The Cave (Al-Kahf)
In the name of God, The Most Gracious, The Dispenser of Grace
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 give warning (to the disbelievers) of a severe punishment from Him, and to give glad tidings to the believers (in the Oneness of Allah Islamic Monotheism), who work righteous deeds, that they shall have a fair reward (i.e. Paradise). 2 They shall abide therein forever. 3 And to warn those who say, "Allah has taken a son." 4 They have no knowledge of this, as their fathers did not have. How terrible are the words they utter! They speak nothing but lies. 5 Yet it may be, if they believe not in this statement, that thou (Muhammad) wilt torment thy soul with grief over their footsteps. 6 Surely We have made all that is on the earth an embellishment for it in order to test people as to who of them is better in conduct. 7 And indeed We shall one day make all that is on it a barren plain. 8 Or have you thought that the companions of the cave and the inscription were, among Our signs, a wonder? 9 When those youths took refuge in the cave, they prayed: "O our Sustainer! Bestow on us grace from Thyself, and endow us, whatever our [outward] condition, with consciousness of what is right!" 10 Then We draw (a veil) over their ears, for a number of years, in the Cave, (so that they heard not): 11 and then We awakened them: [and We did all this] so that We might mark out [to the world] which of the two points of view showed a better comprehension of the time-span during which they had remained in this state. 12