The people of the Cave are the people of the Inscription
Question

                Were the people of the Cave the people of the Inscription, or were these two different groups of people?
Praise be to Allah. 
          Shaykh 
          al-Shanqeeti said, commenting on the aayah (interpretation of the meaning):
 
          “Do 
          you think that the people of the Cave and the Inscription (the news 
          or the names of the people of the Cave) were a wonder among Our Signs?” 
          [al-Kahf 18:9]
 
          The apparent meaning is that the People of the Cave and 
          of the Inscription were all one group, mentioned in conjunction with 
          two things. This is in contrast to those who say that the people of 
          the Cave were one group and the people of the Inscription were another 
          group. Allaah told this story to His Prophet 
          
          (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon them) in this soorah, and He 
          did not mention anything about the people of the Inscription. This is 
          unlike those who claim that the people of the Cave were three persons 
          behind whom the rock fell and blocked the entrance of the cave in which 
          they were, so they prayed to Allaah by virtue of their righteous deeds; 
          they were one who honoured his parents, one who was chaste, and one 
          who was a hired labourer. Their story is well known and is proven in 
          al-Saheeh, but interpreting this aayah as meaning that these 
          were the people referred to therein is far-fetched as you can see. It 
          should be noted there is nothing about the story of the people of the 
          cave, their names and which part of the earth they were in that has 
          been narrated in any sound report from the Prophet 
          
          (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), in addition to what is 
          mentioned in the Qur’aan. The Mufassireen quoted many of those details 
          from the Israa’eeliyyaat (reports from Jewish sources) which we will 
          not quote here because they cannot be relied upon.