The Cave (Al-Kahf)
In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
ALL PRAISE BE to God who has revealed to His votary the Book which is free of all obliquity, 1 (But hath made it) straight, to give warning of stern punishment from Him, and to bring unto the believers who do good works the news that theirs will be a fair reward, 2 Staying in it for ever; 3 and to warn those who say, 'God has taken to Himself 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 Yet it may be, if they believe not in this statement, that thou (Muhammad) wilt torment thy soul with grief over their footsteps. 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 lo! We shall make all that is thereon a barren mound. 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 youths took refuge in the cave, they prayed: "O our Sustainer! Bestow on us grace from Thyself, and endow us, whatever our [outward] condition, with consciousness of what is right!" 10 So We cast [a cover of sleep] over their ears within 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