Surah Al-Kahf English Translation & Transliteration

¹All praise belongs to Allah, who has sent down this Book/the Quran to His servant and has allowed no inconsistency in it.

²(2-3) Rather, He has made it perfectly straight, so that it may warn the disbelievers who cover up the truth of a severe punishment from Him, and give the believers who do good and right deeds the good news of a fine reward, in which they will remain forever.

³(2-3) Rather, He has made it perfectly straight, so that it may warn the disbelievers who cover up the truth of a severe punishment from Him, and give the believers who do good and right deeds the good news of a fine reward, in which they will remain forever.

⁴And so that it may warn those who say: "Allah has taken a child."

⁵Yet neither they nor their forefathers have any knowledge of this. What a monstrous word it is that comes out of their mouths! They speak nothing but a lie.

⁶Will you now destroy yourself grieving after them, because they do not believe in this discourse, the Quran?

⁷By bringing dazzling beauties into being on the earth, We wished to test them as to which of them would produce better and more beautiful deeds.

⁸When the time comes, We will turn all the beauties on the earth into bone-dry soil.

⁹Or did you find the companions of the cave and the inscribed monument so very astonishing?

¹⁰Recall when, long ago, a few young believers took refuge in a cave and prayed: —Our Lord, grant us mercy from Yourself, and show us a way out that will deliver us from the situation we are in.

¹¹We put them into a deep sleep in the cave that lasted for years.

¹²Then We woke them, and We witnessed the dispute between the two groups over how long they had stayed there.

¹³Now We are relating their story to you for a true purpose. They were young men who had believed in their Lord, and We had strengthened their faith.

¹⁴And We had put courage into their hearts, and they had said: —Our Lord is the Lord of the heavens and the earth. We will never implore any god besides Him in prayer; otherwise we would have uttered an absurd word, contrary to the truth.

¹⁵—These people of ours have taken a number of gods besides Allah. If only they would bring a clear and solid proof concerning them! Who, then, could be a greater wrongdoer than one who slanders Allah by attributing to Him a lie he has invented?

¹⁶One of them said: —Since you have turned your backs on them and on the gods they place between themselves and Allah and serve, take refuge in the cave, so that your Lord may enfold you in His mercy, make your affair easy for you, and deliver you.

¹⁷You would have seen the sun, as it rose and climbed, strike the right side of the cave and pass on, and as it set, strike the left side and pass on, so that no sunlight entered inside. They lay in the wide part at the back of the cave. This is one of Allah's signs. Whoever is on the path Allah shows is on the right path. And whoever goes astray, you will find no protector/friend or guide for him.

¹⁸You would have thought them awake, though they were asleep. We turned them now onto the right side, now onto the left. Their dog lay at the entrance of the cave with its forelegs stretched out. Had you seen them, you would certainly have fled from them, and a shudder would have run through you.

¹⁹Just as We put them to sleep, so too We woke them, and they began asking one another what had happened. One of them asked: —How long have you stayed in this state? Another said: —We must have stayed a day or less. The others said: —Our Lord knows best how long you have slept. Now send one of you to the city with this money, and let him see which food is the purest and bring you some food from it. But let him be very careful and not let anyone sense that we are here.

²⁰—If they get hold of you, they will either stone you to death or force you back into their religion. Then you will never ever prosper.

²¹Thus We made the people aware of them, so that they might understand that Allah's promise of raising the dead to life is true, and that the Hour, the end of this world, is a reality beyond all doubt. After a while the people began to argue among themselves about them. Some said: "Raise a monument over them; their Lord knows best about their situation." But the group that had gained control over their affair said: "We will certainly build a place of worship there."

²²Some time later, some people, guessing blindly at the unknown, will say: "They were three, and the fourth was their dog"; some will say: "They were five, and the sixth was their dog"; and another will say: "They were seven, and the eighth was their dog." Say: "My Lord knows best how many they were." Do not forget that few people have any knowledge about them. Content yourself on this matter with the knowledge given to you; do not enter into argument with them, and do not ask anyone at all about them!

²³And never say about anything: "I will certainly do this tomorrow!"

²⁴Say: "If Allah wills (in sha Allah), I will do it." And if you happen to forget this, remember your Lord at once and say: "Perhaps my Lord will bring me to a finer awareness and conduct than this!"

²⁵"Those young men stayed in the cave for three hundred years," they said. And they added nine more years to this.

