SURAH
AL-KAHF: ARABIC TEXT - TRANSLATION
AND MODERN COMMENTARY (Verse by Verse)
AND MODERN COMMENTARY (Verse by Verse)
Simple
translation:
“Praise is due to Allah Who has sent
down on His Servant the Book that He has ordained to be free from corruption.”
(18: 1)
Explanatory
translation:
“Praise is due to Allah (Most High), Who has sent down on
His Servant (Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) the
Book (i.e., the Qur’an), and has not allowed (and will not allow
until the end of time) therein any corruption (of the text).”
Commentary:
This opening statement of Surah
al-Kahf has truly momentous implications. It conveys an ominous message
exposing the corruption of previous divine scriptures through changes made to
the original texts. But Allah Most High has given a divine guarantee that this
Qur’anic text can never be so corrupted. More than 1400 years have already
passed since the Qur’an was revealed, and this categorical declaration
concerning the incorruptibility of the text has miraculously passed that test
of time. The Qur’an still remains preserved to this day with exactly the
same text with which it was revealed, and that is an absolutely unique event in
history.
It also conveys the message that as
time unfolds this Qur’an will continuously expose all the lies and
falsehoods with which the texts of previous scriptures that were sent to Jews
and Christians were corrupted.
That exposure takes place when
believers obey Allah’s command to respond with this incorruptible Qur’an
to those who wage war on Islam while hiding behind mountains of lies and
deception (e.g., “weapons of mass destruction in Iraq”, “Arabs and Muslims
attacked USA on September 11, 2001”, etc.) and with barbaric oppression and
slaughter.
Here is the divine command:
“Do
not yield to the disbelievers, but fight them strenuously with it
(the Qur’an)” i.e., by waging a “mighty struggle” against them,
while using this Qur’an as the basic weapon of that struggle. (Qur’an,
al-Furqan, 25:52).
The Qur’an restricts itself to
making mention of corruption of only those previous scriptures that were
revealed to the Israelite people, i.e., the Taurat (Torah) of Nabi
Musa, i.e., Moses (‘alaihi al-Salam, i.e., peace be upon him), the Zabur (Psalms) of Nabi
Daud, i.e., David (‘alaihi
al-Salam), and the Injil
(Gospel) of Nabi Isa, i.e., Jesus (‘alaihi al-Salam).
In directing attention to the corruption of Christian and Jewish
scriptures it also delivers a warning of a divine response to those corruptions
that would take the form, in the Last Age, of the supreme tests and trials of Dajjal,
the false Messiah or Anti-Christ, and of Gog and Magog. Surah al-Kahf is
the only Surah of the Qur’an that is linked to both Dajjal
as well as to Gog and Magog.
The implication is that in seeking to
understand and to recognize the tests and trials of Dajjal, as well as
of Gog and Magog, it is to the Christian and Jewish scriptures, as well as to
the Christian and Jewish worlds (that persist in obstinately clinging to those
corruptions in their scriptures despite the revelation of the Qur’an)
that we must direct primary attention.
(Our book entitled ‘Surah al-Kahf and the Modern Age’ looks
specifically at that subject.)
It follows from the above that those
who believe in the Qur’an as the uncorrupted Word of Allah Most High
have a duty to locate all the evil seeds (i.e., corruptions) which were planted
in the Jewish and Christian scriptures and to which the Qur’an has
responded. The knowledge so derived would be of supreme importance for survival
in the age of Dajjal and of Gog and Magog since those evil seeds would
be the battlegrounds on which Allah Most High will unleash an evil storm in the
Last Age.
