The Cave (Al-Kahf)
In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful
Praise be to God. He has sent the Book to His servant and has made it a flawless guide (for human beings) 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 [a state of bliss] in which they shall dwell beyond the count of time. 3 and also to warn those who say: "Allah has taken to Himself a son," 4 They have no knowledge of this, nor did their forefathers have any either. What they say is monstrous: they are merely uttering falsehoods! 5 Perhaps you may destroy yourself with grief if they do not believe in this message. 6 We have appointed all that is on the earth an adornment for it, in order that We try which of them is finest in works. 7 but We shall reduce all this to barren waste. 8 Do you think that the people of the Cave and the Inscription were one of Our wondrous 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 sealed their ears in the cave for a number of years. 11 Then We raised them up (from their sleep), that We might test which of the two parties was best at calculating the time period that they had tarried. 12