Surah Al-Kahf (The Cave) in English

1. ودخل جنته وهو ظالم لنفسه قال ما أظن أن تبيد هذه أبدا

   35

   He entered his garden while he wronged himself. He said, ‘I do not think that this will ever perish,

   wa-dakhala jannatahū wa-huwa ẓālimun li-nafsihī qāla mā ʾaẓunnu ʾan tabīda hādhihī ʾabadan

2. وما أظن الساعة قائمة ولئن رددت إلى ربي لأجدن خيرا منها منقلبا

   36

   and I do not think that the Hour will ever set in. And even if I am returned to my Lord I will surely find a resort better than this.’

   wa-mā ʾaẓunnu s-sāʿata qāʾimatan wa-la-ʾin rudidtu ʾilā rabbī la-ʾajidanna khayran minhā munqalaban

3. قال له صاحبه وهو يحاوره أكفرت بالذي خلقك من تراب ثم من نطفة ثم سواك رجلا

   37

   His companion said to him, as he conversed with him: ‘Do you disbelieve in Him who created you from dust, then from a drop of [seminal] fluid, then fashioned you as a man?

   qāla lahū ṣāḥibuhū wa-huwa yuḥāwiruhū ʾa-kafarta bi-lladhī khalaqaka min turābin thumma min nuṭfatin thumma sawwāka rajulan

4. لكنا هو الله ربي ولا أشرك بربي أحدا

   38

   But I [say], ‘‘He is Allah, my Lord,’’ and I do not ascribe any partner to my Lord.

   lākinna huwa llāhu rabbī wa-lā ʾushriku bi-rabbī ʾaḥadan

5. ولولا إذ دخلت جنتك قلت ما شاء الله لا قوة إلا بالله إن ترن أنا أقل منك مالا وولدا

   39

   Why did you not say, when you entered your garden, ‘‘[This is] as Allah has willed! There is no power except by Allah!’’ If you see that I have lesser wealth than you and children,

   wa-law-lā ʾidh dakhalta jannataka qulta mā shāʾa llāhu lā quwwata ʾillā bi-llāhi ʾin tarani ʾana ʾaqalla minka mālan wa-waladan

6. فعسى ربي أن يؤتين خيرا من جنتك ويرسل عليها حسبانا من السماء فتصبح صعيدا زلقا

   40

   maybe my Lord will give me [something] better than your garden, and He will unleash upon it bolts from the sky, so that it becomes a bare plain.

   fa-ʿasā rabbī ʾan yuʾtiyani khayran min jannatika wa-yursila ʿalayhā ḥusbānan mina s-samāʾi fa-tuṣbiḥa ṣaʿīdan zalaqan

7. أو يصبح ماؤها غورا فلن تستطيع له طلبا

   41

   Or its water will sink down, so that you will never be able to obtain it.’

   ʾaw yuṣbiḥa māʾuhā ghawran fa-lan tastaṭīʿa lahū ṭalaban

8. وأحيط بثمره فأصبح يقلب كفيه على ما أنفق فيها وهي خاوية على عروشها ويقول يا ليتني لم أشرك بربي أحدا

   42

   And ruin closed in on his produce, and he began to wring his hands for what he had spent on it, as it lay fallen on its trellises. He was saying, ‘I wish I had not ascribed any partner to my Lord.’

   wa-ʾuḥīṭa bi-thamarihī fa-ʾaṣbaḥa yuqallibu kaffayhi ʿalā mā ʾanfaqa fīhā wa-hiya khāwiyatun ʿalā ʿurūshihā wa-yaqūlu yā-laytanī lam ʾushrik bi-rabbī ʾaḥadan

9. ولم تكن له فئة ينصرونه من دون الله وما كان منتصرا

   43

   He had no party to help him, besides Allah, nor could he help himself.

   wa-lam takun lahū fiʾatun yanṣurūnahū min dūni llāhi wa-mā kāna muntaṣiran

10. هنالك الولاية لله الحق هو خير ثوابا وخير عقبا

    44

    There, all authority belongs to Allah, the Real. He is best in rewarding, and best in requiting.

    hunālika l-walāyatu li-llāhi l-ḥaqqi huwa khayrun thawāban wa-khayrun ʿuqban

11. واضرب لهم مثل الحياة الدنيا كماء أنزلناه من السماء فاختلط به نبات الأرض فأصبح هشيما تذروه الرياح وكان الله على كل شيء مقتدرا

    45

    Draw for them the parable of the life of this world: [It is] like the water We send down from the sky. Then the earth’s vegetation mingles with it. Then it becomes chaff, scattered by the wind. And Allah has power over all things.

    wa-ḍrib lahum mathala l-ḥayāti d-dunyā ka-māʾin ʾanzalnāhu mina s-samāʾi fa-khtalaṭa bihī nabātu l-ʾarḍi fa-ʾaṣbaḥa hashīman tadhrūhu r-riyāḥu wa-kāna llāhu ʿalā kulli shayʾin muqtadiran-i