18:1  The praise is for Allah who has revealed the book unto His servant and has not permitted any deviousness therein;

18:2  [A book] which is most upright in order that he warn of a terrible chastisement from Him and that he bring glad tidings to the believers who act righteous deeds that for them there will be an excellent reward

18:3  to abide therein forever

18:4  and to warn those who say that Allah has taken for himself a son.

18:5  There is no knowledge for them about this nor for their fathers. Enormous indeed is the word that comes out of their mouths. They are saying nothing but a lie.

18:6  And perhaps you are going to torment your soul with grief chasing after them if they do not believe in this discourse.

18:7  Truly We have made everything on the earth as an ornament for it so that We may test them to see who among them are going to act in excellence.

18:8  And truly We are going to reduce everything on it to a sand of rubbles.

18:9  Or do you count that the companions of the cave and of the wall to be a marvel among Our signs?

18:10  When the youth retired to the cave and they said, “O our Lord! Give us a mercy from your presence and prepare for us a guidance [to the right way] from our affair.”

18:11  And thereupon We placed [a seal] on their ears [when they were] in the cave for a number of years.

18:12  Then We raised them so that We mark out which of the two parties best comprehended the amount of time for which they tarried [in the cave].

18:13  We do relate their story to you in the truth. They indeed were young men who believed in their Lord and We increased them in guidance.

18:14  And We fastened their hearts when they stood forth [to bear witness] and they said, “Our Lord is He who is the Lord of the heavens and of the earth. We shall never invoke anyone besides Him as deity. If we did, we would have then professed a great transgression.

18:15  Lo! These people of ours have taken others besides Him as deities. If only they could bring a clear proof in support of them but who then does a greater wrong than one who contrives a lie against Allah.

18:16  And since you have disassociated yourself from them and all that they worship other than Allah therefore retire yourself to the cave and your Lord will spread out for you from His mercy and will prepare for you ease out of your affair.”

18:17  And you see the sun when it rises, that it inclines away from their cave to the right and when it sets, it touches them slightly from the left while they are in the hollow space of it [the cave]. That is from the signs of Allah. Whosoever Allah guides, he is the rightly guided. And whosoever He causes to go astray, you shall never find for him an ally to guide him [to the right way].

18:18  And you will consider them awake while they lay asleep and We turn them to the right and to the left while their guardian [dog] stood with both hands stretched at the threshold. If you were to take a look at them [in this state] you would have turned away from them in flight and you would have been filled with terror from them.

18:19  And thus We raised them so that they wondered among themselves. A speaker among them said, “How long have you stayed?” They said, “We stayed a day or part of a day.” Some others said, “Your Lord knows best how long you stayed so therefore send one of you with this silver coin of yours to the town and let him find out which is the best of food and then let him bring for you a provision thereof and let him be discreet and must not make anyone be alerted about you.

18:20  For if they do come upon you, they will stone you to death or force you back into their way and you will never prosper then ever after.”

18:21  And thus We caused them to be found [by the people of the city] so that they may know for certain that Allah’s promise is true and that there is no doubt in the hour. When they disputed among themselves regarding their affair and [some of them] said, “Build a building over them. Their Lord knows best about them.” Those who prevailed in their matter said, “We will most certainly make a place of worship over them.”

18:22  Soon some would say, “[They were] three, their guardian [dog] was the fourth among them” and some would say, “[They were] five, their guardian [dog] was the sixth among them” guessing blindly and some would say, “Seven [they were] and their guardian [dog] was the eighth among them.” Say, “My Lord knows best their number and no one knows them except a few. Therefore do not dispute about them save for a plain dispute and do not seek answer from anyone among them about them.”

18:23  And you must never say for anything, “I am certainly going to do that tomorrow”

18:24  except [by saying], “If Allah pleases” and remember your Lord whenever you forget and say, “Perhaps my Lord will guide me a right guidance to a way closer than this.”

18:25  And they stayed in their cave three hundred years and nine [years] in addition.