The opening statement also establishes
the non-contradictory and unambiguous character of a Qur’an which
declares that it is free from all obscurities and internal contradictions:
“Had
it issued from any but Allah (Most High), they would surely have found in it
many an inner contradiction!” (Qur’an, al-Nisa, 4:82)
Simple
translation:
“unerringly straight, to warn of
something awesomely powerful and terrible that will come from Him, and to give
unto the believers who are righteous in their conduct, the glad tiding that
theirs shall be a goodly reward”
(18:2)
Explanatory
translation:
“(This Qur’an is a divine revelation that is
unerringly) straight and upright (and as a consequence will straighten
all things crooked in previous scriptures, and is thus sent) to warn (in
particular those who follow the corrupted Christian and Jewish scriptures and
reject, or neglect to read and study this Word of Allah Most High revealed in
this Qur’an) that they will (now) have to face something
awesomely powerful and terrible from Him (i.e., beings created by Him who
would be released into their worlds and would inflict terrible tests and trials
and severe punishment upon them, and upon all of the rest mankind as well who
fail the tests), and which gives unto the believers (in the Truth here
revealed for the last time) who are righteous in their conduct the glad
tidings that theirs shall be an excellent reward”
Commentary:
One of the most basic of all functions
of this Qur’an is that of straightening all things that were made
crooked in previous scriptures sent to Jews and Christians in particular.
Once that process of correction of
falsehoods and of restoration of truth has been accomplished with the
revelation of the Qur’an, the stage would be set for severe punishment.
There is a clear indication of that severe punishment in Surah al-Falaq
(the last but one Surah of the Qur’an) in which believers have
been asked to pray for divine protection from the evil that Allah Most High has
Himself created. That evil is, most of all, Dajjal the false Messiah or
AntiChrist, and Gog and Magog. At the risk of being repetitious we remind the
reader that Surah al-Kahf has the distinction of being the only Surah
of the Qur’an that is
directly linked to both subjects – Dajjal as well as Gog and Magog. As a
consequence it is by far the most important Surah of the Qur’an that
explains the age in which we now live, i.e., the Last Age.
There is in the dream of Nabi
Ibrahim, i.e., Abraham (‘alaihi al-Salam) in which he saw himself sacrificing
his own son, Nabi Ismail, i.e., Ishmael (‘alaihi
al-Salam), another
direct reference to that awesome age of trials and punishment. But the dream
conveyed the further indication that Arabs, who are Ishmael’s seed, would be
sacrificed as part of a momentous divine plan in which they become the primary
target of great trials in that age. That dream has today found dramatic
fulfillment in the Euro-Christian and Euro-Jewish grand alliance that is waging
war on Arabs and on Islam.
Finally, there is an indication that
when Gog and Magog launch their awesome attack on mankind in general, and on Arabs
in particular, while deceiving the Jews, it would be the Jewish and Christian
worlds that would be used as the primary instruments of that attack. This is
implicit in the verse of the Qur’an that prohibits the believers from maintaining
ties of friendship, protection and alliance with Jews and Christians at that
time when a Jewish-Christian alliance does emerge in history. (Qur’an,
al-Maidah, 5:51) It is also implicit in the following warnings of the
Prophet:
Narrated
Abu Said: The Prophet said, "You will follow the wrong ways of your
predecessors so completely and literally that if they should go down into a
lizard’s hole you, also, will go there." We said, "O Allah's Apostle!
Do you mean the Jews and the Christians?" He responded, "Whom else?"
(Bukhari)
Narrated
Abu Hurairah: The Prophet said, “The Jews were split up into seventy-one or
seventy-two sects, and the Christians were split up into seventy-one or
seventy-two sects, and my community would be split up into seventy-three
sects.”
(Abu
Daud)
Simple
translation:
(a state of bliss) in which they
shall dwell beyond the count of time.”
(18:3)
Commentary:
The opening statement continues to
deliver an awesome warning that those who reject this revelation (which
corrects the changes made to previous divine revelations), and who stubbornly
and foolishly cling to the corrupted texts of previous divine revelations,
would pay a terrible price for that rejection and stubborn clinging to lies
invented against Allah Most High. Those, on the other hand, who embrace the Qur’an,
who believe in it as the uncorrupted word of the One God, and who live by its
guidance, would be handsomely rewarded. While the Qur’anic guidance is
unerringly straight in its totality, it is Surah al-Kahf in particular
that equips the believer to best respond to the evils that flow from the
scriptural crimes.
