The Cave (Al-Kahf)
In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful
All praise is to Allah Who sent down the Book upon His bondman, and has not kept any deviation in it. 1 [a divine writ] unerringly straight, meant to warn [the godless] of a severe punishment from Him, and to give unto the believers who do good works the glad tiding that theirs shall be a goodly reward 2 Wherein they will abide for ever; 3 And warn those who say: Allah has taken a son. 4 They have no knowledge of this, as their fathers did not have. How terrible are the words they utter! They speak nothing but lies. 5 Haply thou art going to kill thyself over their footsteps, if they believe not in this discourse, out of sorrow. 6 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. 7 And most surely We will make what is on it bare ground without herbage. 8 Or have you thought that the companions of the cave and the inscription were, among Our signs, a wonder? 9 When the youths sought refuge in the Cave, they said: 'Lord give us from Your Mercy and furnish us with rectitude in our affair' 10 We then thumped upon their ears in the Cave for a number of years. (* Put them to sleep.) 11 Then We awakened them that We might show which of the two factions was most precise in calculating what [extent] they had remained in time. 12