The Cave (Al-Kahf)
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
ALL PRAISE BE to God who has revealed to His votary the Book which is free of all obliquity, 1 unswerving. To warn of great violence from Him, and to give good tidings to the believers who do good deeds that theirs shall be a goodly wage 2 [a state of bliss] in which they shall dwell beyond the count of time. 3 And warn those who say: Allah has taken a son. 4 They have no knowledge of it, nor had their fathers. Grave is the word that comes out of their mouths; they speak not except a lie. 5 Yet perchance, if they do not believe in this tiding, you will consume yourself with grief and follow after them. 6 Verily We have made whatsoever is on the earth as an adornment thereof, that We may prove them - which of them is best in work. 7 And verily! We shall make all that is on it (the earth) a bare dry soil (without any vegetation or trees, etc.). 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 those young men took shelter in the cave, and prayed: "O Lord, grant us Your favour and dispose our affair aright," 10 And thereupon We veiled their ears in the cave for many a year, 11 Then We raised them up that We might know which of the two parties was best able to compute the time for which they remained. 12