The Cave (Al-Kahf)
In the name of God, The Most Gracious, The Dispenser of Grace
All praise unto Allah who hath sent down unto His bondman the Book, and hath not placed therein any crookedness. 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 and they will live for ever therein. 3 Furthermore, [this divine writ is meant] to warn all those who assert, "God has taken unto 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 (O Muhammad), if they do not believe in this Message, you will perhaps torment yourself to death with grief, sorrowing over them. 6 We have indeed placed all that is on the earth as its adornment in order that We may test them, who among them has the best deeds. 7 And verily We are going to make whatsoever is thereon a soil bare. 8 Or dost thou think the Men of the Cave and Er-Rakeem were among 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 We lulled them to sleep in that cave for a number of years 11 and then We awakened them: [and We did all this] so that We might mark out [to the world] which of the two points of view showed a better comprehension of the time-span during which they had remained in this state. 12