The Cave (Al-Kahf)
Allah - beginning with the name of - the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
ALL PRAISE is due to God, who has bestowed this divine writ from on high upon His servant, and has not allowed any deviousness to obscure its meaning: 1 an unerringly Straight Book, meant to warn of a stern punishment from Allah, and to proclaim, to those who believe and work righteous deeds, the tiding that theirs shall be a good reward 2 wherein they will remain [in a state of bliss] forever. 3 Furthermore, [this divine writ is meant] to warn all those who assert, "God has taken unto Himself a son." 4 Neither they nor their fathers had any knowledge of such utterance (that God has begotten a son). Whatever they say about (this matter) is vicious blasphemy and plain lies. 5 Yet it may be, if they believe not in this statement, that thou (Muhammad) wilt torment thy soul with grief over their footsteps. 6 We have appointed all that is on the earth for an adornment for it, and that We may try which of them is fairest in works; 7 And indeed We shall one day make all that is on it a barren plain. 8 Did you know that the People of the Cave and People close to the Woods, were Our exceptional signs? 9 Recall what time the youths betook themselves to the cave, then said: our Lord! vouchsafe unto us mercy from before Thee, and prepare for us in our affair a right course. 10 We then thumped upon their ears in the Cave for a number of years. (* Put them to sleep.) 11 We then awakened them to see which of the two groups more accurately tells the period they had stayed. 12