9 Preface أَم حَسِبتَ أَنَّ أَصحابَ الكَهفِ وَالرَّقيمِ كانوا مِن آياتِنا عَجَبًاAhmed AliDo you think the men of the cave and Ar-Raqim1 were so strange among Our signs? The Dead Sea Scrolls and the caves in which they found contain enough historical and archaeological evidence about the situation of these caves, and throw light on the state of religious beliefs before the appearance of Christ. There is also the famous cave near Ephesus in Turkey known as the Cave of Seven Sleepers where, it is said, seven Christians slept two hundred years to escape persecution by the Romans. There are other caves in Turkey which were similarly used by Christian priests as hiding places.