Al-Kahf

Praise be to God, who has sent down upon His obedient one the Scripture and placed in it no crookedness,

ٱلحمد لله ٱلذي أنزل على عبده ٱلكتب ولم يجعل له عوجا

straight — to warn of a severe rigor from Him, to give the believers who do sound deeds the glad tidings that they will have a fine reward, wherein they will remain forever, and to warn those who said: "God has taken a child."

قيما لينذر بأسا شديدا من لدنه ويبشر ٱلمؤمنين ٱلذين يعملون ٱلصلحت أن لهم أجرا حسنا مكثين فيه أبدا وينذر ٱلذين قالوا ٱتخذ ٱلله ولدا

They say nothing but a lie.

إن يقولون إلا كذبا

Perhaps you will consume yourself with bitterness, following after them, if they do not believe in this discourse.

فلعلك بخع نفسك على ءاثرهم إن لم يؤمنوا بهذا ٱلحديث أسفا

We have made what is on the earth an adornment for it, so as to test them: which of them acts best.

إنا جعلنا ما على ٱلأرض زينة لها لنبلوهم أيهم أحسن عملا

And We shall surely make what is on it an arid ground.

وإنا لجعلون ما عليها صعيدا جرزا

Or did you suppose that the companions of the Cave and of ar-Raqim were, among Our signs, a marvel?

أم حسبت أن أصحب ٱلكهف وٱلرقيم كانوا من ءايتنا عجبا

When the young people took refuge in the Cave and said: "Our Guardian, grant us, from Yourself, a benevolence, and shape for us, in our affair, a path of rectitude."

إذ أوى ٱلفتية إلى ٱلكهف فقالوا ربنآ ءاتنا من لدنك رحمة وهيئ لنا من أمرنا رشدا

We then closed their ears, in the Cave, for numbered years; then We raised them up to distinguish which of the two parties better enumerated the span for which they had remained.

فضربنا على ءاذانهم في ٱلكهف سنين عددا ثم بعثنهم لنعلم أى ٱلحزبين أحصى لما لبثوا أمدا

they were young people who believed in their Guardian, and We increased them in guidance.

إنهم فتية ءامنوا بربهم وزدنهم هدى

We bound their cores, when they stood up and said: "Our Guardian is the Guardian of the heavens and the earth; never shall we call upon any deity besides Him — we would then have said an enormous excess."

وربطنا على قلوبهم إذ قاموا فقالوا ربنا رب ٱلسموت وٱلأرض لن ندعوا من دونه إلها لقد قلنآ إذا شططا

Who then does more wrong than one who invents a lie against God?

فمن أظلم ممن ٱفترى على ٱلله كذبا

And since you have drawn apart from them and from what they obey besides God, take refuge in the Cave: your Guardian will deploy over you some of His benevolence and shape for you, in your affair, a support.

وإذ ٱعتزلتموهم وما يعبدون إلا ٱلله فأوا إلى ٱلكهف ينشر لكم ربكم من رحمته ويهيئ لكم من أمركم مرفقا

and whoever He leads astray, you will never find for him an ally to make him well-advised.

ومن يضلل فلن تجد له وليا مرشدا

Had you seen them, you would surely have turned your back on them in flight, and been filled with terror of them.

لو ٱطلعت عليهم لوليت منهم فرارا ولملئت منهم رعبا

and let him make no one sense your presence in any way.

ولا يشعرن بكم أحدا

for if they gained the upper hand over you, they would banish you, or make you return to their doctrine, and you would then never succeed."

إنهم إن يظهروا عليكم يرجموكم أو يعيدوكم في ملتهم ولن تفلحوا إذا أبدا

Those who won out in the matter said: "We shall surely set up over them a place of prostration."

قال ٱلذين غلبوا على أمرهم لنتخذن عليهم مسجدا

So do not wrangle about them except in an apparent wrangling, and do not consult anyone among them about them.

فلا تمار فيهم إلا مرآء ظهرا ولا تستفت فيهم منهم أحدا

and say: "It may be that my Guardian will guide me to a rectitude nearer than this."

وقل عسى أن يهدين ربي لأقرب من هذا رشدا

They remained in their cave three hundred years, and added nine.

ولبثوا في كهفهم ثلث مائة سنين وٱزدادوا تسعا

and He associates no one with His judgment."

ولا يشرك في حكمه أحدا

and you will find, besides Him, no recourse.

ولن تجد من دونه ملتحدا

and do not defer to one whose core We have made heedless of Our remembrance, who has followed his emotion, and whose affair is excess.