²⁶Say: "Allah knows best how long they remained asleep. For knowledge of the unknown in the heavens and on the earth belongs to Allah. How perfectly He sees, how perfectly He hears! Those in the heavens and on the earth have no protectors besides Allah. He shares His authority and rule with no one."

²⁷So recite what has been revealed to you from your Lord's Book, the Quran. For there is no power that can change His words, nor can you find any refuge besides Him.

²⁸Keep on being with those who implore their Lord morning and evening, seeking His good pleasure! Do not turn away from them, deceived by the attractions of the life of this world. And never even think of obeying one who, following his own whims, is wholly given to excess and has therefore left his heart heedless of Our Reminder, the Quran!

²⁹And say: —The truth is the Quran, which has come from your Lord; so let whoever wishes believe and be a believer, and let whoever wishes refuse to believe and be a disbeliever. But let him know well that for the wrongdoers who persist in error against this message We have prepared a fire whose walls of flame surround them on every side. When, parched with thirst, they ask for water, they will be offered water like molten iron that scorches and sears their faces. What an evil drink that is, and what a terrible place!

³⁰But as for those who believe and do good deeds as their faith requires, We never let the reward of those who do such good deeds go to waste.

³¹For them there are the Gardens of Adn (Eden), beneath which rivers flow. There they will be adorned with bracelets of gold, and will wear green garments of fine silk and heavy brocade. There they will recline with delight on thrones. What an excellent reward that is! What a fine and pleasant place it is!

³²Give them the instructive story of these two men as an example: To one of them We had given two vineyards, had surrounded them with date palms, and had made crops grow between his two vineyards.

³³Both vineyards gave their produce in full, without the slightest fall in yield; moreover, We had made a river flow between the two vineyards.

³⁴He also had other sources of income. While talking with his friend, he said: "I have more wealth than you, and I am stronger than you in manpower too."

³⁵This man, who had wronged himself through arrogance and pride, entered his garden and said: "I really do not think this garden will ever wither and vanish."

³⁶"In fact, I do not think the Hour, the end of this world, will ever come either. But if such a thing should happen and I am returned to my Lord, I am sure I will find something better than this there," he said.

³⁷His friend, with whom he was talking, said to him: —Are you being ungrateful to Allah, who created you first from earth, then from a drop of fluid/sperm, and then fashioned you into a man?

³⁸But as for me, He is Allah, my Lord, and I do not commit shirk by associating anyone with my Lord as a partner.

³⁹—What a pity! If only, when you entered your garden, instead of boasting, you had said: "Masha Allah! How beautifully Allah has willed and created this! Nothing comes about without His power and strength." Even though you regard me as inferior to you in wealth and children.

⁴⁰—Perhaps my Lord will give me something better than your vineyard, and send upon your vineyard a calamity from the sky that turns it into a bone-dry desert.

⁴¹—Or its water will sink away in such a way that you will never be able to reach it again.

⁴²At last a calamity came and swept away all he had. When the man entered his ruined vineyard and looked at his wasted labor and collapsed trellises, he wrung his hands and voiced his regret thus: "Oh, if only I had not committed shirk by associating anyone with my Lord as a partner!"

⁴³For he had no one besides Allah to help him, nor was he in any position to fend for himself.

⁴⁴There and then, being a friend and helper belongs to Allah, the true God. For He is the One who gives the best reward and determines the best outcome.

⁴⁵Give those who boast of their wealth this example of the life of this world: It is just like this: when the rain We send down from the sky mixes with the soil, a dense cover of plants forms on the earth; then this greenery dries up and becomes worthless debris that the wind scatters and carries away. For Allah has power over all things.

⁴⁶The wealth and children you possess are passing adornments of the life of this world. But good and beautiful deeds, which are what truly last, are better with your Lord in reward and more worthy of one's hopes.

⁴⁷On that day, when We tear the mountains from their places and set them moving, you will see the earth laid completely flat; and on that day We will gather all people together, leaving not a single one behind.

⁴⁸And people will be brought before their Lord in rows. And We will say to them: "Look, you have come before Us one by one, just as We created you the first time; yet you thought We would never bring about such a meeting."

⁴⁹At last, when the records of deeds that have been kept are laid open, you will see the guilty terrified at what is written there and saying: "Woe to us! What kind of book is this? It leaves out nothing, small or great; it has counted out everything!" And they will find everything they did recorded there. For your Lord wrongs no one.

