English - Chapter 18 - Al-Kahf

Praise is due only for God Who has sent down the book to His servant and has not kept any crookedness in it

(and has made it ) straight, that He may give warning of a severe punishment from Him, and ( convey ) good news to the believers who do righteous works, that for them there will be a good reward

in which they will stay for ever

and (also) warn those who say, “God has taken a son.”

Neither they have any knowledge of it nor their fathers (had). (It is a) grievous word that comes out of their mouths, they speak nothing but a lie

If they do not believe in this statement, then perhaps you will kill yourself with grief, sorrowing after them

We have made that which is on the earth an adornment for it, so that We may test them as to which of them is best in conduct

And We will make that which is on it, a barren ground

Or do you think that the companions of the cave and the inscription were a wonder from among Our signs

when the young men sought refuge in the cave and said, “Our Lord! give us mercy from Yourself and shape for us the right way in our affair?”

So We prevented them from hearing (and kept them sleeping) in the cave, for a number of years

Then We raised them up that We might know (mark out) which of the two parties was better at calculating the time for which they stayed

We narrate to you their news in truth, they were young men (who) believed in their Lord, and We increased them in guidance

and We strengthened their hearts when they stood up and said, “Our Lord is the Lord of the skies and the earth, we will never pray to any god besides Him, for then we would have indeed said something far away from truth

These our people have taken gods besides Him, why do they do not bring clear authority (in support) for them? So who is more unjust than he who forges a lie against God

And when you withdraw from them and that which they serve (worship) except God, then seek refuge in the cave, your Lord will shower His mercy upon you and shape an easy course for you in your affair.”

And you would have seen the sun when it rose, move away from their cave to the right and when it set, go past them on the left, and they were in a wide space thereof. That is of the signs of God. Whomsoever God guides, he (it is who) is (really) guided and whomsoever He leaves in error, then you will never find for him a guardian showing the right way

And you might have thought them to be awake though they were asleep, and We turned them to their right and their left, and their dog lay at the entrance with its paws stretched out. Had you looked at them you would have surely turned away from them in flight, and you would have been filled with terror because of them

And thus We raised them up that they may ask each other. A speaker from among them said, “How long have you stayed (here)?” They said, “We stayed (here) a day or a part of a day.” (Others) said, “Your Lord knows best about how long you stayed (here). Now send one of you to the city with this silver coin of yours and let him see what food is pure, then let him come to you with (some) provision from it, and let him be courteous and let no one know about you

for if they prevail over you, they will stone you or turn you back to their religious dictates and then you will not succeed for ever.”

And thus did We make their case known (to people) that they might know that God’s promise is true and that (as for) the hour of doom, there is no doubt about it. When the (people of the city) disputed among themselves about their affair and said, “Construct a building over them,” their Lord knew best about them. Those who prevailed over their affair said, “We will definitely make a place of worship over them.”

(Some) will say, “(They were) three, their dog being the fourth of them,” while (others) will say, “(They were) five, their dog being the sixth of them.” (They were) seven, their dog being eight of them.” Say, “My Lord knows best, their number, no one knows them except a few.” So do not dispute about them except a with a superfluous disputation and do not ask any of them about the (companions of the cave)

And do not say about anything, “I will do that tomorrow,”

without (adding to it),“If God wills.” And remember your Lord when you forget, and say, “It may be that my Lord will guide me to (something) more closer to that which is right, than this.”

And they stayed in their cave (for) three hundred years and add nine

Say, “God knows best how long they stayed, His is the unseen of the skies and the earth, how clear His sight and how clear His hearing. They have no guardian besides Him and He makes none to share His commandment.”

And read that which has been communicated to you from the book of your Lord, there is none who can change His statements and you will never find any refuge beside Him

And restrain yourself with those who pray to their Lord at morning and evening, intending (to seek) His Attention and do not let your eyes pass beyond them intending (to seek) the adornment of the life of this world and do not obey him whose heart We have made heedless of Our remembrance and who follows his desires and whose affair exceeds due bounds

And say, “(This Quran is) the truth from your Lord, so whosoever wills, let him believe and whosoever wills, let him reject. ”We have prepared for those who are unjust, a fire, an enclosure of which will encompass them, and if they ask for water, they will be given water like molten brass which will burn their faces, evil the drink and ill the resting place

Those who believe and do righteous works, (they will have their reward, because) We certainly do not waste the reward of him who does good work

Those are the persons for whom there are everlasting gardens beneath which rivers flow. They will be adorned therein with bracelets of gold and they will wear green robes of fine silk and thick silk brocade interwoven with gold, reclining therein on raised couches, excellent the reward and good the resting place

And set forth to them the similitude of two men: We had assigned to one of them two gardens of grapes and We had surrounded them both with date palms and placed between them fields (of vegetation)

