Praise be to God who brought down the Book upon His servant and placed no crookedness in it.
It is straightforward so that He would warn of great might from Him, and to give good news to the believers who do good deeds that they shall have a fine reward,
in which they shall forever remain.
And to warn those who said, "God has taken a son."
They have no knowledge of it, nor did their fathers. Grave indeed is the word coming out of their mouths! They say nothing but lies.
Perhaps you may torment yourself with grief over them if they do not believe in this Hadith.
Indeed, We rendered that which is on the earth a zinat for it in order to test them as to whose work is better.
And We will surely turn what is on it into a barren wasteland.
Do you realise that the companions of the cave and the numbers connected with them are among Our wondrous signs?
When the young men took refuge in the cave, they said, "Our Lord, grant us a mercy from You and provide for us correctness in our affairs."
So We sealed their ears in the cave for a number of years.
Then, We resurrected them to see which of the two parties could count the duration of their stay.
We narrate to you their news truthfully. They were young men who believed in their Lord, and We increased them in guidance.
We reassured their hearts when they got up and said, "Our Lord is the Lord of the heavens and the earth. We will not call upon another god besides Him. Otherwise, we would have uttered an outrageous falsehood.
These people of ours have taken up gods besides Him. Why then do they not produce clear authority for them?" So who is more transgressing than one who fabricates lies about God?
When you have withdrawn from them and what they worship besides God, take refuge in the cave. Your Lord would then extend for you His mercy and provide for you ease for you in your affairs.
You could see the sun; when it rises, it passes by their cave from the right, and when it sets, it retreats away from them from the left while they are in the hollow thereof. That is from among God's signs. Whomever God guides is the truly guided one, and whomever He misguides, you will not find for him a guiding ally.
You would think them awake as they laid down. We turned them to the right side and the left side while their dog stretched out his forepaws at the entrance. Had you looked at them, you would have turned away from them and fled, and you would have been filled with fear of them.
As such did We resurrect them so they would ask one another. A speaker among them said, "How long have you remained?" They said, "We remained one day or part of a day," they said, "Your Lord knows best how long you remained, so send one of you with this silver coin of yours to the city. Let him search for the purest food, then fetch for you a provision of it. Let him act amicably and not make anyone aware of you.
If they find out about you, they will stone you or return you to their creed, then you would never succeed."
Thus, We decreed that they would be found so that they would know that God's promise is truthful and that there is no doubt about the Hour. When they disputed among themselves regarding their affair, they said, "Build a mausoleum over them." Their Lord knows best about them. Those who had the upper hand said, "We will build a masjid over them."
They will say, "They were three; the fourth being their dog," and they will say, "Five; the sixth being their dog," while merely taking a stab at the unknown, and they will say, "Seven and the eighth being their dog." Say, "My Lord knows best their number." None knows them but a few, so do not argue about them except with a clear argument, and do not seek information about them from anyone.
And do not say concerning any matter, "I will do this tomorrow,"
without saying, "If God wills." And remember your Lord should you forget and say, "May my Lord guide me to be closer to correctness than this."
They remained in their cave for three hundred years and increased by nine.
Say, "God knows best how long they remained." To Him belongs the unseen of the heavens and the earth. How well does He see and hear! They have none besides Him as an ally, and He allows none to share in His Judgment.
Recite what has been revealed to you of your Lord's Book. There is none to alter His Words, and you will not find any refuge besides Him.
And patiently stick with those who call upon their Lord morning and evening, seeking His Face. Do not let your eyes wander away from them, desiring the zinat of the worldly life. Do not obey one whose heart We rendered oblivious to Our remembrance, and who pursued his personal desire, and whose case has exceeded all limits.
Say, "The truth is from your Lord, so whoever wills shall believe and whoever wills shall disbelieve." We have prepared for the transgressors a Fire whose walls will surround them. If they call for help, they will be helped with a liquid-like molten brass that scalds the faces. What a miserable drink and a terrible resting place!
As for those who believe and do good deeds, We certainly do not let the reward of those who do good work go to waste.
Those shall have the Gardens of Eden beneath which rivers flow. They will be adorned with bracelets of gold therein and will wear green clothes of silk and brocade. They will be reclining on comfortable couches therein. Excellent is the reward and beautiful is the resting place.
