Surah Al-Kahf (The Cave) in English

1. ولقد صرفنا في هذا القرآن للناس من كل مثل وكان الإنسان أكثر شيء جدلا

   54

   We have certainly interspersed this Quran with every kind of parable for the people. But man is the most disputatious of creatures.

   wa-la-qad ṣarrafnā fī hādhā l-qurʾāni li-n-nāsi min kulli mathalin wa-kāna l-ʾinsānu ʾakthara shayʾin jadalan

2. وما منع الناس أن يؤمنوا إذ جاءهم الهدى ويستغفروا ربهم إلا أن تأتيهم سنة الأولين أو يأتيهم العذاب قبلا

   55

   Nothing has kept these people from believing and pleading to their Lord for forgiveness when guidance came to them, except [their demand] that the precedent of the ancients come to pass for them, or that the punishment come to them, face to face.

   wa-mā manaʿa n-nāsa ʾan yuʾminū ʾidh jāʾahumu l-hudā wa-yastaghfirū rabbahum ʾillā ʾan taʾtiyahum sunnatu l-ʾawwalīna ʾaw yaʾtiyahumu l-ʿadhābu qubulan

3. وما نرسل المرسلين إلا مبشرين ومنذرين ويجادل الذين كفروا بالباطل ليدحضوا به الحق واتخذوا آياتي وما أنذروا هزوا

   56

   We do not send the apostles except as bearers of good news and as warners, but those who are faithless dispute fallaciously to refute thereby the truth, having taken My signs and what they are warned of in derision.

   wa-mā nursilu l-mursalīna ʾillā mubashshirīna wa-mundhirīna wa-yujādilu lladhīna kafarū bi-l-bāṭili li-yudḥiḍū bihi l-ḥaqqa wa-ttakhadhū ʾāyātī wa-mā ʾundhirū huzuwan

4. ومن أظلم ممن ذكر بآيات ربه فأعرض عنها ونسي ما قدمت يداه إنا جعلنا على قلوبهم أكنة أن يفقهوه وفي آذانهم وقرا وإن تدعهم إلى الهدى فلن يهتدوا إذا أبدا

   57

   Who is a greater wrongdoer than he who is reminded of the signs of his Lord, whereat he disregards them and forgets what his hands have sent ahead? Indeed We have cast veils on their hearts lest they should understand it, and a deafness into their ears; and if you invite them to guidance they will never [let themselves] be guided.

   wa-man ʾaẓlamu mimman dhukkira bi-ʾāyāti rabbihī fa-ʾaʿraḍa ʿanhā wa-nasiya mā qaddamat yadāhu ʾinnā jaʿalnā ʿalā qulūbihim ʾakinnatan ʾan yafqahūhu wa-fī ʾādhānihim waqran wa-ʾin tadʿuhum ʾilā l-hudā fa-lan yahtadū ʾidhan ʾabadan

5. وربك الغفور ذو الرحمة لو يؤاخذهم بما كسبوا لعجل لهم العذاب بل لهم موعد لن يجدوا من دونه موئلا

   58

   Your Lord is the All-forgiving dispenser of mercy. Were He to take them to task because of what they have committed, He would have surely hastened their punishment. But they have a tryst, [when] they will not find a refuge besides Him.

   wa-rabbuka l-ghafūru dhū r-raḥmati law yuʾākhidhuhum bi-mā kasabū la-ʿajjala lahumu l-ʿadhāba bal lahum mawʿidun lan yajidū min dūnihī mawʾilan

6. وتلك القرى أهلكناهم لما ظلموا وجعلنا لمهلكهم موعدا

   59

   Those are the towns that We destroyed when they were wrongdoers, and We appointed a tryst for their destruction.

   wa-tilka l-qurā ʾahlaknāhum lammā ẓalamū wa-jaʿalnā li-mahlikihim mawʿidan

7. وإذ قال موسى لفتاه لا أبرح حتى أبلغ مجمع البحرين أو أمضي حقبا

   60

   When Moses said to his lad, ‘I will go on [journeying] until I have reached the confluence of the two seas, or have spent a long time [travelling].’

   wa-ʾidh qāla mūsā li-fatāhu lā ʾabraḥu ḥattā ʾablugha majmaʿa l-baḥrayni ʾaw ʾamḍiya ḥuquban

8. فلما بلغا مجمع بينهما نسيا حوتهما فاتخذ سبيله في البحر سربا

   61

   So when they reached the confluence between them, they forgot their fish, which found its way into the sea, sneaking away.

   fa-lammā balaghā majmaʿa baynihimā nasiyā ḥūtahumā fa-ttakhadha sabīlahū fī l-baḥri saraban