Each of the two gardens gave its food produce and nothing got reduced from it, and We caused a river to gush forth in the space in between them

and (its) fruit was (totally) his. So he said to his companion while he conversed with him, “I have more wealth than you and I am mightier in the party (of followers)

And he entered his garden while he was unjust to himself. He said, “I do not think that this will ever perish

and I do not think that the hour of doom will be established and even if I am brought back to my Lord I will definitely find a place of return better than this

His companion said to him while he conversed with him, "Are you ungrateful to Him Who created you from the soil then from the sperm then granted equilibrium to you (in the form of) a man

But as for me, God is my Lord and I do not associate anything as a partner with my Lord

And when you entered your garden why did you not say: That which God willed (is in my possession), there is no power except (that) of God? If you see me that I am lesser than you in wealth and children

then it may be that my Lord will give me (something)better than your garden and will send on it thunderbolts from the sky so that it will become a smooth ground

or He will make its water go deep so that you will never be able to obtain it (again)

And his fruits were encompassed (with destruction), and it fell down on its roofs (trellises) so he began to wring his hands (in regret) on what he had spent on it, and said, "I wish I had not associated anything as a partner with my Lord

And he had no group (of his followers) to help him, besides God, nor could he defend himself

There : Protection is the right (only) of God, He is the Best Rewarder and the Best Requiter

And set forth to them the similitude of the life of this world: (It is) like water which We send down from the sky, then the vegetation of the earth mixes up with it then it becomes dry broken pieces which the winds scatter, and God is the Holder of power over everything

Wealth and sons are an adornment of the life of this world, but the righteous works that remain are better in the sight of your Lord in reward and better in respect of hope

And one day We will cause the mountains to move away and you will see the earth appearing plain and We will gather them so that We will not leave anyone of them

and they will be presented before your Lord in ranks. (It will be said), "You have come to Us as We had created you the first time. No ! you thought that We had not appointed for you a time/place for the fulfilment of the promise

and the records (of deeds) will be placed, then you will see the criminals fearful of that which is in it and they will say, Ah! sorrowful is our state! what a record (of deeds) is this, it has not left (anything) small or great but has computed it." And they will find (all) that they did, present (in it), and your Lord does not deal unjustly with anyone

And when We said to the angels, "Bow down before Adam," so they (all) bowed down except Iblis, he was of the jinn so he went beyond the limits of the commandment of his Lord. What ! would you then take him and his descendants as friends besides Me while they are your enemies ? (The friendship of Iblis, compared to the friendship of God, is) an evil exchange for those who are unjust

I did not make them witness the creation of the skies and the earth nor their own creation and I am not One to take misleaders as helpers

And the day (when) He will say, "Call those whom you claimed to be My partners." So they will call them but they will not respond to them and We will make a partition between them

And (when) the criminals will see the fire, then they will guess that they have to fall into it, and they will not find (any way) of turning away from it

And We have indeed repeated in this Quran, every kind of similitude for mankind, but man is disputing in most of the things

And nothing holds back mankind from believing when the guidance comes to them, and from asking protective forgiveness from their Lord, except that (they wait) that the procedure (adopted) for the ancients should be adopted for them (too), or (that) the punishment should come face to face (with them)

And We do not send the messengers but as conveyers of good news and warners. And those who are disbelievers dispute, (basing their argument) on falsehood, in order to weaken thereby the truth, and they take My signs and that with which they are warned, as mockery

And who is more unjust than he who is reminded through the signs of his Lord but he turns away from them and forgets what his hands have sent forth ? We have certainly placed veils over their hearts lest they should understand the (Quran) and heaviness in their ears, and if you invite them towards guidance, even then they will not accept guidance for ever

And your Lord is Protectively Forgiving, Possessor of mercy. Had He caught them for that which they earned, He would have hastened the punishment for them, no, for them there is an appointed time from which they will not find a refuge

And those towns : We destroyed them when they were unjust, and We had appointed a fixed time for their destruction

And when Moses said to his servant, "I will not give up until I reach the junction of the two seas or I will march on for ages

So when they reached the junction between the two (seas), they both forgot their fish, so it took its way into the sea freely

So when they had gone further (after crossing the junction), he said to his servant, "Bring to us our morning meal, we have met with fatigue from this journey of ours

He (the servant) said, "Did you see! when we stayed on the rock, I forgot the fish, and nothing made me forget to mention it (to you) but the devil, and it took its way into the sea (in) a wonderful (way)

He (Moses) said, "That is what we have been seeking for.” So they returned retracing their footsteps

(and) thus they found a servant from among Our servants whom We had given mercy from Us and whom We had given knowledge from Our knowledge

