الكهف
The Cave
Explanations are simplified from tafsirs by Ibn Kathir, Mufti Muhammad Shafi, and Maulana Wahiduddin Khan. Spot an inaccuracy? Let us know.
aw yuṣ'biḥa māuhā ghawran falan tastaṭīʿa lahu ṭalaban
Or its water will become sunken [into the earth], so you would never be able to seek it."
wa-uḥīṭa bithamarihi fa-aṣbaḥa yuqallibu kaffayhi ʿalā mā anfaqa fīhā wahiya khāwiyatun ʿalā ʿurūshihā wayaqūlu yālaytanī lam ush'rik birabbī aḥadan
And his fruits were encompassed [by ruin], so he began to turn his hands about [in dismay] over what he had spent on it, while it had collapsed upon its trellises, and said, "Oh, I wish I had not associated with my Lord anyone."
walam takun lahu fi-atun yanṣurūnahu min dūni l-lahi wamā kāna muntaṣiran
And there was for him no company to aid him other than Allāh, nor could he defend himself.
hunālika l-walāyatu lillahi l-ḥaqi huwa khayrun thawāban wakhayrun ʿuq'ban
There the authority is [completely] for Allāh, the Truth. He is best in reward and best in outcome.
wa-iḍ'rib lahum mathala l-ḥayati l-dun'yā kamāin anzalnāhu mina l-samāi fa-ikh'talaṭa bihi nabātu l-arḍi fa-aṣbaḥa hashīman tadhrūhu l-riyāḥu wakāna l-lahu ʿalā kulli shayin muq'tadiran
And present to them the example of the life of this world, [its being] like rain which We send down from the sky, and the vegetation of the earth mingles with it and [then] it becomes dry remnants, scattered by the winds. And Allāh is ever, over all things, Perfect in Ability.
al-mālu wal-banūna zīnatu l-ḥayati l-dun'yā wal-bāqiyātu l-ṣāliḥātu khayrun ʿinda rabbika thawāban wakhayrun amalan
Wealth and children are [but] adornment of the worldly life. But the enduring good deeds are better to your Lord for reward and better for [one's] hope.
wayawma nusayyiru l-jibāla watarā l-arḍa bārizatan waḥasharnāhum falam nughādir min'hum aḥadan
And [warn of] the Day when We will remove the mountains and you will see the earth exposed, and We will gather them and not leave behind from them anyone.
waʿuriḍū ʿalā rabbika ṣaffan laqad ji'tumūnā kamā khalaqnākum awwala marratin bal zaʿamtum allan najʿala lakum mawʿidan
And they will be presented before your Lord in rows, [and He will say], "You have certainly come to Us just as We created you the first time. But you claimed that We would never make for you an appointment."
wawuḍiʿa l-kitābu fatarā l-muj'rimīna mush'fiqīna mimmā fīhi wayaqūlūna yāwaylatanā māli hādhā l-kitābi lā yughādiru ṣaghīratan walā kabīratan illā aḥṣāhā wawajadū mā ʿamilū ḥāḍiran walā yaẓlimu rabbuka aḥadan
And the record [of deeds] will be placed [open], and you will see the criminals fearful of that within it, and they will say, "Oh, woe to us! What is this book that leaves nothing small or great except that it has enumerated it?" And they will find what they did present [before them]. And your Lord does injustice to no one.
wa-idh qul'nā lil'malāikati us'judū liādama fasajadū illā ib'līsa kāna mina l-jini fafasaqa ʿan amri rabbihi afatattakhidhūnahu wadhurriyyatahu awliyāa min dūnī wahum lakum ʿaduwwun bi'sa lilẓẓālimīna badalan
And [mention] when We said to the angels, "Prostrate to Adam," and they prostrated, except for Iblees. He was of the jinn and departed from [i.e., disobeyed] the command of his Lord. Then will you take him and his descendants as allies other than Me while they are enemies to you? Wretched it is for the wrongdoers as an exchange.
mā ashhadttuhum khalqa l-samāwāti wal-arḍi walā khalqa anfusihim wamā kuntu muttakhidha l-muḍilīna ʿaḍudan
I did not make them witness to the creation of the heavens and the earth or to the creation of themselves, and I would not have taken the misguiders as assistants.
wayawma yaqūlu nādū shurakāiya alladhīna zaʿamtum fadaʿawhum falam yastajībū lahum wajaʿalnā baynahum mawbiqan
And [warn of] the Day when He will say, "Call My 'partners' whom you claimed," and they will invoke them, but they will not respond to them. And We will put between them [a valley of] destruction.
waraā l-muj'rimūna l-nāra faẓannū annahum muwāqiʿūhā walam yajidū ʿanhā maṣrifan
And the criminals will see the Fire and will be certain that they are to fall therein. And they will not find from it a way elsewhere.
walaqad ṣarrafnā fī hādhā l-qur'āni lilnnāsi min kulli mathalin wakāna l-insānu akthara shayin jadalan
And We have certainly diversified in this Qur’ān for the people from every [kind of] example; but man has ever been, most of anything, [prone to] dispute.
wamā manaʿa l-nāsa an yu'minū idh jāahumu l-hudā wayastaghfirū rabbahum illā an tatiyahum sunnatu l-awalīna aw yatiyahumu l-ʿadhābu qubulan
And nothing has prevented the people from believing when guidance came to them and from asking forgiveness of their Lord except that there [must] befall them the [accustomed] precedent of the former peoples or that the punishment should come [directly] before them.
wamā nur'silu l-mur'salīna illā mubashirīna wamundhirīna wayujādilu alladhīna kafarū bil-bāṭili liyud'ḥiḍū bihi l-ḥaqa wa-ittakhadhū āyātī wamā undhirū huzuwan
And We send not the messengers except as bringers of good tidings and warners. And those who disbelieve dispute by [using] falsehood to [attempt to] invalidate thereby the truth and have taken My verses, and that of which they are warned, in ridicule.
waman aẓlamu mimman dhukkira biāyāti rabbihi fa-aʿraḍa ʿanhā wanasiya mā qaddamat yadāhu innā jaʿalnā ʿalā qulūbihim akinnatan an yafqahūhu wafī ādhānihim waqran wa-in tadʿuhum ilā l-hudā falan yahtadū idhan abadan
And who is more unjust than one who is reminded of the verses of his Lord but turns away from them and forgets what his hands have put forth? Indeed, We have placed over their hearts coverings, lest they understand it, and in their ears deafness. And if you invite them to guidance - they will never be guided, then - ever.
warabbuka l-ghafūru dhū l-raḥmati law yuākhidhuhum bimā kasabū laʿajjala lahumu l-ʿadhāba bal lahum mawʿidun lan yajidū min dūnihi mawilan
And your Lord is the Forgiving, the possessor of mercy. If He were to impose blame upon them for what they earned, He would have hastened for them the punishment. Rather, for them is an appointment from which they will never find an escape.
watil'ka l-qurā ahlaknāhum lammā ẓalamū wajaʿalnā limahlikihim mawʿidan
And those cities - We destroyed them when they wronged, and We made for their destruction an appointed time.
wa-idh qāla mūsā lifatāhu lā abraḥu ḥattā ablugha majmaʿa l-baḥrayni aw amḍiya ḥuquban
And [mention] when Moses said to his boy [i.e., servant], "I will not cease [traveling] until I reach the junction of the two seas or continue for a long period."