18:1  Praise belongs to Allah, WHO has sent down upon HIS devotee the timeless Book and HE has disabled all deviation for it.

18:2  Ever to [discernably] stand out, that HE may warn of a severe punishment from HIS divine domain, and that HE may convey to the believers, who do the right deeds, that for them is a beautiful reward,

18:3  Dwellers therein forever.

18:4  And that HE may warn those who have said God has taken a son unto HIMSELF.

18:5  No knowledge do they have of HIM, nor had their forefathers. A word of enormous [ignorance] issues [thoughtlessly] from their mouths! They utter nothing but a lie!

18:6  So, would you enable yourself to grieve to death in regret over their ways, if they do not believe in this discourse?

18:7  Indeed, WE have placed whatever is on the earth as adornment to it, that WE may test them, as to which of them are best in conduct.

18:8  And indeed, WE are certain to render whatever is upon it to a barren flat.

18:9  Or had you figured that the Companions of the Cave and the inscription were a wonder among OUR signs?

18:10  When the youths retreated to the Cave, they prayed: “O our Rabb! Bestow on us mercy from YOUR divine domain, and facilitate for us through our undertaking, the right conduct.”

18:11  So, WE prevailed over their hearing, inside the cave, for numbered years.

18:12  Thereafter WE raised them up again, to test which of the two parties would better assess for what time span had they tarried there.

18:13  WE narrate their episode to you with the sole right: Surely, they were young men who believed in their Rabb, and WE increased them in guidance.

18:14  And WE had conferred solidarity upon their hearts when they took a stand, and asserted, “Our Rabb is the Lord of the heavens and the earth. We are never to invoke any deity short of HIM, for then, most categorically, we would have uttered an outrage.

18:15  These, our people, have adopted other deities besides HIM. Why do they not come with a compelling proof about them? So then, who is deeper in wrong than one who invents a lie against Allah?”

18:16  And [it was said to the youths], “When you have withdrawn from them and all what they worship except Allah, then retreat to the Cave. Your Rabb will release HIS mercy for you and set up an easy deliverance for you from your undertaking.”

18:17  You would see the sun, when it rose, skirting their cave on the right, and when it set, severing them on the left, while they were in its breach. That is from amongst the signs of God. Whosoever HE guides—guided is he, and whosoever HE lets astray, never can you find for him a teacher-guardian [to show the way].

18:18  You would deem them awake, while they were in deep sleep. WE turned them on their right side and on their left side, and their dog [sitting up], forelegs stretched by the entrance. If you had detected them, you indeed would have turned away from them in haste, and you would have certainly been filled with terror of them.

18:19  And thus, it was, [until] WE raised them up to let them question each other. Asked one from amongst them who would verbalize [the moment], “How long have you tarried?” They said, “We have tarried a day or part of a day.” They said, “Your Rabb knows best how long you have tarried. So now send one of you with this minted coin of yours to the city and let him determine which of the food is purest, then bring to you some sustenance from it. And let him keep a low profile and not divulge about you to anyone.

18:20  Surely, if they should catch up with you, they will stone you; or return you to their religion, and in that case never ever would you succeed."

18:21  And thus [as one of them set out for food], WE offered them up for discovery, so that they may know that the promise of Allah is true, and that the [Last] Hour has no doubt to it. When they got to dispute amongst themselves concerning their matter, some said, “Build a monument over them, their Rabb knows best about them.” Said those others whose opinion prevailed over their matter, “We must adopt a place of worship over them.”

18:22  They are to say, “Three, the fourth of them their dog,” and [others] will say, “Five, their dog the sixth of them,”—dabbling in the unverifiable—while [some] will say, “Seven, the eighth of them being their dog.” Say, “My Rabb best knows their number. None but a few have any [real] knowledge of them. So, do not postulate about them, except an obvious postulation, nor solicit any opinions from any of them regarding them.”

18:23  And do not say with surety about anything, “I am one to make that happen tomorrow.”

18:24  [Nothing is to be] except Allah’s Will. And when you do forget, remember your Rabb, and say: “May it be that my Rabb guides me to a proper conduct, even more closely [aligned to HIS will] than this.”

18:25  And [they are to say], they [the young men] remained in their cave three hundred years, and they added nine.

