AL KAHFU 18

Part 15

Chapter 18:  Al-Kahaf (The Cave).

Total. 110 Verses.

This  chapter is  named ‘Al Khaf’ because the verses 9 to 26 of this chapter contain the miraculous news  of certain youths who deserted their nation and took refuge in a cave to establish belief in only one God.

In the name of Allah, the most Beneficent and the most Merciful.

1,2,3,4. All praise be to Allah. It is only He who revealed this Book, without any crookedness,²⁶ on His servant as a right way to warn about His severe torment, to convey the good news for the believers, who do good deeds; “ There is a good reward and they will remain in it forever” and to warn those who say , “ Allah has taken a progeny.”

5. For them and for their fore-fathers, there is no knowledge about this. It is dreadful among the words which come out of  their mouths. They tell only lies.

6. Probably you will kill yourself out of grief over them, if do not believe this news.

7. Indeed , We made that which is on the earth as a decoration for it, in order to test⁴⁸⁴ who among them is the best in deed.

8. And indeed, We will also make whatever on it a waste land.

9. Do you think , “ The people of the caves and those who belong to the Book are a wonder among our signs”²⁷¹.

10.  When a few young men took refuge in the cave, they said , “ O our God, give us Your Mercy. You facilitate our work for us.”

11. So, We made them sleep in the cave for many years.⁴⁶²

12. Then , We raised them alive to inform that which of  the true group new better, about the period of their stay.

13. We tell their true news. Indeed , they were young men. They believed in their God. We increased the right way to them.

14. And when they woke up and said, “ Our God is the God of the heavens⁵⁰⁷ and the earth. We will not pray other gods except Him. ( If we do like that) then we would have said the words of transgression.” We made their minds firm.

15. O, our people  have taken other gods besides Allah. Should they not bring clear signs about them? Who has caused more injustice than the one who invented lies on Him?

16. ( Also said) , “ And leave them and those which they worship other than Allah and take refuge in the cave. Your God will give His mercy generously to you. He will make your work easy”.

17. And you will see (the shadow of the sun); it rises, it inclines towards the right side and when it sets it passes through the left side. They are in the broad section of that place. It is one of the signs of Allah. It is that, the person who got the right way , is the person whom Allah had shown the right way. You will not find a guardian to show him the right way, whom He leaves astray.

18. And you will think that they are awake. (But) they are sleeping⁴⁶². We turn them on their right and on their left side. Their dog remains at the gate stretching its fore-legs. If you had looked at them then, you would have run away in terror. You would have been afraid because of them.

19. And We made them alive , like this , in order that they might enquire among themselves. One  of them asked⁴¹³ , “  How long have you remained?”  They said ,  “ We remained for a day or a small part of a day”. They also said , “ your God knows well how long you have remained. You send one of you with this silver coin to the city. After observing, who has the clean(pure) food, let him bring the food from there for you. Let him be careful. Let him not say to anybody about you”.

20. Indeed, they will kill you by throwing stones at you, if  they are aware of you or they return you again to their religion. Then, you will never be successful.

21. And We revealed (about the people of the cave)to them so that they will know that Allah’s promise is true and there is no doubt about the hour¹. Then, they contradicted among themselves. They said, “Construct a building above them. Only their God knows about them”. Those who had upper-hand in their matter, said, “ we will erect a shrine over them”³⁹⁷ .

22. ( The people of the Book) say , “ (They are) three and the fourth is dog”. ( A few others ) on the basis of assumption of the hidden, say , “ (They are ) five and the sixth is their dog”. (And some others) say, “ ( They are) seven and the eight is their dog”. Say (O Muhammad) , “ My God only knows well about their number. Nobody knows about them except a few”⁴⁹⁵. Do not discuss about them except that which you know. Do not seek explanation about them from any one.

23.24. And do not say anything, that indeed, I will do it tomorrow except (by adding ) if Allah wants. You remember your God whenever you forget. Say, “ My God could show the way closer than this”²⁶.

