18:1  Praise be to God, the one who sent down to His servant the Book, and has not made in it crookedness.

18:2  Straight, to warn of severe punishment from Him, and to give glad tidings to the believers, those who do good works, that they will have a good reward;

18:3  They will stay in it forever.

18:4  And to warn those who say, 'God has taken a son.'

18:5  They have no knowledge of it, nor their forefathers. A great word it is that comes forth from their mouths; they say not except a lie.

18:6  And perhaps you will kill yourself grieving upon their footsteps, if they do not believe in this narration.

18:7  Indeed, We have made what is on the earth an adornment for it; that We may test which of them is best in works.

18:8  And indeed, We will surely make what is on it barren soil.

18:9  Or did you think the men of the cave and Ar Raqim were a wonder among Our signs?

18:10  When the youths took refuge in the cave and said, 'Our Lord, give us mercy from Yourself, and furnish us with right direction in our affair.'

18:11  So We struck their ears in the cave for a number of years.

18:12  Then we raised them up that We might know which of the two parties would best calculate the time that they had tarried.

18:13  We narrate to you their story in truth. Indeed, they were youths who believed in their Lord, and We increased them in guidance.

18:14  And We strengthened their hearts, when they stood up and said, 'Our Lord is the Lord of the heavens and the earth. We will not call upon a god besides Him. Surely, certainly then we would have spoken exceeding the due bounds.

18:15  These, our people, have taken other gods besides Him though they do not bring a clear authority for them. And who is more wrong than he who forges a lie against God?'

18:16  And when you have gone apart from them and what they serve except God, then take refuge in the cave, and your Lord will spread for you of His mercy and will facilitate for you ease from your affair.

18:17  And you see the sun when it rises, inclining towards their cave, possessed of the right; and when it sets, across from them, possessed of the left; and they are in the opening of it. That is of the signs of God. Whoever God guides, then he is guided, and whoever He leads astray, then you will not find a rightly directed patron for him.

18:18  And you would think them awake, while they were asleep. And We turned them over, possessed of the right and possessed of the left, while their dog stretched its forelegs at the entrance. If you had looked at them, you would have turned from them in flight and been filled with terror of them.

18:19  And thus We raised them that they might question one another between them. A speaker among them said, 'How long have you tarried?' They said, 'We have tarried a day or part of a day.' They said, 'Your Lord knows best what you have tarried. So send one of you with this your silver to the city and let him see what food is purest and let him come to you with provision from it; let him be courteous and do not let anyone perceive you.

18:20  Indeed they, if they come to know of you, they will stone you or turn you back to their religion. And you will not prosper then, ever.'

18:21  And in like manner We disclosed them that they might know that the promise of God is true, and that, the Hour, there is no doubt of it. When they disputed between them the affair, then they said, 'Build over them a building; their Lord knows them best.' Said those who prevailed over their affair, 'Surely We will raise over them a mosque.'

18:22  Soon they will say, 'Three, and the fourth of them was their dog.' And they will say, 'Five, and the sixth of them was their dog.' Guessing at the unseen. And they will say, 'Seven, and the eighth of them was their dog.' Say, 'My Lord knows best their number; none knows them but a few.' So do not argue about them except with an evident argument, and do not ask any one of them for a decision concerning them.

18:23  And do not say, regarding anything, 'Indeed, I will do that tomorrow.'

18:24  Except 'If God wills.' And remember your Lord when you forget, and say, 'Perhaps my Lord will guide me to nearer than this right direction.'

18:25  And they tarried in their cave three hundred years and add nine.

18:26  Say, 'God knows best what they tarried. His is the unseen of the heavens and the earth. See with Him and hear. They have no patron besides Him, and He makes none to share in His judgment.'

18:27  And recite what has been revealed to you of the Book of your Lord. None can change His words and you will not find a place of refuge besides Him.

18:28  And keep yourself patient with those who call upon their Lord in the morning (After sunrise to mid-morning) and the afternoon (Noon to mid-afternoon) seeking His face. And let not your eyes pass from them desiring the adornments of the worldly life, and do not obey one whose heart We have made heedless of Our remembrance and who follows his lust and whose affair exceeds just limits.

18:29  And say, 'The truth is from your Lord, so let him who will believe; and let him who will disbelieve.' Indeed, We have prepared for the wrongdoers a fire, its walls will surround them; And if they seek aid, they will be aided with water like molten brass, which burns the faces. Evil is the drink, and evil is the resting place.

18:30  Indeed, We will not waste the reward of he who does good works.

18:31  Those, for them are gardens of Eden; beneath them the rivers flow; they shall be adorned therein with bracelets of gold, and they shall wear green robes of fine silk, and of brocade; reclining therein on raised couches; excellent is the reward, and good is the resting place.

