Surah Al-Kahf 18:23-31 - Quran Translation Commentary

24. Without adding: ‘If Allah Wills.”³⁷ If you forget, remember your Lord and say: “Perhaps my Lord³⁸ will guide me to a nearer way to right direction than this.”³⁹

25. And they stayed in the Cave three hundred years and additional nine years.

26. Say: “Allah is best aware how long they. stayed.⁴⁰ With Him (the knowledge of) the heavens and the earth. How clear of sight is He and keen of hearing! Men have no other guardian besides Him, and He does not associate anyone in His rule.⁴¹

27. And recite what is revealed to you from the Book of your Lord.⁴² None can change His words.⁴³ And you will find no refuge beside Him.

28. And keep yourself contentedly those who invoke their Lord morning and evening. Seeking His countenance, and let not your eyes turn away from them ⁴⁴ seeking the adornment of the life of the world. And do not obey him whose heart we have made heedless of our remembrance, who follows his own carnal desires and whose case exceeded the due bounds.⁴⁵

29. And say: “This is the truth from your Lord. Then whoever will, let him believe, and whoever will, let him disbelieve.”⁴⁶ Verily we have prepared for the wrong-doers a Fire, the flames of which have surrounded them.⁴⁷ If they will ask for water, they will be given water like molten metal, which will burn their faces. Evil will be the drink, and ill the resting place!

30. Verily for those who believe and perform good acts, We never waste the reward of him who does good work.

31. For them, there are Everlasting Gardens. Where underneath which rivers flow, there in they will be bedecked with bracelets of gold, and will wear green garments of thin⁴⁸ and thick silk, reclining upon thrones therein. Blissful is the reward and excellent the resting place!

Commentary

37. That is: Do not say with certainty that you would do a certain work the next day, because you do not know what would happen the next day and whether it would be possible for you to do that work or not. For this reason, on such occasion you should say ‘Insha-Allah’ (If Allah wills). The expression of this condition is admission of the fact that the main thing is Allah’s will and not your decision. If He wills, then you will be able to do a certain work, otherwise not. Therefore, the practice or the manner of a momin is that whenever he says that he would do a certain work or when he promises a thing, he always says ‘Insha-Allah’ (If Allah wills). This was the general aspect of the ayah’s meaning. As for its special aspect with reference to context, it is a directive to the Prophet that if people would ask him anything, whose answer depends on the revelation from Allah, then he should not say that he would answer it the next day without adding if Allah wills it.

38. That is: If you forget to say ‘Insha-Allah,’ then when you remember this lapse remember your Lord so that the lapse may be wiped out.

39. That is: As He opened the vista of` piety for the people of the Cave, so will He, it is hoped, open more vistas of piety for me. This is a reply to the idolaters of Makkah that they had created the same conditions for him by their oppression and aggression, which the nation of the People of the Cave had created for them, but His Lord will open more vistas of success for him. It was a pointer to the fact that very soon the time of migration would come. Accordingly, in a few days’ time that event occurred, and the Prophet was compelled to take shelter in the cave Thaur, but he had to spend only three days in the cave. Thereafter he reached Madina and then onwards success greeted him.

40. This sentence proves that the period of three hundred and nine years mentioned above was what the people said, which has been quoted by the Qur’an. In ayah No.22 various sayings of the people about the period of stay were quoted, in between came the parenthetical sentence, and now the thread of the narrative is again taken and another quotation about the period of their stay in the Cave is given, that they stayed there for three hundred and nine years. But there is no need to enter into any discussion in this regard, for Allah knows best how long they stayed in the Cave.

In the’ beginning of this chronicle, Allah has made it clear that they tarried in the Cave for years and years (ayah No.11) that they lay sleeping in the Cave and this much knowledge is sufficient for taking a lesson from it.

In connection with the chronicle of the people of the Cave, some commentators have started a discussion about, the miracles. So far as this matter is concerned, it shows that sometimes Allah causes some of His pious slaves to perform some preternatural acts. It is a reality of which the event of the People of the Cave and the event related to Hazrat Maryam (Mary) are examples. These events are the proofs of the might of Allah and reflect the reality that He rules over the universe, and whenever He wills He can effect changes in the physical laws and rules of nature. It is true that the personalities through which such extra-ordinary events are caused to be performed are pious and virtuous persons, but personally they do not contribute in their performance as the entire event takes place on account of Allah’s will alone. These persons are totally powerless in this matter. They cannot perform any preternatural act with prior claim to do so. When a Prophet performs a miracle with the command of Allah claiming to do such an act, such a miracle is the proof of Allah’s might. In sum the concept of some people that the saints and pious people perform, on their own, preternatural acts is absolutely wrong. The reality is that sometimes for a set purpose Allah causes some extra-ordinary act being performed through a pious person, and such events take place very very rarely, and sometimes even the person performing that act does not know that a supernatural act has been performed by him. The people of the Cave slept for a very long time, but they did not know or realize that some supernatural act was being performed by them, and when they woke up they did not even know the period for which they slept. What was then the miracle that they performed? This was a sign from Allah which was manifested through them. This was an honour and supernatural thing for them.

