الكهف

[1]ALL PRAISE is due to God, who has bestowed. this divine writ from on high upon His servant, and has not allowed any deviousness to obscure its meaning:

[2][a divine writ] unerringly straight, meant to warn [the godless] of a severe punishment from Him, and to give unto the believers who do good works the glad tiding that theirs shall be a goodly reward-

[3][a state of bliss] in which they. shall dwell beyond the count of time.

[4]Furthermore, [this divine writ is meant] to warn all those who assert, "God has taken unto Himself a son."

[5]No knowledge whatever have they of Him, and neither had their forefathers: dreadful -is this saying that comes out of their mouths, [and] nothing but falsehood do they utter!

[6]But wouldst thou, perhaps, torment thyself to death with grief over them if they are not willing to believe in this message?

[7]Behold, We have willed that all beauty on earth be a means by which We put men to a test, [showing] which of them are best in conduct;

[8]and, verily, [in time] We shall reduce all that is on it to barren dust!

[9][AND SINCE the life of this world is but a test, dost thou [really] think that [the parable of] the Men of the Cave and of [their devotion to] the scriptures could be deemed more wondrous than any [other] of Our messages?

[10]When those youths took refuge in the cave, they prayed: "O our Sustainer! Bestow on us grace from Thyself, and endow us, whatever our [outward] condition, with consciousness of what is right!"