Islam Critiqued is sceptical of his own tradition; the seven sleepers in the Quran?

In answer to the video "Abraham and the Kaaba: From Borrowed Stories to Sacred Scripture"

This is a is a highly revered and respected Christian tradition known, among other titles as the seven youths of Ephesis. The miraculous events are believed to have started under the reign of the Roman emperor Decius that persecuted the belief systems contrary to the Greek state religion. The earliest manuscripts relating the story are Greek but the tradition itself predates these Greek writings, and was widespread geographically very early on after the actual events. Its appearance in the golden legends with added embellishments and modifications, intermingling reality and fiction, occured hundreds of years after other texts made references to it, including the lost original in Greek.

The golden legend version of the story is irrelevant in establishing the historicity of the original. The golden legends stories are inspired by ancient traditions drawn from multiple sources, including the New Testament, some having undergone more or less modifications. None of those rewrites claim to be the true version of the common events of the cave. Only the Quran claims, in its introduction to the story, to have the authentic and original version, in addition divinely inspired.

To validate the claim of the Quran borrowing a false story and passing it off as true, the critic must show what the original source of the story was, from which all later texts and traditions outside of the Quran find inspiration. Until that is achieved, it remains a case of one word against another. And no single Syriac text we have today includes every aspect of the legend as it circulated orally in the time of the Quran, or as the Quran evokes it. 

And once more, similarities doesnt entail borrowing. One first has to establish that the supposed (illiterate) author of the Quran had access to the similarities. One then has to explain how he cherry picked among a long list of books and traditions, besides other philosophies and thought systems, to form a well knit, flawlessly intricate narrative in its literary form that left the masters of eloquence of the time dumbfounded, as well as depth of contents that has not finished unravelling its subtleties. 

Why wasnt the source ever exposed nor came out to denounce him, leaving him reap the fruits of their labor. How wasnt this source detected given the largely exposed lifestyle of the time, the open circumstances in which the prophet lived and received revelation, as well as many other factors, not the least being that the Quran never claims to be relating something unknown in that particular narrative, repeatedly says it is a revelation in a long tradition of revelations. 

This means the superficial similarities might be remnants of revealed truths that eventually found their way into these apocrypha. In those writings from which the Quran supposedly draws, one can many times see how the superficial similarities are poorly weaved into the fabric of the story. The apocryphal writer, or his source, was aware of certain elements of the story but poorly integrated them in the whole account.

This is precisely why the Quran refers to itself as the Muhaymin (Guardian), when talking about the textual and oral traditions contemporaries to it. It points out major mistakes in them, filters the Truth from falsehood 

21:24"this is the reminder of those with me and the reminder of those before me". 

The Quran confirming the past scriptures, as well as any tradition, oral or written, in which divine truths still remain 2:41, means that the principles taught by Muhammad come from a common source, which Muslims believe is the Source of creation, and can be found throughout these textual and oral traditions. This is pointed to in the common phrase "musaddiqan lima bayna yadahi". With the passage of time these traditions were burdened with additions, suffered from corruption and/or neglectful transmission. The Quran then acts as a criterion that distinguishes truth from falsehood. 

Therefore, and for argument's sake, to Muslims, it is irrelevant whether a story bearing similarities with a Quranic passage was even in circulation during and before Islam. It is even less relevant to Muslims whether the similarities were canonized in the Bible or not. By what standard is the current Bible canon more reliable than the apocrypha? And what proof is there that the unknown Bible compilers rejected these traditions based on these points common to the Quran? Does the current Bible canon even claim to relate every single aspect of the life of its Biblical characters? Is it quiet possible that during the tumultuous process of transmission of the Bible, more particularly the HB which was lost at least twice as recorded in the Bible itself, some parts of the overall transmitted traditions were retained by the editors charged with reconstituting the lost text, and who reflected their own socio-cultural background in the process? Could they have been Selecting what was appropriate for their storytelling purposes and what was not? Of course from a secular viewpoint, the Quran, as a later text, is irrelevant in determining the authenticity, original versions or actual beliefs of those who originated or penned the previous oral and written traditions, canonized or not. But then so is the NT irrelevant in determining those matters from the HB, just as within the HB itself parts are far removed in time and space from other parts, making certain books insignificant when exploring these matters from earlier or later books. However, as soon as one introduces the divine into the equation, then all groups Jews-Christians-Muslims are equal in their claims as regards the authority of one scripture over another. The only factor from a non-secular view point enhancing one claim over another, would be the group with the most authentic, contradiction-free scripture.

