18. "The Cave"
Koran.018
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful.
(All) praise is due to Allah, Who revealed the Book to His
servant and did not make in it any crookedness.
Rightly directing, that he might give warning of severe
punishment from Him and give good news to the believers who do good that
they shall have a goodly reward,
Staying in it for ever;
And warn those who say: Allah has taken a son.
They have no knowledge of it, nor had their fathers; a grievous
word it is that comes out of their mouths; they speak nothing but a lie.
Then maybe you will kill yourself with grief, sorrowing after
them, if they do not believe in this announcement.
Surely We have made whatever is on the earth an embellishment
for it, so that We may try them (as to) which of them is best in works.
And most surely We will make what is on it bare ground without
herbage.
Or, do you think that the Fellows of the Cave and the Inscription
were of Our wonderful signs?
When the youths sought refuge in the cave, they said: Our
Lord! grant us mercy from Thee, and provide for us a right course in our
affair.
So We prevented them from hearing in the cave for a number of
years.
Then We raised them up that We might know which of the two
parties was best able to compute the time for which they remained.
We relate to you their story with the truth; surely they were
youths who believed in their Lord and We increased them in guidance.
And We strengthened their hearts with patience, when they
stood up and said: Our Lord is the Lord of the heavens and the earth; we
will by no means call upon any god besides Him, for then indeed we should
have said an extravagant thing.
These our people have taken gods besides Him; why do they not
produce any clear authority in their support? Who is then more unjust than
he who forges a lie against Allah?
And when you forsake them and what they worship save Allah,
betake yourselves for refuge to the cave; your Lord will extend to you
largely of His mercy and provide for you a profitable course in your affair.
And you might see the sun when it rose, decline from their cave
towards the right hand, and when it set, leave them behind on the left while
they were in a wide space thereof. This is of the signs of Allah; whomsoever
Allah guides, he is the rightly guided one, and whomsoever He causes to err,
you shall not find for him any friend to lead (him) aright.
And you might think them awake while they were asleep and
We turned them about to the right and to the left, while their dog (lay)
outstretching its paws at the entrance; if you looked at them you would
certainly turn back from them in flight, and you would certainly be filled
with awe because of them.
And thus did We rouse them that they might question each
other. A speaker among them said: How long have you tarried? They said:
We have tarried for a day or a part of a day. (Others) said: Your Lord
knows best how long you have tarried. Now send one of you with this silver
(coin) of yours to the city, then let him see which of them has purest food,
so let him bring you provision from it, and let him behave with gentleness,
and by no means make your case known to any one:
For surely if they prevail against you they would stone you to
death or force you back to their religion, and then you will never succeed.
And thus did We make (men) to get knowledge of them that
they might know that Allah's promise is true and that as for the hour there is
no doubt about it. When they disputed among themselves about their affair
and said: Erect an edifice over them— their Lord best knows them. Those
who prevailed in their affair said: We will certainly raise a masjid over them.
(Some) say: (They are) three, the fourth of them being their
dog; and (others) say: Five, the sixth of them being their dog, making
conjectures at what is unknown; and (others yet) say: Seven, and the eighth
of them is their dog. Say: My Lord best knows their number, none knows
them but a few; therefore contend not in the matter of them but with an
outward contention, and do not question concerning them any of them.
And do not say of anything: Surely I will do it tomorrow,
Unless Allah pleases; and remember your Lord when you forget
and say: Maybe my Lord will guide me to a nearer course to the right than
this.
And they remained in their cave three hundred years and (some)
add (another) nine.
Say: Allah knows best how long they remained; to Him are
(known) the unseen things of the heavens and the earth; how clear His sight
and how clear His hearing! There is none to be a guardian for them besides
Him, and He does not make any one His associate in His Judgment.
And recite what has been revealed to you of the Book of your
Lord, there is none who can alter His words; and you shall not find any
refuge besides Him.
And withhold yourself with those who call on their Lord
morning and evening desiring His goodwill, and let not your eyes pass from
them, desiring the beauties of this world's life; and do not follow him whose
heart We have made unmindful to Our remembrance, and he follows his low
desires and his case is one in which due bounds are exceeded.
And say: The truth is from your Lord, so let him who please
believe, and let him who please disbelieve; surely We have prepared for the
iniquitous a fire, the curtains of which shall encompass them about; and if
they cry for water, they shall be given water like molten brass which will
scald their faces; evil the drink and ill the resting-place.
Surely (as for) those who believe and do good, We do not
waste the reward of him who does a good work.
These it is for whom are gardens of perpetuity beneath which
rivers flow, ornaments shall be given to them therein of bracelets of gold,
and they shall wear green robes of fine silk and thick silk brocade
interwoven with gold, reclining therein on raised couches; excellent the
recompense and goodly the resting place.