⁵⁰Recall when We once said to the angels: —Prostrate yourselves before Adam/be at his service! All of them placed themselves at his service except Iblis. He was of the jinn, and he defied his Lord's command. Will you now take him and his offspring as friends instead of Me, when he is your enemy? What an evil exchange for the wrongdoers!

⁵¹I did not make Iblis and his henchmen witnesses either to the creation of the heavens and the earth or to their own creation. Nor will I ever take these beings who lead people astray as helpers.

⁵²And on that day Allah will call out to them: "Call those you imagined to be partners in My authority." They will call them, but those will be unable to give any answer to this call. For We will have placed an impassable chasm between them.

⁵³At last the guilty will see the Fire and realize that they are going to fall into it. But they will find no way to escape from it.

⁵⁴Indeed, We have set forth in this Quran every kind of example for people. But all that most people do is argue.

⁵⁵When the Quran, the guide to the right path, came to people, the only thing that kept them from believing and becoming believers and from asking their Lord to forgive their sins was their wanting what befell those before them to befall them too, or the punishment of the Hereafter to be brought and laid out before their eyes.

⁵⁶Yet We send the messengers only as bearers of good news and as warners. But the disbelievers who cover up the truth, clinging to baseless false beliefs and claims, struggle to render the truth, the Quran, void, and make light of Our verses and warnings and mock them.

⁵⁷Who could be a greater wrongdoer than one who, when reminded of his Lord's verses, turns away from them and forgets what he has done before? Over their hearts they have drawn veils that keep them from understanding the Quran, and they would not hear with their ears. So even if you call them to the right path, they will never come to it.

⁵⁸Despite all this, your Lord is still most forgiving and most merciful. Were He to punish them at once for the sins they committed, He would hasten their punishment and punish them immediately. But there is an appointed time for their punishment. When that day comes, they will never find any refuge apart from Allah.

⁵⁹There, for all to see, are the lands We destroyed because they wronged themselves and brought ruin upon themselves; to them too We had given a set time before destroying them.

⁶⁰Recall when Moses once said to his young companion: —I am determined to reach the place where the two seas meet, even if it takes me years to get there.

⁶¹When the two of them reached the place where the two seas meet, they forgot their fish. Meanwhile the fish slipped away into the sea and was gone.

⁶²When they had passed the place where the two seas meet, Moses said to the young man with him: —Come, bring our provisions and let us eat; this journey has tired us out.

⁶³The young man said: —Look, do you remember when we stopped to rest at the foot of the rock? That is where I forgot the fish; it must have been Satan who made me forget it. And in an astonishing way it slipped away into the sea and was gone.

⁶⁴Moses said: —That is exactly the place we were looking for! And they went back the way they had come, retracing their footsteps.

⁶⁵There they met one of Our servants, to whom We had given mercy/revelation and whom We had taught knowledge from Our presence.

⁶⁶Moses said to him: —May I come with you, so that you may teach me enough of the special knowledge you have been taught to lead me to the truth?

⁶⁷He said: —You will not be able to bear being with me.

⁶⁸—And how could you bear things whose inner reality you do not know? he said.

⁶⁹—By Allah's leave, you will find me patient, and I will not oppose anything you do, said Moses.

⁷⁰—If you are coming with me, then you are not to ask me about anything until I explain to you the inner reality of what I do.

⁷¹And so they set out and boarded a ship. For no apparent reason, the wise man made a hole in the ship. Moses said to him: —Did you make a hole in it to drown its passengers? You have truly done a very dangerous thing.

⁷²The wise man replied: —Did I not tell you that you would not be able to bear being with me?

⁷³Moses said: —Do not rebuke me for what I forgot; please, do not make things hard for me on this journey of mine!

⁷⁴They set out again, and then they came upon a boy, and the man went and killed the boy on the spot. Moses said: —Why did you kill an innocent child for no reason? What you have done is truly terrible.

⁷⁵He said: —Did I not tell you that you would not be able to bear being with me?

⁷⁶Moses said: —If I ask you about anything after this, do not keep me as your companion any longer! I no longer have the face to apologize to you anyway.

⁷⁷After this they set out once more. At last they came upon the people of a town and asked them for food. But the people showed them no hospitality. There they saw a wall that was about to collapse, and the man promptly repaired it and set it straight. Moses said to him: —If you had wished, you could have taken a fee for this.

⁷⁸The wise man said: —Now the time has come for you and me to part; but I will explain to you the inner reality of the events you could not bear and interfered in.

