Valuable—to warn of severe punishment from Himself; and to deliver good news to the believers who do righteous deeds, that they will have an excellent reward.
And We strengthened their hearts, when they stood up and said, “Our Lord is the Lord of the heavens and the earth; we will not call on any god besides Him, for then we would have spoken an outrage.”
“These people, our people, have taken to themselves gods other than Him. Why do they not bring a clear proof concerning them? Who, then, does greater wrong than he who invents lies and attributes them to God?”
“Now that you have withdrawn from them, and from what they worship besides God, take shelter in the cave. And your Lord will unfold His mercy for you, and will set your affair towards ease.”
You would have seen the sun, when it rose, veering away from their cave towards the right, and when it sets, moving away from them to the left, as they lay in the midst of the cave. That was one of God’s wonders. He whom God guides is truly guided; but he whom He misguides, for him you will find no directing friend.
You would think them awake, although they were asleep. And We turned them over to the right, and to the left, with their dog stretching its paws across the threshold. Had you looked at them, you would have turned away from them in flight, and been filled with fear of them.
Even so, We awakened them, so that they may ask one another. A speaker among them said, “How long have you stayed?” They said, “We have stayed a day, or part of a day.” They said, “Your Lord knows best how long you have stayed.” “Send one of you to the city, with this money of yours, and let him see which food is most suitable, and let him bring you some provision thereof. And let him be gentle, and let no one become aware of you.”
So it was, that We caused them to be discovered, that they would know that the promise of God is true, and that of the Hour there is no doubt. As they were disputing their case among themselves, they said, “Build over them a building.” Their Lord knows best about them. Those who prevailed over their case said, “We will set up over them a place of worship.”
They will say, “Three, and their fourth being their dog.” And they will say, “Five, and their sixth being their dog,” guessing at the unknown. And they will say, “Seven, and their eighth being their dog.” Say, “My Lord knows best their number.” None knows them except a few. So do not argue concerning them except with an obvious argument, and do not consult any of them about them.
Say, “God knows best how long they stayed.” His is the mystery of the heavens and the earth. By Him you see and hear. They have no guardian apart from Him, and He shares His Sovereignty with no one.
And content yourself with those who pray to their Lord morning and evening, desiring His Presence. And do not turn your eyes away from them, desiring the glitter of this world. And do not obey him whose heart We have made heedless of Our remembrance—so he follows his own desires—and his priorities are confused.
And say, “The truth is from your Lord. Whoever wills—let him believe. And whoever wills—let him disbelieve”. We have prepared for the unjust a Fire, whose curtains will hem them in. And when they cry for relief, they will be relieved with water like molten brass, which scalds the faces. What a miserable drink, and what a terrible place.
These will have the Gardens of Eden, beneath which rivers flow. Reclining on comfortable furnishings, they will be adorned with bracelets of gold, and will wear green garments of silk and brocade. What a wonderful reward, and what an excellent resting-place.
And cite for them the parable of two men. To one of them We gave two gardens of vine, and We surrounded them with palms-trees, and We placed between them crops.
His friend said to him, as he conversed with him, “Are you being ungrateful to Him who created you from dust, then from a sperm-drop, then evolved you into a man?
When you entered your garden, why did you not say, “As God wills; there is no power except through God”? Although you see me inferior to you in wealth and children.
And ruin closed in on his crops, and so he began wringing his hands over what he had invested in it, as it lays fallen upon its trellises. And he was saying, “I wish I never associated anyone with my Lord.”
And cite for them the parable of the present life: it is like water that We send down from the sky; the plants of the earth absorb it; but then it becomes debris, scattered by the wind. God has absolute power over everything.
Wealth and children are the adornments of the present life. But the things that last, the virtuous deeds, are better with your Lord for reward, and better for hope.
They will be presented before your Lord in a row. “You have come to Us as We created you the first time. Although you claimed We would not set a meeting for you.”
And the book will be placed, and you will see the sinners fearful of its contents. And they will say, “Woe to us! What is with this book that leaves nothing, small or big, but it has enumerated it?” They will find everything they had done present. Your Lord does not wrong anyone.
We said to the angels, “Bow down to Adam.” So they bowed down, except for Satan. He was of the jinn, and he defied the command of his Lord. Will you take him and his offspring as lords instead of Me, when they are an enemy to you? Evil is the exchange for the wrongdoers.
On the Day when He will say, “Call on My partners whom you have claimed.” They will call on them, but they will not answer them. And We will place between them a barrier.
What prevented people from accepting faith, when guidance has come to them, and from seeking their Lord’s forgiveness? Unless they are waiting for the precedent of the ancients to befall them, or to have the punishment come upon them face to face.
We send the messengers only as deliverers of good news and warners. Those who disbelieve argue with false argument, in order to defeat the truth thereby. They take My Verses, and the warnings, for a joke.
Who does greater wrong than he, who, when reminded of his Lord’s revelations, turns away from them, and forgets what his hands have put forward? We have placed coverings over their hearts, lest they understand it, and heaviness in their ears. And if you call them to guidance, they will not be guided, ever.
Your Lord is the Forgiver, Possessor of Mercy. Were He to call them to account for what they have earned, He would have hastened the punishment for them. But they have an appointment from which they will find no escape.
He said, “Do you remember when we rested by the rock? I forgot about the fish. It was only the devil who made me forget it. And so it found its way to the river, amazingly.”
So they set out. Until, when they had boarded the boat, he holed it. He said, “Did you hole it, to drown its passengers? You have done something awful.”
Then they set out. Until, when they encountered a boy, he killed him. He said, “Did you kill a pure soul, who killed no one? You have done something terrible.”
So they set out. Until, when they reached the people of a town, they asked them for food, but they refused to offer them hospitality. There they found a wall about to collapse, and he repaired it. He said, “If you wanted, you could have obtained a payment for it.”
And as for the wall, it belonged to two orphaned boys in the town. Beneath it was a treasure that belonged to them. Their father was a righteous man. Your Lord wanted them to reach their maturity, and then extract their treasure—as a mercy from your Lord. I did not do it of my own accord. This is the interpretation of what you were unable to endure.”
Until, when he reached the setting of the sun, he found it setting in a murky spring, and found a people in its vicinity. We said, “O Zul-Qarnain, you may either inflict a penalty, or else treat them kindly.”
“Bring me blocks of iron.” So that, when he had leveled up between the two cliffs, he said, “Blow.” And having turned it into a fire, he said, “Bring me tar to pour over it.”
He said, “This is a mercy from my Lord. But when the promise of my Lord comes true, He will turn it into rubble, and the promise of my Lord is always true.”
It is they who rejected the communications of their Lord, and the encounter with Him. So their works are in vain. And on the Day of Resurrection, We will consider them of no weight.
Say, “If the ocean were ink for the words of my Lord, the ocean would run out, before the words of my Lord run out,” even if We were to bring the like of it in addition to it.
Say, “I am only a human being like you, being inspired that your god is One God. Whoever hopes to meet his Lord, let him work righteousness, and never associate anyone with the service of his Lord.”
