| | Dr. Laleh Bakhtiar rendition of Surah The Cave(al-Kahf)
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| 18:1 | | The Praise belongs to God Who caused the Book to descend to His servant and makes not for it any crookedness, |
| 18:2 | | truth-loving, to warn of severe violence from that which proceeds from His Presence and to give good tidings to the ones who believe, those who do as the ones in accord with morality, that they will have a fairer compensation, |
| 18:3 | | ones who will abide in it eternally |
| 18:4 | | and to warn those who said: God took to Himself a son. |
| 18:5 | | They have no knowledge about it, nor had their fathers. Troublesome is a word that goes forth from their mouths. And they say nothing but a lie |
| 18:6 | | so that perhaps thou wilt be one who consumes thyself with grief for their sake if they believe not in this discourse out of bitterness. |
| 18:7 | | Truly, We assigned whatever is in and on the earth as adornment for it so that We try them with it as to which of them are fairer in actions. |
| 18:8 | | And, truly, We are ones who make whatever is on it, barren dust, dry earth. |
| 18:9 | | Hast thou assumed that the Companions of the Cave and the Bearers of Inscription had been a wonder among Our signs? |
| 18:10 | | And when the spiritual warriors took shelter in the Cave, then, they said: Our Lord! Give us mercy from Thy Presence and furnish us with right mindedness in our affair. |
| 18:11 | | So We sealed their ears in the Cave for a number of years. |
| 18:12 | | Again, We raised them up so that We might know which of the two confederates was better in calculating the space of time they lingered in expectation. |
| 18:13 | | We relate this tiding to thee with The Truth. Truly, they were male spiritual warriors who believed in their Lord and We increased them in guidance. |
| 18:14 | | And We invigorated their hearts when they stood up and said: Our Lord is Lord of the heavens and the earth. We will never call to any god other than He. Certainly, we would have said an outrageous thing. |
| 18:15 | | These, our folk, took to themselves gods other than Him. Why bring they not a clear portent of authority with them? And who does greater wrong than he who devised a lie against God? |
| 18:16 | | And when you withdrew from them and from what they worship but God, then, take shelter in the cave. Your Lord will unfold for you from His mercy and will furnish you with a gentle issue in your affair. |
| 18:17 | | Thou wouldst have seen the sun when it came up. It inclines from their cave towards the right and when it began to set, it passed them towards the left while they were in a fissure. That is of the signs of God. He whom God guides, he is one who is truly guided. And he whom He causes to go astray, thou wilt never find for him a protector or one who will show him the way. |
| 18:18 | | Thou wouldst assume them to be awake while they are ones who are sleeping. We turn them around and around towards the right and towards the left and their dog, one who stretches out its paws at the threshold. And if thou wert to peruse them, thou wouldst have turned from them, running away, and wouldst, certainly, be filled with alarm of them. |
| 18:19 | | And, thus, it was that We raised them up that they might demand of one another. Said one who speaks among them: How long lingered you in expectation? They said: We lingered in expectation a day or a part of a day. They said: Your Lord is greater in knowledge of how long you lingered in expectation. So raise up one of you and with this, your money, send him to the city and let him look on which is the purest food. Then, let him bring you provision from there. And let him be courteous and cause not anyone to realize. |
| 18:20 | | Truly, if you become manifest to them, they will stone you, or they will cause you to return to their creed and you would not ever prosper. |
| 18:21 | | And, thus, We made their case known that they know that the promise of God is true and that, as for the Hour, there is no doubt about it. Mention when they contend with one another about their affair. They said: Build over them a structure. Their Lord is greater in knowledge about them. Those who prevailed over their affair said: We, certainly, will take to ourselves over them a place of prostration. |
| 18:22 | | They will say: They were three, the fourth of them being their dog. And they will say: They were five, the sixth of them being their dog, guessing at the unseen. And they will say: They were seven, the eighth of them being their dog. Say: My Lord is greater in knowledge of their amount. No one knows them but a few, so altercate not about them but with a manifest argumentation and ask not for advice about them of anyone of them. |
| 18:23 | | And, surely, he will not say about something: Truly, I will be one who does that tomorrow, |
| 18:24 | | but that you add: If God wills. And remember thy Lord when thou hadst forgotten. And say: Perhaps my Lord will guide me nearer to right mindedness than this. |
