25 Preface وَلَبِثوا في كَهفِهِم ثَلاثَ مِائَةٍ سِنينَ وَازدادوا تِسعًاYusuf AliSo they stayed in their Cave three hundred years, and (some) add nine (more)1This verse should be read with the next verse. In the floating oral tradition the duration of time in the Cave was given differently in different versions. When the tradition was reduced to writing, some Christian writers (e.g., Simeon Metaphrates) named 372 years, some less. In round numbers, 300 years in the solar Calendar would amount to 309 in lunar Calendar. But the next verse points out that all these are mere conjectures: the number is known to God alone. Theh authority on which Gibbon relies mentions two definite reigns, that of Decius (249-252 A.C.) and that of Theodosius (409-450 A.C.). Taking 250 and 450, we get an interval of 200 years. But the point of the story does not lie in the name of any given Emperor, but in the fact that the beginning of the period coincided with an Emperor who persecuted: the Emperor’s name at the end of the period may be taken as approximately correct, because teh story was recorded within two generations afterwards. One of the worst Emperors to persecute the Christians was Nero who reigned from 54 to 68. If we took the end of his reign (A.C. 68.) as the initial point, and (say) 440 A.C. as the final point, we get 372 years of Simeon Metaphrates. But none of these writers knew any more than we do. Out best course is to follow the Qur-ānic injunction, “Say God knows best how long they stayed” (18:26). There is also a rebuke implied: 'do not imitate these men who love mischievous controversies!” After all, we are given the narrative more as a parable than as a story.