A Comment On Ashaab-El-Kahf In Modern Times: Ayışığı Sofrası

ABSTRACT Seven Slepeers/ Ashaab-e-Kahf has an important place in the Christian and Islamic cultures. The fact that this legendary religious tale is not mentioned in any other holy books but Quran, provides the vitality of this legendary religious tale in Islamic culture. The verses of Surat al-Kahf 9-26. is related to this tale. Ashaab-e-Kahf which is seen as evidence of life after death, found its place in tafsir and hadiths as well as menâkıbnâmes, kısas-ı enbiyâs and fütüvvetnâmes. Seven Sleepers also attracted the attention of fantastic literature due to the miraculous circumstances it includes. In fantastic narratives, concept of time and places in reality can be trivialized. Even if nesting of reality with imagination has created wonder on readers initially, writer’s coherence in fiction provides comprehension of text. In fantastic literature, which has a tendency to distort the truth, historical and mythological heroes are portable to the present through historical misconception (anachronism). Nazlı Eray has made such an anachronism in her novel, Ayışığı Sofrası, and she has encountered the narrator (Serra), who seeks answers to the questions about her life, with one of the characters in Ashaab-e-Kahf, Yemliha, in present-day Ankara. This encounter is surprising for both sides. Serra has established parallels between her own life with such situations as “disappearance”, “sleeping and waking up (death and resurrection)”, “finding answers to questions regarding of life in darkness” which are lived by Ashaab-e Kahf. The cave friends get to know the world thanks to the narrator and they find a chance to compare the time they had slept and the time they woke up. Modern life and modern man’s passions are handled in novel via narrator who is impatient to introduce modern life to Seven Sleepers. Serra, who is the narrator, would continue with her life in submission based on Ashaab-e Kahf’s life experiences, although she couldn’t find answers at all questions of life.

Keywords

Ashaab-e Kahf, Seven Slepeers, Yemliha, Nazlı Eray, Ayışığı Sofrası.