Cite for them an example of two men: We gave one of them two gardens of grapevines, and We surrounded them with palm trees and placed various crops between them.
Both gardens produced their fruit without suffering any losses therein, and We made a river gush out through them.
He had abundant fruit, so he said to his friend as he conversed with him, "I have more wealth than you, and I am greater in manpower."
He entered his garden in a state of wronging himself. He said, "I do not think this will ever perish.
Nor do I think that the Hour will take place. But even if I should be returned to my Lord, I will surely find better than it in return."
His friend said to him as he conversed with him, "Have you disbelieved in the One who created you from dust, then from a tiny drop, then fashioned you into a man?
As for me, He is God, my Lord, and I do not associate with my Lord anyone.
If only upon entering your garden you would have said, 'This is what God willed, and there can be no power except through God.' Though you see me less than you in wealth and children,
it may be that my Lord will grant me better than your garden, and He may send upon it a calamity from the sky, rendering it a barren wasteland.
Or its water may sink into the ground, and so you would be unable to draw it."
His fruits were totally ruined, so he started wringing the palms of his hands over what he had spent on it, as now it had fallen in on its trellises, and said, "I wish I had not associated anyone with my Lord."
He did not have a group to support him besides God, and he was not victorious.
Ultimately, protection comes only from God, the Truth. He provides the best reward, and with Him lies the best outcome.
Cite for them the example of the worldly life being like water that We brought down from the sky. The plants of the earth mixed with it, and it became dry stubble scattered by the wind. God is Omnipotent over all things.
Wealth and children are the zinat of the worldly life, but the enduring good deeds yield a better reward from your Lord and better hope.
On the Day We set the mountains in motion and you see the earth prominent, We will gather them, leaving none of them out.
They will be presented before your Lord in a row. "You have come to Us as We created you the first time, even though you claimed that We would not assign an appointment for you."
The book was displayed, and so you see the criminals dreading what is in it. They will say, "Woe to us! How come this book leaves nothing out, small or large, without having it accounted for?" They found present all that they had done. Your Lord does not wrong anyone.
When We said to the angels, "Fall prostrate before Adam," they fell prostrate, except Satan. He became of the jinn, and so he rebelled against the command of His Lord. Will you then take him and his descendants as allies besides Me when they are your enemies? What a miserable alternative for the transgressors!
I did not make them witness the creation of the heavens and the earth, nor the creation of themselves, nor was I to take the misleading ones as assistants.
A Day will come when He will say, "Call upon those whom you claimed to be My partners." So they will call on them, but they will not respond to them, and We will place an insurmountable barrier between them.
The criminals will see the Fire and will realise that they will fall into it. They will find no way to avert it.
We have diversified in this Quran all kinds of examples for the people, yet the human being is, more than anything, argumentative.
What prevented the people from believing when the guidance came to them and from asking their Lord for forgiveness? Are they only waiting for the precedent of the previous ones to befall them or for the punishment to come to them face to face?
We do not send the messengers except as bearers of good news and warners. Those who disbelieve argue with falsehood in order to refute the truth with it, and they made a mockery of My signs and what they have been warned with.
Who is more transgressing than one who was reminded of his Lord's revelations, but he turned away from them and forgot what his hands have put forth? We have placed veils over their hearts so that they would not understand it, and deafness in their ears. If you invite them to the guidance, they will not then be guided, ever.
Your Lord is the Forgiver, Possessor of Mercy. If He was to hold them to account for what they earned, He would have hastened for them the punishment. Rather, they have an appointed time from which they will find no escape.
We have annihilated such villages when they transgressed, and We set for their annihilation an appointed time.
Moses said to his lad, "I will not rest until I reach the junction of the two seas or when I have travelled a very long time."
Then, when they reached the junction between them, they forgot their fish, and it found its way back into the sea, slipping away.
When they had gone further, he said to his lad, "Bring us our lunch. We have suffered much fatigue from our travelling."
He said, "Did you see when we rested by the rock, then I forgot about the fish? None has made me forget to mention it other than the devil. Then, it amazingly found its way back to the sea."
He said, "That is what we were seeking." So they went back, retracing their footsteps.
They found one of Our servants whom We granted mercy from Us, and whom We taught some knowledge from Us.
Moses said to him, "May I follow you, provided that you teach me some of the sound judgment you have been taught?"
He said, "You will not be able to have patience with me,
for how can you have patience with that which you do not encompass its knowledge?"
