18. Al-Kahf/The Cavern

I/We begin by the Blessed Name of Allah

The Immensely Merciful to all, The Infinitely Compassionate to everyone.

18:01.
All Praise and Gratitude is to Allah - The One and Only God of everyone,
WHO has sent down The Divine Book to HIS Servant Muhammad.
And HE has not made any deviousness in it - straight and upright in terms of the perfection of its words, text, and meanings.

18:02
HE has made it a straightforward Book -
meant to warn people of severe punishment from HIM in case of their continued disbelief,
and to give the good news to the believers who practice righteousness -
that for them will be a beautiful reward – Paradise,

18:03
a. Paradise - wherein they will live forever – never to leave, never to die.

18:04
Furthermore, it is meant to warn those who allege:
‘Allah has taken to HIMSELF a son.’

18:05
They have no knowledge about it, nor had their forefathers.
It is really a monstrous assertion of blasphemy that is coming out of their mouths!
They utter nothing but an absolute falsehood against Allah.

18:06
O The Prophet!
You are aggrieved by the hostility aroused by the Divine Message among the polytheists.
Then perhaps you are going to destroy yourself with grief and anguish for their sake
if they are not believing in this Proclamation - The Qur’an.

18:07
This is a reality that WE have made all that is in the terrestrial world,
- a splendor and beauty for it so that WE may test people to see which of them is better in terms of deeds, speech, and dealings of righteousness;

18:08
and, in due course, WE are going to reduce all that is in it - the terrestrial world - to a wasteland:
post Last Hour scenario.

18:09
a. Do you think that the Companions of the Cavern and the Inscription might be an unusually amazing and an extraordinary wonder among OUR other Wonders?

18:10
Recall when the young men fled from persecution for refuge to the Cavern,
so they prayed:
‘O Our Rabb - The Lord!
Grant us from YOURSELF mercy,
and provide us right-mindedness in our situation/ordeal.’

18:11
Thereupon, WE plugged their ears and caused them to sleep in the Cavern for a number of
years.
And thus they remained cut off from the outside world.

18:12
And, then after some time, WE awakened them to the active life of this world,
so that WE might mark out which of the two groups among them
showed a better comprehension of the time-span during which they had remained in this state of sleep.

18:13
And now WE will recount to you their true history:
They were young men who believed in the Unshared Unity of their Rabb - The Lord and the Hereafter and its Correlatives,
so WE increased them in guidance/right-mindedness.

18:14
And WE made their hearts firm in faith and encouraged them to face every eventuality.
And when they stood up, they said:
‘Our Rabb - The Lord is the Rabb - The Lord of the celestial realm and the terrestrial world.
We are never going to call upon any entity of worship apart from HIM.
If we did that, we would then have uttered an outrageous blasphemy.’

18:15
‘These people of ours have taken for worship entities apart from HIM;
even though they do not have any convincing evidence concerning them.
Thus who could be more unjust than the one who fabricates a falsehood against Allah’s Unshared Unity and Divinity?’
They were threatened to be crucified if they kept adhering to their faith. Resultantly, they fled the city.

18:16
The young men said to one another –
‘Now when you have escaped from them and turned away from all that they worship apart from Allah,

then take refuge in the Cavern.
Your Rabb - The Lord will spread abundantly of HIS Mercy over you, and provide you relief in your predicament!’

18:17
And had you been present, you would have seen the sun on its rising - veering away from
their Cavern towards the right, and,
on its setting, passing away from them towards the left -
while they lay in an open space within it.
That was one of Allah’s Wonders.
Whoever Allah guides is indeed guided aright,
and whoever HE lets go astray – you will never find a guide for him guiding on to the Path of Righteousness.

18:18
And you would have assumed that they were awake,
whereas they were not awake – they were certainly asleep.
And WE were turning them over repeatedly on their sides - towards the right side and towards the left side;
and their dog was sitting, stretching out its forepaws at the Cavern’s threshold.
And had you looked at them, you would have certainly run away from them,
and been frightened of them.

18:19
And such being their state,
WE awakened them - fit and healthy without usual nourishment, another Divine Wonder -
and they began to question one another.
One of them asked:
‘How long have you all been here?’
The others answered:
‘We may have been here for a day, or perhaps a part of a day.’
Others said:
‘Your Rabb - The Lord Knows Best how long you have been here.
Let, then, one of you go with this paper money of yours to the city market, and
let him find the halal food there, and bring you some of it – the first thing they felt after
awakening was hunger.
But let him be cautious and behave with great care, and by no means make anyone aware of you.’