25. Also say , “ And they remained in their cave for three hundred years plus nine more”.

26. Say , “ Only Allah knows about the (period of ) their stay. The hidden in the heavens⁵⁰⁷ and the earth belongs only to Him. He is well Seeing and well Hearing. There is no guardian for them besides Him. He will not share anybody in His power”.

27. And ( O Muhammad) , recite from your God’s Book what is revealed to you. Nobody is there to change His words¹⁵⁵. You will not see any refuge in others than Him.

28. And you keep yourself patiently with the people, who seeking their God’s face, pray to their God in the morning and in the evening. Do not turn your eyes from them, desiring glitter of this worldly life. Do not obey the one whose mind had been made to forget Our remembrance. He follows his own inclination. His deed is a transgressing one.

29. And  say (O Muhammad) , “This truth is from your God.” Let whoever wants either believe or not. Indeed , We have prepared hell for those who have caused injustice. Its walls will surround them. If they ask for water then they will be given melted copper like boiling (hot) water which will burn their faces. That is a bad drink. A  bad place of rest.

30.Indeed. whoever believes and do good deeds,We will not waste the reward of (such) doers of good deeds.

31. They have permanent gardens of paradise. Beneath them rivers flow. They will be adorned with bracelets of gold. They will wear ‘Sundus’ and ‘Istabraq’, green silk- garments. They will be reclining on the couches in it. This is the best reward and a beautiful resting place.

32. You present two persons as an example for them. We granted two gardens of grapevine for one of them. We built a fence for both, with date-palms and placed crops between them.

33.Both the gardens gave (yields) fruits without any shortage. We caused a river to flow between them.

34. And there were also other fruits. He said to his companion during his conversation with him,” I am wealthier than you, and stronger in respect of (numbers) men.”

35. And he entered into the garden causing harm to himself. He said,” I do not think this will ever be destroyed.”

36. He said ,”And I also do not think that, that time (hour) will come. If I am taken to my God then I will only get a better place of rest than this.”

37. His companion who conversed with him asked,” Do you disbelieve Him who created you from clay then from a drop of ‘sperm’ and later shaped you into a human being?

38. (And also said) , “ But it is He who is Allah. My God (Master). I will not associate others with my God.

39. And should you not have said, when you entered into the garden, “ Only what Allah wants will happen. There is power other than Allah”?. You considered, “ Me as the one who is less than you in wealth and progeny”.

40. My God may give me a garden which will be better than your garden and from the heaven⁵⁰⁷ He may send on your garden disaster that  will settle the account and turn it into a slippery clay.

41. (Also said) , “ Or its water will go dry. It will not be possible for you to seek and find it.”

42. And his fruits were surrounded. He wrung his hand, when the garden had fallen uprooted, for what he spent and said, “ Should  I not have remained without associating others to my God?”.

43. And there is no group to assist him except Allah. He is not in a position to be helped.

44. There, helping is only with Allah, the truthful. It is He who gives the best reward. Takes the best decision.

45. And we sent down water from the heaven.⁵⁰⁷ It mixed with the plants in the earth. Then ( It dried ) became chaff. The wind swept them away. Tell this as an example for this world. Allah has power over all things.

46. Wealth and (progeny) children are the attraction of this worldly life. The enduring good deeds are the best in the reward and the best of the hope from your God.

47. And you will see the earth as a vacant land, when We dislodge the mountain on that day ¹ . We will gather them together. We will not leave behind anybody  among them.

48. ( It will be said), they will be made to stand before your God in ranks. You have certainly come to Us as We created you in the beginning. You thought that We would not choose you the place about which you were warned.

49. And the Master register will be placed. You will see the sinners  who have been affected by fear of that within it. They will say , “ What is happened to this Book? O , it has recorded whether it is small or big without leaving anything”. They will see what they did before their eyes. Your God will not cause injustice to any one.

