Subject: Amazing Recitation of Surat Al Kahf (The Cave) Fri Nov 18, 2011 9:25 am
The Cave
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful [18:1] Praise belongs to God [alone], Who has revealed to His servant the Book, and has not allowed for it any crookedness,
[18:2] [a Book] upright to warn of severe chastisement from Him, and to bring to the believers who perform righteous deeds the good tidings that theirs will be a fair reward,
[18:3] wherein they will abide forever,
[18:4] and to warn those who say, 'God has taken a son'.
[18:5] They do not have, in this any knowledge, nor did their fathers. Dreadful is the word that comes out of their mouths. They speak nothing but lies.
[18:6] Yet it may be that you will consume yourself in their wake if they should not believe in this discourse out of grief.
[18:7] Truly We have made all that is on the earth as an adornment for it, that We may try them which of them is best in conduct.
[18:8] And indeed We shall turn all that is therein into barren shreds.
[18:9] Or did you think that the Companions of the Cave and the Inscription were a [unique] marvel from among Our signs?
[18:10] When the youths took refuge in the Cave they said, 'Our Lord! Give us mercy from Yourself and remedy for us our affair through rectitude'.
[18:11] So We smote their ears in the Cave for several years.
[18:12] Then We aroused them that We might know which of the two parties was better in calculating what they had tarried in [terms of the] length of time.
[18:13] We relate to you their story with truth. They were indeed youths who believed in their Lord, and We increased them in guidance.
[18:14] And We strengthened their hearts when they stood up and said, 'Our Lord is the Lord of the heavens and the earth. We will not call on any god besides Him, for then we shall certainly have uttered an outrage.
[18:15] These our people have taken gods besides Him. Why [if what they claim is true] do they not bring some clear warrant regarding them? And who does greater wrong than he who invents a lie against God?
[18:16] And when you withdraw from them and from that which they worship except God, then take refuge in the Cave. Your Lord will reveal for you something of His mercy and prepare for you in your affair some comfort'.
[18:17] And you might have seen the sun, when it rose, inclining away from their Cave towards the right, and when it set, go past them on the left, while they were in a cavern therein. That was [one] of God's signs. Whomever God guides, he indeed is rightly guided, and whomever He leads astray, you will not find for him a guiding friend.
[18:18] And you would have supposed them awake, though they were asleep. And We caused them to turn over to the right and to the left, and their dog [lay] stretching its forelegs on the threshold. If you had observed them you would have turned away from them in flight and you would have been filled with awe because of them.
[18:19] And so it was that We aroused them that they might question one another. One of them said, 'How long have you tarried?' They said, 'We have tarried a day, or part of a day'. They said, 'Your Lord knows best how long you have tarried. Now send one of you with this silver coin of yours to the city, and let him see which is the purest food, and [let him] bring you a supply thereof. Let him be careful and not make anyone aware of you.
[18:20] For indeed if they should come to know of you, they will [either] stone you or make you return to their creed, and then you will never prosper'.
[18:21] And so it was that We disclosed them that they might know that God's promise is true; and that, as for the Hour, there is no doubt concerning it. Behold they were disputing among themselves their affair; so they said, 'Build over them a building; their Lord knows them best'. Those who prevailed regarding their affair, 'We will verily set up over them, a place of worship'.
[18:22] They will say: 'Three; their dog the fourth of them'; and they will say, 'Five; their dog the sixth of them' - guessing at random. And they will say, 'Seven; and their dog the eighth of them'. Say: 'My Lord knows best their number, and none knows them except a few'. So do not contend concerning them except with an outward manner [of contention] and do not question concerning them any of them.
[18:23] And never say regarding something, 'I will indeed do that tomorrow',
[18:24] without [adding], 'If God will'. And remember your Lord if you forget. And say, 'May be my Lord will guide me to [something] closer [in time] than this by way of guidance.
[18:25] And they tarried in the Cave three hundred years and add nine.
