The Cave (Al-Kahf)
Allah - beginning with the name of - the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
Praise be to God. He has sent the Book to His servant and has made it a flawless guide (for human beings) 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 Wherein they will abide for ever; 3 And that it may warn those who say: God hath taken a son. 4 They have no knowledge of this, as their fathers did not have. How terrible are the words they utter! They speak nothing but lies. 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 We have appointed all that is on the earth an adornment for it, in order that We try which of them is finest in works. 7 In the ultimate, We shall reduce all that is on the earth to a barren plain. 8 Deemest thou that the people of the cave and the inscription were of Our signs a wonder? 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 For many years We sealed up their hearing in the Cave, 11 We then awakened them to see which of the two groups more accurately tells the period they had stayed. 12