Islam Guidance

The Cave (al-Kahf) -18

Recitation by: Maher Al Meaqli Suras 18
18	Al-Kahf (The Cave)	Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.		10.7 MB	00:23:25

In the name of God, the Beneficent, the Merciful.
1. All praise belongs to God Who revealed the Book upon His servant, causing no crookedness therein;
2. Straight, that he might warn of a severe punishment from Him, and give glad tidings to the believers who do good deeds that theirs shall be a good recompense,
3. Wherein to abide forever.
4. And that he might warn those who say: “God has taken a son to Him.”
5. They have no knowledge of it, nor did their fathers; grievous is the word that comes out of their mouths. They speak nothing but a lie,
6. Then maybe you will wear yourself out with grief if they do not believe in this announcement.
7. Verily We have caused whatever is in the earth to be an embellishment for it, that We may test them as to which of them is best in behaviour;
8. Indeed We will make whatever is on it bare, barren ground.
9. Or do you think that the fellows of the Cave and the Inscription (ar-Raqim) were a wonder of Our signs?
10. When the youths sought refuge in the cave, they said: “Lord! Grant us mercy from You and provide a right course for us in our affairs.”
11. Then We set a seal on their ears for a number of years in the cave.
12. Then We raised them up that We might know which of the two parties was best able to reckon the duration of their stay.
13. We relate to you their story in truth; indeed, they were youths who believed in their Lord, and We increased them in guidance.
14. We strengthened their hearts with steadfastness when they stood up; they then said: “Our Lord is the Lord of the heavens and the earth; never will we ever call on any god other than Him, for indeed we should then have uttered an extravagance.
15. “These our people have taken gods other than Him; why do they bring no clear authority in their support? Who is there more unjust than he who forges a lie against God?”
16. (They were told): “When you have left them and what they worship besides God, betake yourselves for a refuge to the Cave; your Lord will extend His mercy to you and will provide for you a way to ease in your affair.”
17. You could see the sun, when it rose, move away from their cave to the right, and when it sets it leaves them to the left, while they were in the cleft thereof; this is one of the signs of God. Whomsoever God guides is rightly guided, and whomsoever He leaves to stray, you shall never find for him anyone to guide (to the right path).
18. You would have deemed them awake while they were asleep. And We turned them to the right and the left, and their dog lay stretching out his paws at the entrance. Had you seen them, you would surely have turned away frightened, and you would surely have been filled with awe.
19. Thus did We raise them that they might question each other. One of them asked: “How long have you tarried (here)?” They said: “We have tarried a day or part of a day.” (others) said: “Your Lord (alone) knows best how long you have tarried (here); so, send one of you with this silver coin of yours to the city, and let him see which has the purest food, then let him bring provision to you from it, and let him behave with civility, and do not make yourselves known to anyone.
20. “Surely if they come to know about you, they will stone you, or force you to return to their creed, and then you will never succeed.”
21. And thus did We cause them to come across them that they might know that God’s promise is true, and that there is no doubt about the Hour. When they disputed among themselves regarding their affair, they said: “Build a monument over them. Their Lord knows them best.” Those (believers) who prevailed in their affairs said: “Certainly we will raise a mosque over them.”
22. They will say: “Three; the fourth of them was their dog.” (Others) will say: “Five; the sixth of them was their dog,” guessing about the unperceivable; and yet others say: “Seven; and the eighth of them was their dog.” Say (O Our Prophet Muhammad): “My Lord knows best their number; none but a few know them;” therefore, do not dispute about them save in outward contention, and do not ask any about them.”
23. Do not say about anything: “I will certainly do it tomorrow.”
24. But only say: “If God will,” and remember your Lord when you forget and say: “Maybe my Lord will guide me nearer than this to the right (way).”
25. They stayed in the Cave three hundred years and nine more.
26. Say: “God (alone) knows best how long they stayed. To Him belongs what is unperceivable in the heavens and the earth; how clear His sight and hearing are! They have no guardian apart from Him, and He does not share anyone in His Sovereignty.”
27. Recite what has been revealed to you of the Book of your Lord; none shall change His Word. And you shall not find any refuge other than Him.
28. Restrain yourself with those who call unto their Lord morning and evening, seeking to please Him, and do not let your eyes turn away from them, aspiring the pomp of the life of this world. And do not obey that whose heart We have made unmindful of remembering Us, and who follows his inclination, and his case is transgressing all limits.
29. Say: “The truth is from your Lord; so whoever chooses to believe, let him believe, and whoever elects to disbelieve, let him disbelieve.” Verily We have prepared a Fire for the unjust ones; its canopy will encompass them, and when they cry for water, they shall be given water like molten brass which will scald their face; how wretched will the drink be, and how ill a resting place it is!
30. As to those who believe and do good deeds, We surely do not waste the recompense for any deed of righteousness.
31. For these are gardens of eternity beneath which rivers flow; they shall be adorned therein with bracelets of gold, and they shall wear green robes of fine silk, and thick brocades woven with gold, reclining therein on raised couches. What a blissful recompense, and how goodly a resting place!
