18 Cursory Contents of Surah Al Kahf

Source

Moses & The Servant SŪRAH AL-KAHF 18:60-70 TRANSLATION & COMMENTARY

Simple translation:

And lo! Moses said to his servant: “I shall not give up until I reach the meeting-point of the two oceans, even if I spend untold years!”       

(18:60)

Explanatory translation:

And lo! (In the course of his travel in quest of the sage who was more learned than he was) Moses said to his servant: “I shall not give up until I reach (my destination which is) the meeting-point of the two oceans, even if I (have to) spend untold years (of travel in this quest)!” 

Commentary:

Allah Most High had chided Moses, i.e., Musa (‘alaihi al-Salam), for having declared that he was the most learned of all men, and for thus not having recognized that all knowledge came from He, Allah, who was the most learned of all.

Indeed this mistake reduced Musa (‘alaihi al-Salam) to a state of temporary internal blindness. Allah Most High also informed Musa (‘alaihi al-Salam) that there was someone who was more learned than him (since he possessed both external and internal knowledge). If he wished to meet with that sage (i.e., with Khidr ‘alaihi al-Salam)) Musa would have to travel until he reached the meeting-point of two oceans. 

Musa promptly set out to meet a man more learned than him, and he traveled on with the firm resolve to pursue the effort to the destination no matter how long it might take to reach there. Surah al-Kahf has here delivered a most powerful message to believers who live in this Last Age that they, also, ought to have the same resolve to search for those more learned than them, and for that sage who is the most learned of all contemporary Muslims.  How could they recognize the most learned of all? Where would they find him? How should they search for him? The Surah provides the answer when it declares that he would be found at the meeting-point of two oceans, i.e., the ocean of knowledge externally derived and the ocean of knowledge internally bestowed by Allah Most High.  

Simple translation:

“But when they reached the meeting-point of the two (oceans), they forgot all about their fish, and it made its way into the sea and it disappeared from sight.”  

(18:61)

Commentary:

Allah had also informed Nabi Musa (‘alaihi al-Salam) that he would meet that most learned sage at that point in his journey when a fish, which was to be put in a basket, would miraculously make its way into the sea. (See Sahih Bukhari) And this is precisely what now occurred while Musa was asleep. The boy saw what happened with the fish but Satan caused him to forget about it.  

Simple translation:

Then after the two had walked on for some distance (Moses) said to his servant: “Take out our midday meal; our journey has become unusually tiring and difficult!”

(18:62)

Explanatory translation:

Then after the two had walked on for some distance (beyond the spot where the fish had disappeared, and without Moses knowing that it had disappeared), (Moses) said to his servant: “Take out our midday meal; our journey has (now) become unusually tiring and difficult!”

Commentary:

Here is a remarkable spiritual sign located in the life of the sacred. When the traveler travels towards His Lord he travels with ease and excitement, while enjoying his journey of life through the spring of youth, the summer of manhood and womanhood, the autumn when his beard and her hair begins to get grey, and even the winter of old age - and this continues so long as the servant of Allah is traveling in the right direction; whenever he or she travels in the wrong direction, however, the journey changes from one of ease to become tiresome and no longer exciting and enjoyable. This is one of the meanings of that very important verse of the Qur’an in which Allah Most High declares that mankind possesses the innate capacity to see and to recognize their own state:

“Nay, man will be evidence against himself.”

(Qur’an, al-Qiyamah, 75:14)

Simple translation:

(Thereupon the servant) responded: “Would you believe it? When we betook ourselves to that rock for a rest, behold, I forgot about the fish - and none but Satan made me thus forget it! - and it took its way into the sea in a strange and miraculous way!”                                                

(18:63)

Commentary:

And so it was there at that rock that they could have met Khidr (‘alaihi al-Salam). When they traveled beyond the rock the journey was now on the wrong path, - hence the tiredness that overcame Nabi Musa(‘alaihi al-Salam). Surah al-Kahf has here delivered a very grave warning that should arrest the attention of even those who have already made considerable progress on the road to their Lord-God. It is this, that Satan can cause even the best of them to forget, and hence the necessity for all believers to constantly recite the Duahs (supplications) which are located in the last two Surahs of the Qur’an.  