50. When We said , “ Prostrate to Adam”,¹¹ to the angels, all of them except Iblis⁵⁰⁹ did prostration. He belonged to the Jinn category. He transgressed the order of his God. Do you take him and his progeny as guardians instead of Me ? . They are your enemies. Whatever, those who have caused injustice, bartered his very bad.

51. I have not made them My witness for creating the heavens,⁵⁰⁷ the earth and the creation of themselves. I will not  make the misleaders  My friends.

52. And on the day ¹ when He will say , “ you call those who have been considered as My equals”, They will call. But they will not give any answer to these. Between them , We will make a place for destruction.

53. And when the guilty find the hell, they will know, “We have to fall in it”. They will not find any place of escape from it.

54. And We have explained every example for the people, in the Quran. But man has remained more as disputant.

55. And after the right way has come, the reason for the hurdle for them in believing that and from seeking forgiveness from their God, is that , the fate that had fallen on their fore-fathers had not come to them or the suffering had not come to them directly.

56. And We send the messengers as the givers of  good news and warners. Those who disbelieve argue by (using) falsehood in order to destroy truth with falsehood. They consider Our verses and that of which they are warned , as mockery.

57. And who has caused injustice than the one who was advised by Allah’s verses, turn away from it and forgot the deed done by him.?We made(placed) lids on the minds, which cannot be understood by them, and plugs in their ears. They will never get the right way if you call them towards the right way.

58. And your God is Forgiving and Merciful. He would have given them suffering quickly, if He had to hold them for what they have done. Instead, there is an appointed time for them, exclusively. They will not find a place of escape from that.

59. And We destroyed them when they caused injustice. We fixed a time for destroying them.

60. And remind, what Musa said to his servant , “ I will continue to travel till (I) reach the place where two seas meet. Or, I will continue my travel for a long period of time”.

61. When they reached the meeting place of the two seas , they forgot their fish. It cleaved through the sea and formed its route.

62. When both of them passed further, Musa said to his servant , “ Bring the break-fast. We have incurred a great trouble in this travel.”

63. ( The Servant) said, “ Did you notice when we took rest at the rock ? indeed, I forgot the fish. Shaitan has made me forget from informing you about it. It made its way in the sea, amazingly”

64. Musa said , “ That is the place we sought.” Both of them returned on the way they came, conversing.

65. And (there) they saw one of Our servants. We gave him Our mercy. We only taught him knowledge.

66. Musa asked him, “ May I follow you so that you can teach me from the good which you have been taught ?”

67,68. (That servant) said²⁶, “ Indeed , it is not possible for you to be patient with me. How can you remain patient in the matter which you do not know ?”

69. Musa said , “ If Allah wants you will see me patient. I will not disobey any of your order.”

70. (He) said , “ If you follow me then, you should not ask me about anything, before, I myself will tell you the explanation.”

71. Both proceeded. When both of them boarded the ship ( that servant of Allah) put  a hole in it. (Then ) Musa said, “ Are you making the hole in order to drown the people in it ? Indeed, you have done a grave act”.

72.  ( That servant of Allah) asked, “ Have I not told you that you cannot be patient with ?”.

73. Musa said, “ Do not hold me (responsible) for what I forgot. Do not cause trouble for me in my matter”.

74. Both proceeded. When he (that servant of Allah) saw a young man he killed him. Musa said , “ You have killed a pure soul which has not killed any soul. You have certainly, done a horrible thing”.

PART – 16.

75. (That servant of Allah) asked , “ Did I not tell you that you cannot be patient with me ?”

76. Musa said , “ Hereafter if I ask you again about any thing you need not keep company with me”.

77. Both of them walked. Finally, they came to a villager and asked for food from him. They refused to give them  feast(food) to both of them. There, they saw a wall, which was about to fall. Immediately ,(that servant of Allah) set it (up) straight. Musa said, “ You could have got wages for it if you had wanted”.