In today's mainstream academia, no Islamicist asserts the Quran was influenced by the textual and oral traditions of its milieu, let alone copies from them. Simply because there is no possibility to know whether the human mind who supposedly authored the text had access to those traditions or understood them. What academics do at most, is present what they see as similarities, without disregarding or minimizing the vast differences. On the other side of the spectrum are Judeo-Christian religious zealots and apologists whose methodology and ideas are vastly inherited from their medieval peers' polemical writings. In order to enforce their untenable, unproven claims of borrowing, they retrospectively cherry pick convenient snippets from within larger stories that have very little to do with the corresponding Quranic passages. Then, not only do they disregard the significant differences loaded with theological meanings, but go on magnifying the tiniest similarities to the maximum so as to serve their paradigm. In the process, they inadvertently attribute to Muhammad an encyclopediac knowledge of texts and traditions, as well as an army of unseen informants from a variety of backgrounds and cultures following him around. This weak methodology can be applied to any thought system so as to build up a case for plagiarism. 

The Judeo-christian scriptures themselves relate, through the successive prophets and inspired personalities, different stories that were known to the addressees. This doesnt mean their statements were inspired by these traditions floating around. Rather, the common truths found between these traditions, and the statements of the prophets come from God. There is a myriad of similarities between the HB and stories, texts, inscriptions, including the Ugaritic mention of Adam and Eve, the Mesopotamian myth of Gilgamesh where he is cheated of immortality by a snake who eats a plant (had Gilgamesh eaten it, it would have made him immortal. The elements are the same but play out differently). There were other such myths circulating in Babylon where the Israelites spent a long time in exile, of a hero tricked out of immortality through the device of a plant/food. One could extend the parallelism with the laws of Hammurabi, or the global flood, among many examples, all predating Moses' supposed writing of the Torah. Some of these similarities might be due, as in the Quran, to being remnants of ancient truths partially preserved by these different cultures. 

But other biblical parallels with predating writings and traditions obviously are copies of unsophisticated legends floating in the region. The oldest and original account of creation in the Bible isnt found in Genesis but in Isaiah, Job or the Psalms. God in these crude stories divides the seas and fights off aquatic monsters. The same is found in the Ugaritic tablets and in a language very similar to Hebrew, with the myth that creation began when the storm god Baal vanquishing the god of the sea Yam and his sea monster-serpent-dragon helpers. Isa27:1 has a very close wording to what a Canaanite says about Baal 

"When you killed Litan, the fleeing serpent, annihilated the twisty serpent, the potentate with seven heads". 

One shouldnt forget that the canonization of the Bible was a long and controversial process, influenced by men with doctrinal bias, and that the current Biblical text is far from being a valid criterion of what truly constitutes divine knowledge from purely human invention.

The Quran says regarding these courageous youths of Ephesis, that they openly refused worshiping false gods, even publicly denounced the pagan practices of their people 18:14-15. This attracted great hostility against them to the point their lives were threatened 18:19-20. Allah then guided and inspired them to seek a specific cave in which to hide 18:10-11,16. It must have been a hidden location, in an unexplored area, because its entrance remained unobstructed, the rays of the sun could still go in 18:17. There, they sought their Lord in prayer, to direct them to a favorable outcome 18:10. 