[18:26] Say: 'God is more knowledgeable of how long they tarried. To Him belongs the Unseen of the heavens and the earth. How well He sees! How well He hears! They have no guardian besides Him, and He makes none to share in His rule'.
[18:27] And recite that which has been revealed to you of the Book of your Lord. There is none who can change His words. And you will not find, besides Him, any refuge.
[18:28] And restrain yourself along with those who call upon their Lord at morning and evening, desiring His Countenance; and do not let your eyes overlook them desiring the glitter of the life of this world. And do not obey him whose heart We have made oblivious to Our remembrance, and who follows his own whim, and whose conduct is [mere] prodigality.
[18:29] And say, 'The truth [that comes] from your Lord; so whoever will, let him believe, and whoever will, let him disbelieve'. Indeed We have prepared for the wrongdoers a Fire, and they will be surrounded by its pavilion. If they cry out for help, they will be succoured with water like molten copper which scalds faces. What an evil drink, and how ill a resting-place!
[18:30] Truly those who believe and perform righteous deeds - indeed We do not leave the reward of those of good deeds to go to waste.
[18:31] Those, for them there shall be Gardens of Eden, underneath which rivers flow; therein they shall be adorned with bracelets of gold and they shall wear green garments of fine silk and [heavy] silk brocade, reclining therein on couches. How excellent a reward, and how fair a resting-place!
[18:32] And strike for them a similitude: two men to one of whom We had assigned two gardens of vines, and We had surrounded them with date-palms and had set between them [a field of] crops.
[18:33] Each of the two gardens yielded its produce without stinting anything thereof. And We caused a stream to gush forth therein.
[18:34] And he had fruit and he said to his companion, as he conversed with him: 'I have more wealth than you and am stronger in respect of men'.
[18:35] And he entered his garden having wronged himself. He said, 'I do not think that [all] this will ever perish.
[18:36] Moreover, I do not think that the Hour will ever come; and [even] if I am indeed returned to my Lord, I shall surely find better than this as a resort'.
[18:37] His companion said to him, as he conversed with him: 'Do you disbelieve in Him Who created you of dust, then of a drop of fluid, then fashioned you a man?
[18:38] But lo He [is] God, my Lord, and I do not ascribe any partner to my Lord.
[18:39] And if only when you entered your garden, you had said, "What God has willed. There is no power except in God". If you see me as less than you in wealth and children,
[18:40] maybe my Lord will give me [something] better than your garden and unleash upon it bolts from the heaven so that it becomes a bare plain;
[18:41] or [maybe] its water will sink [deep] down so that you have no means of acquiring it'.
[18:42] And his fruit was beset, and so he began to wring his hands because of what he had spent on it, as it lay fallen on its trellises, saying, 'O I wish I had not ascribed any partner to my Lord!'
[18:43] But there was no party to help him, besides God, nor could he help himself.
[18:44] There, [all] protection belongs to God, the True. He is better at rewarding, and best in consequence.
[18:45] And strike for them the similitude of the life of this world as water which We send down out from the heaven, and the vegetation of the earth mingles with it, and it then becomes chaff, scattered by the winds. And God is Omnipotent over all things.
[18:46] Wealth and children are an adornment of the life of this world. But the enduring things, the righteous deeds - [these] are better with your Lord for reward and better in [respect of] hope.
[18:47] And the day when the mountains shall be set in motion and you will see the earth exposed. And We shall gather them, such that We will not leave out anyone of them.
[18:48] And they shall be presented before your Lord in ranks: 'Verily you have come to Us just as We created you the first time; rather you claimed that We would not appoint for you a tryst'.
[18:49] And the Book shall be set in place. And you will see the guilty apprehensive of what is in it, and they will say: 'O woe to us! What is it with this Book that it leaves out neither small nor great, but [instead it] has counted it?' And they shall find all that they did present. And your Lord does not wrong anyone.