| 18:25 | | And they lingered in expectation in their cave three hundred years, and they added nine. |
| 18:26 | | Say: God is greater in knowledge of how long they lingered in expectation. And to Him belongs the unseen of the heavens and the earth. How well He perceives and how well He hears! Other than him, they have no protector and He ascribes no one partners in His determination. |
| 18:27 | | And recount what was revealed to thee from the Book of Thy Lord. There is no one who changes His Words. And thou wilt never find other than Him, that which is a haven. |
| 18:28 | | And have thou patience thyself with those who call to their Lord in the morning and the evening, wanting His Countenance. And let not thy eyes pass over them wanting the adornment of this present life. And obey not him whose heart We made neglectful of Our Remembrance and who followed his own desires and whose affair had been excess. |
| 18:29 | | And say: The Truth is from your Lord. Then, let whoever willed, believe, and let whoever willed, disbelieve. Truly, We made ready a fire for the ones who are unjust. They will be enclosed by its large tent. And if they cry for help, they will be helped with rain, water like molten copper that will scald their faces. Miserable was the drink and how evil a place of rest! |
| 18:30 | | Truly, those who believed and did as the ones in accord with morality, truly, We will not waste the compensation of him who did good actions. |
| 18:31 | | Those, for them are Gardens of Eden beneath which rivers run. They will be adorned in them with bracelets of gold and they will wear green garments of fine silk and brocade. They will be ones who are reclining in it on raised benches. Excellent is the reward for good deeds and how excellent a place of rest! |
| 18:32 | | And propound to them the parable of two men: We assigned to one of them two gardens of grapevines and We encircled them with date palm trees and We made crops between them. |
| 18:33 | | Both the gardens gave their produce and fail nothing at all. We caused a river to gush forth in the midst of them. |
| 18:34 | | And there had been fruit for him. Then, he said to his companion while he converses with him: I have more wealth than thee and am mightier than a group of men or jinn. |
| 18:35 | | And he entered his garden while he is one who is unjust to himself. He said: I think that this will not be destroyed ever. |
| 18:36 | | And I think that the Hour will not be one that arises. And if I would be returned to my Lord, I would, surely, find better than this as an overturning. |
| 18:37 | | And his companion said to him while he converses with him: Wert thou ungrateful to Him Who created thee out of earth dust, again, out of seminal fluid and, again, shaped thee into a man? |
| 18:38 | | Certainly, He is God, my Lord, and I will not ascribe partners with my Lord anyone. |
| 18:39 | | Would that when thou hadst entered thy garden thou hadst said: What God willed! There is no strength but with God! If thou hast seen I am less than you in wealth and children. |
| 18:40 | | Then, perhaps my Lord will give me better than thy garden and will send on it a thunderclap from heaven. And it will come to be in the morning a place of slippery earth. |
| 18:41 | | Or it will come to be in the morning that its water will be sinking into the ground so that thou wilt never be able to seek it out. |
| 18:42 | | And its fruit was enclosed. It came to be in the morning he turns around and around the palms of his hands in wretchedness for what he spent on it while it was one that has fallen down in ruins. And he says: Would that I not ascribe partners with my Lord anyone! |
| 18:43 | | And there is no faction to help him other than God. And he had been one who is helpless. |
| 18:44 | | All protection there belongs to God, The Truth. He is Best in rewarding for good deeds and Best in consequence. |
| 18:45 | | And propound for them the parable of this present life: It is like water that We caused to descend from heaven. Then, plants of the earth mingled with it and it becomes straw in the morning that winnows in the winds. And God had been over everything One Who is Omnipotent. |
| 18:46 | | Wealth and children are the adornment of this present life. But that which endures are ones in accord with morality. These are better with thy Lord in reward for good deeds and better for hopefulness. |
| 18:47 | | And on a Day We will set in motion the mountains and thou wilt see the earth as that which will depart. And We will assemble them and not leave out anyone of them. |
| 18:48 | | And they were presented before thy Lord ranged in rows. Certainly, you drew near Us as We created you the first time. Nay! You claimed that We never assign for you something that is promised. |
| 18:49 | | And the Book was set in place and thou wilt see the ones who sin being ones who are apprehensive as to what is in it. And they will say: Woe to us! What is this Book? It neither leaves out anything small or great, but counted everything. They will find present what their hands had done. And thy Lord does not wrong anyone. |