⁷⁹—Let us begin with the ship. That ship belonged to disabled people who earned their living from the sea. I wanted to damage it, because where they were heading there was a ruler who seized every sound ship he saw.

⁸⁰—As for the boy I killed: his mother and father were believers. We feared that the boy would drag his parents into insolence and disbelief.

⁸¹—So We wished that their Lord would give them in his place a child purer in character, better than him, and closer to them in love and compassion.

⁸²—Now to the wall: the wall belonged to two orphan children living in the town. Beneath the wall was a treasure belonging to those children. And their father had been a pure and good man. Your Lord willed that they should reach maturity and bring out this treasure, as a mercy from your Lord. So I did none of this of my own accord. That is the inner reality of the events you simply could not bear.

⁸³They ask you about Dhu al-Qarnayn. Say: —I will give you some information about him.

⁸⁴We truly gave him wide means, strength, and power on the earth, and granted him the means and the ways to reach everything he needed.

⁸⁵And he set out with the means he had.

⁸⁶At last, when he reached the place where the sun sets, he saw there that the sun seemed to be setting into dark, muddy water. There he found a people. We said to him: O Dhu al-Qarnayn, you may punish them if you wish, or you may treat them kindly.

⁸⁷Dhu al-Qarnayn said: —Whoever does evil and wrong, we will punish him; and when the time comes, he will be returned to his Lord, and his Lord will punish him with a terrible punishment.

⁸⁸But whoever believes and does good deeds, for him there is a fine reward in return, and we will grant him every kind of ease.

⁸⁹Then he set out with the means he had.

⁹⁰At last, when he reached a place where the sun never set, he found a people for whom We had made no cover/night against the sun, and on whom the sun rose continually.

⁹¹Such were his power and knowledge, for We had full knowledge of all that he possessed.

⁹²Then he set out on yet another path.

⁹³At last he reached a spot between two mountains. Beyond the mountain he found a people who would neither understand nor listen to anything said to them.

⁹⁴They said: O Dhu al-Qarnayn, Gog and Magog (Ya'juj and Ma'juj) are spreading corruption in this land. Shall we pay you tribute in return for your building a barrier between us and them?

⁹⁵Dhu al-Qarnayn said: —The position and means my Lord has given me are worth more than what you would give. So support me with your strength, and I will build an impassable barrier between you and them.

⁹⁶—For this, bring me blocks of iron. When at last the gap between the two mountains had been filled and leveled, he said to them: —Fan the fire! At last, when the iron had melted and become white-hot, he said: —Bring me molten copper, so that I may pour it over it.

⁹⁷After that, their enemies could neither climb over that barrier nor make a breach in it.

⁹⁸Dhu al-Qarnayn said: —This is a grace from my Lord. When my Lord's promise comes, He will level it to the ground. For my Lord's promise is true.

⁹⁹When that day comes, We will leave them to themselves, surging in waves and crashing against one another; and when the Trumpet (Sur) is blown again, We will gather them all together.

¹⁰⁰And on that day We will bring Hell face to face with the disbelievers who cover up the truth.

¹⁰¹For in the world they had become blind to My Reminder/the Quran, and they could not bear to hear My verses.

¹⁰²Do the disbelievers who cover up the truths think they can be saved by placing My servants between Me and themselves as protectors (awliya)? We have prepared Hell as a lodging for these disbelievers.

¹⁰³Say: —Shall we tell you who are the greatest losers in respect of their efforts?

¹⁰⁴They are those whose every effort in the world has gone to waste, even though they thought they were doing good things.

¹⁰⁵They are the ones who did not believe in their Lord's verses or take into account their meeting with Him, and so all that they did has gone to waste. We will not even consider their deeds worth weighing.

¹⁰⁶Their punishment is Hell, because they did not believe and because they made light of My verses and My messengers.

¹⁰⁷As for those who believe and do good deeds befitting their faith, the place where they will be hosted will be the most magnificent gardens of Paradise.

¹⁰⁸There they will abide permanently. They will not wish to leave it.

¹⁰⁹Say: —If all the seas were ink for writing down my Lord's words/rulings, and even if as much again were added to it, the seas would run dry before my Lord's words ran out.

¹¹⁰Say: —I am only a human being like you; but it is revealed to me that your God is one God alone. So whoever hopes to meet his Lord, let him do good and right deeds, and in serving his Lord let him not commit shirk by associating anyone with Him as a partner!/Let him not place anyone in between!