[18:50] And when We said to the angels, ‘Prostrate before Adam’, and so they prostrated, [all] except Iblīs. He was [one] of the jinn, and he transgressed against his Lord’s command. Will you then take him and his offspring for your patrons instead of Me, when they are an enemy to you? How evil for the evildoers is that substitute!
[18:51] I did not make them a witness to the creation of the heavens and the earth, nor to their own creation. Nor do I take misleaders as [My] support.
[18:52] And the day when He will say, 'Call those partners of Mine, as you used to claim'; and then they will call them, but they will not respond to their call, and We shall set between them a gulf of doom.
[18:53] And the criminals will behold the Fire and realise that they are about to fall into it. And they will find no means of avoiding it.
[18:54] And verily We have dispensed for mankind in this Qur’ān [an example] of every kind of similitude. But man is most disputatious.
[18:55] And nothing prevented people from believing when the guidance came to them, and from asking forgiveness of their Lord, without that there should come upon them the precedent of the ancients, or that the chastisement should come upon them before their very eyes.
[18:56] And We do not send messengers except as bearers of good tidings and as warners. But those who disbelieve dispute with falsehood that they may refute thereby the truth. And they have taken My signs and that whereof they have been warned derisively.
[18:57] And who does greater wrong than he who has been reminded of the signs of his Lord, yet turns away from them and forgets what his hands have sent ahead? Indeed on their hearts We have cast veils, lest they should understand it, and in their ears a deafness; and though you call them to guidance, they will not be guided in that case, ever.
[18:58] And your Lord is the Forgiver, Full of Mercy. Were He to take them to task for what they have earned, He would have hastened for them the chastisement; but they have a tryst from which they will not find any escape.
[18:59] And those towns, We destroyed them when they did evil, and We appointed for their destruction a tryst.
[18:60] And when Moses said to his lad, 'I will not give up until I have reached the juncture of the two seas, though I march on for ages'.
[18:61] So when they reached a juncture between the two, they forgot their fish, and so it made its way into the sea by burrowing.
[18:62] And when they had made the traverse, he said to his lad, 'Bring us our breakfast. We have certainly encountered on this journey of ours much fatigue'.
[18:63] He said, 'Do you see? when we sheltered at the rock, indeed I forgot the fish - and none but Satan made me forget to mention it and it made its way into the sea in an amazing manner'.
[18:64] Said he, 'That is what we have been seeking!' So they turned back, retracing their footsteps.
[18:65] So [there] they found one of Our servants to whom We had given mercy from Us and We had taught him knowledge from Us.
[18:66] Moses said to him, 'May I follow you for the purpose that you teach me of what you have been taught [in the way] of probity?'
[18:67] Said he, 'Truly you will not be able to bear with me.
[18:68] And how can you bear with that whereof you have never been informed?'
[18:69] He said, 'You will find me, God willing, patient, and I will not disobey you in any matter'.
[18:70] He said, 'If you follow me then do not question me concerning anything until I [myself] make mention of it to you'.
[18:71] So they set off until when they embarked on the ship, he made a hole in it. Said [Moses], 'Did you make a hole in it to drown its people? You have certainly done a dreadful thing'.
[18:72] He said, 'Did I not say [that] you would not be able to bear with me?'
[18:73] He said, 'Do not take me to task on account of that which I forgot, and do not exhaust me in this affair of mine with difficulty'.
[18:74] So they set off until, when they met a boy and he slew him - [Moses] said: 'Have you slain an innocent soul, [one slain] not in retaliation for another soul? Verily you have committed an dreadful thing'.
[18:75] He said, 'Did I not say to you that you would never be able to bear with me?'
[18:76] [Moses] said, ‘If I ask you about anything after this, then do not keep me in your company, for truly you [will] have found from me [sufficient enough] excuse’.
[18:77] So they set off, until, when they came to the folk of a [certain] town, they asked its folk for food, but they refused to extend them any hospitality. They then found in it a wall about to collapse, so he straightened it. [Moses] said, 'Had you wished, you could have taken a wage for it'.
[18:78] Said he, 'This is the parting between me and you. I will inform you the interpretation of that over which you were not able to maintain patience.
