The Cave (Al-Kahf)
In the name of Allah, most benevolent, ever-merciful
ALL PRAISE is due to God, who has bestowed this divine writ from on high upon His servant, and has not allowed any deviousness to obscure its meaning: 1 [a divine writ] unerringly straight, meant to warn [the godless] of a severe punishment from Him, and to give unto the believers who do good works the glad tiding that theirs shall be a goodly reward 2 Where they will abide for ever; 3 And warn those who say: Allah has 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 Thou wouldst only, perchance, fret thyself to death, following after them, in grief, if they believe not in this Message. 6 Behold, We have willed that all beauty on earth be a means by which We put men to a test, [showing] which of them are best in conduct; 7 and, verily, [in time] We shall reduce all that is on it to barren dust! 8 Deemest thou that the people of the cave and the inscription were of Our signs a wonder? 9 When those young men took shelter in the cave, and prayed: "O Lord, grant us Your favour and dispose our affair aright," 10 We sealed off their ears in the cave for a number of years, 11 Then roused them to ascertain which of the two groups could account for the period they had stayed. 12