ولا تطع من أغفلنا قلبه عن ذكرنا وٱتبع هوىه وكان أمره فرطا

And what an evil resting-place!

وسآءت مرتفقا

Those who have believed and done sound deeds — We do not let the reward of one who does well dissipate.

إن ٱلذين ءامنوا وعملوا ٱلصلحت إنا لا نضيع أجر من أحسن عملا

And what an excellent resting-place!

وحسنت مرتفقا

Multiply for them an example: two men; for one of them We made two gardens of vines, which We surrounded with palm trees, and between which We placed cultivated fields.

وٱضرب لهم مثلا رجلين جعلنا لأحدهما جنتين من أعنب وحففنهما بنخل وجعلنا بينهما زرعا

Each of the two gardens gave its fare, doing no wrong in any of it,

كلتا ٱلجنتين ءاتت أكلها ولم تظلم منه شيا

He said to his companion, while conversing with him: "I am richer than you in goods, and mightier in numbers."

فقال لصحبه وهو يحاوره أنا أكثر منك مالا وأعز نفرا

He entered his garden, wronging himself,

ودخل جنته وهو ظالم لنفسه

and said: "I do not presume this will ever perish, and I do not presume the Hour will rise; and even if I am brought back to my Guardian, I shall surely find something better than this garden as a return."

قال مآ أظن أن تبيد هذه أبدا ومآ أظن ٱلساعة قآئمة ولئن رددت إلى ربي لأجدن خيرا منها منقلبا

His companion said to him, while conversing with him: "Do you disown Him who created you from earth, then from a drop, then fashioned you into a well-formed man?

قال له صاحبه وهو يحاوره أكفرت بٱلذي خلقك من تراب ثم من نطفة ثم سوىك رجلا

As for me, He is God, my Guardian, and I associate no one with my Guardian.

لكنا هو ٱلله ربي ولآ أشرك بربي أحدا

Why did you not say, upon entering your garden: "It is what God has willed! No strength except in God!" —

ولولآ إذ دخلت جنتك قلت ما شآء ٱلله لا قوة إلا بٱلله

If you see me as having fewer goods and children than you, it may be that my Guardian will grant me better than your garden, and send upon it, from the sky, a reckoned punishment, so that it becomes a slippery ground, or its water sinks away, so that you will never be able to seek it out.

إن ترن أنا أقل منك مالا وولدا فعسى ربي أن يؤتين خيرا من جنتك ويرسل عليها حسبانا من ٱلسمآء فتصبح صعيدا زلقا أو يصبح مآؤها غورا فلن تستطيع له طلبا

And his fructified wealth was encompassed, so that he began wringing his hands over what he had spent on it, while the garden was empty despite its edifices, and he was saying: "Would that I had associated no one with my Guardian!"

وأحيط بثمره فأصبح يقلب كفيه على مآ أنفق فيها وهي خاوية على عروشها ويقول يليتني لم أشرك بربي أحدا

and he could not help himself.

وما كان منتصرا

He is best in requital and best in outcome.

هو خير ثوابا وخير عقبا

God is capable of all things.

وكان ٱلله على كل شىء مقتدرا

and the enduring, sound deeds are, with your Guardian, better in requital and better in hope.

وٱلبقيت ٱلصلحت خير عند ربك ثوابا وخير أملا

The Day We set the mountains in motion, and you see the earth laid bare, and We gather them, omitting not one of them.

ويوم نسير ٱلجبال وترى ٱلأرض بارزة وحشرنهم فلم نغادر منهم أحدا

but you claimed that We would never appoint you a meeting."

بل زعمتم ألن نجعل لكم موعدا

and your Guardian wrongs no one.

ولا يظلم ربك أحدا

What a detestable exchange for the wrongdoers!

بئس للظلمين بدلا

I did not make them witnesses to the creation of the heavens and the earth, nor to their own creation, and I would never take those who mislead as an arm.

مآ أشهدتهم خلق ٱلسموت وٱلأرض ولا خلق أنفسهم وما كنت متخذ ٱلمضلين عضدا

And the Day He says: "Call upon My associates whom you used to claim," they will call upon them, but they will not respond to them; and We shall place between them a place of disaster.

ويوم يقول نادوا شركآءي ٱلذين زعمتم فدعوهم فلم يستجيبوا لهم وجعلنا بينهم موبقا

The severed will see the Fire and presume that they are about to plunge into it, finding no way to turn away from it.

ورءا ٱلمجرمون ٱلنار فظنوا أنهم مواقعوها ولم يجدوا عنها مصرفا

but the human being is, more than anything, given to arguing.