And set forth to them a parable of two men; for one of them
We made two gardens of grape vines, and We surrounded them both with
palms, and in the midst of them We made cornfields.
. Both these gardens yielded their fruits, and failed not aught
thereof, and We caused a river to gush forth in their midst,
And he possessed much wealth; so he said to his companion,
while he disputed with him: I have greater wealth than you, and am mightier
in followers.
And he entered his garden while he was unjust to himself. He
said: I do not think that this will ever perish
And I do not think the hour will come, and even if I am
returned to my Lord I will most certainly find a returning place better than
this.
His companion said to him while disputing with him: Do you
disbelieve in Him Who created you from dust, then from a small seed, then
He made you a perfect man?
But as for me, He, Allah, is my Lord, and I do not associate
anyone with my Lord.
And wherefore did you not say when you entered your garden:
It is as Allah has pleased, there is no power save in Allah? If you consider
me to be inferior to you in wealth and children,
Then maybe my Lord will give me what is better than your
garden, and send on it a thunderbolt from heaven so that it shall become
even ground without plant,
Or its waters should sink down into the ground so that you are
unable to find it.
And his wealth was destroyed; so he began to wring his hands
for what he had spent on it, while it lay, having fallen down upon its roofs,
and he said: Ah me! would that I had not associated anyone with my Lord.
And he had no host to help him besides Allah nor could he
defend himself.
Here is protection only Allah's, the True One; He is best in (the
giving of) reward and best in requiting.
And set forth to them parable of the life of this world: like
water which We send down from the cloud so the herbage of the earth
becomes tangled on account of it, then it becomes dry broken into pieces
which the winds scatter; and Allah is the holder of power over all things.
Wealth and children are an adornment of the life of this world;
and the ever-abiding, the good works, are better with your Lord in reward
and better in expectation.
And the day on which We will cause the mountains to pass away
and you will see the earth a leveled plain and We will gather them and leave
not any one of them behind.
And they shall be brought before your Lord, standing in ranks:
Now certainly you have come to Us as We created you at first. Nay, you
thought that We had not appointed to you a time of the fulfillment of the
promise.
And the Book shall be placed, then you will see the guilty
fearing from what is in it, and they will say: Ah! woe to us! what a book is
this! it does not omit a small one nor a great one, but numbers them (all);
and what they had done they shall find present (there); and your Lord does
not deal unjustly with anyone.
And when We said to the angels: Make obeisance to Adam; they
made obeisance but Iblis (did it not). He was of the jinn, so he transgressed
the commandment of his Lord. What! would you then take him and his
offspring for friends rather than Me, and they are your enemies? Evil is (this)
change for the unjust.
I did not make them witnesses of the creation of the heavens
and the earth, nor of the creation of their own souls; nor could I take those
who lead (others) astray for aiders.
And on the day when He shall say: Call on those whom you
considered to be My associates. So they shall call on them, but they shall not
answer them, and We will cause a separation between them.
And the guilty shall see the fire, then they shall know that they
are going to fall into it, and they shall not find a place to which to turn away
from it.
And certainly We have explained in this Quran every kind of
example, and man is most of all given to contention.
And nothing prevents men from believing when the guidance
comes to them, and from asking forgiveness of their Lord, except that what
happened to the ancients should overtake them, or that the chastisement
should come face to face with them.
And We do not send apostles but as givers of good news and
warning, and those who disbelieve make a false contention that they may
render null thereby the truth, and they take My communications and that
with which they are warned for a mockery.
And who is more unjust than he who is reminded of the
communications of his Lord, then he turns away from them and forgets what
his two hands have sent before? Surely We have placed veils over their
hearts lest they should understand it and a heaviness in their ears; and if you
call them to the guidance, they will not ever follow the right course in that
case.
And your Lord is Forgiving, the Lord of Mercy; were He to
punish them for what they earn, He would certainly have hastened the
chastisement for them; but for them there is an appointed time from which
they shall not find a refuge.
And (as for) these towns, We destroyed them when they acted
unjustly, and We have appointed a time for their destruction.
And when Musa said to his servant: I will not cease until I
reach the junction of the two rivers or I will go on for years.
So when they had reached the junction of the two (rivers) they
forgot their fish, and it took its way into the sea, going away.
But when they had gone farther, he said to his servant: Bring to
us our morning meal, certainly we have met with fatigue from this our
journey.
He said: Did you see when we took refuge on the rock then I
forgot the fish, and nothing made me forget to speak of it but the Shaitan,
and it took its way into the river; what a wonder!
He said: This is what we sought for; so they returned retracing
their footsteps.
Then they found one from among Our servants whom We had
granted mercy from Us and whom We had taught knowledge from
Ourselves.
