The Cave (Al-Kahf)
In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most 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 Rightly directing, that he might give warning of severe punishment from Him and give good news to the believers who do good that they shall have a goodly reward, 2 therein to abide for ever, 3 And warn those who say: Allah has taken 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 (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 indeed, We will make that which is upon it [into] a barren ground. 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 (Remember) when the young men fled for refuge (from their disbelieving folk) to the Cave, they said: "Our Lord! Bestow on us mercy from Yourself, and facilitate for us our affair in the right way!" 10 We lulled them to sleep in that cave for a number of years 11 Then We woke them up again so that We might see which of the two groups would better calculate the time they had stayed there. 12