18:26  Say: “Allah knows best how long they remained. To HIM belongs the unseeable Reality of the heavens and the earth: how well HE sees and hears! No guardians have they apart from HIM; HE allots to no one a share in HIS rule!”

18:27  Recite what has been revealed to you of your Rabb’s timeless Book. None can change HIS pronouncements, and never will you find apart from HIM, a recourse to refuge.

18:28  And keep your soul content with the ones who call unto their Rabb morning and evening, seeking HIS countenance; and do not disregard them by opting for the appeal of the earthly life. Do not obey one whose heart WE have rendered disregardful of OUR remembrance. He pursues his own whim, and his undertaking is a rash impulse.

18:29  And say: “The Truth is from your Rabb.” So, whoever wills, let him believe [by his choice]. And so too whoever wills, let him reject [by his choice]. Surely, WE have prepared a fire for the unjust. Its billowing folds will hem them in. And if they beg for relief, they will be offered relief with water like murky oil burning their being. Wretched is the drink and terrible a venue of rest.”

18:30  As for the ones who have embraced Faith and have done the right deeds, [be assured] WE do not let a reward lapse for anyone who does good via a [single] deed.

18:31  Such as they— for them are Gardens of Eden, with streams flowing in subservience to them. Adorned therein with bracelets of gold, and dressed in green garments of silk and brocade, reclining therein on raised couches. Most excellent is the reward, and a venue of rest, rendered beautiful.

18:32  Unfold for their contemplation the parable of two individuals: WE rendered for one of them, two gardens of grapes, and WE surrounded the two with date palms, and WE situated crops between the two.

18:33  Each of the two gardens yielded its produce and never was [a garden] from HIM off purpose in anything. And WE had caused a stream flow between them.

18:34  And for him was a harvest. On that basis, the man said to his fellow man, while persuading him, "I am wealthier than you and I have a mightier workforce.”

18:35  And he entered his garden, with a misplaced [sense of] self, he said, “I do not think that this will ever perish!

18:36  And I suppose not that the Last Hour is preset. But if I am sent back to my Rabb, I will most certainly find better than this in return.”

18:37  And his fellow man said to him while he was persuading him: “Are you ungrateful to HIM Who has created you from dust, then from a drop of semen, and thereafter has shaped you into an individual?

18:38  But as for myself: HE— Allah is my Rabb. I do not associate anyone with my Rabb.

18:39  Why had you not said, when you entered your garden, ‘Whatever [there is], Allah has willed! There is no power except with Allah!’ If you view me lesser than you in wealth and offspring—

18:40  then such too is possible that my Rabb gives me something better than your garden, and HE sends upon your garden a calamity from the sky, so that in a day’s turn it becomes slippery powder.

18:41  Or in a day’s turn its water sinks deep, such that you would never be able to fetch it.”

18:42  And [it happened], his fruitful garden came under siege, and there he was facing a new phase, wringing his hands over all that he had invested in it, while now upon its frames lay desolation. And he lamented, “Oh, would that I had not associated anyone with my Rabb!”

18:43  And he was to have no able helpers other than Allah, helping him, nor was he capable of helping himself.

18:44  There! The [ultimate] patronage belongs to Allah, the Reality. HE is the best to reward, and the best to determine what is to be.

18:45  And present for them a similitude of this earthly life: it is like water which WE send down from the sky—so that it be imbued by the flora of the land, to then duly become dry stubble scattered by the winds. It is Allah WHO has almighty control over the purpose and measure of all things.

18:46  The material wealth and the structures [you make] are an adornment of the life of the world, while best in reward, and best hope-wise, in the sight of your Rabb are the ever-to-remain virtuous deeds.

18:47  And the day WE move the mountains, and you see the earth baring all: WE gathered them all together. WE did not leave out anyone [or any aspect] of them

18:48  And they were presented before your Rabb in rows: “Now, indeed, you have come unto US just as WE created you the first time. But yes, you had supposed that WE had never set an appointment for you.”

18:49  And the record was brought forth— then you behold the flouters of divine guidance, anxious of what was in it, saying, “Oh, woe unto us! What for is this record? It leaves out [no aspect of anything], small or big— without exception, it is all accounted for!” They found present, whatever they ever did. Your Rabb does not wrong anyone.