[18:79] As for the ship, it belonged to poor people who earned a living on the sea; and I wanted to make it defective, for behind them was a king, seizing every ship by force.
[18:80] And as for the boy, his parents were believers and We feared lest he should overwhelm them with insolence and disbelief.
[18:81] So We desired that their Lord should give them in exchange one better than him in purity and closer to mercy.
[18:82] And as for the wall, it belonged to two orphan boys [who lived] in the city, and beneath it there was a treasure belonging to them. Their father had been a righteous man and your Lord desired that they should come of age and extract their treasure as a mercy from your Lord. And I did not do it of my own accord. This is the interpretation of that over which you could not maintain patience'.
[18:83] And they question you concerning Dhū’l-Qarnayn. Say: ‘I shall recite to you a mention of him’.
[18:84] Indeed We empowered him throughout the land, and We gave him to everything a way.
[18:85] And he followed a way
[18:86] until, when he reached the setting of the sun, he found it setting in a muddy spring; and he found by it a folk. We said, ‘O Dhū’l-Qarnayn — either chastise, or treat them kindly’.
[18:87] He said, 'As for him who does wrong, we shall chastise him. Then he shall be returned to his Lord and He shall chastise him with an awful chastisement.
[18:88] But as for him who believes and acts righteously, he shall have the fairest reward, and we shall speak to him mildly in our command'.
[18:89] ] Then he followed a way,
[18:90] until, when he reached the rising of the sun, he found it rising on a folk for whom We had not provided against it any [form of] cover.
[18:91] So [it was]; and We encompassed whatever pertained to him in knowledge.
[18:92] Then he followed a way,
[18:93] until, when he reached between the two barriers he found on this side of them a folk that could scarcely comprehend speech.
[18:94] They said, ‘O Dhū’l-Qarnayn, truly Gog and Magog are causing corruption in the land. So shall we pay you a tribute on condition that you build between us and them a barrier?
[18:95] He said, 'That wherewith my Lord has empowered me is better; so help me with strength and I will build between you and them a rampart.
[18:96] Bring me ingots of iron!' Until, when he had levelled up [the gap] between the two flanks he said, 'Blow!' until when he had made it a fire, he said, 'Bring me molten copper to pour over it'.
[18:97] And so they were not able to scale it, nor could they pierce it.
[18:98] Said he, 'This is a mercy from my Lord. But when the promise of my Lord comes to pass, He will level it, for my Lord's promise is [always] true'.
[18:99] And on that day, We shall let some of them surge against others, and the Trumpet shall be blown and We shall gather them a [single] gathering.
[18:100] And on that day We shall present Hell to the disbelievers, plain to view,
[18:101] those [disbelievers] whose eyes were masked from My remembrance, and who could not [bear to] hear.
[18:102] Do the disbelievers reckon that they can take My servants as patrons beside Me? Truly We have prepared Hell for the disbelievers as [a place of] hospitality.
[18:103] Say: 'Shall We inform you who will be the greatest losers in [regard to] their works?
[18:104] Those whose effort goes astray in the life of this world, while they reckon that they are doing good work.
[18:105] Those are they who disbelieve in the signs of their Lord and the encounter with Him'. So their works have failed, and on the Day of Resurrection We shall not assign any weight to them.
[18:106] That is their requital - Hell - because they disbelieved and took My signs and My messengers in mockery.
[18:107] Truly those who believe and perform righteous deeds - theirs will be the gardens of Firdaws as [a place of] hospitality,
[18:108] wherein they will abide, with no desire to be removed from them.
[18:109] Say: 'If the sea were ink for the Words of my Lord, the sea would be spent before the Words of my Lord were spent even though We brought the like of it as replenishment'.
[18:110] Say: 'I am only a human being like you; it has been revealed to me that your God is only One God. So whoever hopes to encounter his Lord, let him do righteous work and not associate with the worship of his Lord
Fri Nov 18, 2011 9:25 am