The Cave (Al-Kahf)
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
All praise unto Allah who hath sent down unto His bondman the Book, and hath not placed therein any crookedness. 1 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, 2 Wherein they will abide for ever; 3 Further, that He may warn those (also) who say, "Allah hath begotten a son": 4 They have no knowledge of this, nor did their forefathers have any either. What they say is monstrous: they are merely uttering falsehoods! 5 Yet perchance, if they believe not in this tiding, thou wilt consume thyself, following after them, of grief. 6 We have adorned the earth with attractive things, so that We may test mankind as to which one is best in conduct, 7 We will surely reduce all that is on it to barren dust. 8 [AND SINCE the life of this world is but a test, dost thou [really] think that [the parable of] the Men of the Cave and of [their devotion to] the scriptures could be deemed more wondrous than any [other] of Our messages? 9 Recall what time the youths betook themselves to the cave, then said: our Lord! vouchsafe unto us mercy from before Thee, and prepare for us in our affair a right course. 10 And thereupon We veiled their ears in the cave for many a year, 11 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. 12