18:32  And strike for them a similitude: two men, for one of them, We made two gardens of grapes, and surrounded them with palms, and put corn between the two.

18:33  Each of the two gardens brought forth its fruit and did not fail in anything of it. And We caused a river to flow forth in the midst of them.

18:34  And he had fruit, and he said to his fellow, as he was conversing with him, 'I am greater than you in wealth and mightier of household.'

18:35  And he entered his garden, wronging himself; he said, 'I do not think that this will ever perish;

18:36  I do not think that the Hour is coming; and if I am returned to my Lord, I will find a better one than it in exchange.'

18:37  Said his fellow, as he was conversing with him, 'Have you disbelieved in He who created you from dust, then from a sperm, then shaped you as a man?

18:38  But as for me, He is God, my Lord, and I will not associate with my Lord anyone.

18:39  Why could you not have said, when you went into your garden, "What God willed! There is no strength except with God." To look at, I am less than you in wealth and children,

18:40  Perhaps my Lord will give me better than your garden, and will send upon it thunderbolts from the sky, then it will become bare slippery soil;

18:41  Or its water will become sunk, so you will not be able to seek it.'

18:42  And his fruits were encompassed, and he began to wring his hands over what he spent on it, and it had fallen down on its trellises, and he said, 'O would that I had not associated anyone with my Lord.'

18:43  And there was no host to help him besides God and he was not one who helps himself.

18:44  There, the patronage is for God, the Truth. He is best for reward, and best for consequence.

18:45  And strike for them a similitude of the worldly life; like water which We send down from the sky, and the plants of the earth mingle with it; then it becomes dry plants scattered by the winds; and God is powerful over everything.

18:46  Wealth and children are an adornment of the worldly life; but enduring good works are better with your Lord, as a reward, and better as a hope.

18:47  And on the day We will make the mountains pass away and you see the earth apparent, and We will gather them, and will not leave one of them behind;

18:48  And they will be presented before your Lord in ranks. Surely, certainly you have come to Us as We created you the first time. Nay, you claimed that We would not make for you an appointment.

18:49  And the Book shall be placed, and you will see the sinners in fear of what is in it; and they will say, 'O woe to us! What is this Book, it leaves not a small thing nor a great thing but has counted it.' And they will find what they did present, and your Lord will not wrong anyone.

18:50  And when We said to the angels, 'Prostrate to Adam,' So they prostrated except Iblis. He was of the jinn, and he disobeyed the command of his Lord. Will you then take him and his offspring as patrons besides Me, while they are an enemy to you? Evil is the exchange for wrongdoers.

18:51  I did not make them witnesses of the creation of the heavens and the earth, nor of the creation of themselves, and I am not one who takes the misleaders as assistants.

18:52  And on the day He will say, 'Call My partners, those who you claimed.' Then they will call them but they will not answer them. And We will make a barrier between them.

18:53  And the sinners will see the fire, and will think that they are going to fall into it, and will find no escape from it.

18:54  And surely, certainly We have turned about for mankind in this, the Quran, of every similitude; and man is in most things, disputatious.

18:55  And nothing prevented mankind from believing when the guidance came to them, and from seeking forgiveness of their Lord, except the course of the former people comes upon them, or the punishment comes upon them face to face.

18:56  We send not the messengers except as heralds of glad tidings and warners. Those who disbelieve contend with falsehood in order to rebut the truth with it; and they take My signs and what they were warned of in mockery.

18:57  And who is more wrong than he who is reminded of the signs of his Lord, then turned away from them and forgot what his hands have sent forward? Indeed, We have made coverings upon their hearts lest they understand it, and in their ears, dulness. And if you call them to the guidance, then they will not be guided then, ever.

18:58  And your Lord is the Forgiver, the possessor of mercy. If He were to chastise them for what they have earned, surely, He would have hastened for them the punishment. Nay, for them is an appointed time; they will not find an escape besides it.

18:59  And those towns We destroyed them when they did wrong, and We appointed a time for their destruction.

18:60  And when Moses said to his servant, 'I will not give up until I reach the point where the two seas meet, or I go on for a long time.'

18:61  But when they reached the point where the two met, they forgot their fish, and it took its way in the sea with a free course.

18:62  Then when they had passed by, he said to his servant, 'Bring us our morning meal, for we have met with fatigue from this our journey.'

18:63  He said, 'Did you see, when we took refuge on the rock, then indeed I forgot the fish. And none made me forget it except the devil, that I remember it, and it took its way in the sea wonderfully.

18:64  He said, 'That is what we were searching for.' So they turned back upon their footsteps, retracing them.

18:65  Then they found a servant from Our servants, whom We had given mercy from Us and We had taught him knowledge from Us.

18:66  Moses said to him, 'Shall I follow you, on condition that you teach me, from what you have been taught, rectitude.'

18:67  He said, 'Indeed, you will not be able to have patience with me.