Since the blessed Prophet, Muhammad (sallalahu
‘alaihi wa sallam) has
himself linked this Surah to Dajjal the False Messiah or
Anti-Christ (i.e., recitation of the first ten verses provides protection from
the trials of Dajjal) the first implication of this opening statement is
a warning that Dajjal will attack mankind while exploiting to his
advantage every change made to the word of Allah sent down in previous
revelations.
The second implication of the opening
statement is that believers have an absolute obligation to acquaint themselves with
the changes made to previous divine scriptures so that they would know the
battlegrounds (such as Riba) on which Dajjal would attack
mankind.
Simple
translation:
“Furthermore, (this divine writ is meant) to warn
all those who assert that Allah has begotten a son”:
(18:4)
Commentary:
There were many scriptural crimes, and
many lies told against Allah Most High, but the biggest lie of all is that
Allah Most High took unto Himself a son. The Christians believe that He ‘begot’
a son named Jesus, while there were once Jews who declared that Nabi Uzair (‘alaihi
al-Salam) i.e., Ezra,
was His son. Evidence of this has
emerged in the Dead Sea Scrolls.
In order for the Muslim to
successfully study the subject of those changes and corruptions of Jewish and
Christian scriptures, he should pay the most careful attention to this change
in particular, i.e., the false declaration that Allah took unto Himself a son,
and carefully study in this Qur’an how Allah Most High has responded to
this lie told against Him.
But the Qur’an is specific when
it warns, here in Surah al-Kahf, of the looming divine punishment which
would befall the Christian and Jewish worlds in the Last Age. That punishment
has already unfolded to the extent that the EuroChristian and Euro-Jewish
worlds are now legalizing the marriage of a man to another man.
In addition, reports are reaching us
that people are engaging in sexual intercourse in public in Britain and other
parts of Europe.
Simple
translation:
“No (proper) knowledge have they of Him (when they
assert such a thing about Him), and neither had their forefathers: dreadful
is this saying that comes out of their mouths; (and) nothing but
falsehood do they utter!”
(18:5)
Commentary:
This constitutes a categorical and
unambiguous rejection of that Christian belief in Jesus as the son of God. The Jewish
belief, which was also rejected as false, has now faded away. But false belief
in Jesus as the son of God constitutes part of a larger falsehood, i.e., belief
in the ‘Trinity’, that God is One and is yet comprised of three persons - God
the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost.
A Muslim must remain absolutely
uncompromising in his resolution to be in no way whatsoever accommodative of, or
associated with, this dreadful declaration and these false beliefs.*
The method of response adopted in this
verse to that lie is to direct attention to the inadequate knowledge of Allah
Most High possessed by those who have swallowed the lie. In consequence of
ignorance they also stubbornly cling to it. The believer has a responsibility
to fight that ignorance with knowledge!
(*And
yet, in my own native island of Trinidad, it is absolutely amazing to behold
Muslims who are a part of an Inter-Religious Organization that was established
on the basis of a common fundamental belief in “the fatherhood of God”! It is
absolutely prohibited for anyone to declare of Allah Most High that He is
“father” since it implies that He has a “son” or “daughter”. That is blasphemy (Shirk)
– the one sin that Allah declares that He would not forgive.)
Simple translation:
“Would you (O Muhammad) torment yourself to
death with grief over them if they are not willing to believe in this message (i.e.,
the Qur’an)?”
(18:6)
Commentary:
Hence, refrain from such excessive
grief over a people who would never be content unless and until they succeed in
getting you (Oh Muhammad), and those who follow you, to follow instead, their
corrupted version of the one true religion.