18:26  Say, “Allah knows best how long they stayed. For Him is the invisible kingdom of the heavens and the earth. How perfectly He sees and how perfectly He hears. There is no ally for them besides Him and He does not make anyone His associate in His authority.”

18:27  And relate that which has been revealed unto you from the book of your Lord. There is no one to change His words and you will never find any refuge besides Him.

18:28  And keep yourself patient along with those who call their Lord in the morning and in the evening and they seek His face and do not let your eyes look past them that you seek the adornment of the life of this world and do not obey one whose heart We have caused to be oblivious about Our remembrance and he follows his vain desires and his affair has gone beyond redemption.

18:29  And say, “The truth is from your Lord so whoever pleases, let him believe and whoever pleases, let him disbelieve. We certainly have prepared for the wrongdoers a fire and its walls will encompass them. When they will seek water, they will be given a water which is like molten brass it scales the faces. What a woeful drink and what an evil resting place”

18:30  Truly those who believe and do righteous deeds, We will certainly do not suffer the reward of one who acts in excellence, to go in vain.

18:31  It is they for whom will be gardens of everlasting felicity, beneath them the rivers flow and they will be adorned therein with bracelets of gold and they will wear green garments of fine silk and of brocade, reclining therein on couches. How goodly is the reward and how excellent is the resting place.

18:32  And set forth for them a parable of two men. For one of them We made two gardens of grapes and We surrounded both of them with date trees and between the two We made a field of crops.

18:33  Each of the gardens brought forth its produce and did not hold back anything from it and We caused a river to gush forth through both of them.

18:34  And he had fruits [of different kinds]. So he said to his companion while he conversed with him, “I am more than you in wealth and I am mightier than you in entourage.”

18:35  And he entered his garden while he was wrongful to his own soul. He said, “I do not think that this is going to perish ever

18:36  Nor do I think that the hour is going to come and if ever I am brought back to my Lord, I will most certainly find a better place of return than it.

18:37  And his companion said to him as he conversed with him, “Do you disbelieve in the One who created you from dust and then from liquid and then formed you into a complete man.

18:38  Nay! As for me He is Allah my Lord and I do not ascribe to my Lord any else as a partner

18:39  If only when you entered your garden you had said, ’let it be as Allah pleases. There is no power except through Allah’. If you do see that I am less than you in wealth and in children

18:40  Thus it may well be that perhaps my Lord will give me something better than your garden and may send against it fire-bolts from the heaven and thus it turns into a slippery tract of sand

18:41  Or that its water may become sunken into the earth and you will never be able to retrieve it again.”

18:42  And his fruit was encompassed with destruction therefore he began to turn his hands upside and down [in remorse] over that which he had spent in it as it lay thrown head down and he says, “Woe unto me! [I wish] I had never ascribed any else as a partner with my Lord.”

18:43  And there was no group of people to help him besides Allah nor was he able to help himself.

18:44  Thereupon [he realized] that the commandment belongs to Allah the Truth. He is the best as a reward and best as a place of ending.

18:45  And set forth for them the parable of the life of this world which is like a water that We send down from the heaven and then the vegetation of the earth mingles with it and then it turns dry and the winds scatter it. Truly Allah is the One who has enforcing power over everything.

18:46  The wealth and the children are adornment of the life of this world. But the things that are righteous and sustaining are better in reward in the sight of your Lord and are better in hope.

18:47  On the day when We will cause the mountains to move away and then you will see the earth level and We will gather them and We will not leave a single one of them.

18:48  And they will be presented to your Lord in ranks [and it will be said to them] “Truly you have come to Us in the manner in which We created you the first time. Nay! You had claimed that We will never appoint for you a time and place of meeting with Us”.

18:49  And the book will be set forth and then you will see the evildoers apprehensive of that which is in it and they will say, “Woe unto us! What is the matter with this book it leaves nothing small or big but makes a full record of it.” And they will find what they had done all brought forth and your Lord does not wrong a single one of them.