18:20
‘In fact, they - if they should come to know of you,
they will either stone you to death or force you back to their religious cult,
in which case you will never succeed in the Sight of Allah.’

18:21
And in this way, WE had drawn attention of residents of the city to their situation,
so that they could know that Allah’s Promise of Resurrection is true, and
that there can be no doubt about the coming of The Last Hour.
Later, the Companions of the Cavern died their natural death and were buried.
Imagine when the people argued among themselves about their situation as to what had happened to them and how their burial place may be honored.

So some of them said:
‘Build a monumental structure in their memory.
Their Rabb - The Lord Knew their situation.’
However, those whose opinion prevailed in their situation said:
‘We must certainly build a house of prayer in their memory.’

18:22
In times to come some people will say:
They were ‘three Companions of the Cavern, the fourth of them was their dog;’
while others will say:
They were ‘five, their dog was the sixth of them’ -
- just speculating about the unknown.
Yet others will say:
They were ‘seven, the eighth of them was their dog.’
Say:
‘My Rabb - The Lord Knows best of their exact number.
No one but only a few people have any real knowledge of them about their exact numbers,
so do not unnecessarily argue about them and their numbers, except by way of changing the subject.
And do not ask anyone of them for an opinion or a clarification about them.’

18:23
And never say about something:
‘Surely I will do this tomorrow’ -

18:24
but without adding: ‘if Allah so wills.’
Should you forget or it remains unsaid inadvertently, then call upon your Rabb - The Lord,
and say:
‘I pray that my Rabb - The Lord will guide me even closer to right-mindedness than this.’

18:25
Some people say that they remained in their cavern for three hundred years, and
others add nine to make it three hundred and nine years.

18:26
Say:
‘Allah Knows Best for how long they were there.
For HIM alone is the knowledge of the unseen of the celestial realm and the terrestrial world.
How well HE Sees all things, and how well HE Listens to all things!
They neither have a guardian apart from HIM,
nor does HE ever associate anyone in HIS Rule’/Command.

18:27
O The Prophet!
And proclaim whatever is being revealed on to you of the Book of your Rabb - The Lord.
No one can change or replace HIS Words – because HIS Words are immutable!
And you will not find anyone who can save you besides HIM.

18:28
And keep yourself content with company and advice of those who call upon their Rabb - The Lord by morning and by evening - seeking HIS Face

And let your eyes not turn away from them desiring the splendor and attractions of the life of this world.
And do not pay attention to anyone whose heart WE have rendered negligent of OUR Remembrance,
and who only follows his own whims and desires, and whose affairs/deeds exceed all bounds.

18:29
And say:
‘The Truth has come to you from your Rabb - The Lord.
Then whoever wishes to believe in it, let him believe, and whoever wishes to disbelieve it, let him disbelieve.’
Justice will be done to both at the Time of Final Judgment.
Surely, for the wrongdoers WE have prepared the Fire – whose walls like flames will surround them from all sides.
And if they were to plead for water they will be provided with a drink of molten metal
poured over them - it will scald their faces.
Awful will be the drink, and terrible will be their resting place!

18:30
As for those who believe and practice righteousness,
WE are never going to waste the reward of anyone who practices righteousness.

18:31
Those – for them will be the everlasting gardens in heaven through which rivers/streams
flow.
Therein they will be adorned with bracelets of gold, and
they will be dressed in green garments of fine silk and rich brocade,
reclining therein on couches.
Blessed indeed will be the reward for their righteousness, and wonderful will be their resting place!

18:32
And give them the example of two persons:
WE made for one of them two orchards of grapevine, and
surrounded them both with date-palms, and
then placed a field of crops between them.

18:33
Each of the two orchards of grapevine yielded its produce abundantly, and never discounted to do so in any way.
and WE made a waterway to flow in the midst of each of them.

18:34
And so the person had the fruit as well as wealth in abundance.
So one day he boasted to his companion in the course of a conversation with him:
‘I have more wealth than you, and I am more powerful in following!’

18:35
And having thus been unfair to himself, he went into his orchard of grapevine,
saying to his friend:
‘I do not think any of this will ever perish!’

18:36
‘And I also do not think that the Last Hour will ever come.
But even if it were to come and I were to be brought before my Rabb - The Lord for judgment,
I should surely find there something even better than this.’

18:37
And his companion said to him in the course of his conversation:
‘Do you belie and deny The One WHO created you out of dust, and
then out of a drop of seminal fluid and
then shaped you into a man?’

18:38
‘But for my part, I believe in the fact that HE is Allah, my Rabb - The Lord,
and I never ascribe any entity of worship - proverbial or metaphorical - to my Rabb - The Lord in HIS Unshared Unity and Divinity.

