Surah Al Kahf – The Cave (31-110)
In the name of Allah, the entirely Merciful, the especially Merciful
- For them will be everlasting gardens in Paradise, with rivers flowing under their feet. They will wear gold jewellery and green colored clothes made of fine and thick silk. They will sit on beautiful couches there. What a marvellous reward! And what a fabulous place to rest!
- And give them an example. There were two men; We gave one of them two gardens of grapes and We surrounded them both with date-palms and placed a field of green crops between them.
- Each of the two gardens always had fruits. And We made a river to flow between them.
- And the one who had wealth.So, he boasted to his companion “I am greater than you in wealth and stronger in manpower,”
- And he entered into his garden proud and arrogant He said: “I think this will never never end’
- and I do not think that the Day of Judgement is to come. And even if I am sent back to my Lord, I will surely find a better place than this to return to.
- His companion who believed in Allah, asked him: “Do you disbelieve in the Lord who created you from dust, then from a drop, then He created you into a man?”
- As for me, I believe that Allah is my Lord and I do not join anyone in worship with my Lord.
- And why did you, when you entered your garden, not say, “This is what Allah has willed! There is no power except with Allah!’ Even though you think of me as lesser than you in wealth and children”
- perhaps Allah will grant me ˹something˺ better than your garden, and send down upon your garden a thunderbolt from the sky, turning it into waste.
- Or, its water sinks deep into the earth so that you will never be able to search it out.
- And what the believing man warned the rich disbelieving man about actually happened. A storm struck his garden and his fruits were ruined, he was clasping his hands together in a gesture of regret and grief for the wealth he had lost and said, “Oh I wish I had not joined anyone in worship with my Lord.”
- And he had no men to help him against Allah, nor could he ˹even˺ help himself.
- At this time, support comes ˹only˺ from Allah—the True ˹Lord˺. He is best in reward and best in outcome.
- And give them the example of the life of this world: it is like the rain which We send down from the sky, and the vegetation of the earth mixes with the water, and becomes fresh and green. Then later it turns into dry and withered pieces, which the winds blow away. And Allâh is Able to do everything.
- Wealth and children are the joy of this worldly life, but the good actions which last forever are far better near Allah in reward and better to hope for.
- ˹Beware of˺ the Day when Allah will blow the mountains away, and you will see the earth laid bare. And Allah will gather all ˹humankind˺, leaving none behind.
- They will be made to stand before Allah in rows and Allah will say “You have certainly come to Us just as We created you the first time even though you ˹always˺ claimed that We would never appoint a time for your return
- And the record of actions which everyone did in the world will be laid open, and you will see the wicked ones, in fear of their evil actions written in it. They will cry “ What kind of record book is this that does not leave any sin, small or large,but has recorded it with numbers!?” They will find whatever they did in their life written in that record book before them. And Allah will never treat anyone with injustice.
- And remember when Allah said to the angels: “Bow down to Adam.” So they bowed down except for Iblîs. He was one of the jinn; he disobeyed the Command of Allah. Will you then take Iblîs and his children as protectors and helpers rather than Allah when in fact they are your enemies? That sure is an evil option for the wrongdoers to choose!
- Allah says to the wrongdoers: `These whom you take as helpers instead of Me are creatures just like you. They do not possess anything and did not witness the creation of heaven and earth, because they did not exist at that time.’ Allah says, `I am the One Who independently and exclusively creates and controls all things, and I have no partner, helper or advisor in that.’
- And ˹beware of˺ the Day when Allah will say to the idol-worshippers “Call upon those you claimed were My partner-gods.” So the idol-worshippers will call their false gods, but will receive no response. And We will put between them [a valley of] destruction.
- The wrongdoers will see the Fire and realize that they are bound to fall into it, and will find no way to avoid it.
- And We have explained in this Qur’an every subject in various ways for the people yet the humans argue the most.