This is where the miraculous events begin, with God preserving their bodies by causing them to fall into a sleep that lasted several centuries 18:11-12. God Himself raised them up at the moment He saw fit 18:12,19. When they were awaken, they had no idea how long they had tarried, thinking they had just spent a few hours or at most a day. They were hesitant to go back to their town but had no choice, they needed to find some food. So one of them was cautiously sent with money 18:19. Once he payed with his ancient silver coin his identity was betrayed.

By that time, their disappearance had turned into a legend, various stories circulated about them. People were even conjecturing about them down in the times the Quran was revealed 18:22. But now they had nothing to fear as the pagan population was supplanted by a religion that saw them as saints, worthy of having a commemorative edifice built on their cave 18:21. It is interesting to note that the youths apparently wanted to remain secluded, even while the threat to their lives was gone and people acclaimed them as heroes. This reveals that they might not have fully agreed with the religion of the townsfolk although it clearly wasnt paganism anymore, as seen with the people's calling upon the one God 18:21. The townsfolk finally settled upon building a place of prostration, a masjid on top of their cave 18:21. 

This miracle, the preservation of these youths for centuries, served the purpose of settling the dispute people were having at the time concerning the concept of bodily resurrection 18:21.

In Christian tradition, after their death they were raised to sainthood and the power of intercession was attributed to them. The Jacobites Christians of Najran celebrated them yearly, with some church paintings representing them with a dog. Up to this day, the Orthodox Church commemorates them twice yearly.

Their historicity was never officially doubted until the 16th century that saw the rise of Protestantism and the period of Enlightenment. The first to voice doubts regarding it was actually a Renaissance scholar and cardinal, named Baronius, branding it as apocryphal. He was representing the thought process of his own time, which was all about discrediting anything medieval to raise the church's credibility to a highly sceptical, cartesian audience. And he did not discredit the story based on evidence, nobody can prove or disprove oral tradition when the source is unknown and when that tradition is believed for centuries as true. He rather labelled it an "improbability".

Again, it is the embellished version as found in the golden legends compilation that was subject to criticism and not the core story which can never be disproven. In a series of concessions to his cartesian audience, the cardinal selected that story among others because it isnt of primary importance to Christian tenets. Even though what one can find as "probable" and accepted within the NT, such as the resurrection story, is no more credible in terms of historicity and internal evidence, than the discarded story of the seven sleepers. But of course, this part of the Christian fable cannot be as easily dismissed since, according to Paul

"If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins".

Where the Quranic account departs from Christian tradition is regarding the theological derivations and some factual details. The Quran denies the intercession powers attributed to them, through their declaration of God's supreme power and unity. The Quran also teaches through them the universal principle that in some cases, unnecessary attention given to side issues deviates the focus from the deeper meaning of things and more important, pressing and immediate problems; for example when raised, some among them began guessing and disputing the time-span of their sleep, while others knew for a fact that only God possesses this knowledge. They relied on Him and began instead organizing the manner in which their immediate needs and problems should be solved. Similarly, as the townfolk discovered the truth some began going after the unnecessary details of the sleepers' identity, the various facts surrounding them, the length of time they spent in the cave instead of acknowledging God's all encompassing knowledge and pondering on the deeper significance of the miracle

18:26"Say: Allah knows best how long they remained; to Him are (known) the unseen things of the heavens and the earth; how clear His sight and how clear His hearing! There is none to be a guardian for them besides Him, and He does not make any one His associate in His Judgment".

The Quran also very appropriately hints at the overall confusion among later people as to the timespan of their sleep and other details. The Quran settles these disputes.
Among all saints of Christianity, had they not been mentioned, none would have known them in Islam, but God rehabilitated them as heroes of spiritual integrity, insisting and puting great emphasis that

18:13"We relate to you their story bil haqq/with truth/purpose/rightfully". 

The word covers that God takes back all rights to telling their story. It isnt the prerogative of the Christians and their false conjectures anymore. And by rehabilitating their truth, the Quran restores the purpose of God's miracle through them and how they benefited themselves from it

18:21"And thus did We make (men) to get knowledge of them that they might know that Allah's promise is true and that as for the hour there is no doubt about it".