| 18:50 | | And mention when We said to the angels: Prostrate yourselves to Adam! So they prostrated themselves but Iblis. He had been among the jinn and he disobeyed the command of His Lord. Will you, then, take him to yourselves and his offspring to be protectors other than Me while they are an enemy to you? Miserable was it to give in place ones who are unjust! |
| 18:51 | | I called them not to witness the creation of the heavens and the earth nor to their own creation of themselves nor took I to myself the ones who are led astray as assistants. |
| 18:52 | | And on a Day when He will say: Cry out to My associates, those who you claimed. Then, they will call out to them, but they will not respond to them and We will make a gulf of doom between them. |
| 18:53 | | And the unjust will see the ones who sin in the fire. They thought that they are ones who are about to fall in it and they will not find a place to turn from it. |
| 18:54 | | And, certainly, We diversified in this, the Quran, every kind of example for humanity. And the human being had been more than anything argumentative. |
| 18:55 | | Nothing prevented humanity from believing when the guidance drew near to them or from asking forgiveness of their Lord, but that approaches them a custom of the ancient ones or approaches them the punishment face to face. |
| 18:56 | | We send not the ones who are sent, but as ones who give good tidings and as ones who warn. And those who were ungrateful dispute with falsehood in order to refute The Truth by it. And they took My signs to themselves—and what they were warned of—in mockery. |
| 18:57 | | And who does greater wrong than he who was reminded of the signs of his Lord, then, turned aside from them and forgot what his hands put forward? Truly, We laid sheathes on their hearts so that they should not understand it and heaviness in their ears. And if thou hast called them to the guidance, yet they will not be truly guided ever. |
| 18:58 | | And thy Lord is Forgiving, Possessor of Mercy. If He were to take them to task for what they earned, He will quicken the punishment for them. But for them is what they are promised, from which they will never find a way to elude it. |
| 18:59 | | And these towns, We caused them to perish when they did wrong and We assigned for their destruction what is promised. |
| 18:60 | | Mention when Moses said to his spiritual warrior: I will not quit until I reach the place of meeting of the two seas even if I will go on for many years. |
| 18:61 | | But when they reached the place of the meeting between them, then, they both forgot their great fish and it took to itself a way through the sea, burrowing. |
| 18:62 | | Then, when they crossed, he said to his spiritual warrior: Give us our breakfast. Certainly, we met fatigue from our journey. |
| 18:63 | | He said: Hadst thou considered? When we took shelter at the rock, truly, I forgot the great fish. And none but Satan caused me to forget to remember it. And it took to itself to a way into the sea in a wondrous way. |
| 18:64 | | He said: That is what we had been looking for! So they went back following their footsteps. |
| 18:65 | | Then, they found a servant among Our servants to whom We gave mercy from Us and We taught him knowledge which proceeds from Our Presence. |
| 18:66 | | Moses said to him: May I follow thee so that thou wilt teach me something of what thou wert taught of right judgment? |
| 18:67 | | He said: Truly, thou wilt never be able to have patience with me. |
| 18:68 | | And how wilt thou endure a thing patiently when thou hast not comprehended any awareness of it? |
| 18:69 | | Moses said: Thou wilt find me, if God willed, one who remains steadfast and I will not rebel against thy command. |
| 18:70 | | He said: Then, if thou hadst followed me, ask me not about anything until I cause to be evoked in thee a remembrance of it. |
| 18:71 | | So they both set out until when they embarked in a vessel. He made a hole in it. Moses said: Hadst thou made a hole in it in order to drown the people? Certainly, thou hadst brought about a dreadful thing! |
| 18:72 | | He said: Said I not that thou wilt never be able to have patience with me? |
| 18:73 | | Moses said: Take me not to task for what I forgot and constrain me not with hardship for my affair. |
| 18:74 | | Then, they both set out until when they met a boy; then, he killed him. Moses said: Hadst thou killed a pure soul without his having slain a soul? Certainly, thou hadst brought about a horrible thing! |
| 18:75 | | He said: Said I not that thou wilt never be able to have patience with me? |
| 18:76 | | Moses said: If I asked thee about anything after this, then, keep not company with me, surely, thou hadst reached enough of excusing from my presence! |
| 18:77 | | Then, they both set out until when they approached a people of a town. They asked its people for food. But they refused to receive them as guests. Then, they found in it a wall that wants to tumble down, so he repaired it. Moses said: If thou hadst willed, certainly, thou wouldst have taken compensation to thyself for it. |
