They were three, and their fourth was their dog. The elder, who was a Nestorian, said: They were five, and their sixth was their dog. The Muslims said: They were seven, and the eighth of them is their dog. So Allah confirmed the words of the Muslims. They only knew this by the report of the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, from the tongue of Gabriel, peace be upon him. And Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, said: They are seven men, their names are: Yamlikha, Makshaliyat, and Mashliniya: these are the companions on the right side of the king, and on his left side were: Marnush, Dabrnush, and Shadnush. He used to consult these six in his affairs. The seventh was the shepherd who joined them when they fled from their king, Daqyanus. The name of their city is Ephesus. The name of their dog is Qitmīr. If you ask: Why was the future tense used in the first instance and not in the others? I say: There are two aspects: that the others are included under the rule of the future tense, as you say: I have honored and bestowed, intending the meaning of expectation in both actions, and that you want by the verb to indicate the future, which is suitable for it, as a throwing of the unseen, meaning bringing the hidden news, as in His saying: وَيَقْذِفُونَ بِالْغَيْبِ, meaning they bring it. Or the throwing is placed in place of the assumption, as if it were said: an assumption of the unseen, because they often say: they throw by assumption instead of saying: they assume, until there remains no difference between the two expressions for them. Do you not see the saying of Zuhayr: And it is not about it a thrown narration? [And war is nothing but what you have known and experienced... And it is not about it a thrown narration.] From Zuhayr's Mu'allaqa, he forbids Absa and Dhubyan from fighting. He says: War is nothing but what you have known and experienced, and he likens it to a disliked food in a figurative way and taste. And it is not: meaning the narration about war. And since the pronoun refers back to the source in meaning, it is correct for the genitive to be attached to it, and it is unlikely to be attached to what follows it. And the throwing is the throwing with small stones, borrowed to mean throwing words without deliberation or thought in a clear manner. That is, the presumed. And it was read: Thalath, their fourth is their dog, with the thā' assimilated into the tā' of femininity. And Thalāthah is the news of a deleted subject, meaning: they are three. Likewise, Khamsah and Sab'ah and their fourth is their dog, a sentence from a subject and a predicate that is a description of three, and likewise, their sixth is their dog, and their eighth is their dog. If you ask: What is this waw that enters the third sentence, and why did it enter there and not in the first two? [Mahamud said: If you say, 'Why did the waw enter in the last sentence... etc.?'] Ahmad said: And this is correct, not like someone who says: It is the waw of eight, for that matter does not settle for its establisher. They count with this waw in His saying about Paradise: وَفُتِحَتْ أَبْوابُهَا, unlike the gates of Hell, for He said in them: فُتِحَتْ أَبْوابُهَا. They said: Because the gates of Paradise are eight, and the gates of Hell are seven. And if it is assumed that in the language there is a waw that accompanies the eight and is specific to it, where is the mention of the number in the gates of Paradise until it reaches the eighth so that the waw can accompany it? And perhaps they would count from that: وَالنَّاهُونَ عَنِ الْمُنْكَرِ, which is the eighth from His saying: التَّائِبُونَ. This is also rejected because the waw is only associated with this description to connect it with the first one, which is the enjoiners of good, due to the correspondence and connection between them.

Do you not see their conjunction in all their sources and references, as in His saying, "They enjoin what is good and forbid what is evil," and as in His saying, "And enjoin what is good and forbid what is evil." Some have even counted the conjunction in His saying, "Thayyibat and abkar" among this, because they found it with the eighth. This is a gross error, for this is the conjunction of division. If you were to remove it and say, "Thayyibat abkar," the statement would not hold. It has become clear that the conjunction in all these mentioned instances is present for reasons other than what these people claimed, and Allah is the Grantor of success. I said: It is the conjunction that enters upon the clause that serves as a description for the indefinite noun, just as it enters upon the clause that serves as a state for the definite noun, as in your saying: "A man came to me and with him was another." And I passed by Zayd and in his hand was a sword. From it is His saying, "And We did not destroy any city except that it had a known decree." Its benefit is to confirm the attachment of the description to the described, and to indicate that his possession of it is a matter that is established and stable. This conjunction is what indicated that those who said, "Seven and the eighth of them is their dog," spoke from a position of knowledge and tranquility of soul, and they were not stoned by conjecture as others were. The evidence for this is that Allah, glorified and exalted is He, followed the first two statements with His saying, "A stoning by the unseen," and He followed the third statement with His saying, "None knows them except for a few." And Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said: When the conjunction occurred, the counting was interrupted, meaning: There remained no count after it that one could refer to. It is established that they were seven and the eighth of them is their dog with certainty and stability. And it was said: Except for a few from the People of the Book. The pronoun in "They will say" in this context refers specifically to the People of the Book, meaning: The People of the Book will say about them such and such, and there is no knowledge of that except for a few of them, while most of them are based on conjecture and speculation. So do not argue with them about the companions of the cave except for an apparent argument that is not deeply engaged, which is that you narrate to them what Allah has revealed to you and nothing more, without belittling them or reproaching them in your response, as He said, "And argue with them in a way that is best." And do not seek a fatwa nor ask anyone among them about their story with a questioning that is contentious, until he says something that you can refute and invalidate what he has. For that is contrary to what you have been commanded regarding diplomacy and courtesy. And there is no question of seeking guidance, for Allah has guided you by revealing their story to you.