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Chapter 18

The Caveal-Kahf ( الكهف )

110 verses • revealed at Meccan

»The surah that mentions the wondrous story of a group of youthful believers who retreated from their unbelieving people to the hills and the seclusion of The Cave wherein God caused them to sleep for three hundred and nine lunar years as a sign to their people that God shall, indeed, raise the dead—and that also mentions the narratives of other marvels beyond ordinary human conception. Its name is derived from the story of the “Companions of the Cave” (aṣḥāb al-kahf) told at its beginning. This surah also deals with two other stories: Moses’ meeting with an unidentified figure (verse 60 ff.), and the story of Dhuʾl-Qarnayn (verse 83). A parable is put forward for the people of Mecca: the parable of the luscious gardens belonging to an arrogant and ungrateful man, which God reduces to dust. The surah opens and closes with references to the Quran itself.«

بِسمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحمٰنِ الرَّحيمِ

Yusuf Ali: In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

1
الحَمدُ لِلَّهِ الَّذي أَنزَلَ عَلىٰ عَبدِهِ الكِتابَ وَلَم يَجعَل لَهُ عِوَجًا ۜ

Yusuf Ali

Praise be to God,1 Who hath sent to His Servant the Book, and hath allowed therein no Crookedness:2
  • See n. 2324 to 17:111. The theme of the last Sūra, that God is good and worthy of all praise from His creatures, to whom He has granted a clear revelation, is continued in this Sūra. The spirit of man makes gradual progress upwards, through the grace and mercy of God.
  • Some people’s idea of a Sacred Book is that it should be full of mysteriesdark corners, ambiguous expressions, words so far removed from human speech that they cover anything or nothing. Pagan oracles were couched in language which suggested one meaning to the hearer and claimed to have the very opposite meaning in the light of events which actually happened subsequently. They were distinctly crooked, not straight. In the next verse, the word “Straight” (qayyim) is used to characterise the Qur-ān, in contrast to this word “crooked” ('iwaj). See also 19:36, n. 2488.