[a Book] upright, to warn of a severe punishment from Him, and to give good news to the faithful who do righteous deeds, that there shall be for them a good reward,
They do not have any knowledge of that, nor did their fathers. Monstrous is the utterance that comes out of their mouths, and they say nothing but a lie.
and fortified their hearts, when they stood up and said, ‘Our Lord is the Lord of the heavens and the earth. We will never invoke any god besides Him, for then we shall certainly have said an atrocious lie.
These—our people—have taken gods besides Him. Why do they not bring any clear authority touching them? So who is a greater wrongdoer than he who fabricates a lie against Allah?
When you have dissociated yourselves from them and from what they worship except Allah, then take refuge in the Cave. Your Lord will unfold His mercy for you, and He will help you on to ease in your affair.’
You may see the sun, when it rises, slanting toward the right of their cave, and, when it sets, cut across them towards the left, and they are in a cavern within it. That is one of Allah’s signs. Whomever Allah guides is rightly guided, and whomever He leads astray, you will never find for him any guardian or guide.
You will suppose them to be awake, although they are asleep. We turn them to the right and to the left, and their dog [lies] stretching its forelegs at the threshold. If you come upon them, you will surely turn to flee from them, and you will surely be filled with a terror of them.
So it was that We aroused them [from sleep] so 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.’ They said, ‘Your Lord knows best how long you have stayed. Send one of you to the city with this money. Let him observe which of them has the purest food, and bring you provisions from there. Let him be attentive, and let him not make anyone aware of you.
So it was that We let them come upon them, that they might know that Allah’s promise is true, and that there is no doubt in the Hour. As they disputed among themselves about their matter, they said, ‘Build a building over them. Their Lord knows them best.’ Those who had the say in their matter said, ‘We will set up a place of worship over them.’
They will say, ‘[They are] three; their dog is the fourth of them,’ and say, ‘[They are] five, their dog is the sixth of them,’ taking a shot at the invisible. They will say, ‘[They are] seven, their dog is the eighth of them.’ Say, ‘My Lord knows best their number, and none knows them except a few.’ So do not dispute concerning them, except for a seeming dispute, and do not question about them any of them.
without [adding], ‘God willing.’ And when you forget, remember your Lord, and say, ‘Maybe my Lord will guide me to [something] more akin to rectitude than this.’
Say, ‘Allah knows best how long they remained. To Him belongs the Unseen of the heavens and the earth. How well does He see! How well does He hear! They have no guardian besides Him, and none shares with Him in His judgement.’
Content yourself with the company of those who supplicate their Lord morning and evening, desiring His Face, and do not lose sight of them, desiring the glitter of the life of this world. And do not obey him whose heart We have made oblivious to Our remembrance, and who follows his own desires, and whose conduct is [mere] profligacy.
And say, ‘[This is] the truth from your Lord: let anyone who wishes believe it, and let anyone who wishes disbelieve it.’ Indeed, We have prepared for the wrongdoers a Fire whose curtains will surround them [on all sides]. If they cry out for help, they will be helped with a water like molten copper, which will scald their faces. What an evil drink, and how ill a resting place!
For such there will be the gardens of Eden with streams running in them. They will be adorned therein with bracelets of gold and wear green garments of silk and brocade, reclining therein on couches. How excellent a reward, and how good a resting place!
Draw for them the parable of two men for each of whom We had made two gardens of vines, and We had surrounded them with date palms, and placed crops between them.
His companion said to him, as he conversed with him: ‘Do you disbelieve in Him who created you from dust, then from a drop of [seminal] fluid, then fashioned you as a man?
Why did you not say, when you entered your garden, ‘‘[This is] as Allah has willed! There is no power except by Allah!’’ If you see that I have lesser wealth than you and children,
And ruin closed in on his produce, and he began to wring his hands for what he had spent on it, as it lay fallen on its trellises. He was saying, ‘I wish I had not ascribed any partner to my Lord.’
Draw for them the parable of the life of this world: [It is] like the water We send down from the sky. Then the earth’s vegetation mingles with it. Then it becomes chaff, scattered by the wind. And Allah has power over all things.