32. Strike for them the similitude of two men; We provided for one of them two gardens of grape-vines, and We surrounded them with date-palms, and We placed corn fields in their midst.
33. Each garden brought forth fruit, failing nothing of it, and We caused a river to gush forth in their midst.
34. He had fruits (in abundance), and he said to his companion, conversing, “I am greater than you in wealth, mightier in (the following of) men.”
35. He entered his garden being unjust to his own self saying: “I do not think that this will ever perish,
36. “And I do not think that the Hour will ever come, and even if I am returned to my Lord, I will certainly find a better resort than this.”
37. His companion, conversing with him, said: “Do you disbelieve in Him that created you from dust, then from a sperm-drop, then fashioned you (into) a complete man?
38. “As for me, God is my Lord, and I do not associate any with my Lord.
39. “And why did you not say, when you entered your garden, `(It is) as God willed; there is no power but with God’? If you perceive that I am less than you in wealth and children,
40. “Maybe my Lord will grant me better than your garden, and He may send on it a thunderbolt from heaven, that it becomes in the morning a barren and flat earth?
41. “Or its water becomes trapped under the ground, so that you are never able to find it.”
42. His fruit was encircled (by destruction), so in the morning he was wringing his hands for what he had spent in it, and it lay on its trellises. He said: “Alas! Would that I had not associated anyone with my Lord!”
43. He had no force to help him other than God, nor could he help his own self.
44. Here protection is only from God, the True (One); He is the best to reward and to requite.
45. Set forth for them the similitude of the life of this world: it is like the water which We send down from heaven; the herbage of the earth mingles with it, then it becomes dry chaff which the winds scatter; God has power over all things.
46. Wealth and children are the adornments of the life of this world; and the ever-abiding good deeds are best in the eyes of your Lord in (earning) rewards, and best as hopes (of His mercy).
47. One day We shall cause the mountains to pass way, and you will see the earth a levelled plain, and We shall gather them then, leaving none behind.
48. And they shall be brought forth before your Lord in ranks; (and they shall be told): “Now you have come to Us as We created you at first; nay, you supposed that We had never appointed a fulfillment (of Our promise) to you.”
49. (When) the Book is set in place, you will then see the guilty fearful of what is (recorded) therein; and they will say: “Woe unto us! What a book this is! It leaves nothing (of our sins) unrecorded, be it small or big, without enumerating (each one of) them!” And they will find whatever they did present (in it), and your Lord does not deal unjustly with anyone.
50. When We said to the angels: “Prostrate before Adam,” they all prostrated save Iblis; he was of the jinn, and he transgressed the command of his Lord. “Would you then take him and his progeny as friends rather than Me, and they are enemies to you?! How evil an exchange that is!
51. I did not call them to witness the creation of the heavens and the earth, nor the creation of their own selves, nor am I one who takes those who lead people astray as my helpers.
52. One Day, He shall say: “Call on those whom you thought to be My partners.” They will call on them, but they will not listen to them, and We will set a valley of perdition between them.
53. The guilty ones shall see the Fire, and apprehend that they are falling into it, and they will find no escape therefrom.
54. Indeed We have displayed for mankind in this Qur’an every kind of similitude, but man is the most disputing of all beings.
55. What prevents people from believing, when guidance comes to them, and from praying for their Lord’s forgiveness, except that what happened to the ancients should overtake them (too), or that (they ask that) the chastisement of the peoples of yore come face to face with them?
56. We only send messengers as bearers of glad tidings and warners, and those who disbelieve dispute in falsehood, that they may refute the truth with it, and they take My signs and that by which they have been warned for a jest.
57. Who is more unjust than that who is reminded of the signs of his Lord then he turns away from them and forgets what his two hands have sent forth? Verily We have caused veils over their hearts lest they should understand it, and in their ears a heaviness, and if you call them to guidance, they will never be rightly guided at all.
58. But your Lord is oft-Forgiving and Lord of mercy. Were He to seize them for what they have earned, surely He would hasten for them the chastisement; but for them is a tryst from which they shall never find a refuge.
59. We destroyed these towns when their inhabitants committed iniquities; but We had an appointed time for their destruction.
60. Behold! Moses said to his young servant: “I will not give up till I reach the junction of the two rivers, even if I go on for years.”
61. So when they reached the junction of the two rivers, they forgot their fish, and it took its way into the sea, burrowing.
62. But when they had gone (some distance), he said to his youth: “Bring us our morning meal; indeed we have encountered weariness from this journey.”
63. He said: “Did you see (what happened) when we took refuge on the rock, then verily I forgot the fish, and nothing made me forget to mention it but Satan; and it took its way into the sea? What a wonder!”
64. He said: “That is what we were seeking!” So they retraced their steps.
65. Then they found one of Our servants whom We had vouchsafed mercy from Us, and We had taught him knowledge from Ours.
66. Moses said to him: “Shall I follow you on condition that you teach me of the (higher) truth you have been taught?”
67. He said: “You certainly cannot bear patiently with me.
68. “How can you be patient about that of which you do not have full knowledge?”