18:39
And, as you entered your orchards of grapevine, why did you not say:
Everything is ‘as Allah Wills.
There is no power except the Power of Allah?’
Although, as you see, I have less wealth and fewer children than you;

18:40
yet it may well be that my Rabb - The Lord will give me something better than your orchards of grapevine,
just as HE may send upon your orchards a calamity from the sky,
and then it will be a place of devastated flattened land!’

18:41
‘Or its irrigation water may sink deep into the ground and your orchards get dried,
so that you will never be able to retrieve it’ and irrigate your orchards.

18:42
So his fruitful orchards of grapevine were encompassed with ruin and its produce was struck by a thunderbolt,
and there he stood in the morning, wringing his hands over in anguish, for all that he had invested in time, money, and effort -
it lay in waste upon its trellises;
and he lamented his fate and could only say:
‘I wish I had never ascribed any entity of worship to my Rabb’ - The Lord in HIS Unshared Unity and Divinity!

18:43
And there were no supporters who could help and protect him against Allah.
In fact, he could not even help himself.

18:44
At that time it became clear that:
all power of help and protection rests with Allah - The Reality.
HE is best in rewarding deeds and dealings, and best in determining the final outcome of matters.

18:45
And cite for them the likeliness of the life of this world:
It is like the water WE send down from the sky clouds,
and the vegetation of the earth mingles with it.
Then soon afterward it turns into dried stubble to be scattered around by the winds.
And it is Allah alone WHO has power over everything.

18:46
The wealth and children are merely the splendor of the life of this world:
but the things that last forever - the deeds and dealings of righteousness -
are of far greater reward in the Sight of your Rabb - The Lord,
and a far better source of hope for the Hereafter.

18:47
And visualize The Time when WE will set the mountains in motion,
and you will see the earth emerging as level plain, and lifeless.
Then WE will gather them all together,
and WE will not leave out a single one of them behind.

18:48
And they will be lined up before your Rabb - The Lord,
and HE will address:
‘Now you have come back to US empty-handed without any of those things you proudly possessed in the worldly life as WE created you the first time.
You, instead, thought that WE would never set an appointment for you’ - a time for your accountability!

18:49
And the book of record of everyone’s deeds and dealings - good/bad - will be set open,
and you will see the sinful apprehensive and fearful of what is in it.
They will say with remorse:
Ah - ‘Alas for us!
What kind of a record is this book!
It leaves out nothing, small or big, and it takes everything into account.’
They will find all that they had ever done now facing them.
And your Rabb - The Lord will never be unfair to anyone.

18:50
And remember when WE Commanded the angels:
‘Prostrate yourselves before Adam!’
So they all prostrated themselves, except Iblees.
Iblees was of the jinn species, so he deviated from the Command of his Rabb - The Lord.
Will you, then, take him and his descendants and accomplices for your friends apart from ME, while they are your real enemies?
If you do, then despicable is the bargain for the unjust/evildoers!

18:51
The Divine Voice resounds:
‘I did not call them to witness the creation of the celestial realm and the terrestrial world,
not even the creation of themselves.
And I am not The One having any need to take for help from those who mislead’ others.

18:52
And - The Time - HE will order:
‘Call now upon those entities of worship whom you ascribed to ME’ in Divinity and Worship!
So they will call upon them, but they will not respond to them -
for WE will have placed a wide gulf of doom between them.

18:53
And sinful will see the Fire,
they will realize that they are bound to fall into it,
and they will have no way to escape from it.

18:54
And, indeed, WE have explained in details in this Qur’an every subject in various ways for
the benefit of people.
Yet people remain contentious for the most part - arguing and disputing.

18:55
And there is nothing preventing people from believing – especially now since Guidance has come to them in the form of The Qur’an,
and from seeking forgiveness from their Rabb - The Lord -
except that the fate of sinful people of earlier times befalls them as well,
or that the punishment comes upon them head on?

18:56
And WE assign OUR Messengers only as heralds of good news and as givers of warnings.
But those who disbelieve seek to dispute and confuse the Truth with false arguments, and
therewith apparently weaken the truth.
And they make MY Messages and what they are warned about a target for their ridicule and mockery.

18:57
And who could be more unjust/wicked than the one who -
when reminded of the Messages of his Rabb - The Lord,
then turns away from them, and forgets what his own hands have done and sent ahead for the Judgment and award?
And – as a punishment - WE have
made coverings on their hearts so that they do not understand it,
and placed heaviness into their ears. so that they do not listen to it.
So even if you called them to Guidance, they will never be guided aright.