وكان ٱلإنسن أكثر شىء جدلا

And nothing prevents mankind from believing, when guidance has come to them, and from asking forgiveness of their Guardian, except that the norm of the ancients should come to them, or the punishment come to them, face to face.

وما منع ٱلناس أن يؤمنوا إذ جآءهم ٱلهدى ويستغفروا ربهم إلآ أن تأتيهم سنة ٱلأولين أو يأتيهم ٱلعذاب قبلا

and they have taken My signs, and what they were warned of, in mockery.

وٱتخذوا ءايتي ومآ أنذروا هزوا

and if you call them to guidance, they will never let themselves be guided.

وإن تدعهم إلى ٱلهدى فلن يهتدوا إذا أبدا

but they have an appointment from which they will find, besides Him, no harbor.

بل لهم موعد لن يجدوا من دونه موئلا

And those cities, We annihilated them when they did wrong, and We set an appointment for their annihilation.

وتلك ٱلقرى أهلكنهم لما ظلموا وجعلنا لمهلكهم موعدا

And when Moussa said to his young companion: "I will not stop until I reach the meeting-place of the two seas, though I journey for a prolonged period."

وإذ قال موسى لفتىه لآ أبرح حتى أبلغ مجمع ٱلبحرين أو أمضي حقبا

When they had reached the meeting-place of the two seas, they forgot their fish, which then took its way into the sea, like a mirage vanishing.

فلما بلغا مجمع بينهما نسيا حوتهما فٱتخذ سبيله في ٱلبحر سربا

When they had traversed it, he said to his young companion: "Bring us our meal; we have indeed met, on this journey, much fatigue."

فلما جاوزا قال لفتىه ءاتنا غدآءنا لقد لقينا من سفرنا هذا نصبا

in an astonishing way!"

عجبا

He said: "That is what we were seeking."

قال ذلك ما كنا نبغ

So they drew back upon their own tracks, retracing them, and found an obedient one among Our obedient ones, to whom We had granted a benevolence from Us and to whom We had taught, from Us, a knowledge.

فٱرتدا على ءاثارهما قصصا فوجدا عبدا من عبادنآ ءاتينه رحمة من عندنا وعلمنه من لدنا علما

Moussa said to him: "May I follow you, on condition that you teach me, of what you have been taught, a rectitude?"

قال له موسى هل أتبعك على أن تعلمن مما علمت رشدا

He said: "You will never be able to be patient with me.

قال إنك لن تستطيع معي صبرا

And how would you be patient about what you do not encompass by experience?"

وكيف تصبر على ما لم تحط به خبرا

and I will not disobey you in anything."

ولآ أعصي لك أمرا

He said: "If then you follow me, do not question me about anything, until I make mention of it to you."

قال فإن ٱتبعتني فلا تسلني عن شىء حتى أحدث لك منه ذكرا

He said: "Have you made a hole in it to drown its occupants? You have done a very grave thing!"

قال أخرقتها لتغرق أهلها لقد جئت شيا إمرا

He said: "Did I not tell you that you would never be able to be patient with me?"

قال ألم أقل إنك لن تستطيع معي صبرا

He said: "Do not take me to task for what I forgot, and do not crush me, in my affair, with hardship."

قال لا تؤاخذني بما نسيت ولا ترهقني من أمري عسرا

So they set off, until, meeting a young boy, he killed him. He said: "Have you killed a pure Self, without it being for another Self? You have done a horrible thing!"

فٱنطلقا حتى إذا لقيا غلما فقتله قال أقتلت نفسا زكية بغير نفس لقد جئت شيا نكرا

He said: "Did I not tell you that you would never be able to be patient with me?"

قال ألم أقل لك إنك لن تستطيع معي صبرا

He said: "If I question you about anything after this, do not keep me as a companion; you will then have, from me, an excuse."

قال إن سألتك عن شىء بعدها فلا تصحبني قد بلغت من لدني عذرا

He said: "Had you wanted, you could have taken a reward for that."

قال لو شئت لتخذت عليه أجرا

I will inform you of the prediction of what you were not able to bear with patience.

سأنبئك بتأويل ما لم تستطع عليه صبرا

As for the boat, it belonged to destitute people working at sea; I wanted to make it defective, for behind them was a king who was seizing every boat by force.

أما ٱلسفينة فكانت لمسكين يعملون في ٱلبحر فأردت أن أعيبها وكان ورآءهم ملك يأخذ كل سفينة غصبا

As for the boy, his father and mother were believers, and we dreaded that he would crush them with immoderation and disowning,

وأما ٱلغلم فكان أبواه مؤمنين فخشينآ أن يرهقهما طغينا وكفرا

and we wanted their Guardian to give them in exchange one better than him in purity and closer in benevolence.