18:50  [Remember] when WE said to the angels, “Prostrate to Adam,” they all prostrated, except Ib'līs. He was of the Jinn— he violated his Rabb's command. Will you then take him and his progeny as allies instead of ME, even though they are your foes? How wretched an exchange for the wrongdoers.

18:51  I did not have them witness the creation of the heavens and the earth, nor the creation of their own selves. And not am I ever to take the misleading ones as advocates.

18:52  And [warn of] a day HE will say, “Call those whom you claimed to be MY partners!” Whereupon they will call them, but they [whom they now call] will not be able to respond to them, for WE shall have placed a chasm between them.

18:53  And the guilty will see the Fire and apprehend that it is they who are its instigators. And not will they find any way leading away from it.

18:54  WE have offered takeaways in this Quran for humankind, from every similitude [therein], while in most things man is contentious.

18:55  And what has stopped people that they should believe when Guidance has come unto them, and from seeking forgiveness of their Rabb—except an onset upon them, of a practice of the former peoples, or the face-to-face onset of the [final] punishment.

18:56  And WE do not send the Messengers except as conveyors of divine tidings and as warners, while the ones who disbelieve dispute by using falsehood to refute the Truth. They have taken MY signs and what they are warned of in jest.

18:57  And who has done more wrong than one who was reminded of the signs of his Rabb, and who [in response] turned away from them, having forgotten what his two hands had forwarded? Behold, WE have placed sheaths over their hearts lest they understand it [i.e., the Truth], and in their ears, a deafness. And if you call them to the Guidance— not until eternity will they acquire guidance.

18:58  Your Rabb is the Truly Forgiving One, Owner of all Mercy. If HE were to take them to task for what they have earned, HE would hasten the punishment for them. Nay, they have a set appointment. Never will they find short of it, any asylum [to circumvent their reckoning].

18:59  And those communities, WE destroyed them after they had done wrong, and WE had set a time and place for their destruction.

18:60  And [there was a time] when Moses said to his young aide: “I shall not quit until I reach the meeting place of the two seas or run out the stretch of time.”

18:61  So, [thus committed] when the two reached the meeting place between them, they forgot their fish, which then took its course into the sea, burrowing across.

18:62  Thereafter [they headed on] and when they were well beyond, Moses said to his aide: “Bring us our morning meal; we have met up with the toll from this journey of ours.”

18:63  Said [the aide] “Did you see when we took to the rock for rest? [While there], I did forget the fish; And none, except Satan, made me forget my mentioning of it to you the while it wondrously took its way into the sea!”

18:64  Said [Moses]: “That was what we were seeking.” So, they went back, retracing their tracks, step for step.

18:65  And thus, they found a votary from amongst OUR [many] votaries. WE had given him mercy from US, and WE also taught him knowledge, directly from OUR divine domain.

18:66  Said Moses to him “May I follow you on [the expectation] that you will teach me some of what you have been taught regarding sound judgment?”

18:67  He said, “You will never be able to be patient with me.

18:68  How can you be patient over something which you do not encompass awareness wise?”

18:69  Said [Moses], “You will find me patient, if Allah has willed, and I will not be disobedient to you, in any matter.”

18:70  He said, “So, if you follow me, you are not to question me about anything until I originate some mention of it to you.”

18:71  Then the two went off together till when they boarded this particular boat. He breached it. Said [Moses], “Have you breached it to drown its occupants? You just did a senseless thing”

18:72  He said, “Did I not say that you will never be able to be patient with me?”

18:73  He [Moses] said, “Don’t take me to task for what I forgot, and do not overload me with difficulty from my undertaking.”

18:74  So thus, they both set out again till when they met a boy, and he killed him. Said [Moses], “Have you killed an innocent soul, without cause of just retribution for another soul? You have indeed done an unconscionable thing.

18:75  He said, “Did I not tell you that you will never be able to be patient with me?”

18:76  He [Moses] said, “If I ask you about anything after the foregone, then lend me not your company. You have already had enough of every excuse from my perspective.”

18:77  So [with that assurance], the two proceeded until they came upon the people of a town; they sought food from its people, but the people refused hospitality to them. Then they found a wall therein, tending to fall. So, he reinforced it. [Moses] said, “If you had wanted you could surely have taken rightful compensation for it.”

18:78  He said, “This is the parting between me and you. I will now tell you the underlying rationale of what you were unable to patiently bear.”