Moses said to him, "May I follow you on (the agreement) that you teach me right (knowledge) from that which you have been taught

He said, “You will not be able to be patient with me

And how can you have patience on (matters) about which you do not have comprehensive information

He (Moses) said, "You will find me, if God wills, patient. And I will not disobey you in any matter

He said, "Well, if you follow me then do not ask me about anything till I myself mention about it to you

So they both proceeded until when they embarked in a boat, he made a hole in it. He (Moses) said, "Have you made a hole in it to drown those in it? You have indeed come with something strange

He said, "Did I not tell you that you will not be able to be patient with me

He (Moses) said, "Do not catch me for what I forgot and do not involve me in difficulty in my affair

Then they proceeded until when they met a young man and he killed him. He (Moses) said, "Have you killed an innocent person without (this murder being in retaliation to his unjustly killing some other) person ? You have indeed come with something unrecognised

He said, "Did I not tell you that you will certainly not be able to be patient with me

He (Moses) said, "If I ask you about anything after this then do not keep me in your company, you would have indeed reached (a point of not accepting any) excuse from my side

Then they proceeded until when they came to a people of a town. They asked its inhabitants for food but they refused to make them guests. Then they found in it a wall on the point of falling down, so he set it right. He (Moses) said, "Had you willed you could have taken a reward for it

He said, “This is (the point of) parting between me and you. I will inform you of the interpretation of that over which you were not able to be patient

As for the boat, it belongs to poor people who work in the sea, I intended to make it defective because there is a king who is after them (and) he takes every boat by force

And as for the young man, his parents are believers and we feared that he will involve them both in rebellion and disbelief

so we desired that their Lord should give them in exchange, (one) better than him in purity and nearer to mercy

And as for the wall, it belongs to two orphan boys in the city and beneath it there is a treasure for them and their father was a righteous man, so your Lord intended that they should reach their (age of strength and take out their treasure, a mercy from your Lord and I did not do it of my own accord. That is the interpretation of that over which you were not able to be patient)

And they ask you about Zulqarnain (Two horned one), say, "I will tell you (something) from his history

We certainly established him in the earth and gave him means of (access to) everything

So he followed a way

until when he reached the setting place of the sun (west), he found it setting in a black muddy spring (or Black Sea) and found near it a people. We said, "O Zulqarnain ! either punish or treat them in a good manner

He said, "As for him who is unjust we will punish him then he will be returned to his Lord then He will punish him with an awful punishment

And as for him who believes and does righteous work, then his reward will be good and we will speak to him in an easy (tone) with regard to our affair

Then he followed a way

until when he reached the rising place of the sun (east), he found it rising on a people for whom We had not made any shelter from it

Thus! and We had comprehensive information about (all) that was with him

Then he followed a way

until when he reached (a place)between two mountains he found on the other side of the (two mountains) a people who could hardly understand a word

They said, "O Zulqarnain! Gog and Magog are causing corruption in the earth. Then shall we pay you a tribute on (condition) that you make a barrier between us and them

He said, "That in which my Lord has established me is better, so help me with strength (workers), I will make between you and them a strong bank (wall)

bring me blocks of iron." Then at the point when he had leveled (the space) between the two mountain sides, he said, "Blow," until when he made it (red hot) fire, he said, "Bring me molten copper which I may pour over it

Thus they all (communities of Gog and Magog) were not able to climb it nor were they able to pierce it

He said, “This is a mercy from my Lord but when the promise of my Lord comes to pass, He will make it crumble to pieces and the promise of my Lord is true

And We will leave some of them that day (to pass like restless) waves into the others and it will be blown into the trumpet (structure of the universe) and We will gather them all together

And We will present hell on that day to the disbelievers as a presentation

those whose eyes were under a cover from My reminder and they were unable (even) to hear

Then, do those who do not believe think that they can take My servants as guardians besides Me? We have certainly prepared hell (as) an entertainment for the disbelievers

Say, "Shall We inform you of the greatest losers (in respect of their) works

Those are the persons who neither believe in the signs of their Lord nor (their) meeting with Him, so their works become fruitless, consequently, on the day of resurrection, We (too) will not assign any weight to their (deeds)

That is their reward, hell, because they did not believe and took My signs and My messengers (as items for) mockery

Those who believe and do righteous works, certainly for them, gardens of paradise will be the entertainment

They will stay in it, they will not seek any change from it

Say, "Had the sea been ink for (writing down) the statements of my Lord, the sea would get exhausted before the statements of my Lord got exhausted, even if We were to bring (another sea) like it to supplement

Say, "I am a man like you. It is communicated to me that your God is One God, so let him who hopes to meet his Lord, do righteous work and (let him) not associate anyone with his Lord in His service (worship)