The Cave (Al-Kahf)
In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate
Praise belongs to God who has sent down upon His servant the Book and has not assigned unto it any crookedness; 1 and which rightly directs, to give warning of stern punishment from Him, and to proclaim to the believers who do righteous deeds that they shall have an excellent recompense, 2 and they will live for ever therein. 3 And that it may warn those who say: God hath taken a son. 4 a thing about which they have no knowledge, neither they nor their ancestors. Dreadful is the word that comes out of their mouths. What they utter is merely a lie. 5 Perhaps you may destroy yourself with grief if they do not believe in this message. 6 We have appointed all that is on the earth for an adornment for it, and that We may try which of them is fairest in works; 7 but We shall reduce all this to barren waste. 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 took refuge in the Cave saying, 'Our lord, give us mercy from Thee, and furnish us with rectitude in our affair.' 10 We sealed off 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