The Cave (Al-Kahf)
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, 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 A just Book, to warn of Allah’s severe punishment, and to give glad tidings to the believers who do good deeds, that for them is an excellent reward. 2 They will abide therein for ever. 3 and to warn those who say, 'God has taken to Himself 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 Yet perchance, if they do not believe in this tiding, you will consume yourself with grief and follow after them. 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 And verily! We shall make all that is on it (the earth) a bare dry soil (without any vegetation or trees, etc.). 8 Or have you thought that the companions of the cave and the inscription were, among Our signs, a wonder? 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 sealed off their ears in the cave for a number of years, 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