The Qur’an warns that while
there would be some who would respond favorably to the knowledge of truth
imparted to them through this Qur’an, and who would thus recognize the
lies told against Allah and who would reject them, there would be others whose
internal corruption would be such that they cannot be penetrated. The warning
that is implicit in this verse is that Dajjal would use such people as
his instruments through whom he would try to corrupt the faith of the
believers. It is in connection with that monstrous attack of Dajjal that
the Messenger of Allah warned:
Narrated
Abu Said: The Prophet said, "You will follow the wrong ways of your
predecessors so completely and literally that if they should go into a lizard’s
hole you, also, will go there." We said, "O Allah's Apostle! Do you
mean the Jews and the Christians?" He replied, "Whom else?"
(meaning, of course, the Jews and the Christians.)
(Bukhari)
The most conspicuous characteristic of
the Muslims today is that so many have abandoned the way of life (Sunnah)
of Prophet Muhammad (sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) and have embraced instead the way of
life of the white godless Euro pseudo-Christian and pseudo-Jewish mysterious
alliance which now rules the world. The ‘beard’ that has disappeared from the
face of the male, the head-covering (Hijab) from the head of the female, the universal embrace of Riba and the Shirk of the modern
State, the feminist revolution, etc., are but the most visible evidence of
such.
Simple
translation:
“Behold, We have willed that all
beauty on earth be a means by which We put men to a test, (in order to determine) which of
them are best in conduct;”
(18:7)
Commentary:
Hence the believers must expect the
earth (i.e., the life of the modern world) to increasingly glitter as the
period of Dajjal’s awesome Fitnah (tests and trials) approaches
its climax. And nowhere does it glitter more than in the continuing scientific
and technological revolutions which usher unique, dramatic and momentous
changes in the way mankind lives, travels, communicates, etc.
Today it is the hand phone that is
sweeping the whole world, but tomorrow there would be even more extraordinary technological
inventions which would dazzle mankind even more. At that time this writer would
be in his grave, but he warns that Dajjal will use all those seemingly
miraculous lures of this extraordinary worldly life (Dunyah) as one his
major battlegrounds in which to test the faith of mankind.
If Dajjal can succeed in
getting the Dunyah to replace Allah Most High in the hearts of mankind
they would have failed his test and trial and he would then easily lead them to
the hellfire. The world in which we now
live is one in which the overwhelming majority of mankind appear to have
already been so seduced by the Dunyah and, in consequence, are being embraced
with the materialism, godlessness and decadence that result from turning away
from Allah Most High.
Asad comments that Allah Most High “lets
them reveal their real characters in their respective attitudes - moral or
immoral - towards the material goods and benefits which the world offers them
. .
. the real motive underlying men's refusal to believe in God's spiritual
message is almost always their excessive, blind attachment to the good of this
world, combined with a false pride in what they regard as their own
achievements.”
Simple translation:
“and verily, (in time) We shall reduce all that
is on it to barren dust.”
(18:8)
Commentary:
i.e., dry soil without growth or
herbage – and this naturally takes place when water runs out – hence believers
should focus attention on the ever decreasing scarcity of water in the world as
the countdown approaches its climax. The Prophet revealed that Gog and Magog
are very thirsty and that when they are released they would drink up all the water
of the world. The modern way of life has been characterized for quite some time
now by over-consumption, pollution and waste of water. And around the world
today rivers and streams are already drying up!
But the world of scientific and
technological progress that seeks to replace faith in God with faith in human
ingenuity will also be reduced to the same state akin to barren dust! And so,
one day, when the true Messiah kills the false Messiah, the computer-guided
electronically-functioning cruise missiles, etc., won’t function anymore.
Again, at the very heart of the
strategy for protection from the trials of Dajjal, as they pertain to
the transient worldly life, must be an active effort of prolonged fasting. Nabi
Musa(‘alaihi al-Salam) fasted for 40 days. As we fast for a prolonged period of
time the transient nature of the worldly life becomes quite clear and, in
consequence the heart that possesses faith would naturally grow in disdain for
that worldly life which obstructs the worship of the One God. It would one day
be reduced to dust. This writer urges the gentle reader who has not already
done so to experience for himself or herself a personal private continuous fast
of 40 days and experience the effect of the world losing its glitter.
