سورة Al-Kahf ( The Cave )

Praise be to God who has sent down to His servant -- the Book, which is free from any ambiguity

and which rightly directs, to give warning of stern punishment from Him, and to proclaim to the believers who do righteous deeds that they shall have an excellent recompense,

wherein they will remain [in a state of bliss] forever.

And to warn those who say, \"God has taken to Himself a son.\"

They have no knowledge of this, nor did their forefathers have any either. What they say is monstrous: they are merely uttering falsehoods!

Perhaps you may destroy yourself with grief if they do not believe in this message.

We have adorned the earth with attractive things, so that We may test mankind as to which one is best in conduct,

but We shall reduce all this to barren waste.

Do you think that the Men of the Cave and the Inscription were one of Our wondrous signs?

When the young men sought refuge in the cave, they said, \"Our Lord, grant us Your special mercy and give us right guidance in our affair.\"

Then We caused them to fall into a deep sleep for many years inside the cave.

Then We woke them up again so that We might see which of the two groups would better calculate the time they had stayed there.

We shall tell you their story as it really was. They were young men who believed in their Lord, and on whom We bestowed further guidance.

We strengthened their hearts, when they rose up and declared, \"Our Lord is the Lord of the heavens and the earth. Never shall we call upon any deity other than Him: for that would be an outrageous thing to do.

These people of ours have taken deities other than Him. Why do they not produce clear evidence about them? Who is more wicked than the man who invents a falsehood against God?

\"Now that you have withdrawn from them and from all that they worship instead of God, take refuge in that cave; your Lord will extend His mercy to you and will make fitting provision for you in your situation.\"

The sun could be observed to incline away from their cave on the right, as it rose, and to turn away from them on the left, when it set, while they lay in the wide space inside the cave. This is one of the signs of God. He whom God guides is rightly guided; but for him whom He lets go astray, you will find no helper or guide.

You would have thought they were awake, though they lay asleep. We turned them over, to the right and the left, while their dog lay at the cave's entrance with legs outstretched. Had you looked down and seen them, you would have surely turned your back and fled in terror.

In the course of time, We raised them up again so that they might question one another. One of them asked, \"How long have you stayed [here]?\" They said, \"We have stayed a day, or part of a day.\" But others said, \"Your Lord knows best how long you have stayed here. Let one of you go then with these silver coins to the town, and let him find out what food is purest there, and bring you back a supply of it. Let him conduct himself with caution and not disclose your whereabouts to anyone:

for if they find you out, they will stone you to death, or force you back into their faith. In that case you would never prosper.\"

Thus We disclosed things to them so that they might know that God's promise was true and there was no doubt about the Hour [Judgement Day]. The people argued about them among themselves. They said, \"Build a monument over them. Their Lord knows best concerning them.\" Those who prevailed in their affair said, \"Let us surely build a place of worship over them.\"

Some will say, \"They were three, the fourth was their dog,\" and others will say, \"They were five, the sixth was their dog,\" guessing at random. And yet others say, \"They were seven, the eighth was their dog.\" Say, \"My Lord knows best their number.\" Only a few know anything about them. Therefore, do not enter into controversies over them, nor seek information about them from any of them;

never say of anything, \"I shall certainly do this tomorrow,\"

without [adding], \"if God so wills.\" Remember your Lord whenever you might forget and say, \"I trust my Lord will guide me to that which is even nearer to the right path than this.\"

[Some say], \"They stayed in their cave three hundred years,\" and to that some have added another nine years.

Say, \"God knows best how long they stayed in it.\" Only God has knowledge of the unseen in the heavens and on the earth. How well He sees and how well He hears! Man has no other guardian besides Him. He allows none to share His sovereignty.

Proclaim what has been revealed to you from your Lord's Book. None can change His words. You shall find no refuge besides Him.

Keep yourself attached to those who call on their Lord, morning and evening, seeking His pleasure; and do not let your eyes turn away from them, desiring the attraction of worldly life; and do not obey one whose heart We have made heedless of Our remembrance, one who pursues his own whims and becomes dissolute.

Say, \"This is the truth from your Lord. Let him who will, believe in it, and him who will, deny it.\" For the wrongdoers We have prepared a Fire which will cover them like a canopy, and if they beg for water, they will be given water as hot as molten lead, which will scald their faces: how dreadful a drink, and how evil a resting place!

As for those who believe and do good deeds, We do not let the reward of anyone who does a good deed go to waste,

they shall dwell in the Gardens of eternity where rivers flow at their feet. Reclining upon raised couches, they will be adorned with bracelets of gold, and will wear green robes of fine silk and heavy brocade. An excellent reward and an excellent resting place!

