The Cave (Al-Kahf)
In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially 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 They shall abide therein forever. 3 And to warn those who say, "Allah has taken a son." 4 They have no knowledge of it, nor had their fathers. Grave is the word that comes out of their mouths; they speak not except a lie. 5 Then perhaps you would kill yourself through grief over them, [O Muhammad], if they do not believe in this message, [and] out of sorrow. 6 Lo! We have placed all that is on the earth as an ornament thereof that We may try them: which of them is best in conduct. 7 Verily what is on earth we shall make but as dust and dry soil (without growth or herbage). 8 Do you think that the people of the Cave and the Inscription were one of Our wondrous signs? 9 When those young men took shelter in the cave, and prayed: "O Lord, grant us Your favour and dispose our affair aright," 10 Then We draw (a veil) over their ears, for a number of years, in the Cave, (so that they heard not): 11 Then We awakened them that We might show which of the two factions was most precise in calculating what [extent] they had remained in time. 12