Surat Al-Kahf (The Cave)
- filter_vintage
This is the first of those Surahs which were revealed in the third stage (from the fifth to the tenth year) of Prophethood at Makkah, The persecutions of Muslims were severe but migration to Habsha had not yet taken place.Major Issues, Divine Laws, and Guidance: • Story of the Companions of the Cave who were wakened up from their sleep after hundreds of years.• Whenever you promise to do something in the future, always say "Insha Allah (If Allah so wills)."• Similitude of this worldly life and its relationship with the life after death.• Story of the Prophet Musa as a student of Khidr.• Story of King Zul-Qarnain.• The favors of Allah are countless and cannot be recorded even if all the oceans were to be used as an ink and other such oceans are brought to replenish this ink.• Muhammad (peace be upon him) is but a human being like you.This Surah was revealed to answer the following three questions which the mushrikeen of Makkah, in consultation with the Jews, had put to the Prophet in order to test him:1. Who were "Companions of the Cave?”2. What is the real story of Khidr?3. Who was Zul-Qarnain?These three questions and the stories involved concerned the history of the Jews, and were unknown in Arabia. These questions were intended to test whether the Prophet was really Divinely guided or would try to avoid the questions. Allah not only provided a complete answer to their questions but also explained the three stories to the disadvantage of the opponents of Islam.The questioners were told that the Companions of the Cave believed in the same doctrine of Tawheed (Oneness of God) which was being put forward in the Qur'an and that their condition was similar to the condition of the persecuted Muslims of Makkah. On the other hand, the persecutors of the Companions of the Cave had behaved in the same way towards them as the disbelieving Quraish were behaving towards the Muslims. Besides this, the Muslims have been taught that even if a believer is persecuted by a cruel society, he should not bow down before falsehood, rather he should migrate from that place if needed. The disbelievers of Makkah were told that the story of the ‘Companions of the Cave' was a clear proof about the life hereafter. Allah has the power to put the people to sleep for hundreds of years and bring them back to active life after that long sleep or death as He did in case of the Companions of the Cave.The story of the Companions of the Cave is also used to warn the chiefs of Makkah who were persecuting the newly formed Muslim community. At the same time, the Prophet is being instructed that he should in no case make a compromise with the persecutors nor should he consider them to be more important than his poor followers. This story is also meant to comfort and encourage the oppressed Muslims and relate to them how righteous people in the past saved their Faith. On the other hand, the chiefs of Quraish are admonished that they should not be puffed up with this transitory life that they are enjoying; rather they should seek the excellence of the hereafter which will be permanent and eternal.Similarly the story of Khidr and Moses not only provides an answer to disbelievers but also provides comfort to the Believers. The believers are told: "You should have full faith in the wisdom of what is happening in the world according to the will of Allah. As the reality is hidden from you, sometimes it appears that things are going against you, in fact they may not be. If the curtain is removed from the "unseen", you would yourselves come to know that not only it is happening for the best but most of the times it is also producing good results for you."The same is true of the story of Zul-Qarnain. It also admonishes the questioners, as if to say, "O chiefs of Makkah you should learn a lesson from Zul Qarnain. Though he was a great ruler, a great conqueror and the owner of great resources, yet he always surrendered to Allah, whereas you are rebelling against Him even though you are insignificant as compared to him. Besides this, though Zul Qarnain built one of the strongest walls, yet his real trust was in Allah and not in the 'wall'. He believed that the wall shall stay as long as it was the will of Allah, whereas you who possess only insignificant dwellings in comparison to him, consider yourselves to be permanently safe and secure against all sorts of calamities."
- flag
الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ الَّذِي أَنزَلَ عَلَىٰ عَبْدِهِ الْكِتَابَ وَلَمْ يَجْعَل لَّهُ عِوَجًا ۜ
- flag
قَيِّمًا لِّيُنذِرَ بَأْسًا شَدِيدًا مِّن لَّدُنْهُ وَيُبَشِّرَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ الَّذِينَ يَعْمَلُونَ الصَّالِحَاتِ أَنَّ لَهُمْ أَجْرًا حَسَنًا
- flag
مَّاكِثِينَ فِيهِ أَبَدًا
- flag
وَيُنذِرَ الَّذِينَ قَالُوا اتَّخَذَ اللَّهُ وَلَدًا
- flag
مَّا لَهُم بِهِ مِنْ عِلْمٍ وَلَا لِآبَائِهِمْ ۚ كَبُرَتْ كَلِمَةً تَخْرُجُ مِنْ أَفْوَاهِهِمْ ۚ إِن يَقُولُونَ إِلَّا كَذِبًا
- flag
فَلَعَلَّكَ بَاخِعٌ نَّفْسَكَ عَلَىٰ آثَارِهِمْ إِن لَّمْ يُؤْمِنُوا بِهَٰذَا الْحَدِيثِ أَسَفًا
- flag
إِنَّا جَعَلْنَا مَا عَلَى الْأَرْضِ زِينَةً لَّهَا لِنَبْلُوَهُمْ أَيُّهُمْ أَحْسَنُ عَمَلًا
- flag
وَإِنَّا لَجَاعِلُونَ مَا عَلَيْهَا صَعِيدًا جُرُزًا
- flag
أَمْ حَسِبْتَ أَنَّ أَصْحَابَ الْكَهْفِ وَالرَّقِيمِ كَانُوا مِنْ آيَاتِنَا عَجَبًا