Qur'an and Tafsir, Surah 18
الكهف
The Cave
Makkah set a test with three questions. The answer came fifteen days late.
110 ayat, Makkan, Awaiting scholar review
Makkah
Is Muhammad ﷺ a prophet? Quraysh cannot tell. So they ask the rabbis of Madinah.
Ask him, the rabbis say, about the young men of long ago. About the man who reached east and west. About the soul.
The wait
The Prophet ﷺ does not add in sha' Allah: if Allah wills.
In the report, fifteen days go by. No revelation. Makkah begins to talk.
Then this surah comes.
Journey map
Al-Kahf 18:6Before any answer, a word to the man who waited.
فَلَعَلَّكَ بَٰخِعࣰ نَّفۡسَكَ عَلَىٰٓ ءَاثَٰرِهِمۡ إِن لَّمۡ يُؤۡمِنُواْ بِهَٰذَا ٱلۡحَدِيثِ أَسَفًا ٦
6 Then perhaps you would kill yourself through grief over them, [O Muḥammad], if they do not believe in this message, [and] out of sorrow.
Al-Kahf 18:7Then the idea under every story still to come.
إِنَّا جَعَلۡنَا مَا عَلَى ٱلۡأَرۡضِ زِينَةࣱ لَّهَا لِنَبۡلُوَهُمۡ أَيُّهُمۡ أَحۡسَنُ عَمَلࣱا ٧
7 Indeed, We have made that which is on the earth adornment for it that We may test them [as to] which of them is best in deed.
The word
Zinah means adornment. Everything on the earth is zinah, the surah says, put there to test who acts best. One day it will all be bare ground. The word comes back twice more.
The four stories
Trial of faith
A ruler makes idol worship the law. A few young men stand up and say who their Lord is. Then they leave for a cave. They ask for mercy, and a right way through.
Al-Kahf 18:13Twice the surah says it: they were young.
نَّحۡنُ نَقُصُّ عَلَيۡكَ نَبَأَهُم بِٱلۡحَقِّۚ إِنَّهُمۡ فِتۡيَةٌ ءَامَنُواْ بِرَبِّهِمۡ وَزِدۡنَٰهُمۡ هُدࣱى ١٣
13 It is We who relate to you, [O Muḥammad], their story in truth. Indeed, they were youths who believed in their Lord, and We increased them in guidance.
A closer look
The young take to the truth faster than elders set in their ways, says Ibn Kathir. So it was in Makkah, he adds: most who followed the Prophet ﷺ were young. The first hearers were living this story.
The word
Of the sleepers in the cave the Arabic says: We struck upon their ears. The eyes close first. The ears keep working, and it is sound that wakes a sleeper. Seal the ears, and nothing breaks the sleep.
Trial of faith
The sleepers wake hungry. A day has passed, they think. One goes to town with a silver coin. The food seller does not know the coin, Ibn Kathir passes on. It has been three hundred years.
A closer look
The sleepers' dog lies across the threshold of the cave, and sleeps as they sleep. Every guess at their number counts the dog. Ibn Kathir: this is what keeping good company does.
Where scholars differ
How many slept in the cave? Three, people will say. Five. The surah calls both of those guessing. It lets "seven" stand, and Ibn 'Abbas said seven. Then: do not argue about it. My Lord knows best.
Al-Kahf 18:23Now the reason for the fifteen days. The sentence finishes: unless Allah wills.
وَلَا تَقُولَنَّ لِشَاْيۡءٍ إِنِّي فَاعِلࣰ ذَٰلِكَ غَدًا ٢٣
23 And never say of anything, "Indeed, I will do that tomorrow,"
A closer look
The sleepers stay three hundred years, the surah says, and nine more. Why not just say 309? The commentators explain: three hundred years by the sun is three hundred and nine by the moon. One phrase. Both calendars.
The story behind it
Leading men make the Prophet ﷺ an offer. Send away the poor believers, Bilal and Khabbab among them, and they will listen. The reply tells him to keep himself with them.