18:50  And when We said to the angels, “Bow down for Adam” forthright they all bowed down except Iblis who was from the Jinn folk so He renegaded against the commandment of his Lord. Will you then take him and his progeny as allies instead of Me even though they are your enemy? What a woeful substitute for the wrongdoers.

18:51  I did not make them witness the creation of the heavens and of the earth nor the creation of their own souls and I am not going to take those that misguide others as helpers.

18:52  On the day when He would say, “Call My partners which you have claimed, then they call them but they will not respond to them and We placed between them an abyss of destruction.”

18:53  And the evildoers will see the fire and will think that they are going to fall in it and they will find no place of escape from it.

18:54  And We have presented in this Quran of every kind of similitude in various ways for the mankind but yet the human being of all things is the most contentious.

18:55  What else prevents human beings from believing after the guidance has come to them and from seeking the forgiveness of their Lord except that may come to them the fate of the past nations or that the punishment may come to them face to face.

18:56  And We do not send the messengers except as bringers of glad tidings and as warners but those who disbelieve argue with the falsehood with a view of refuting the truth by it and they take My signs [of glad tidings] and that of which they are warned as a matter of jest.

18:57  And who does a greater wrong than one who has been reminded about the signs of his Lord but he turns away from them and forgets all that both his hands have sent forth. Truly We have placed a covering on their hearts so they will not discern it and in their ears a heavy weight. And if you call them to the guidance, even then they will never find guidance ever.

18:58  And your Lord is The Oft-Forgiving , The Possessor of mercy. Were He to call them to account for all that which they have perpetrated, He most certainly will hasten the punishment for them. Nay for them there is an appointed time and place from which they will never find an escape.

18:59  And those cities We destroyed them when they wronged their own souls and We appointed a place and a time for their destruction.

18:60  And when Moses said to his attendant, “I will not desist until I reach the meeting place of the two seas or I will spend ages in my quest.”

18:61  But when they two reached the meeting place of the two, they forgot their fish, so he took his way into the sea stealthily.

18:62  After they two had passed [the meeting place of the two seas] he said to his servant, “Bring our lunch to us. We have indeed suffered lot of fatigue from this journey of ours.”

18:63  He said, “See you that when we retired ourselves to the rock, I did forget about the fish and nothing made me forget to remember it except Satan and it took its way into the ocean miraculously.”

18:64  He [Moses] said, “That was what we were seeking after. So they turned back following their own traces.”

18:65  They two found a servant from Our servants unto whom We had granted mercy from Our presence and We had taught him knowledge from Our presence.

18:66  Moses said to him, “May I follow you so that you may teach me from that which you have been taught from guidance [to the right way]?”

18:67  He said, “Truly you will never be able to have patience with me

18:68  And how can you have patience about something you have no original acquaintance with.”

18:69  He [Moses] said, “You will find me patient if Allah pleases and I will not disobey any of your commandment.”

18:70  He said, “Then if you do follow me, do not ask me about anything until I bring you a new remembrance from it.”

18:71  So they both continued their travel until they came onboard the ship then he cracked it. He [Moses] said, “Have you cracked it so that you may drown its people? You have indeed committed something dreadful.

18:72  He said, “Did I not say that you will never be able to have patience with me?”

18:73  He [Moses] said, “Do not hold against me for that which I forgot and do not raise difficulty for me out of my affair.”

18:74  Then they both continued their journey until they met a boy and he killed him. He [Moses] said, “Have you killed an innocent life for no other life? You have indeed committed something abominable.”

18:75  He said, “Did I not tell you that you will never be able to have patience with me?”

18:76  He [Moses] said, “If I ask you about anything after this then do not keep me in your company. You have indeed exhausted all excuses from me.”

18:77  Then they both continued their journey until they came to a townspeople and they sought food from the people thereof but they refused to give them any hospitality, then they found therein a wall which was about to fall and he raised it up. He [Moses] said, “If you so willed you could indeed take a fee for it.”

18:78  He said, “This is the parting between me and you but I will inform you with regards to the ultimate interpretation of that about which you were unable to have patience.

