We tell you this story for a genuine purpose. They were young people who believed in their Lord and We gave them further guidance. 13 And We braced their hearts when they stood forth and said: our Lord is the Lord of the heavens and the earth; never we shall call upon a god beside him; for then we shall be saying an abomination. 14 These people of ours have taken to worshipping [other] deities instead of Him, without being able to adduce any reasonable evidence in support of their beliefs; and who could be more wicked than he who invents a lie about God? 15 And now that you have dissociated yourselves from them and from whatever they worship beside Allah, go and seek refuge in the Cave. Your Lord will extend His mercy to you and will provide for you the means for the disposal of your affairs." 16 ۞ Thou wouldst have seen the sun, when it rose, declining to the right from their Cave, and when it set, turning away from them to the left, while they lay in the open space in the midst of the Cave. Such are among the Signs of Allah: He whom Allah, guides is rightly guided; but he whom Allah leaves to stray,- for him wilt thou find no protector to lead him to the Right Way. 17