The Cave (Al-Kahf)
In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the 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 Straightforward, that it may warn of a severe violence from before Him, and bring glad tidings to the believers who work righteous works that theirs shall be a goodly hire. 2 therein to abide for ever, 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 Yet perchance, if they believe not in this tiding, thou wilt consume thyself, following after them, of grief. 6 We have appointed all that is on the earth for an adornment for it, and that We may try which of them is fairest in works; 7 We will surely reduce all that is on it to barren dust. 8 Do you not think that the story of the Companions of the Cave and the Inscription was one of Our marvelous miracles? 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 Therefore We covered up their (sense of) hearing (causing them, to go in deep sleep) in the Cave for a number of years. 11 Then We roused them to find out which of the party had the correct account of the duration of their sleep in the cave. 12