Surah Al-Kahf 18:1-12 - Quran Translation Commentary

2. Straight (Book),² to give warning of stern punishment from Him, and to bring to the believers who perform good acts, the news that theirs will be a rich reward.³

3. Wherein they will abide forever;

4. And to warn those who say that Allah has taken a son.⁴

5. About this neither they have knowledge nor had their fathers.⁵ Monstrous blasphemies is what comes out from their mouths.⁶ They speak nothing but a lie.

6. (O Prophet!) Perhaps you may destroy yourself with grief sorrowing after them if they believe not in these words.⁷

7. Verily We have made that which is on earth an ornament for it, so that We may test them as to which of them is best in conduct.⁸

8. And surely We will make all that is on it a barren ground.⁹

9. Do you think the People of the Cave and Ar-Raqeem (the Inscription) were a wonder among Our signs?¹⁰

10. When some youth took refuge in the Cave¹¹ and prayed: “Our Lord! Give us mercy from Your presence and provide us guidance in our affair.”¹²

11. Then we patted their ears (inducing sleep) in the cave for a number of years.¹³

12. And then We raised them up to see which of the two parties could best reckon the time of their stay.¹⁴

Commentary

1. The meaning of there being no crookedness is this that there is nothing in the Qur’an which is against common sense and nature, nor anything devoid of justice and truth. It is absolutely free from the philosophical intricacies, contradictions, and far-fetched statements. It is for this reason that Qur’an easily appeals to the right-thinking and virtue-loving people. For having sent down such a grand book its Author (God) deserves our praises and encomiums. The beauty of this Book reflects on the beauty of its Author and its perfection reflects on the perfection of its Author. Its revelation on a slave of His who was unlettered is the bright sign of perfection of His wisdom.

A man comes to know of this distinct quality of Qur’an when he studies the holy books of other religions; he becomes completely confused when he finds extremely complicated philosophical discourses and contradictory statements, while the teachings of Qur’an are simple and directly appealing to our hearts.

2.That is: The straight-path showing and container of right and definite teachings.

3. Here two most important objectives of revealing the Qur’an have been stated: one to inform the humanity lost in the slumber of negligence of the impending divine punishment, and secondly to give the glad tidings to the people adopting a life of virtue and good conduct of the handsome reward. The Prophet performed these two duties fairly well. Now under his leadership this responsibility devolves on his ummah. As it is necessary for the Muslims to understand the teachings of the Qur’an, it is also similarly necessary for them to inform the whole mankind of this divine warning.

4.That is: You should particularly warn those who believe in God’s having a child. The hint is specifically directed at the Christians, who consider Prophet Eesa as the son of God. Ordinarily this is a general warning for all those who believe in God’s having a child in any form, e.g. The polytheists of Makkah believed that the angels were the daughters of God.

5.Those who claim that God has a son or children, they have no scientific argument for such a claim. A man has knowledge about God from (COMMENTARY) the awareness that has been ingrained in his consciousness by nature, or is gained by him from the signs which Allah has placed in the universe and in the living beings, or through the revelations which Allah sends down to the prophets, and the most obvious example of this is the divine Book. Besides these there is no other way of acquiring knowledge about God. Out of these three means, there is not a single source out of these three which supports this claim that God has begotten a child or children. On the contrary every source negates this claim. Then on what basis people claim that God has begotten a son or children? As for their argument that this belief comes down from their forefathers, it cannot be taken as a proof that God has children. It only proves that their forefathers were also speaking the same language of ignorance which they are now speaking.

6. People consider it an ordinary and easy thing to say that God has children, and do not feel the necessity of searching ‘for the truth, although ascribing any defect or weakness to God is a very serious sin.

7. It shows that the Prophet (Sallal Lahu Alaihi Wa Sallam) was a great well-wisher of his community and how sad he was feeling for their not accepting the faith. He was a man full of sympathy. How could he agree that his community be subjected to divine punishment. But when after warning and counsel, people are bent on letting themselves be hurled into the hellfire, then what is the use of feeling sorry for them? For this reason, the Prophet had been comforted that he had done his duty by then, and now if they do not accept faith, he need not feel sad for them. In this if there is a manifestation of sympathy by the Prophet for his community, there is also a reproachment for those who are not prepared to believe in his teaching, that they are not worthy of his sympathy.

8. The world is a many splendoured place, but it is not everything. It has been made an attractive place so that mankind may be tested, to find out who is attracted by its splendour and becomes a materialist and who uses his wisdom, patience, and discipline and accepts the guidance from God and proves himself to be the man of best qualities. And this second category of man will be given an abode in the everlasting Paradise.

9.That is: On the Doomsday the spring and the blossom, the glitter and the splendour of the world come to an end. Whatever man has been building on the earth is going to be turned into dust. The explosion of the Doomsday will destroy all the progress and all the achievements of his civilisation in the shortest possible time. Then what is the use of making such progress and such achievements of civilisation as the goal of one’s life?

10. The chronicle of the People of the Cave pertains to the followers of Prophet Eesa (Jesus),but it had become so widely known that citizens of Makkah also knew about it. They considered it a tale of wonder. Since this chronicle is a prominent example of the raising of man from death for the second time, Qur’an has highlighted its important aspects.