He said, "You will find me, God willing, patient, and I will not disobey any command of yours."
He said, "If you follow me, do not ask me about anything until I make mention of it to you."
So they set out, then when they boarded a ship, he made a hole in it. He said, "Did you make a hole in it to drown its people? You have done a terrible thing."
He said, "Did I not say that you will not be able to have patience with me?"
He said, "Do not hold me accountable for what I have forgotten, and do not overburden me, making my affair difficult for me."
Then they proceeded on until they came upon a young boy, so he killed him. He said, "Have you killed a pure self that has killed no one? You have certainly come up with a deplorable thing."
He said, "Did I not tell you that you will not be able to have patience with me?"
He said, "If I ask you about anything else after this, do not keep me company, for then you would have indeed been given an excuse from me."
So they proceeded on. Then when they came to the people of a village, they asked them for food, but they refused them hospitality. Then they found in it a wall that was about to collapse, so he erected it. He said, "If you wished, you could have received a payment for it."
He said, "This shall be the parting between me and you. I will inform you of the interpretation of what you had no patience for.
As for the ship, it belonged to some poor people working at sea, and I wanted to make it defective, as there was a king in their pursuit who was forcibly seizing every ship.
As for the young boy, his parents were believers, so we feared that he would burden them with transgression and disbelief,
and so we willed that their Lord would replace him for them with one who is better than him in purity and compassion.
As for the wall, it belonged to two orphan boys in the city, and underneath it was a treasure that belonged to them, and their father was righteous. So your Lord wanted them to reach their maturity and extract their treasure; a mercy from your Lord. I did not do it of my own volition. This is the interpretation of what you had no patience for."
They ask you about Dhul-Qarnayn. Say, "I will narrate to you something of his story."
We established him in the land, and We gave him the means to all things.
He pursued a certain path
until he reached the setting of the sun, he found it setting in a spring of dark mud, and he found by it some people. We said, "O Dhul-Qarnayn, either you punish them, or you instil some goodness in them."
He said, "As for the one who transgresses, we will punish him, then he will be returned to his Lord who will commit him to a horrendous punishment.
As for the one who believes and does good deeds, he will receive a fine reward, and we will issue for him a command, making things easy for him."
Then he followed a path
until he reached the rising of the sun, he found it rising over a people for whom We have provided no shield against it.
And indeed, We were fully aware of the knowledge available to him.
Then he followed a path
until he reached a point between two barriers, he found beside them a people who could hardly understand a word.
They said, "O Dhul-Qarnayn, Gog and Magog are corruptors in the earth. Can we draw out a payment for you so that you would construct a barrier between us and them?"
He said, "What my Lord has empowered me with is better, but just give me strong assistance, and I will build a dam between you and them.
Bring me blocks of iron." Once he levelled between the two cliffs, he said, "Blow." Once he set it ablaze, he said, "Bring me molten copper to pour over it."
Thus, they were unable to pass over it, nor were they able to tunnel through it.
He said, "This is a mercy from my Lord, but when the promise of my Lord comes to pass, He will reduce it to rubble. The promise of my Lord is certainly true."
We left them on that Day to surge like waves over one another, then the horn was blown whereupon We gathered them all together.
We presented Hell on that Day, in clear display, to the disbelievers
whose eyes were veiled from My remembrance, and they were unable to hear.
Do those who disbelieve think that they can take My servants as allies besides Me? We have prepared Hell as hospitality for the disbelievers.
Say, "Shall we inform you of the worst losers with regards to their work?
They are those whose work in the worldly life is misguided, yet they think that they are doing good."
They are the ones who disbelieved in the revelations of their Lord, and in His meeting, thus their work was nullified. And so, We assign no weight to them on the Day of Resurrection.
That is their penalty, Hell, for what they disbelieved in and for making a mockery of My revelations and My messengers.
Indeed, those who believe and do good deeds shall have the Gardens of Al-Firdaus as hospitality.
Permanently remaining therein, they will not want to be moved away from it.
Say, "If the sea were ink for the Words of my Lord, the sea would run out before the Words of my Lord run out, even if We were to supply the same amount of ink as a supplement."
Say, "I am only a human being like you, being inspired that your god is but One God. So whoever seeks the meeting with his Lord shall do good work and not associate in the worship of his Lord anyone.