18:58
And yet your Rabb - The Lord is Most Forgiving and Possessor of Mercy.
If HE were to take them to task for whatever they have earned of sinful trespasses.
HE would indeed have hurried the punishment for them,
but HE invariably allows them time to repent and reform.
However, there is a time set for them – a point of no return - from which they will never
find an escape.

18:59
And these habitations are there for you to learn lesson from.

WE destroyed them when they persisted for a long time in wrongdoing;
and WE set a time for their destruction.

18:60
And visualize the time when Moses said to his young attendant:
‘I will go on traveling until I have reached the meeting point of the two seas -
or else I will go on traveling for a long time.’

18:61
But when they both finally reached the meeting point of the two seas,
they both forgot about their baked fish;
and the fish mysteriously acquired life and made its way into the sea through a tunnel -
disappearing from their sight.

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Moses and his young attendant did not recognize the meeting point when they had actually reached it as it was to be the point where their baked fish was to acquire life and make its way into the sea.
And after the two had passed beyond that divinely designated place for some distance,
Moses said to his young attendant:
‘Bring us our meal.
We are certainly fatigued and worn out from our journey.’

18:63
He, the attendant, said:
‘You know what?
When we were by the rock -
there I forgot to mention that the baked fish amazingly acquired life and made its way into the sea.
And no one but Satan made me forget to remember it’ and tell you about it.

18:64
He, Moses, exclaimed:
‘Oh - that is the place we were seeking!’
So the two turned back, retracing their steps.

18:65
Once they reached the place, there they found a servant - one of OUR servants, whom WE had blessed with mercy from US,
and whom WE had taught extraordinary knowledge from US.

18:66
Moses asked him:
‘May I accompany you so that you will teach me something of what - the knowledge and wisdom - you have been divinely taught?’

18:67
He - Sage - replied curtly:
‘Surely so - but you will not be able to have patience with me.’

18:68
‘Anyway how could you have patience for what you cannot even encompass in your
awareness/knowledge?’

18:69
He - Moses - replied:
‘You will find me patient - if Allah so Wills.
And I will not disobey you in any command.’

18:70
He - Sage - said:
‘Well, then, if you are to accompany me,
then do not question me about anything, until I tell you about it.’

18:71
And so they both set out by the sea shore and continued on, then came a coaster boat and a ride was negotiated,
and when they boarded the coaster boat, he - the Sage - forced out an opening in it.
Moses could not restrain himself and said:
‘Have you made an opening in it to a point that it would drown its people?
You have done something awful indeed!’
This was the first protest lodged by Moses.

18:72
He - Sage - reminded Moses:
‘Did I not tell that you would not be able to have patience while with me?’

18:73
He - Moses - said:
Oh - ‘do not take me to task for what I have done,
and do not burden me with something difficult for what I have done.’

18:74
Then, having reached their destination they disembarked from the coaster boat.
And so the two started walking by the shore until they met a young boy -
but he - the Sage - slew the boy.
Moses noticed that this matter was far more serious than the first one.
Therefore, he agitated by saying:
‘Have you slain an innocent soul with no cause for retaliation of anybody?
You have indeed done a horrible thing!’
This was the second protest lodged by Moses.

18:75
He - Sage - replied:
‘Did I not tell you that you would not be able to have patience while with me?’

18:76
Then Moses beseeched him saying:
‘If ever I question you about anything after this, then do not keep me as a companion.
Surely you have had enough excuses in that case from me’ to do so.

18:77
And so the two set out and continued until when they came to the people of a township,
where they asked its people for food.
But they refused to offer them hospitality.

Then they both found in it a wall on the verge of falling down, so the Sage repaired and set it right.
He - Moses - said:
‘Had you wished, you could have certainly taken some payment to yourself for it.’
This was the third intervention by Moses.

18:78
He - Sage - said:
‘This is the parting between me and you!
I will now apprise you the meaning and reality of what you were not able to have patience with.’

18:79
‘As for the coaster boat, it was owned by some poor people working on the sea.
So I only desired to slightly damage it and make it look defective as there was a pirate ruler across them seizing every coaster boat by force.’

18:80
‘And as for the young boy, his parents were pious and true believers,
and we feared that as he grows up he would burden them both with insolent transgression and ungratefulness/disbelief.’

18:81
a. ‘Therefore we wanted that their Rabb - The Lord grant them another son, as his substitute, better than him in piety and closer to them in affection and sympathy.’