Musa said to him: Shall I follow you on condition that you
should teach me right knowledge of what you have been taught?
He said: Surely you cannot have patience with me
And how can you have patience in that of which you have not
got a comprehensive knowledge?
He said: If Allah pleases, you will find me patient and I shall not
disobey you in any matter.
He said: If you would follow me, then do not question me
about any thing until I myself speak to you about it
So they went (their way) until when they embarked in the boat
he made a hole in it. (Musa) said: Have you made a hole in it to drown its
inmates? Certainly you have done a grievous thing.
He said: Did I not say that you will not be able to have patience
with me?
He said: Blame me not for what I forgot, and do not constrain
me to a difficult thing in my affair.
So they went on until, when they met a boy, he slew him.
(Musa) said: Have you slain an innocent person otherwise than for
manslaughter? Certainly you have done an evil thing.
He said: Did I not say to you that you will not be able to have
patience with me?
He said: If I ask you about anything after this, keep me not in
your company; indeed you shall have (then) found an excuse in my case.
So they went on until when they came to the people of a town,
they asked them for food, but they refused to entertain them as guests. Then
they found in it a wall which was on the point of falling, so he put it into a
right state. (Musa) said: If you had pleased, you might certainly have taken a
recompense for it.
He said: This shall be separation between me and you; now I
will inform you of the significance of that with which you could not have
patience.
As for the boat, it belonged to (some) poor men who worked on
the river and I wished that I should damage it, and there was behind them a
king who seized every boat by force.
And as for the boy, his parents were believers and we feared
lest he should make disobedience and ingratitude to come upon them:
So we desired that their Lord might give them in his place one
better than him in purity and nearer to having compassion.
And as for the wall, it belonged to two orphan boys in the city,
and there was beneath it a treasure belonging to them, and their father was a
righteous man; so your Lord desired that they should attain their maturity
and take out their treasure, a mercy from your Lord, and I did not do it of
my own accord. This is the significance of that with which you could not
have patience.
And they ask you about Zulqarnain. Say: I will recite to you an
account of him.
Surely We established him in the land and granted him means of
access to every thing.
So he followed a course.
Until when he reached the place where the sun set, he found it
going down into a black sea, and found by it a people. We said: O
Zulqarnain! either give them a chastisement or do them a benefit.
He said: As to him who is injust, we will chastise him, then shall
he be returned to his Lord, and He will chastise him with an exemplary
chastisement: And as for him who believes and does good, he shall have
goodly reward, and We will speak to him an easy word of Our command.
Then he followed (another) course.
Until when he reached the land of the rising of the sun, he
found it rising on a people to whom We had given no shelter from It;
Even so! and We had a full knowledge of what he had.
Then he followed (another) course.
Until when he reached (a place) between the two mountains, he
found on that side of them a people who could hardly understand a word.
They said: O Zulqarnain! surely Gog and Magog make mischief
in the land. Shall we then pay you a tribute on condition that you should
raise a barrier between us and them
He said: That in which my Lord has established me is better,
therefore you only help me with workers, I will make a fortified barrier
between you and them;
Bring me blocks of iron; until when he had filled up the space
between the two mountain sides, he said: Blow, until when he had made it
(as) fire, he said: Bring me molten brass which I may pour over it.
So they were not able to scale it nor could they make a hole in
it.
He said: This is a mercy from my Lord, but when the promise
of my Lord comes to pass He will make it level with the ground, and the
promise of my Lord is ever true.
And on that day We will leave a part of them in conflict with
another part, and the trumpet will be blown, so We will gather them all
together;
And We will bring forth hell, exposed to view, on that day
before the unbelievers.
They whose eyes were under a cover from My reminder and
they could not even hear.
What! do then those who disbelieve think that they can take
My servants to be guardians besides Me? Surely We have prepared hell for
the entertainment of the unbelievers.
Say: Shall We inform you of the greatest losers in (their)
deeds?
(These are) they whose labor is lost in this world's life and
they think that they are well versed in skill of the work of hands.
These are they who disbelieve in the communications of their
Lord and His meeting, so their deeds become null, and therefore We will not
set up a balance for them on the day of resurrection.
Thus it is that their recompense is hell, because they
disbelieved and held My communications and My apostles in mockery.
Surely (as for) those who believe and do good deeds, their
place of entertainment shall be the gardens of paradise,
Abiding therein; they shall not desire removal from them.
Say: If the sea were ink for the words of my Lord, the sea
would surely be consumed before the words of my Lord are exhausted,
though We were to bring the like of that (sea) to add
Say: I am only a mortal like you; it is revealed to me that your
god is one God, therefore whoever hopes to meet his Lord, he should do
good deeds, and not join any one in the service of his Lord.