| 18:78 | | He said: This is the parting between me and between thee! I will tell thee the interpretation of what thou wert not able to have patience for it. |
| 18:79 | | As for the vessel, it had been of some needy people who toil in the sea, so I wanted to mar it as there had been a king behind them taking every vessel forcefully. |
| 18:80 | | And as for the boy, both his parents had been ones who believe, and we dreaded that he should constrain them with defiance and ingratitude, |
| 18:81 | | so we wanted their Lord to cause for them in exchange one better than he in purity and nearer in sympathy. |
| 18:82 | | As for the wall, it had been that of two orphan boys in the city and beneath it had been a treasure for them. The father of both of them had been one in accord with morality so thy Lord wanted they be fully grown, having come of age, and pull out their treasure as a mercy from thy Lord. And I accomplished that not of my own command. This is the interpretation of what thou wert not able to have patience for it. |
| 18:83 | | And they will ask thee about Dhu-l Qarnayn. Say: I will recount to you a remembrance of him. |
| 18:84 | | Truly, We established him firmly on the earth and gave him a route to everything. |
| 18:85 | | So he pursued a route |
| 18:86 | | until when he reached the setting of the sun. He found it beginning to set in a spring of muddy water. And he found near it a folk. We said: O Dhu-l Qarnayn! Either thou wilt punish them or thou wilt take them to thyself with goodness. |
| 18:87 | | He said: As for him who did wrong, we will punish him. Again, he will be returned to his Lord Who will punish him with a horrible punishment. |
| 18:88 | | But as for him who believed and did as one in accord with morality, he will have the fairer recompense. And we will say to him of our command with ease. |
| 18:89 | | Again, he pursued a route |
| 18:90 | | until when he reached the rising place of the sun. He found it coming up on a folk for whom We make not any obstruction against it. |
| 18:91 | | Thus, We, surely, enclosed whatever was near him through awareness. |
| 18:92 | | Again, he pursued a route |
| 18:93 | | until when he reached between two embankments. He found behind them a folk who would almost not understand any saying. |
| 18:94 | | They said: O Dhu-l Qarnayn! Truly, Gog and Magog are ones who make corruption in and on the earth. Will we assign to thee payment if thou hast made an embankment between us and between them? |
| 18:95 | | He said: What my Lord established firmly for me is better, so assist me with strength. I will make a fortification between you and between them. |
| 18:96 | | Give me ingots of iron, until when he made level between the two cliffs. He said: Blow, until when he made it a fire. He said: Give me molten brass to pour out over it. |
| 18:97 | | So they were not able to scale it nor were they able to dig through it. |
| 18:98 | | He said: This is a mercy from my Lord. So when the promise of my Lord drew near, He will made it powder. And the promise of my Lord had been true. |
| 18:99 | | And that Day We will leave some of them to surge like waves on some others. And the trumpet will be blown, then, We will gather them altogether. |
| 18:100 | | We will present the depths of hell on that Day in plain view to ones who are ungrateful, |
| 18:101 | | to those whose eyes had been screened from My Remembrance and who had not been able to hear. |
| 18:102 | | Assumed ones who were ungrateful that they take My servants to themselves as protectors instead of Me? Truly, We made hell ready with hospitality for ones who are ungrateful. |
| 18:103 | | Say: Shall We tell you who will be ones who are losers by their actions? |
| 18:104 | | It is those whose endeavoring went astray in this present life while they assume that they are doing good by their handiwork. |
| 18:105 | | Those were those who were ungrateful for the signs of their Lord and the meeting with Him so their actions were fruitless. And so We will not perform for them on the Day of Resurrection, any weighing. |
| 18:106 | | That will be their recompense—hell—because they were ungrateful and took to themselves My signs and My Messengers in mockery. |
| 18:107 | | Truly, those who believed and did as ones in accord with morality, their hospitality had been in the Gardens of Paradise, |
| 18:108 | | ones who will dwell in them forever. They will have no desire for relocation from there. |
| 18:109 | | Say: If the sea had been ink for the Words of my Lord, the sea would come to an end before the Words of my Lord came to an end even if We brought about replenishment the like of it. |
| 18:110 | | Say: I am only a mortal like you. It is revealed to me that your God is One, so whoever had been hoping for the meeting with his Lord, let him do with his actions as one in accord with morality and ascribe no partners—in the worship of his Lord, ever. |