Al-Kahf 18:28
وَٱصۡبِرۡ نَفۡسَكَ مَعَ ٱلَّذِينَ يَدۡعُونَ رَبَّهُم بِٱلۡغَدَوٰةِ وَٱلۡعَشِيِّ يُرِيدُونَ وَجۡهَهُۥۖ وَلَا تَعۡدُ عَيۡنَاكَ عَنۡهُمۡ تُرِيدُ زِينَةَ ٱلۡحَيَوٰةِ ٱلدُّنۡيَاۖ وَلَا تُطِعۡ مَنۡ أَغۡفَلۡنَا قَلۡبَهُۥ عَن ذِكۡرِنَا وَٱتَّبَعَ هَوَىٰهُ وَكَانَ أَمۡرُهُۥ فُرُطࣱا ٢٨
28 And keep yourself patient [by being] with those who call upon their Lord in the morning and the evening, seeking His face [i.e., acceptance]. And let not your eyes pass beyond them, desiring adornments of the worldly life, and do not obey one whose heart We have made heedless of Our remembrance and who follows his desire and whose affair is ever [in] neglect.
A long ayah: scroll within the card.
Trial of wealth
So the next story is a rich man's. Two vineyards ringed with palms, and a stream between. He says to his poorer friend: I have more wealth than you, and more men.
Al-Kahf 18:36First the rich man says his garden will never perish. Then:
وَمَآ أَظُنُّ ٱلسَّاعَةَ قَآئِمَةࣱ وَلَئِن رُّدِدتُّ إِلَىٰ رَبِّي لَأَجِدَنَّ خَيۡرࣱا مِّنۡهَا مُنقَلَبࣱا ٣٦
36 And I do not think the Hour will occur. And even if I should be brought back to my Lord, I will surely find better than this as a return."
A closer look
Ibn Kathir explains the rich man's logic: if I were not loved, I would not have been given this. His friend replies: wealth is given to all kinds of people. It proves nothing.
Al-Kahf 18:39The friend's advice.
وَلَوۡلَآ إِذۡ دَخَلۡتَ جَنَّتَكَ قُلۡتَ مَا شَآءَ ٱللَّهُ لَا قُوَّةَ إِلَّا بِٱللَّهِۚ إِن تَرَنِ أَنَا۠ أَقَلَّ مِنكَ مَالࣱا وَوَلَدࣱا ٣٩
39 And why did you, when you entered your garden, not say, 'What Allāh willed [has occurred]; there is no power except in Allāh'? Although you see me less than you in wealth and children,
Trial of wealth
The surah skips the night. It shows the morning. Vines collapsed on their trellises. The owner turning his hands over, wishing he had set no one beside his Lord.
What's happening
Life in this world is like rain. Plants drink it and thicken. Then they are dry stalks, and the wind takes them.
Al-Kahf 18:46So what lasts?
ٱلۡمَالُ وَٱلۡبَنُونَ زِينَةُ ٱلۡحَيَوٰةِ ٱلدُّنۡيَاۖ وَٱلۡبَٰقِيَٰتُ ٱلصَّٰلِحَٰتُ خَيۡرٌ عِندَ رَبِّكَ ثَوَابࣱا وَخَيۡرٌ أَمَلࣱا ٤٦
46 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.
Trial of knowledge
Musa (Moses) is addressing his people when the question comes. I do, he says. He is told of a servant of Allah who knows more, where the two seas meet. So he sets off to learn.
Al-Kahf 18:68Musa finds the man, al-Khidr, and asks to follow him. The reply:
وَكَيۡفَ تَصۡبِرُ عَلَىٰ مَا لَمۡ تُحِطۡ بِهِۦ خُبۡرࣱا ٦٨
68 And how can you have patience for what you do not encompass in knowledge?"
Trial of knowledge
Al-Khidr damages a boat that carried them. He kills a boy. He repairs a wall in a town that refused them food. Each time, Musa protests.
A closer look
In the hadith a bird dips its beak in the sea. Al-Khidr says: my knowledge and yours, beside Allah's, are what this bird took from the sea.
Al-Kahf 18:79Then the reasons. The boat first.
أَمَّا ٱلسَّفِينَةُ فَكَانَتۡ لِمَسَٰكِينَ يَعۡمَلُونَ فِي ٱلۡبَحۡرِ فَأَرَدتُّ أَنۡ أَعِيبَهَا وَكَانَ وَرَآءَهُم مَّلِكࣰ يَأۡخُذُ كُلَّ سَفِينَةٍ غَصۡبࣱا ٧٩
79 As for the ship, it belonged to poor people working at sea. So I intended to cause defect in it as there was after them a king who seized every [good] ship by force.
How it is built
Where scholars draw a line
Ma'ariful Qur'an: by the law he carried, Musa was right to object. Al-Khidr acted on a direct command from Allah. The story excuses no one else.
