The Legend of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus in Syriac and Arab sources – a comparative study

Abstract

The Legend of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus, in the Syriac tradition known as Aḥē Dmīḥē or Ṭalyē d-Efesōs, in Arabic as Ahl al-Kahf or Aṣḥāb al-Kahf, is one of many examples of borrowings from the Christian tradition made by the Muslim one and above all by the Koran. In the region where Islam evolved in the beginning, there was a population professing Judaism and Christianity. Judaism was professed by ca. 1 per cent of the population of the Arabian Peninsula. Christianity, for its part, was professed by ca. 10 per cent. Thus Mohammed had an easy access to the monotheistic religious ideas that existed on the Arabian Peninsula.