Recite to them the parable of two men! One of them We provided with two vineyards which We surrounded with date-palms, and placed a field of grain in between;

each garden produced its fruit and did not fail to yield its best; We even caused a river to gush forth in the midst of them,

and so he had fruit in abundance. While conversing with his companion, he said, \"I am wealthier than you are, and have a bigger following!\"

Having thus harmed his own soul, he entered his garden saying, \"I do not think this will ever perish,

and I do not believe that the Hour will ever come. Even if I am returned to my Lord, I shall surely find a better place than this.\"

His companion replied, in the course of their discussion, \"Do you deny Him who created you from dust, from a small drop of fluid, then formed you into a man?

But as far as I am concerned, God alone is my Lord and I set up no partners with Him.

When you entered your garden, why did you not say, \"That which God wills [will surely come to pass], there is no power save with God?\" Although you see I have less wealth and offspring than you,

my Lord may well give me a garden better than yours and send down thunderbolts from heaven upon your vineyard, turning it into a barren waste;

or its water may sink into the earth, so that you will never be able to find it again!\"

So it was, and all his fruit was destroyed. The vines had all fallen down on their trellises, and their owner wrung his hands, bewailing all that he had spent on his garden. He said, \"Would that I had not associated anyone with my Lord!\"

He had no party to help him against God, nor was he able to defend himself.

The only support is from God, the True God. He is the best in rewarding and the best in respect of the final outcome.

Give them an example about worldly life. It is like the vegetation of the earth that thrives when watered by the rain, which We send down from the sky, and then it all becomes stubble which the wind blows away. God has power over all things.

Wealth and children are an ornament of the life of this world. But deeds of lasting merit are better rewarded by your Lord and a far better source of hope.

The Day We shall make the mountains move and you will see the earth laid bare, and We shall gather all mankind together and shall not leave any one of them behind.

They will be ranged before your Lord, standing in rows and He will say to them, \"Now you have come to Us as We created you at first. But you supposed that We would not appoint the time for the fulfillment of Our promise to you.\"

The Book [of deeds] will be placed before them and you will see the guilty apprehensive about its contents. They will say, \"Woe to us! What a record this is! It does not leave any deed, small or large, unaccounted for!\" They will find everything they ever did laid in front of them: your Lord will not be unjust to anyone.

When We said to the angels, \"Prostrate yourselves before Adam,\" all prostrated themselves except Satan. He was one of the jinn and he disobeyed his Lord's command. Do you then take him and his offspring as protectors instead of Me, despite their enmity towards you? This is an evil exchange for the wrongdoers!

I did not call them to witness at the creation of the heavens and the earth, nor at their own creation; I do not take as My helpers those who lead others astray.

On that Day He will say to them, \"Call on those whom you thought to be My partners.\" And they will call on them, but their prayer will not be heard; and We shall place a barrier [of enmity] between them.

The guilty shall see the Fire and realize that they are going to fall into it: they shall find no way of escape from it.

We have explained in various ways in this Quran, for the benefit of mankind, all kinds of examples, but man is most contentious.

Nothing prevents people from believing when they are given guidance or from asking forgiveness of their Lord, but the fact that the fate of the previous peoples should befall them or to have the punishment come upon them face to face.

We only send the messengers to bring good news and to give warning. Those who deny use fallacious arguments to nullify the truth, treating My revelations and My warnings as a jest.

Who is more wicked than he who has been reminded of the revelations of his Lord, then turns away from them and forgets what his own hands have done? We have cast veils over their hearts lest they understand Our words, and made them hard of hearing. Call them as you may to the right path, they shall never be guided.

Your Lord is the Forgiving One, the possessor of mercy. If He had to take them to task for the wrongs they have done, He would have hastened their punishment. They have an appointed time beyond which there will be no escape for them.

We destroyed these communities when they went on doing wrong, and We appointed a time for their destruction.

Recall how Moses said to his servant, \"I shall not give up until I reach the place where both seas meet, even if it takes me years!\"

But when at last they came to the land where the two seas met, they forgot their fish and it swiftly made its way into the sea.

After they had passed the place, Moses said to his young companion, \"Bring us our morning meal; we have indeed been fatigued by this journey.\"

He replied, \"Did you see when we were resting by the rock, that I forgot the fish? Satan made me forget it, so I did not mention it. It made its way to the sea in a miraculous way!\"

Moses said, \"That is just what we were looking for.\" So they went back the way they had come,

and they found one of Our servants to whom We had granted Our mercy and had given a knowledge from Ourself.

Moses said to him, \"May I follow you, so that you may guide me by what you have been taught?\"

He replied, \"You will not be able to bear with me patiently.