78. (He) said , “ This is the parting between you and me. I tell you the explanation for that about which you could not have patience.

79. That ship belonged to a few poor people doing the work related to sea. There is a king behind them. He will seize and take every ship( which has no damage) by force. So, I thought of damaging it.

80. And the young man’s parents were believers. (We) feared, “ He will push both of them into disbelief and transgression”.

81. We thought, “God of the two will compensate him with the one who will be better, pure and having a close relationship (that is , affectionate towards them)”.

82. And that wall belonged to two orphans    who remained in that place. Beneath that there was a treasure which belonged to both of them. The Father, of the two, was a good man. Your God wanted , “ So, both of them should take their treasure when they get maturity”. (He said)²⁷³, “ This is your God’s mercy. I did this not of my own accord. This is the explanation  of that about which you could not be patient”.

83. And they ask you ( O Muhammad) about ‘Thulkarnain’ . Say , “ I will tell you about his story ”.

84. Indeed, We gave him a chance (to rule) on this earth. We gave him a means(way) of everything .

85. He went on a way.

86. When he reached the place of sunset, he saw it disappearing in the water filled with mud. He saw a tribe there. We (God) said, “ O Thulkarnain, You can either punish them or get (tax) from them in a good manner.

87. He said . “ We will punish the one who has caused injustice. Then he will be taken to his God. He will punish him severely”.

88. For those who believe and do good deeds there is a good reward. We will tell him from our orders that which is easy.

89. Then, he went on another way.

90. When he reached the direction of sunrise , he saw it rising on a tribe. For them , We have not made any shelter from it ²⁷⁴ .

91. Thus, We have full knowledge of what remains with him.

92. Then he went on another way.

93. Finally, when he reached a place between two mountains, he saw beyond, a people who could not understand any language.

94. They (using signs) asked,”O Thulkarnain,indeed,those who called ‘Yajooj’ and ‘Majooj’⁴⁵¹ cause corruption on the earth.Can we give tax to you for erecting a barrier between us and them?”

95. (He) said,’ What my God has given to me is the best.You help me with your strength. I shall erect a barrier between you and them.”

96. He said(to his servants),” Bring iron blocks to me.” When the gap between the two mountains were at level, he said ’blow’ and made it into a fire. And said,”Bring copper to me. I will pour(after melting) on it.”

97. It will not be possible for them either to climb over it or to drill a hole in it.

98.This is my God’s mercy. When my God’s promise is fulfilled, then, He will make it into pieces. My God’s promise is true.³⁷⁴

99. And We will make them dash against each other.’Soor’ will be blown. He will gather all of them together.

100. And We will display the hell clearly on that day ¹ before the disbelievers.

101. Their eyes were behind the veils from remembering Me. They were even unable to hear the truth.

102. Do those who disbelieve (Me) think that they can make My servants close friends besides Me? Indeed, We have prepared for the disbelievers, hell as the resting place.

103. Ask, “ Shall I inform you about those who have incurred loss of their deeds?”

104. Their effort in the worldly life has been wasted. But, they think that they do good deeds.

105. They were those who disbelieve their God’s signs and His meeting.⁴⁸⁸

Their good deeds have been destroyed. So, We shall not assign any weight on the day ¹ of Khiyamah, for their (deeds).

106. This hell is the proper punishment, for their denial (of Me) and for making My verses and angels as mockery.

107. Indeed, those who believed and did good deeds will get gardens of paradise called ‘ Firdaus ‘ as resting places.

108. They will remain in that permanently. They will not like to be shifted from there.

109. Say ¹⁵⁵, “ If the sea be the ink for my God’s orders, the sea would be exhausted, before the orders of my God were finished. Even if I bring for help, the like of it.”

110. Say ( O Muhammad ), “ I am only a man like you. (Yet ) it is informed to me that your God is only one God. Let the one who expect the meeting⁴⁸⁸ of his God do good deeds. Let him not associate others with God in his worship of God.