18:79  “As for the boat, it belonged to a poor people who worked at sea. So [for their sake], I intended to make it defective, for beyond them [outside their knowledge], was a king confiscating every boat by force.”

18:80  “As for the boy, his parents were believers. So, we had to fear that he would overwhelm them with uncontained transgression and ingratitude.

18:81  So, we intended that their Rabb would give to them in replacement, one better than him in purity, and more attuned to mercy.”

18:82  “As for the wall— it belonged to two orphan boys in the wider community, and buried beneath it was a treasure for them both, and their father was a righteous man. Therefore, your Rabb has intended that they attain their maturity and recover their treasure as a mercy from your Rabb. And I did it not on my own accord. That is the underlying rationale behind what you were unable to bear in patience.”

18:83  And they ask you about Zulqarnain. Say: “I shall recite to you a remembrance of him.”

18:84  Of certain, WE gave him a firm footing in the land. And WE gave him [a curiosity to determine] a cause for everything.

18:85  So, he set in pursuit of a cause,

18:86  until he got to the sun’s setting. And he found it to be setting in a muddy spring. And he found a people by it. WE said: “O Zulqarnain! Either that you punish them, or you take to the goodness in them?”

18:87  He said “As for him who has done wrong, in consequence, we shall punish him. Thereafter, he will be taken back to his Rabb. Then, HE will punish him with an unknowable but apt punishment.

18:88  And as for him who has come to believe and has done right, for him in consequence is the absolute best as a reward. And, for him we will declare ease by our order.

18:89  Then, he set in pursuit of another cause—

18:90  until he got to the sun’s rising. And he found it rising upon a people for whom WE had rendered no cover short of it.

18:91  Thus, it was, and WE did circumscribe the limits of awareness for his domain.

18:92  Thereafter, he pursued a cause.

18:93  Until, when he reached [a pass] between two barriers. And he found at the base between them a people, not nearly understanding a word.

18:94  They said, “O Zulqarnain, Yajuj and Majuj are pillagers in the land. Therefore, can we offer you a tribute upon the expectation that you raise a barrier between us and them?”

18:95  He said, “That [stead] in which my Rabb has stationed me is better. So, assist me with [numerical] strength. I will place between you and them a barricade.”

18:96  “Bring me sheets of iron.” Then when he formed and filled between the two walls [of the barricade], he said, “Ply your bellows,” till when he had it on fire, he said, “Bring me molten copper to pour upon it.”

18:97  Thus, they were not able to scale it, and neither were they able to pierce through.

18:98  He said, “This is a mercy from my Rabb, but when the promise of my Rabb comes into effect, HE shall render it razed. And ever is my Rabb’s promise true.”

18:99  That day WE are to leave them surging into one another, while [the souls] are blown into the forms— then WE are to gather them all in a single gathering.

18:100  And that day, Jahannam will be brought forth by US in plain view of the disbelievers—

18:101  The ones whose eyes were in a blindfold, indisposed to MY remembrance, and who were unable to hear.

18:102  Have the disbelievers then figured that they could take MY slaves as their allies and protectors, instead of ME? Surely, WE have prepared Jahannam as a reception for the disbelievers.

18:103  Say, “Shall we tell you, who are the biggest losers deeds-wise?”

18:104  The ones whose efforts in the earthly life are misdirected, while they reckon that they are doing right and good through an enterprise.

18:105  Those very ones rejected the signs of their Rabb and a [set] meeting of HIS. And so, their deeds miscarried. Thus, WE will not assign any weight to them on the Day of Judgment.

18:106  That is their recompense— Jahannam; for what they disbelieved, and they took MY signs and MY Messengers in jest.

18:107  Surely, the ones who had believed and performed the right deeds, ever for them are the gardens of Paradise for their reception.

18:108  Therein to abide, and they will not they seek any change to it.

18:109  Say: “Had the sea been ink for the words of my Rabb, surely the sea would exhaust itself before my Rabb’s words are exhausted—even if WE brought in another [sea] like it, in replenishment.”

18:110  Say, “I am only a mortal being like you all. It has been revealed to me that your God is One God. Hence whosoever counts on the meeting of his Rabb, he should act with righteous action; and in the worship of his Rabb, he should not include any other.”