Trial of power
The last question from Madinah. Dhul-Qarnayn is given a means to everything. He reaches the far west, then the far east, then a pass between two mountains.
Where scholars differ
Alexander, says al-Jalalayn. Not so, says Ibn Kathir: Alexander was a polytheist. Others say an early king of Yemen, or Cyrus of Persia. The Qur'an tells only "something of his story".
Al-Kahf 18:95A people offer to pay Dhul-Qarnayn for a barrier against raiders. His answer:
قَالَ مَا مَكَّنِّي فِيهِ رَبِّي خَيۡرࣰ فَأَعِينُونِي بِقُوَّةٍ أَجۡعَلۡ بَيۡنَكُمۡ وَبَيۡنَهُمۡ رَدۡمًا ٩٥
95 He said, "That in which my Lord has established me is better [than what you offer], but assist me with strength [i.e., manpower]; I will make between you and them a dam.
Trial of power
Blocks of iron fill the pass. Bellows heat the iron until it glows. Molten copper is poured over it. Ya'juj and Ma'juj cannot climb it. They cannot bore through.
Al-Kahf 18:98Dhul-Qarnayn does not admire the barrier. He says:
قَالَ هَٰذَا رَحۡمَةࣰ مِّن رَّبِّيۖ فَإِذَا جَآءَ وَعۡدُ رَبِّي جَعَلَهُۥ دَكَّآءَۖ وَكَانَ وَعۡدُ رَبِّي حَقࣱّا ٩٨
98 [Dhul-Qarnayn] said, "This is a mercy from my Lord; but when the promise of my Lord comes [i.e., approaches], He will make it level, and ever is the promise of my Lord true."
Al-Kahf 18:104Who loses the most? The surah gives its answer.
ٱلَّذِينَ ضَلَّ سَعۡيُهُمۡ فِي ٱلۡحَيَوٰةِ ٱلدُّنۡيَا وَهُمۡ يَحۡسَبُونَ أَنَّهُمۡ يُحۡسِنُونَ صُنۡعًا ١٠٤
104 [They are] those whose effort is lost in worldly life, while they think that they are doing well in work."
Al-Kahf 18:109The bird took a drop from the sea. Now the whole sea is ink.
قُل لَّوۡ كَانَ ٱلۡبَحۡرُ مِدَادࣱا لِّكَلِمَٰتِ رَبِّي لَنَفِدَ ٱلۡبَحۡرُ قَبۡلَ أَن تَنفَدَ كَلِمَٰتُ رَبِّي وَلَوۡ جِئۡنَا بِمِثۡلِهِۦ مَدَدࣱا ١٠٩
109 Say, "If the sea were ink for [writing] the words of my Lord, the sea would be exhausted before the words of my Lord were exhausted, even if We brought the like of it in [continual] supplement."
Al-Kahf 18:110The reply to the test, and the last word.
قُلۡ إِنَّمَآ أَنَا۠ بَشَرࣰ مِّثۡلُكُمۡ يُوحَىٰٓ إِلَيَّ أَنَّمَآ إِلَٰهُكُمۡ إِلَٰهࣰ وَٰحِدࣰۖ فَمَن كَانَ يَرۡجُواْ لِقَآءَ رَبِّهِۦ فَلۡيَعۡمَلۡ عَمَلࣱا صَٰلِحࣱا وَلَا يُشۡرِكۡ بِعِبَادَةِ رَبِّهِۦٓ أَحَدَۢا ١١٠
110 Say, "I am only a man like you, to whom has been revealed that your god is one God. So whoever would hope for the meeting with his Lord - let him do righteous work and not associate in the worship of his Lord anyone."
The story behind it
The surah's last line, reports say, answered men who did good and liked to be seen doing it. The Prophet ﷺ called showing off "the small shirk": a lesser way of giving Allah a partner.
Reflect, just for you
Virtue of the surah
Whoever recites al-Kahf on Friday will have light from one Friday to the next.
al-Hakim, al-Bayhaqi
Sahih (authentic)The scholars behind this grading are still to be named.
Virtue of the surah
Whoever memorises the first ten ayat of al-Kahf is protected from the Dajjal.
Sahih Muslim 809
Sahih (authentic)Included by Muslim in his Sahih
Seen by lamplight. It gives more each time.
Makkah set a test with three questions. The answer came fifteen days late.