The Cave (Al-Kahf)
In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
ALL PRAISE is due to God, who has bestowed this divine writ from on high upon His servant, and has not allowed any deviousness to obscure its meaning: 1 Straightforward, that it may warn of a severe violence from before Him, and bring glad tidings to the believers who work righteous works that theirs shall be a goodly hire. 2 They shall abide therein forever. 3 And it (the Koran) warns those who say: 'Allah has taken a son' 4 (A thing) whereof they have no knowledge, nor (had) their fathers, Dreadful is the word that cometh out of their mouths. They speak naught but a lie. 5 Haply thou art going to kill thyself over their footsteps, if they believe not in this discourse, out of sorrow. 6 Lo! We have placed all that is on the earth as an ornament thereof that We may try them: which of them is best in conduct. 7 And verily We are going to make whatsoever is thereon a soil bare. 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 When the young men took refuge in the Cave – then said, “Our Lord! Give us mercy from Yourself, and arrange guidance for us in our affair.” 10 So We prevented them from hearing in the cave for a number of years. 11 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. 12