18:79  As for the ship, it belonged to some poor men who work in the sea so I wanted to flaw it because beyond them there was a king who confiscates every ship by force.

18:80  And as for the boy, his parents were believers so we feared that he will compel them towards transgression and disbelief.

18:81  So we wanted that their Lord will give them a replacement [with a child] better than him in purity and closer in mercy.”

18:82  And as for the wall, it belonged to two orphaned boys in the city and there was a treasure beneath it for both of them and their father was a righteous man and your Lord wanted that they reach their age of maturity and they will bring out their treasure as a mercy from your Lord. And I did not do it from my own accord. That is the ultimate interpretation about which you could not have patience.”

18:83  And they ask you regarding Zul-Qarnain. Say, “I will relate unto you a remembrance of him.”

18:84  We had indeed established him in the earth and We had granted him a way to everything.

18:85  So he followed a way

18:86  until he reached the setting place of the sun and he found it setting in a murky expanse and he found besides it a people. We said, “O Zul-Qarnain, you may either punish or you may choose to deal with them in a kindly manner.”

18:87  He said, “Whosoever does wrong to his own soul [by ascribing partners to Allah], him we shall punish [in this life] and then he will be brought back to his Lord and He will punish him [in the hereafter] with an untold punishment.”

18:88  And as for the one who believes and acts with righteous deeds, for him there is the excellence as a reward and We shall impart to him from our commandment a word of ease.

18:89  Then he followed a way

18:90  until he reached the rising place of the sun and he found it rising on a people for whom We had provided no covering other than it [sun].

18:91  Thus it was and We had already encompassed any news about him from the beginning.

18:92  Then he followed a way

18:93  until he reached between the two mountain barriers and he found between them a people who scarcely discerned any speech.

18:94  They said, “O Zul-Qarnain, truly Gog and Magog are spreaders of corruption in the earth. Should we pay a tribute to you so that you can place between us and them a barrier?”

18:95  He said, “That in which my Lord has established me is better [than your tribute] so therefore give me help with your manpower so that I can place between you and them a strong barrier.

18:96  Bring me bars of iron.” Until when he placed it levelled between the two mountains he said, “Blow on it” until when he turned it into a fire, he said, “Bring me molten brass so that I can pour on it.”

18:97  Thus they were neither able to surmount it nor were they able to dig through it from beneath.

18:98  He said, “This is a mercy from my Lord but when the promise of my Lord comes to term, He will make it [the barrier] levelled with the earth and truly the promise of my Lord is true.”

18:99  And We left some of them on that day to mingle with others and when the trumpet is blown then We collect them altogether.

18:100  And We will present hell on that day to the disbelievers with a full presentation.

18:101  They [the disbelievers] whose eyes were in a covering from My remembrance and they were not able to hear.

18:102  Do those who disbelieve think that they could take My slaves as allies besides Me. Truly We have readied hell as a welcoming home for the disbelievers.

18:103  Say, “Shall we inform you with regards to those who are most in loss in what they do?

18:104  They whose efforts have gone in vain in the life of this world while they think that they are performing an excellent work.”

18:105  They are the ones who disbelieve in the signs of their Lord and in the meeting with Him, so their deeds were brought to naught so We will establish no weight for them on the day of resurrection.

18:106  That is hell, their reward, for that they disbelieved and that they took My signs and My messengers as a matter of jest.

18:107  Indeed as for those who believe and did righteous deeds truly the gardens of Firdaus will be their welcoming home.

18:108  To abide therein forever and they will seek no alternative place of dwelling besides it.

18:109  Say, “If the sea was but an ink for the words of my Lord, the sea most certainly will exhaust before that the words of my Lord exhaust even if We bring another sea to reinforce it.”

18:110  Say, “I am but a human the best model for you and I am divinely inspired. Truly your deity is only one deity and whoever looks forward to meeting his Lord, let him therefore do righteous deed and ascribe none as partner in the worship of his Lord.”