Simple translation:

(Moses) exclaimed: “(But) that was (the place) which we were seeking!” And the two turned back, retracing their footsteps,”                       

(18:64)

Commentary:

As soon as a believer realizes that he is traveling on the wrong path he should follow this example of Nabi Musa (‘alaihi al-Salam) and turn around to retrace his steps in order to recover the right path.

Simple translation:

“and found one of Our servants, on whom We had bestowed grace from Ourselves and unto whom We had imparted knowledge from Ourselves.”

(18:65) 

Explanatory translation:

“and found one of Our servants, on whom We had bestowed grace from Ourselves and unto whom We had imparted knowledge from Ourselves (i.e., with which We divinely inspired him and which was consequently acquired internally and intuitively and not through the normal empirical and rational process through which human beings normally acquire knowledge).” 

Commentary:

This mystery-man, who is more learned than Nabi Musa (‘alaihi al-Salam), and whom Allah recognized as the most learned of men, was identified by Nabi Muhammad (sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) as Khidr (‘alaihi al-Salam). And he is the model of the true scholar of Islam and guide to the believers in the age of Dajjal, for while Dajjal sees with only one eye, Khidr (‘alaihi al-Salam) sees with two eyes – the ‘external’ as well as the ‘internal’.*

(*It was the good fortune of this writer to have been blessed to be the student of precisely such a scholar of Islam in the person of Maulana Dr. Muhammad Fadlur Rahman Ansari. His monumental two-volume work entitled ‘The Qur’anic Foundations and Structure of Muslim Society’ is the product of precisely that harmonious integration of those two oceans of knowledge – the external and the internal.)

Simple translation:

Moses said unto him: “May I accompany you so that you may teach me something of that (higher truth with it’s) consciousness of what is right which you were taught?”                                                                      

(18:66)

Commentary:

In making this request Nabi Musa (‘alaihi al-Salam) actually set the example that all of mankind who live in the age of Dajjal (i.e., the present age) should follow. Those who read this book and its explanation concerning ‘internal’ and ‘external’ knowledge, must now search for such a learned sage who sees with the ‘internal’ eye and whose knowledge therefore displays affinity to that internal intuitive spiritual insight of Khidr (‘alaihi al-Salam). When they find him they must attach themselves to him and bear with patience until they are able to understand what he teaches. But the reader must be warned that such a scholar of Islam is hardly likely to be the product of today’s traditional Dar al-‘Ulum (i.e., Islamic seminary).

Simple translation:

(Khidr) answered: “Behold, you will never be able to have patience with me –”

(18:67)

Simple translation:

“for how can you show patience in respect of that which you can never comprehend.”

(18:68)

Commentary:

This response of Khidr (‘alaihi al-Salam) is of the greatest importance. The sage who has been blessed by Allah with a capacity for internal insight and vision must constantly remember that the rest of mankind are going to be impatient with him since the knowledge which he possesses is beyond their mundane powers of comprehension.  The believer, on the other hand, who encounters such a sage, must exercise patience in matters that are beyond his comprehension.

Understanding of such knowledge eventually comes with internal spiritual awakening and with the light with which Allah Most High consequently blesses His servant.

Simple translation:

(Moses) replied: “You  will find me patient, if Allah so wills; and I shall not disobey you in any way!”           

(18:69)

Commentary:

Nabi Musa (‘alaihi al-Salam) humbled himself and readily assured Khidr that he would show patience. He was careful to add “if Allah so wills” when he committed himself. The trade-mark of the essentially godless age of Dajjal is that such sacred and pious expressions as Insha Allah (i.e., “if God so wills” or Please God”) which form part of the normal conversation of believers, disappears. Believers in the modern age should follow Musa’s example.

Simple translation:

(The sage) said “Well, then, if you wish to accompany me (you will have to comply with this condition that) you are not to question me on any matter unless and until I myself give you an explanation thereof.”               

