The Cave (Al-Kahf)
In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
All praise is to Allah Who sent down the Book upon His bondman, and has not kept any deviation in it. 1 (He has made it) Straight to give warning (to the disbelievers) of a severe punishment from Him, and to give glad tidings to the believers (in the Oneness of Allah Islamic Monotheism), who work righteous deeds, that they shall have a fair reward (i.e. Paradise). 2 They shall abide therein forever. 3 And to warn those who say “Allah has chosen a child.” 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 indeed placed all that is on the earth as its adornment in order that We may test them, who among them has the best deeds. 7 Verily what is on earth we shall make but as dust and dry soil (without growth or 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 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 And thereupon We veiled their ears in the cave for many a year, 11 Then We roused them to find out which of the party had the correct account of the duration of their sleep in the cave. 12