The Cave (Al-Kahf)
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
All the praises and thanks be to Allah, Who has sent down to His slave (Muhammad SAW) the Book (the Quran), and has not placed therein any crookedness. 1 Immutable, so that it may warn of a severe punishment from Him; and give happy tidings to those who believe and do the right that there is a better reward (of Paradise) for them, 2 wherein they shall abide for ever; 3 And it (the Koran) warns those who say: 'Allah has taken a son' 4 No knowledge whatever have they of Him, and neither had their forefathers: dreadful - is this saying that comes out of their mouths, [and] nothing but falsehood do they utter! 5 Yet perchance, if they do not believe in this tiding, you will consume yourself with grief and follow after them. 6 We have adorned the earth with attractive things, so that We may test mankind as to which one is best in conduct, 7 We will surely reduce all that is on it to barren dust. 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 Recall what time the youths betook themselves to the cave, then said: our Lord! vouchsafe unto us mercy from before Thee, and prepare for us in our affair a right course. 10 We then thumped upon their ears in the Cave for a number of years. (* Put them to sleep.) 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