The Cave (Al-Kahf)
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
Praise be to Allah, Who hath sent to His Servant the Book, and hath allowed therein no Crookedness: 1 [He has made it] straight, to warn of severe punishment from Him and to give good tidings to the believers who do righteous deeds that they will have a good reward 2 [a state of bliss] in which they shall dwell beyond the count of time. 3 And to warn those who say: Allah hath chosen a son, 4 They have no knowledge of this, nor did their forefathers have any either. What they say is monstrous: they are merely uttering falsehoods! 5 But wouldst thou, perhaps, torment thyself to death with grief over them if they are not willing to believe in this message? 6 That which is on earth we have made but as a glittering show for the earth, in order that We may test them - as to which of them are best in conduct. 7 and, verily, [in time] We shall reduce all that is on it to barren dust! 8 [AND SINCE the life of this world is but a test, dost thou [really] think that [the parable of] the Men of the Cave and of [their devotion to] the scriptures could be deemed more wondrous than any [other] of Our messages? 9 When the youth sought refuge in the cave they prayed "Lord, grant us mercy and help us to get out of this trouble in a righteous way". 10 We then thumped upon their ears in the Cave for a number of years. (* Put them to sleep.) 11 Then We roused them, in order to test which of the two parties was best at calculating the term of years they had tarried! 12