18:68  How can you be patient in what you comprehend no knowledge of?'

18:69  He said, 'You will find me, if God wills, patient; I will not rebel against your command.'

18:70  He said, 'Then if you follow me, do not ask me about anything until I begin a mention of it to you.'

18:71  So they set out until when they had embarked on the ship, he made a hole in it. He said, 'Have you made a hole in it to drown its people? Certainly, you have done a strange thing.'

18:72  He said, 'Did I not tell you, indeed, you cannot have patience with me?'

18:73  He said, 'Do not chastise me for what I forgot, and do not impose a difficult command on me.'

18:74  Then they both set out until when they met a boy, then he killed him. He said, 'Have you killed a pure soul, for other than a soul? Certainly, you have done a terrible thing.'

18:75  He said, 'Did I not tell you, indeed, you cannot have patience with me?'

18:76  He said, 'If I ask you about anything after it, then do not accompany me. You have now arrived at my excuse.'

18:77  So they set out until when they came to the people of a city; they asked its people for food, but they refused to entertain them. Then they found in it a wall that wanted to fall to pieces, so he set it upright. He said, 'If you wished surely you might have taken a payment for it.

18:78  He said, 'This is the parting between me and you. I will give you the interpretation of that with which you could not have patience.

18:79  As for the ship it belonged to poor people, working in the sea, so I wished to damage it, for behind it was a king who seized every ship by force.

18:80  And as for the boy, his parents were believers, and we feared that he would impose on them immoderation and disbelief.

18:81  So we desired that their Lord gives them in exchange better than him in purity and nearer mercy.

18:82  And as for the wall, it belonged to two orphan youths in the city, and beneath it was a treasure belonging to them both, and their father was a righteous man, so their Lord desired that they should reach their strength, and take out their treasure as a mercy from your Lord; and I did not do it on my command. That is the interpretation of what you could not have patience with.'

18:83  And they will ask you about Dhu 'l Qarnain, say, 'Soon I will recite to you a mention of him,'

18:84  Indeed, We established him in the earth, and We gave him a way of everything;

18:85  So he followed a way.

18:86  Until when he reached the setting of the sun, he found it setting in a black muddy spring, and he found people nearby. We said, 'O Dhu 'l Qarnain! Either you punish, or you take in them goodness.'

18:87  He said, 'As for him who does wrong. Then soon we will punish him, then he will be sent back to his Lord, and He will punish him, a terrible punishment;

18:88  And as for him who believes and does good works, then for him is the best recompense, and soon we will say for him from our command, ease.'

18:89  Then he followed a way

18:90  Until when he reached the rising of the sun, he found it rise upon people to whom We had given no shelter therefrom.

18:91  Thus. And verily We comprehended the knowledge of what was with him.

18:92  Then he followed a way

18:93  Until when he reached the point between the two mountains, he found below them both people; they could almost not understand speech.

18:94  They said, 'O Dhu 'l Qarnain! Indeed, Yajuj and Majuj are doing evil in the land, shall we then pay you tribute, on condition that you set between us and them a barrier?'

18:95  He said, 'What my Lord has established me in is better; so help me with strength, I will set between you and them a barrier.

18:96  Bring me ingots of iron until they fill up the space between the two mountain sides.' He said, 'Blow until it makes it a fire.' He said, 'Bring me, that I may pour molten brass over it.'

18:97  So they could not scale it, and they could not pierce it.

18:98  He said, 'This is a mercy from my Lord; but when the promise of my Lord comes to pass, He will make it as dust, and the promise of my Lord is true.'

18:99  And We left some of them on that day in a state of commotion with some, and the horn is blown in, then we will gather them together.

18:100  And We will present Hell on that day to the disbelievers, presenting;

18:101  Those whose eyes were in a cover from My Reminder, and who were unable to hear.

18:102  Did those who disbelieve then think that they could take My servants as patrons besides Me? Indeed, We have prepared Hell for the disbelievers to alight in.

18:103  Say, 'Shall We inform you of those who lose most by their works?

18:104  Those who erred in their endeavours in the worldly life, and who think they are doing good deeds.'

18:105  Those are the ones who disbelieved in the signs of their Lord and in meeting Him, so their works are void; and We will not give them weight on the Day of Resurrection.

18:106  That is their reward, Hell. Because they disbelieved and took My signs and My messengers in mockery.

18:107  Indeed, those who believed and did good works, for them are gardens of Firdaus to alight in,

18:108  To dwell therein forever, and they shall seek no change therefrom.

18:109  Say, 'If the sea were ink, for the words of my Lord, surely the sea would be spent before the words of my Lord were spent, even if We brought the like of it as a supplement.'

18:110  Say, 'I am only a mortal like you; I am inspired that your god is only one god. Then let whoever hopes to meet his Lord do good works, and join none in the service of his Lord.'