The Cave (Al-Kahf)
Allah - beginning with the name of - 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 and which rightly directs, to give warning of stern punishment from Him, and to proclaim to the believers who do righteous deeds that they shall have an excellent recompense, 2 [a state of bliss] in which they shall dwell beyond the count of time. 3 And to warn those who say, "God has taken to Himself a son." 4 a thing about which they have no knowledge, neither they nor their ancestors. Dreadful is the word that comes out of their mouths. What they utter is merely 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 Indeed, We have made that which is on the earth adornment for it that We may test them [as to] which of them is best in deed. 7 In the ultimate, We shall reduce all that is on the earth to a barren plain. 8 Or dost thou reflect that the Companions of the Cave and of the Inscription were wonders among Our Sign? 9 When the young men fled for refuge to the Cave and said: Our Lord! Give us mercy from Thy presence, and shape for us right conduct in our plight. 10 Then We draw (a veil) over their ears, for a number of years, in the Cave, (so that they heard not): 11 We then awakened them to see which of the two groups more accurately tells the period they had stayed. 12