- People demand to see with their own eyes the punishment from Allah before they believe in the guidance sent to them and before asking Allah for forgiveness.
- Allah does not send the messengers except to give good news and to warn.But the disbelievers try to weaken the truth that the Messengers brought with false arguments, and they make fun of verses and warnings from Allah.
- `Who does more wrong than one who is reminded of the signs of Allah but ignores them and does not listen or pay attention to them, forgetting his bad and evil actions. Allah has covered the hearts of such people so they are unable to understand the Quran and its clear message. And Allah has made their ears deaf to the Prophet’s invitation to the right path,so they will never be rightly guided.
- And Allah is the Most Forgiving, the Master of Mercy. If He catches them for their sins, He would be quick in giving them their punishment . However, Allah has appointed a time for them, from which they can never escape.
- Allah destroyed the cities when it’s people did wrong and Allah made for their destruction an appointed time.
- Prophet Musa was told by Allah about a man whom Allah had given knowledge which was not granted to Prophet Musa. So Prophet Musa really wanted to meet this man and he said to his boy-servant, “I will keep travelling until I reach the place where the two seas meet, even if I have to travel for a very long time”.
- Prophet Musa had been commanded to carry a salted fish with him, and it had been said to him, when you lose the fish, that will be a sign that you have reached the right place.But when they ˹finally˺ reached the point where the seas met, they forgot their fish, and it made its way into the sea, slipping away ˹wondrously˺.
- When they had passed further, Prophet Musa said to his boy-servant “Bring us our meal! We have certainly been exhausted by today’s journey.”
- He said, “You see, when we stayed at the rock, I forgot the fish. It was none but Satan who made me forget it to tell you about it – and, amazingly, it made its way into the sea.”
- Prophet Musa responded, “That is exactly what we were looking for.”So they returned, retracing their footsteps.
- When they returned to the spot they found a slave of Allah, to whom Allah had bestowed mercy and to whom Allah had taught certain knowledge which Prophet Musa did not know about. The name of this man was Khidr.
- Prophet Musa said to Khidr: “May I follow you so that you teach me something of that knowledge which you have been taught by Allâh?”
- Khidr said: “You will not be able to have patience with me!”
- “And how can you have patience about a thing which you know not?”
- Prophet Musa assured him, “You will find me patient, if Allah wills, and I will not disobey any of your orders.”
- Khidr responded, “Then if you follow me, do not question me about anything until I tell you about it myself.”
- So they set out, but after they had boarded a ship,Khidr made a hole in it. Prophet Musa was surprised and asked “Have you done this to drown its people? You have certainly done a terrible thing!”
- He replied, “Did I not tell you that you cannot have patience with me?”
- Prophet Musa pleaded, “Sorry I forgot, and do not be hard on me.”
- So they set out again until they met a boy. Khidr killed the boy. Prophet Musa was shocked and asked, “Have you killed an innocent person, who killed no one? You have certainly done a horrible thing.”
- Khidr replied : “Did I not tell you that you cannot have patience with me?
- Prophet Musa replied, “if I ever question you again, then do not keep me in your company”
- So they set out again until they came across the people of a town.Prophet Musa and Khidr asked them for food, but the people refused. There Prophet Musa and Khidr found a wall that was about to fall, and Khidr restored it. Prophet Musa protested, “If you wanted, you could have asked for money to restore this wall.
- Khidr replied: “Here we now go our separate ways. I will now explain to you why I did those things, over which you could not have patience.
- “The ship in which I made a hole, it belonged to some poor people working at sea. I wanted to damage it because there was an evil king who was capturing every good ship by force.
- “The boy who I killed had parents who were true believers and we feared that he would make his parents defy and disbelief in Allah”
- So I hoped that Allah would give them another child, who would be more righteous and caring in his place.
- “And as for the wall, it belonged to two orphan boys in the city, and under that wall was a treasure that belonged to them.And their father had been a righteous man. So Allah, out of His mercy, willed that when these children get older they can take out this treasure.I did not do anything on my own, rather it was the command of Allah. This is the explanation of what you could not wait patiently for.”