Simple
translation:
Do you marvel at this parable
concerning the Men of the Cave and of the scriptures, and consider it to be
such a wondrous sign?
(18:9)
Explanatory
translation:
(And since the life of this world is
but a test) do you marvel (Oh Muhammad) at this parable concerning
the Men of the Cave and of (their devotion to) the scriptures and
consider it to be such a wondrous sign (amongst our many divine signs)?
Commentary:
Here now is the parable of some youths
who had faith in Allah Most High and who responded to the awesome trials akin
to those of Dajjal and of Gog and Magog in the Last Age, by withdrawing
from the godless world that was waging war on them, and on their religious way
of life. They survived by holding fast to the divine scriptures (Raqim).
If Muslims are to survive the war on
Islam in the modern age they will have to follow the example of the young men by
holding on very firmly indeed to the Qur’an. And since the Qur’an
declares of itself that it “explains all things” (Qur’an, al-Nahl, 16:89), it
follows that the Qur’an must explain the age of Dajjal and of Gog
and Magog, and thus confirm to us that we now live in that age.*
[*Yet one of the most
remarkable things about contemporary Islamic scholarship is its strange
reluctance (or, perhaps, incapacity) to turn to the Qur’an in order to
understand modern thought, and in order to respond appropriately to the awesome
challenges of the modern age. Dr. Muhammad Iqbal, who was one of the truly outstanding
Muslim thinkers of the modern age, recognized this problem and responded to it
with his lectures on the subject of ‘The Reconstruction of Religious Thought
in Islam’. And it was for precisely this reason, i.e., to address this
dangerous failure and to remove this weakness, that our teacher of blessed
memory, Maulana Dr. Muhammad Fadlur Rahman Ansari established the Aleemiyah
Institute of Islamic Studies in Karachi, Pakistan, where this writer studied
Islam, religion and modern thought. Maulana Dr. Ansari published before his
death in 1974 a masterly two-volume work entitled “The Qur’anic Foundations
and Structure Muslim Society” in which he responded to Iqbal’s call for the
reconstruction of religious thought in Islam. Indeed Maulana’s book pioneered
the effort to use the Qur’an to explain the modern age and to respond to
it appropriately.]
Simple
translation:
“Behold, the youths (fleeing from the war on Islam waged
by the godless world) betook themselves to the Cave: they prayed, “Our
Lord-God! (Kindly) bestow on us mercy from Thyself, and (kindly)
deal with our problem for us in the right way!”
(18:10)
Commentary:
In their magnificent demonstration of
faith the youths preferred to leave their homes and flee from persecution
rather than compromise their faith. That compromise was being forced upon them
in order that they could be accommodated within the embrace of the godless
world. Many Muslims in the modern world adopt a response that is the opposite
to that of the youth in Surah al-Kahf, i.e., they would rather
compromise with their duties to Allah Most High, and to His Prophet, in order
to continue to be accepted as a part of the godless societies in which they
live, to hold on to their US Visas or Green Cards, to preserve and protect
their businesses or their jobs, or their comfortable living in some European or
North American country, or their elite status in their native countries.
It is now possible to understand the
Divine wisdom at work in the creation of evil beings (i.e., Dajjal and
Gog and Magog) and in their release into the world in the age of Fitan (i.e.,
the age of trials and tribulations). As the war on Islam intensifies Allah Most
High is able to sift the rice grain from the husk. The true servants of Allah
would rather follow in the example of the youth in this story, in order to
preserve their faith, rather than compromise with their faith in order to
survive in the godless world. Our book entitled Surah al-Kahf and the Modern
Age looks specifically at the link between these first ten verses of Surah
al-Kahf and Dajjal the false Messiah or Anti-Christ.
To Be Continued....
Surah Kahf Unveiling The End Time By Sheikh Imran Hosein
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