It may be noted that the preternatural acts performed by the ‘peers’ and saints popularly believed to be true by Muslims are the concoctions of the people of the extremist nature among the Muslims in order to engender a sense of devotion among them. They are far from reality. These absurd tales have created a mentality of saint worship among the Muslims.

41. In the text the word ‘Hukm’ (command) is used, which also means judgement, and also those powers under which judgements are delivered and commands are given. Allah does not allow anyone to share in His command means that He has not taken any partner in His godhood. The reality of monotheism is that all the power and authority of godhood are out and out for Allah alone, while the philosophy of polytheism is that in the powers of godhood others also have a share; and the polytheism that has crept in into the belief of Muslims through the saint-worship is that they believe that Allah himself has granted some of His powers to these saints. Since this polytheism bears the label of devotion to the saints, Muslims are easily misled by this.

To show that this belief is absolutely false only this one ayah is sufficient in which it has been very clearly stated that Allah does not allow anyone to share His powers.

42. This command to recite Qur’an is general, that is: The purpose is to convey the message of Qur’an not only to Muslims but to the whole mankind whoever may be prepared to listen to its message.

The language of the Arabs was Arabic, and Qur’an is in the Arabic language, therefore, to recite the Qur’an to them was to convey Allah’s message to them in their own tongue, now when the Muslim Ummah has to deal with the non-Arabic knowing nations, the Qur’an will have to be conveyed to them, with its meaning and sense, in their respective languages, so that the argument of the Qur’an may be brought home to them and, God willing, many of them will receive the much needed guidance.

43. That is: There is no power that can change Allah’s commands. His every command is unchangeable, every decision is enforceable, and every promise is bound to be fulfilled. Therefore, it is in your own interest that instead of desiring any changes in His words you should change your selves, and mould yourselves into a form in which He wants you to be moulded.

44. Most of those people who had embraced Islam and had become the Prophet’s companions had neither wealth nor property nor did they have any influence, but they were blessed with the guidance of faith, therefore, their lives were being spent in quest of Allah’s pleasures. The world-loving people considered them as low brow, but they were invaluable gems of men. Allah commanded His Prophet to fully appreciate their efforts and he should consider their companionship enough for himself. It must never come to pass that the Prophet might turn away his attention from them, and might be inclined towards those who were wealthy and property owners and displayers of worldly pomp, but unmindful and negligent about their Lord.

Although in this ayah the address is to the Prophet, the idea is to tell the deniers that they were proud of their worldly splendour and considered the people of faith as lowly, but in the eyes of Allah the deniers were not deserving of honour and appreciation, but these sincere slaves were.

The congregational prayers of Islam have this important advantage that they provide opportunities of companionship among the Muslims, and such a gathering of theirs should be a gathering of Divine worship and such a meeting of theirs should be a meeting of remembering Allah.

45. When a man is not serious in matters pertaining to God, He causes that man’s heart to be negligent of His remembrances, and when a man becomes forgetful about God’s remembrance, then its essential consequence is for that man to become a slave of his desires. And when desires overpower a man, his affairs become unbalanced and his acts tend to be excessive. In this way he is deprived of guidance from intellect and nature, and also from that of the Shariah.

And not to obey them means that their guidance should not be accepted against the guidance of Allah and their commands should not be obeyed against the commands given by Allah.

From this ayah it is also learnt as its corollary that the Divine remembrance is mainly concerned with heart, and that the heart should never be forgetful and unmindful of God’s remembrance in any condition.

46. This and other ayat of this kind are very clear in this matter that Allah has not imposed any compulsion on man in compulsion with belief and disbelief, but that He has given man full authority and has provided for him opportunities for understanding the truth. It is for man to decide what is good for him and what is bad. He is responsible for his own good or adverse end.

47. Here wrong-doers means the same people who are unmindful and negligent of Divine remembrance, referred to above. Walls of the tent of fire means the flames of the fire of the Hell. It means that they have fully become the target of the Hellfire and now they cannot escape its depredations.

The sun is millions of miles away from the earth, yet its heat regularly reaches the earth. If its gravitation draws it to itself, the earth would then become a ball of fire. When this is the condition of the material world, then it should not astound us if the heat of fire of the next world which is hidden from our eyes is reaching the deniers, and it is this heat which is turning their conduct and character to ashes.

48. The environment and atmosphere of the Paradise cannot be compared with the atmosphere of this world. The life in the Paradise will be of royal standard, therefore, men will be decked with bracelets of gold and with beautiful silken robes. The green colour is very attractive and soft and cool for the eyes, therefore, its selection is most appropriate, and these secrets will come to light in the Paradise only.