Addressing these very Arabs Qur’an poses a question to them: Do they think this is a tale of wonder, although this was the manifestation of one sign out of many signs of the Divine Might, which proves the surety of man’s being revived on the Day of Resurrection. You are wonderstruck by the external, aspect of the chronicle, but you ignored the event of the revival in the world of Hereafter which it foretells and proves.

Kahf in Arabic means a wide cave, and Raqeem means writing. According to this meaning, a group of commentators opines that inscription which was placed at the mouth of the Cave in memory of the People of the Cave. The name of the city where this event is reported to have taken place is said to be Ephesus. It was a big city of the Romans and was situated in the present day Turkey. The tyrannical ruler from whose oppression they sought refuge in the Cave is reported to be ‘Daqyanoos.’ He ruled in the’ third century A.D.A modern commentator thinks that the city in question was Petra, a famous historical city of the Nabtis. All these details are derived from the Christian narratives, which are considerably influenced by story-telling and guess work. That is why Qur’an had given a clear command in the ayah No.42 that about the People of Kahf nothing should be inquired about them, whether they be polytheists or the Christians. However, the result of the new research undertaken by Ustaz Muhammad Taisir Zabyan, conducted with the co-operation of the Archaeological Department of the Jordan Government, seems to fit the Cave which has been mentioned in the Qur’an.

The learned researcher has thrown edifying light on this issue in his book’ Ahlul Kahf,’ (The People of the Cave). The book is in Arabic and has been published by Darul I’tisam, Egypt, according to this research this Cave is located at Ar-Rajeeb, eight kilometers from the capital of Jordan: and This Ar-Rajeeb is the changed form of Ar-Raqeem. The archaeological work that has been carried out by the Archaeological Department of the Jordan Government has cleared the myths from the facts, which are briefly as under:

(1) This cave is located in a south-northerly direction, and the sun evades it passing in the East-westerly direction.

(2) The Cave is wide from the inside as is mentioned in the Qur’an.

(3) There are eight graves in the Cave.

(4) Above the cave are the ruins of a mosque, about which a mention is made in the ayah No.21, There are seven pillars in this mosque, which have probably been erected corresponding to the number of the People of the Cave.

(5) On the northern wall there is a picture of an animal, about which the archaeologists have opined that it is the picture of a dog, besides something is written on the wall in the Phoenician and the old Greek script.

(6) The event of the People of the Cave’s taking refuge in the Cave does not pertain to the time of Daqyanoos but to the time of the Trojan, who ruled from 98 A.D. to 117 A.D., and in 109 A.D. he had conquered Jordan. This ruler was a great tyrant. Whoever refused to be an idolater or to offer gifts to the idols was mercilessly beheaded. In his time great sufferings were inflicted on the followers of Christ. The Byzantine coins of his time were also found in the Cave.

(7) Muslim historians have also expressed the same opinion that this cave is situated near Amman. Accordingly, Maqdisi in his book ‘Ahsanut Taqseem has written: “Ar-Raqeem is a town in Jordan near Amman.” And Yaqut Hamavi writes in his book ‘Ma’jamul Buladan’ Amman is a city near around Syria, and it had been a big city of the land of Balqa. Near it are situated Kahf and Ar-Raqeem”. For all these details please see Muhammad Taisir Zabyan’s book, ‘Ahlul Kahf.’

In our opinion this research is very valuable and much more preferable to the Christian narrative and weak sayings. Since this is a new discovery in connection with Kahf and Raqeem, we had to be a little lengthy in this explanation.

11. That is: Without going into the details of the number of the youths, it is sufficient to know that they were some youths, who had taken refuge in the Cave to protect their faith. In an oppressed township the rising up of a few youths with their full energy of faith which is an indicator of their high moral courage and love for truth, and such a trait is found more in the youths.

12. For the protection of their religion and for the work of propagating the Divine message they sought the help and guidance of Allah, and the way in which Allah helped and guided them is manifest from the subsequent events.

13. That is: Kept them sleeping in the Cave for a number of years. Patting the ears is an idiom which means to induce sleep. Accordingly, in the subsequent verse there is a mention of their being raised up or awakened, which is the proof of the fact that sleep was imposed on them. Besides there is also a mention in Ayah. No, 18 that they were sleeping.

14. By the two parties are meant: one the party of the “People of the Cave themselves and secondly the party of those they had to deal with after they woke up. So far as the People of the Cave are concerned, they could not correctly calculate the time of their stay in the Cave, as is clear from the ayah No.19, that they felt that they had slept only for a few hours. As for the people of the town with whom they had to deal after getting up, they had to conclude from seeing the coins in the possession of the People of the Cave that they had been sleeping for a great length of time. It is clear from this that tarrying for a very long time was an event of which those who slept were not aware. In other words, it was the example of the life of Barzakh, where man will lie down for a very long period, but when he will be raised on the Day of Resurrection he will feel that he had stayed in Barzakh only for a few hours. Not being conscious of the passage of time is the proof of the point that a man who dies, his Doomsday has arrived. Allah has manifested this very reality by the event of the People of the Cave.