فأردنآ أن يبدلهما ربهما خيرا منه زكوة وأقرب رحما

That is the prediction of what you were not able to bear with patience."

ذلك تأويل ما لم تسطع عليه صبرا

Say: "I will recite to you a remembrance of him."

قل سأتلوا عليكم منه ذكرا

We said: "O Dhul-Qarnayn, either you punish them, or you adopt toward them a fine conduct."

قلنا يذا ٱلقرنين إمآ أن تعذب وإمآ أن تتخذ فيهم حسنا

He said: "As for the one who has done wrong, we shall punish him; then he will be brought back to his Guardian, who will punish him with a horrible punishment.

قال أما من ظلم فسوف نعذبه ثم يرد إلى ربه فيعذبه عذابا نكرا

and we shall speak to him, of our affair, an easy saying."

وسنقول له من أمرنا يسرا

And We encompassed by knowledge all that concerned him.

وقد أحطنا بما لديه خبرا

Then he followed a link, until, having arrived between the two barriers, he found, on the near side of them, a people who could hardly understand any saying.

ثم أتبع سببا حتى إذا بلغ بين ٱلسدين وجد من دونهما قوما لا يكادون يفقهون قولا

They said: "O Dhul-Qarnayn, Yajuj and Majuj are sowing corruption on the earth; shall we grant you a tribute, on condition that you place between us and them a barrier?"

قالوا يذا ٱلقرنين إن يأجوج ومأجوج مفسدون في ٱلأرض فهل نجعل لك خرجا على أن تجعل بيننا وبينهم سدا

so help me with strength, and I will set up between you and them a rampart.

فأعينوني بقوة أجعل بينكم وبينهم ردما

Then, when he had made it fire, he said: "Bring me, that I may pour naphtha over it."

حتى إذا جعله نارا قال ءاتوني أفرغ عليه قطرا

They were able neither to scale it, nor to pierce it.

فما ٱسطعوا أن يظهروه وما ٱستطعوا له نقبا

but when the promise of my Guardian comes, He will reduce it to dust — and the promise of my Guardian is true."

فإذا جآء وعد ربي جعله دكآء وكان وعد ربي حقا

and the Horn will be blown, and We shall bring them together in a single reunion.

ونفخ في ٱلصور فجمعنهم جمعا

And We shall present, that Day, Jahannam to those who disown, in full view — those whose eyes were under a veil, away from My remembrance, and who could not hear at all.

وعرضنا جهنم يومئذ للكفرين عرضا ٱلذين كانت أعينهم في غطآء عن ذكري وكانوا لا يستطيعون سمعا

We have indeed made ready Jahannam as a lodging for those who disown.

إنآ أعتدنا جهنم للكفرين نزلا

Say: "Shall I inform you of those who are the greatest losers in their works — those whose effort has gone astray in the present life, while they think they are doing well?"

قل هل ننبئكم بٱلأخسرين أعملا ٱلذين ضل سعيهم في ٱلحيوة ٱلدنيا وهم يحسبون أنهم يحسنون صنعا

Those are the ones who disowned the signs of their Guardian and the meeting with Him: their works have collapsed, and We shall not assign them, on the Day of Appearance, any weighing.

أولئك ٱلذين كفروا بايت ربهم ولقآئه فحبطت أعملهم فلا نقيم لهم يوم ٱلقيمة وزنا

Such: their recompense will be Jahannam, for having disowned and having taken My signs and My messengers in mockery.

ذلك جزآؤهم جهنم بما كفروا وٱتخذوا ءايتي ورسلي هزوا

Those who have believed and done sound deeds will indeed have, as a lodging, the Gardens of the Firdaws, wherein they will abide eternally, with no desire to be shifted from it.

إن ٱلذين ءامنوا وعملوا ٱلصلحت كانت لهم جنت ٱلفردوس نزلا خلدين فيها لا يبغون عنها حولا

Say: "If the sea were ink for the words of my Guardian, the sea would be exhausted before the words of my Guardian were exhausted, even if We brought the like of it in reinforcement."

قل لو كان ٱلبحر مدادا لكلمت ربي لنفد ٱلبحر قبل أن تنفد كلمت ربي ولو جئنا بمثله مددا

So whoever hopes for the meeting with his Guardian, let him do a sound deed and associate no one in obedience to his Guardian."

فمن كان يرجوا لقآء ربه فليعمل عملا صلحا ولا يشرك بعبادة ربه أحدا