Simple
translation:
“Verily, as for those who attain to
faith and whose conduct is righteous, the gardens of paradise will be there to welcome
them;”
(18:107)
Explanatory
translation:
“(But) verily, as for those who attain to faith (i.e.,
belief in Allah Most High has entered into their hearts and so they truly fear
Him and truly love him and, as a consequence, they part from those whom He
hates, and love those whom He loves) and whose conduct is righteous – (let
them have the assurance that) the gardens of paradise will be there to
welcome them;”
Simple
translation:
“There-in will they abide forever, (and) never will they desire any
change there-from.”
(18:108)
Simple
translation:
Say: “if the ocean were to become ink,
and even if you were to add ocean upon ocean to the first one they would all be
exhausted ere the words of my Lord-God can ever be exhausted.”
(18:109)
Explanatory
translation:
Say: (This is the word of Allah Most High,
and the words of my Lord-God are such that) “if the ocean (of water) were
to become ink, and even if you were to add ocean upon ocean to the first one (know
that) they would all be exhausted ere the words of my Lord-God can ever be
exhausted.” (Hence you make a terrible mistake in rejecting this Qur’an and
this Prophet and in making fun of them, or in neglecting this guidance).
Simple
translation:
Say: “I am certainly a human being like unto all of you.
It has been revealed unto me that your God is One God. So whoever looks forward
to (joyfully) meeting his Lord-God, let him act righteously, and let
him not ascribe unto anyone or anything a share in the worship due to his
Lord-God!”
(18:110)
Explanatory
translation:
Say (O Prophet): “I am (not divine, not son of God,
not any thing like that, rather) a human being like all of you. (And say
further O Prophet) it has been revealed unto me that your God is (the) One
(and Only) God. So whoever looks forward (with hope and awe) to (happily
and joyously) meeting his Lord-God (on Judgment Day), let him
act righteously (i.e., let him be righteous in conduct), and let him not
ascribe unto anyone or anything a share in the worship due to his
Lord-God!”
Commentary:
Whoever attempts to corrupt the Truth
that has come in the Qur’an, and with Nabi Muhammad (sallalahu
‘alaihi wa sallam), must
know that they cannot succeed in doing to the faithful followers of Nabi Muhammad
(sallalahu
‘alaihi wa sallam),
what was done to the followers of Nabi ‘Isa (‘alaihi
al-Salam), i.e., to
deceive them into corrupting their religion by raising Nabi Muhammad (sallalahu
‘alaihi wa sallam),
to any status higher than that of a human being who was chosen as a Prophet and
who, consequently, received divine revelation.
In this, the last verse, Surah
al-Kahf delivers a parting advice and solemn warning to those believers who
long to meet with their Lord-God with hope for His Mercy and blessings. The
advice is that they must be righteous in their conduct and must guard against
committing Shirk. But the Prophet warned that it would be very difficult
in the age of Dajjal to avoid Shirk. Dajjal would attack
believers with the weapon of Shirk and endeavor to destroy their faith.
But he would use awesome deception in all such efforts and it would be very
difficult for anyone to recognize the attack of Shirk.
How difficult? “As difficult”,
said the Prophet, “as it would be to recognize a black
ant on a black stone on a dark night”.
The Shirk of the modern secular
State, for example, that claims sovereignty, etc., is now universal. And that
universal Shirk has embraced almost all of mankind. They entered into it
every time they recognized ‘sovereignty’ higher than that of Allah’s, or beside
Allah’s, or ‘supreme authority’ or ‘law’ higher than Allah’s etc. But mankind is surrounded by many other forms
of Shirk today, such as
materialism, and the legalization of that which is Haram in order to make
it legal (or Halal).
The Surah thus ends with a
grave warning to those believers who do not strive and struggle to recognize Shirk
whenever it manifests itself, who do not make a sufficient effort to
protect their faith by abstention from that Shirk, that they will
eventually become part of the global society of 999 out of every 1000 who,
according to the Hadith alQudsi in Sahih Bukhari, will enter into
the hell-fire:
Abu
Sa'id reported: Allah's Messenger said: Allah, the High and Glorious, would
say: O Adam!! and he would say: At Thy service, at Thy beck and call, O Lord,
and the good is in Thy Hand. Allah would say: Bring forth the group of (those
consigned to) Hell. He (Adam) would ask: Who (i.e., how many) are those
consigned to Hell? It would be said: They are nine hundred and ninety-nine out
of every thousand . . . . . He (the narrator) said: This had a very depressing
effect upon them (i.e., the companions of the Holy Prophet) and they asked:
Messenger of Allah, who amongst us would be (that unfortunate) person (who
would be doomed to Hell?) He said: Good news for you, Gog and Magog would be
those thousands (who would be consigned to Hell) and a person (selected for
Paradise) would be from amongst you. . . .”
END
Surah
Al-Kahf Arabic Text - Translation And
Modern Commentary by Imran N. Hosein
Internet
Edition – www.imranhosein.org