69. He said: “You will find me patient, if God will, and I shall not disobey you in any matter.”
70. He said: “If you follow me, do not ask me about anything until I mention it to you myself.”
71. Then they set off until they embarked in a boat, and he made a hole in it. (Moses) said: “Did you make a hole in it to drown its crew? Indeed you have done a strange thing.”
72. He said: “Did I not tell you that you cannot bear patience with me?”
73. He (Moses) said: “Do not chide me that I forgot, and do not constrain me to a difficult thing in my affair.”
74. Then they went on until they met a boy and he slew him. He said: “You slew an innocent person, not (in retaliation) for someone (he had slain)? Indeed you have done a horrible thing!”
75. He said: “Did I not tell you that you could not bear with me patiently?”
76. He said: “If I ever ask you about anything else after this (incident), then do not suffer me to remain in your company; then indeed you shall have found an excuse in my case.”
77. Then they went on until they came to the people of a town. They asked its people for food, but they declined to receive them as guests; then they found in it a wall about to fall. He set it upright. He said: “If you had wished, you might surely have taken a wage for it.”
78. He said: “This shall be the parting point between me and you. Now I will acquaint you with the real meaning of what you could not bear patiently with me.
79. “As for the boat, it belonged to some poor men who plied in the sea, and I intended that I should damage it, for there was a king after them who seized every boat by force.
80. “As for the boy, his parents are believers, and we feared that he should grieve them by rebellion and disbelief;
81. “So we desired that their Lord would instead bless them with one better than him in purity and closer in affection.
82. “As for the wall, it belongs to two orphan boys in the city. Underneath it is a treasure (intended) for them, and their father is a righteous man; so, your Lord willed that they should attain their maturity and take out their treasure as a mercy from Him; I did not do it of my own will. This is the real meaning of that which you could not bear patiently.”
83. They ask you about Dhul-Qarnayn (Double Horns). Say: “I shall recite to you something about him.”
84. Verily We made him mighty in the world, and We gave him means of access to everything.
85. So he followed a route,
86. Until, the sun having set, he reached a place and found it setting in a black muddy pool, and he found people by it. We said: “O Dhul-Qarnayn! Either chastise them, or treat them with kindness.”
87. He said: “As to him who is unjust, we shall chastise him, then he will be returned to his Lord, and He will chastise him with a grievous chastisement.
88. “As for him who believes and does good deeds, his shall be a goodly recompense, and his task shall be easy since we order it by our command.”
89. Then he followed an easy route,
90. Until he reached the place where the sun rises. He found it rising on people for whom We had not provided any shelter from it.
91. Even so; and indeed We had full knowledge of whatever was with him.
92. Then he followed a route,
93. Until he reached a place between two mountains. He found on one side people who could scarcely understand a word.
94. They said: “Truly Gog and Magog cause mischief in the land. Shall we collect for you the (necessary) resources (from among ourselves) so that you may raise a barrier between us and them?”
95. He said: “The power in which my Lord has established me is better; so, help me only with the strength (of labourers). I will make a barrier between you and them.
96. “Bring me blocks of iron.” When it filled the space between the mountain sides, he said: “Ply your bellows.” Having made it red-hot with fire, he said: “Bring me molten brass that I may pour over it.”
97. So they could not scale it, nor could they dig a hole therein.
98. He said: “This is a (sign of) mercy from my Lord; but when the promise of my lord comes to pass, He will level it, and my Lord’s promise is (always) true.”
99. On that day, We will let them dash against one another, and the trumpet will be blown; then We will gather them all together.
100. And on that day We will present Hell to the disbelievers, fully exposed to their view,
101. Those whose eyes were under a veil against My reminder, and who could not bear to hear.
102. Do those who disbelieve think that they can take My servants as their guardians besides Me? In truth We have prepared Hell for the infidels to be entertained (therein).
103. Say (O Our Prophet Muhammad): “Shall We acquaint you with the greatest losers?”
104. “They are those whose efforts are lost in the life of this world, while they deem that they were acquiring good by their deeds.
105. “Those are the ones who disbelieved in the signs of their Lord, and in the meeting with Him; their deeds, therefore, shall be in vain, and He shall assign no weight for them on the Day of Resurrection.”
106. Thus Hell is the recompense for what they disbelieved and held My signs and messengers with scorn.
107. Verily those who believe and do good deeds shall be entertained with the gardens of Paradise,
108. Abiding therein, desiring not to be removed therefrom.
109. Say (O Our Prophet Muhammad): “Should the sea become ink (to write) the words of my Lord, it would certainly be exhausted before my Lord’s words are exhausted, (and) even if We bring the like of it to replenish.”
110. Say: “I am only a man like you. It is revealed to me that your God is One God; therefore, whosoever desires to meet his Lord, let him do good deeds, not associating any in the worship of his Lord.

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