How could you be patient in matters beyond your knowledge?\"

Moses said, \"God willing, you will find me patient, and I will not disobey you in any thing.\"

He said, \"Well then, if you would follow me, do not ask me about anything till I speak of it to you.\"

So they set out, but, when they got into a boat, the man made a hole in it. Moses exclaimed, \"Have you made a hole in the boat to drown the people in it? You have indeed done a dreadful thing!\"

He replied, \"Did I not tell you that you would never be able to bear with me patiently?\"

He said, \"Do not take me to task for what I have forgotten, and do not be hard on me on account of what I have done!\"

So they travelled on. Then they met a young boy and the man killed him. Moses said, \"Have you slain an innocent person without his having slain anyone? Indeed, you have done a terrible thing!\"

The man said, \"Did I not tell you that you would not be able to have any patience with me?\"

Moses replied, \"If I ever ask you about anything after this, do not let me accompany you. I will have given you sufficient excuse.\"

So they went on until they came to a town. They asked its people for food, but were refused hospitality. They found a wall in the town which was about to fall down. His companion buttressed it and Moses said, \"Had you wished, you could have demanded payment for your labours.\"

He answered, \"This is where you and I must part company. But first I will tell you the meaning of the things you could not bear with patiently.

\"The boat belonged to some poor people who made their living from the sea. I wanted to damage it because there was a king coming behind them who was seizing every boat by force.

As for the youth, his parents were believers and we feared that he would trouble them by rebellion and denial of truth.

We wanted their Lord to replace him with someone purer than him and more compassionate.

\"The wall belonged to two young orphans in the town whose father had been a righteous man, and a treasure of theirs lay underneath it. So your Lord wanted them to come of age and then to dig up their treasure as a mercy from Him. I did not do [it] of my own accord. That is the explanation of the things about which you were not able to restrain yourself.\"

They will ask you about Dhu'l-Qarnayn. Say, \"I will give you an account of him.\"

We established him in the land, and gave him the means to achieve all things.

He travelled on a certain road;

until, when he reached the setting of the sun, he found it setting in a spring of murky water and near it he found some people. We said, \"Dhu'l-Qarnayn! You can either punish them or else you can treat them with gentleness.\"

He said, \"We shall certainly punish him who does wrong; then he shall be brought back to his Lord who will punish him with a grievous punishment,

but whoever believes and does good works shall have a good reward and We shall facilitate his matter by Our command.\"

Then he followed yet another path,

until he came to the rising-place of the sun, where he found it rising on a people for whom We had provided no shelter from it.

Thus indeed it was. We had full knowledge of him.

Then he followed still another path,

until he came between two mountains. He found beside them a people who could scarcely understand a word [of his language].

They said, \"O Dhu'l-Qarnayn! Gog and Magog are causing corruption in the land, so may we pay you tribute on condition that you set a barrier between us and them?\"

He said, \"What My Lord has given me is better [than any tribute]. Help me with a force of labourers and I will erect a barrier between you and them:

bring me blocks of iron.\" Then, when he had filled the gap between the mountain sides [he said], \"Now blow on the fire with your bellows.\" When the iron blocks were red with heat, he said, \"Bring me molten brass to pour on them.\"

So they [Gog and Magog] were not able to scale it, nor were they able to bore through it,

and he said, \"This is a mercy from my Lord. But when the promise of my Lord comes to pass, He will level it to dust. My Lord's promise is ever true!\"

On that Day, We shall let them surge against each other like waves and then the Trumpet will be blown and We shall gather them all together.

On that Day We shall lay Hell bare before those who deny the truth,

who have turned a blind eye to My reminder and a deaf ear to My warning.

Do those who deny the truth, think that they can make My servants patrons instead of Me? We have reserved Hell as a lodging for those who deny the truth.

Say, \"Shall I tell you of those who will lose the most through their actions?

They are those whose efforts have been wasted in the life of the world while they thought they were doing good.

They are those who deny their Lord's signs and the meeting with Him.\" So their works are in vain, and We shall give them no weight on the Day of Resurrection.

Hell will be their reward, because they denied the truth, and made a jest of My signs and My messengers.

Those who believe and do good works shall have the gardens of Paradise for their abode.

They shall forever dwell in the Gardens of Paradise, desiring no change.

Tell them, \"If the ocean became ink for writing the words of my Lord, surely the ocean would be exhausted before the words of my Lord came to an end -- even if We were to add another ocean to it.\"

Say, \"I am only a human being like yourselves. It is revealed to me that your God is One God. So let him who hopes to meet his Lord do good deeds and let him associate no one else in the worship of his Lord.\"