"And thus We awakened them so that they might question one another. A speaker among them said, 'How long have you remained?' They said, 'We have remained a day or part of a day.'" They had entered the cave at the beginning of the day. He said: They looked and found that a remainder of the sun still lingered, so they said: "Or part of a day." Then, they were in doubt, so they referred that back to Allah and said: "Your Lord is most knowing of how long you remained. So send one of you with this silver coin of yours," meaning: with your dirhams, "to the city." They had dirhams with them. "And let him look for which of them is most pure in food." The interpretation of Sa'id ibn Jubayr: Which of them is most lawful.
Yahya said: Among the food of their people was that which they did not deem lawful to eat.
﴿وَكَذَلِكَ بَعَثْنَاهُمْ لِيَتَسَاءَلُوا بَيْنَهُمْ قَالَ قَائِلٌ مِنْهُمْ كَمْ لَبِثْتُمْ قَالُوا لَبِثْنَا يَوْمًا أَوْ بَعْضَ يَوْمٍ﴾ وَكَانُوا دَخَلُوا الْكَهْفَ فِي أَوَّلِ النَّهَارِ، قَالَ: فَنَظَرُوا فَإِذَا هُوَ قَدْ بَقِيَ مِنَ الشَّمْسِ بَقِيَّةٌ، فَقَالُوا: ﴿أَو بعض يَوْم﴾، ثُمَّ إِنَّهُمْ شَكُّوا؛ فَرَدُّوا ذَلِكَ إِلَى اللَّهِ فَقَالُوا: ﴿رَبُّكُمْ أَعْلَمُ بِمَا لَبِثْتُمْ فَابْعَثُوا أَحَدَكُمْ بِوَرِقِكُمْ هَذِه﴾ أَي: بدراهمكم ﴿إِلَى الْمَدِينَة﴾ وَكَانَتْ مَعَهُمْ دَرَاهِمَ ﴿فَلْيَنْظُرْ أَيُّهَا أزكى طَعَاما﴾ تَفْسِيرُ سَعِيدِ بْنِ جُبَيْرٍ: أَيُّهَا أَحَلُّ.
قَالَ يَحْيَى: وَقَدْ كَانَ مِنْ طَعَامِ قَوْمِهِمْ مَا لَا يَسْتَحِلُّونَ أَكْلَهُ.