(18:70)

Commentary:

Part of the discipline which must be established if spiritual knowledge is to be transferred and grasped, is the humility and patience with which to wait until the teacher himself decides that a student should be taken to a higher plane of understanding. For someone like Nabi Musa (‘alaihi al-Salam) who had just recently claimed that he was the most learned of all men, such a condition constituted a formidable test of humility and faith.  

Source: SŪRAH AL-KAHF ARABIC TEXT - TRANSLATION

To Be Continued....

Surah Kahf Unveiling The End Time By Sheikh Imran Hosein

Insha Allaah SŪRAH AL-KAHF 18:23-26 TRANSLATION & COMMENTARY

Simple translation:

“And never say about anything, “Behold, I shall do this tomorrow,”

(18:23)

Simple translation:

“Without adding “so please Allah”. And call your Lord-God to mind whenever you lapse to forgetfulness, and say, “I hope and pray that my Lord-God would guide me to remain closer than this to the right path (i.e., than displayed in this act of forgetfulness).”                                   

(18:24) 

Commentary:

The Sirah (life history) of Prophet Muhammad (sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) has recorded the incident when the Quraish presented him with the three questions posed by the Jewish rabbis of Madinah that could be answered by only a true Prophet and by no one else. They requested him to answer the questions in order to confirm the truth of his claim to be a Prophet. He is reported to have responded by declaring that he would provide the answers the next day while omitting to also say “Insha Allah” (if Allah so wills).  As a consequence he was kept waiting for the arrival of Angel Gabriel with the answers for an embarrassingly long period of two weeks.   

It is quite likely that this “Insha Allah” event did not occur by accident. Rather, it could have been a divine plan through which a warning could be delivered that the age of Dajjal, and of Gog and Magog, would be characterized by an eventual total abandonment in conversation of such sacred terminology as ‘Insha Allah’ which demonstrates a recognition of, and an attachment to, the unseen world of the sacred.  And so, the believers should have the capacity to recognize that age when it emerges since it would threaten to take all to the hellfire. It would be a world in which such sacred terminology would be dropped from everyday conversations because of mainstream public disapproval. That world has now emerged full-blown! It is today’s secular society! How should Muslims respond to that world? Truth does not seek to build bridges with falsehood. Rather it challenges falsehood and eventually defeats it.

Simple translation:

“And they remained in their cave for three hundred years; and some have added nine.”           

(18:25)

Explanatory translation:

“And (some people assert that), they remained in their cave for three hundred years; and some have added nine (to that number in consideration of the fact that the solar calendar exceeds the lunar by three years every one hundred years).”

Simple translation:

Say: “Allah knows best how long they stayed: with Him is the hidden reality of the heavens and the earth: how clearly He sees, how finely He hears! They have no guardian apart from Him, since He allots to no one a share in His rule.”                                                                                  

(18:26)

Explanatory translation:

(But you should conclude the matter by saying): “Allah knows best how long they stayed (in the cave) (since time is multi-dimensional and a day with Allah can be as much as a thousand, or even fifty thousand years by our reckoning): with Him is (the knowledge of) the hidden reality of the heavens and the earth: how clearly He sees, how finely He hears (everything)! No guardian have they apart from Him, since He allots to no one a share in His rule.”

Commentary:

Allah Most High declares that He allots to no one a share in His ‘rule’. This ‘rule’ of His obviously includes His sovereignty, supreme authority and supreme law. Yet the modern secular State, in a monstrous act of Shirk (i.e., blasphemy), has claimed for itself all of these things. It should be clear that the embrace of Shirk of the modern secular State is actually the embrace of Dajjal. Most Muslims today, and even many scholars of Islam, have either embraced the modern secular State without the consciousness or recognition of its Shirk, or they have chosen to remain strangely silent on the matter.

We have, however, explained the subject of the political Shirk of the modern secular State in Part Two of our book entitled Jerusalem in the Qur’an. We pray that this humble book, as well as that previous book, might assist at least some Muslims in extricating themselves from that Shirk. Amin. 

Source: SŪRAH AL-KAHF ARABIC TEXT - TRANSLATION

To Be Continued....

Surah Kahf Unveiling The End Time By Sheikh Imran Hosein