They will be presented before your Lord in ranks: ‘Certainly you have come to Us just as We created you the first time. But you maintained that We shall not appoint a tryst for you.’
The Book will be set up. Then you will see the guilty apprehensive of what is in it. They will say, ‘Woe to us! What a book is this! It omits nothing, big or small, without enumerating it.’ They will find present whatever they had done, and your Lord does not wrong anyone.
When We said to the angels, ‘Prostrate before Adam,’ they prostrated, but not Iblis. He was one of the jinn, so he transgressed against his Lord’s command. Will you then take him and his offspring for guardians in My stead, though they are your enemies? How evil a substitute for the wrongdoers!
I did not make them witness to the creation of the heavens and the earth, nor to their own creation, nor do I take those who mislead others as assistants.
The day He will say [to the polytheists], ‘Call those whom you maintained to be My partners,’ they will call them, but they will not respond to them, for We shall set an abyss between them.
Nothing has kept these people from believing and pleading to their Lord for forgiveness when guidance came to them, except [their demand] that the precedent of the ancients come to pass for them, or that the punishment come to them, face to face.
We do not send the apostles except as bearers of good news and as warners, but those who are faithless dispute fallaciously to refute thereby the truth, having taken My signs and what they are warned of in derision.
Who is a greater wrongdoer than he who is reminded of the signs of his Lord, whereat he disregards them and forgets what his hands have sent ahead? Indeed We have cast veils on their hearts lest they should understand it, and a deafness into their ears; and if you invite them to guidance they will never [let themselves] be guided.
Your Lord is the All-forgiving dispenser of mercy. Were He to take them to task because of what they have committed, He would have surely hastened their punishment. But they have a tryst, [when] they will not find a refuge besides Him.
He said, ‘Did you see?! When we took shelter at the rock, indeed I forgot about the fish—and none but Satan made me forget to mention it!—and it made its way into the sea in an amazing manner!’
So they went on and when they boarded the boat, he made a hole in it. He said, ‘Did you make a hole in it to drown its people? You have certainly done a monstrous thing!’
So they went on until they came upon a boy, whereat he slew him. He said, ‘Did you slay an innocent soul, without [his having slain] anyone? You have certainly done a dire thing!’
So they went on until they came to the people of a town. They asked its people for food, but they refused to extend them any hospitality. There they found a wall which was about to collapse, so he erected it. He said, ‘Had you wished, you could have taken a wage for it.’
As for the boat, it belonged to some poor people who work on the sea. I wanted to make it defective, for behind them was a king seizing every ship usurpingly.
As for the wall, it belonged to two boy orphans in the city. Under it there was a treasure belonging to them. Their father had been a righteous man. So your Lord desired that they should come of age and take out their treasure—as a mercy from your Lord. I did not do that out of my own accord. This is the interpretation of that over which you could not maintain patience.’
When he reached the place where the sun sets, he found it setting over a warm sea, and by it he found a people. We said, ‘O Dhul Qarnayn! You will either punish them, or treat them with kindness.’
They said, ‘O Dhul Qarnayn! Indeed Gog and Magog are causing disaster in this land. Shall we pay you a tribute on condition that you build a barrier between them and us?’
Bring me pieces of iron!’ When he had levelled up between the flanks, he said, ‘Blow!’ When he had turned it into fire, he said, ‘Bring me molten copper to pour over it.’
Do the faithless suppose that they have taken My servants for guardians in My stead? Indeed, We have prepared hell for the hospitality of the faithless.
They are the ones who deny the signs of their Lord and encounter with Him. So their works have failed. On the Day of Resurrection We will not give them any weight.
Say, ‘If the sea were ink for the words of my Lord, the sea would be spent before the words of my Lord are finished, though We replenish it with another like it.’
Say, ‘I am just a human being like you. It has been revealed to me that your God is the One God. So whoever expects to encounter his Lord—let him act righteously, and not associate anyone with the worship of his Lord.’
