The Cave (Al-Kahf)
In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate
[All] praise is [due] to Allah, who has sent down upon His Servant the Book and has not made therein any deviance. 1 (He hath made it) Straight (and Clear) in order that He may warn (the godless) of a terrible Punishment from Him, and that He may give Glad Tidings to the Believers who work righteous deeds, that they shall have a goodly Reward, 2 wherein they shall abide for ever; 3 and to warn those who say, 'God has taken to Himself 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 Behold, We have willed that all beauty on earth be a means by which We put men to a test, [showing] which of them are best in conduct; 7 And most surely We will make what is on it bare ground without herbage. 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 We sealed their ears in the cave for a number of years. 11 and then roused them so that We might see which of the two parties could best tell the length of their stay. 12