وَكَذَٰلِكَ بَعَثْنَـٰهُمْ لِيَتَسَآءَلُوا۟ بَيْنَهُمْ ۚ قَالَ قَآئِلٌ مِّنْهُمْ كَمْ لَبِثْتُمْ ۖ قَالُوا۟ لَبِثْنَا يَوْمًا أَوْ بَعْضَ يَوْمٍ ۚ قَالُوا۟ رَبُّكُمْ أَعْلَمُ بِمَا لَبِثْتُمْ فَٱبْعَثُوٓا۟ أَحَدَكُم بِوَرِقِكُمْ هَـٰذِهِۦٓ إِلَى ٱلْمَدِينَةِ فَلْيَنظُرْ أَيُّهَآ أَزْكَىٰ طَعَامًا فَلْيَأْتِكُم بِرِزْقٍ مِّنْهُ وَلْيَتَلَطَّفْ وَلَا يُشْعِرَنَّ بِكُمْ أَحَدًا
Wa kazaalika ba'asnaahum liyatasaaa'aloo bainahum; qaala qaaa'ilum minhum kam labistum qaaloo labisnaa yawman aw ba'da yawm; qaaloo Rabbukum a'almu bimaa labistum fab'asooo ahadakum biwariqikum haazihee ilal madeenati falyanzur ayyuhaaa azkaa ta'aaman falyaatikum birizqim minhu walyatalattaf wa laa yush'iranna bikum ahadaa
Birbirlerine sorsunlar diye onları uyandırdık. İçlerinden biri: "Ne kadar kaldınız?" dedi. "Bir gün veya daha az bir müddet kaldık" dediler. "Ne kadar kaldığınızı Rabbiniz daha iyi bilir. Paranızla birinizi şehre gönderin, sakın sizi kimseye duyurmasın" dediler.
And so we awakened them, that they might question one another. One of them said, "How long have you stayed here?" They said, "We have stayed a day, or part of a day." Others said, "Your Lord knows best how long you have stayed. So send one of you with this silver coin of yours to the city, and let him see which food is purest and bring you provision from it. Let him be gentle, and let no one become aware of you."
Their own estimate of the time is wrong by centuries, and one of them closes the argument by handing the question to God, the move the surah makes again later when people dispute how many sleepers there were. Between the two, the narrative slows into an errand: a silver coin, a search for the most wholesome food, an instruction to be discreet. The miracle is told quickly and the shopping takes longer.