- The disbelievers asked Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) about Dhul Qarnayn who was a man who traveled widely throughout the earth. Allah (swt) told Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) to say :”I shall recite to you something of his story.”
- Allah gave Dhul Qarnayn great power on Earth and gave him means to conquer all areas, regions and countries, to defeat enemies, overpower the kings of the earth and bring down the people who did not believe in Allah.
- So Dhul Qarnayn followed different routes, east and west.
- Until he reached the farthest place where the sun was setting,in a spring of murky water. Over here, he found some people. Allah (Swt) inspired Dhul Qurnain “O Ⱬul-Qarnain! You can either punish them or treat them kindly.”
- So Dhul Qarnayn responded, “ Whoever from these people does not believe in Allah, I shall punish them. And when they return back to Allah, they will be punished severely by Him too.”
- “As for those who believe in Allah and do good, they will have the best reward by Allah that is Paradise. And I will speak kindly to them.
- Then he travelled another way.
- Until he reached a place where the sun was rising over a nation of people who had no buildings or trees to cover them and shade them from the heat of the sun.
- And Allah knew everything about Dhul Qarnayn and his army, and nothing was hidden from Him.
- Then he travelled on a third way.
- Until he reached a valley between two mountains. He found in front of them a nation of people who could hardly understand his language.
- They pleaded, “O Ⱬul-Qarnayn! Gog and Magog are spreading great mischief throughout the land. We will pay you a reward, if you build a wall between us and Gog Magog?”
- Dhul Qarnayn responded, “The authority and power that Allah has given me is better than your reward. But help me with labour and construction material and I will build a barrier between you and Gog Maggog”
- Then Dhul Qarnayn ordered, “Bring me blocks of iron!” He filled up the gap between the two mountains with the iron blocks on top of each other. Then he ordered, “Blow!” and a fire was lit up,(16:57) when the iron became red hot, he said, “Bring me hot melted copper to pour over it.”
- And so he made a strong wall between them which Gog and Magog were not able to climb over or tunnel through.
- Dhul Qarnayn declared, “This is a mercy from Allah. But when the promise of Allah comes, He will level this wall to the ground. And Allah’s promise is always true.”
- And on that Day Ya’jûj and Ma’jûj (Gog and Magog) will come out in huge numbers, rolling over one another like waves, destroying the wealth and properties of mankind.
- Then the Horn will be blown, and Allah shall gather everyone for judgement.
- On that Day Allah will show Hell clearly to the disbelievers,who turned a blind eye to the reminders sent by Allah and could not stand listening to His commands. They will see Hell being pulled in front of them by seventy thousand ropes,) each of which will be held by seventy thousand angels.
- Do the disbelievers think that it is right to take Allah’s servants who He has created as gods instead of Allah? Allah has surely prepared Hell as a home for these disbelievers.
- Say, ˹O Prophet,˺ “Shall we inform you of who will lose the most deeds?
- They are those who think they are doing good work in this world but all their efforts are being wasted.
- They are the ones who reject the signs of Allah and do not believe that they will one day meet Him. Their disbelief results in their deeds which they think are good, to be wasted and their deeds will not have any weight on the Day of Judgement.
- They will be rewarded with Hell for their disbelief and making fun of Allah’s signs and messengers.
- Indeed, those who believe in Allah and do good will have the Gardens of Paradise as their home.
- where they will live forever and will not wish to move from there.”
- Say, ˹O Prophet,˺ “If the ocean were ink for ˹writing˺ the Words of my Lord, it would certainly run out before the Words of my Lord were finished, even if We refilled it with its equal.”
- Say, ˹O Prophet,˺ “I am only a human like you, ˹but˺ it has been revealed to me that your God is only One God. So whoever hopes to meet their Lord, let them do good deeds and join none in the worship of their Lord.”