18:82
‘And as for the wall, it belonged to two orphan boys of the township,
and beneath it was buried a treasure left to them as an inheritance by their parents for them.
And the father of both of them had been a pious person.
So your Rabb - The Lord wanted them both to attain maturity, and then dig out their treasure
- as a mercy from your Rabb - The Lord.
And I did not do any of this on my own behest.
This is the explanation and reality of what you were not able to have patience with.’

18:83
And they are questioning you about Dhu’l-Qarnayn.
Say:
‘I will narrate to you some part of his account.’

18:84
a. Surely, WE established him on the earth and granted him the means and resources to reach every place he wanted.

18:85
a. So he set about on a mission to one part of his resourceful kingdom -

18:86
until, when he reached the setting of the sun, he found it as if setting in a muddy body of water,
and he found next to it a people who were unruly.

WE said:
‘O Dhu’l-Qarnayn!
They are under your control so you may either punish them or treat them well.’

18:87
He - Dhu’l-Qarnayn – announced to the people:
‘As for the one who does evil, we will punish him.
Then he will be returned to his Rabb - The Lord, and HE will also punish him - a terrible punishment.’

18:88
‘But as for the one who believes and practices righteousness,
for him there will be a good reward.
and we - Dhu’l-Qarnayn - will issue easy commands to him.’

18:89
a. Then he set about on another mission – to another part of his kingdom.

18:90
Until, when he reached the rising place of the sun,
he found it rising on a people whom WE had not provided any shelter from it.

18:91
So it was -
for WE had already encompassed in OUR Knowledge what he had there before him.

18:92
Then he set about on yet another mission to another part of his kingdom -

18:93
until, when he arrived at the place between the two mountain ranges,b. he found on this side of them – on the near side - a people hardly able to understand his language.
18:94
They said by gestures:
‘O Dhu’l-Qarnayn!
The fact is that tribes of Gog and Magog are corrupting the land.
Shall we pay a tribute to you so you can build a strong barrier between us and them?’

18:95
He said:
‘What my Rabb - The Lord has established me with of wealth and power is far better than any tribute you might pay me.
Just help me instead with a labor force, and I will build a barrier between you and them.’

18:96
Now ‘bring me some ingots of iron.’
Until, when he had filled the gap between the two steep mountains, he said:
‘Blow!’
Until, when he had made it as hot as fire, he said:
Now ‘bring me molten brass.
I will pour molten brass over it’ to reinforce the defenses.

18:97
a. ‘So they – tribes of Gog and Magog - will neither surmount it from above nor will they breach it’ from within or below.

18:98
Then he said:
‘This is a mercy from my Rabb - The Lord – to hold back Gog and Magog.
But when the Promise of my Rabb - The Lord comes – the Last Hour and the Resurrection draw closer- HE will shatter it to dust.
The Promise of my Rabb - The Lord is absolutely true.’

18:99
WE are going to leave some of them Gog and Magog - at that Time – crashing into each other like surging waves,
and then the Trumpet will be sounded,
and WE will gather them all together.

18:100
a. WE will display the full expanse of Hell to the disbelievers at that Time -

18:101
- those whose eyes had been closed from MY Remembrance,
and those who were not willing even to listen to MY Messages.

18:102
Do those who disbelieve reckon that they can take MY servants as allies apart from ME.
No!
Surely WE have prepared Hell as lodging for the disbelievers.

18:103
Ask
‘Should WE tell you of the greatest losers of their deeds and dealings?’

18:104
‘They will be those whose efforts in the worldly pursuits were lost,
even as they reckoned they were virtuous’ in their deeds, speech, and dealings.

18:105
Those – they are those who disbelieved in the Messages of their Rabb - The Lord, and the meeting with HIM.
So their deeds and dealings came to nothing.
WE will not assign them any weight/value to their deeds and dealings at the Time of Resurrection.’

18:106
That is their reward – Hell – because they disbelieved,
and took MY Messages and MY Messengers for mockery.

18:107
Indeed, those who believe and practice righteousness –
for them will be Gardens of Paradise as a lodging.

18:108
Therein to remain eternally -
- never wishing to leave.

18:109
Say to them:
‘If the ocean water were to become an inkwell for writing the Words of my Rabb - The Lord,
then the ocean water would indeed run dry long before the Words of my Rabb - The Lord
run out,
even if WE were to bring another inkwell like it to replenish it.’

18:110
Say O The Prophet:
‘I am just a human being like you.
It is being revealed on to me that your Elah/Allah is One Elah/Allah – The Only.
So whoever looks forward with hope to meeting his Rabb - The Lord,
then let him practice righteousness, and
not ascribe any entity of worship in the worship of his Rabb - The Lord.’