18.1 . Praise be to Allah Who hath revealed the Scripture unto His slave , and hath not placed therein any crookedness ,

18.2 . ( But hath made it ) straight , to give warning of stem punishment from Him , and to bring unto the believers who do good works the news that theirs will be a fair reward .

18.3 . Wherein they will abide for ever ;

18.4 . And to warn those who say : Allah hath chosen a son ,

18.5 . ( A thing ) whereof they have no knowledge , nor ( had ) thee fathers . Dreadful is the word that cometh out of their mouths . They speak naught but a lie .

18.6 . Yet it may be , if they believe not in this statement , that thou ( Muhammad ) wilt torment thy soul with grief over their footsteps .

18.7 . Lo! We have placed all that is in the earth as an ornament thereof that we may try them : which of them is best in conduct .

18.8 . And lo! We shall make all that is therein a barren mound .

18.9 . Or deemest thou that the People of the Cave and the Inscription are a wonder among Our portents?

18.10 . When the young men Red for refuge to the Cave and said : Our Lord! Give us mercy from Thy presence and shape for us right conduct in our plight

18.11 . Then We sealed up their hearing in the Cave for a number of years .

18.12 . And afterward We raised them up that We might know which of the two parties would best calculate the time that they had tarried .

18.13 . We narrate unto thee their story with truth . Lo! they were young men who believed in their Lord , and We increased them in guidance .

18.14 . And We made firm their hearts when they stood forth and said : Our Lord is the Lord of the heavens and the earth . We cry unto no god beside Him , for then should we utter an enormity .

18.15 . These , our people , have chosen ( other ) gods beside Him though they bring no clear warrant ( vouchsafed ) to them . And who doth greater wrong than he who inventeth a lie concerning Allah?

18.16 . And when ye withdraw from them and that which they worship except Allah , then seek refuge in the Cave ; your Lord will spread for you of His mercy and will prepare for you a pillow in your plight .

18.17 . And thou mightest have seen the sun when it rose move away from their cave to the right , and when it set go past them on the left , and they were in the cleft thereof . That was ( one ) of the portents of Allah . He whom Allah guideth , he indeed is led aright , and he whom He sendeth astray , for him thou wilt not find a guiding friend .

18.18 . And thou wouldst have deemed them waking thou they were asleep , and we caused them to turn over to the right and the left , and their dog stretching out his paws on the threshold . If thou hadst observed them closely thou hadst assuredly turned away from them in flight , and hadst been filled with awe of them .

18.19 . And in like manner We awakened them that they might question one another . A speaker from among them said : How long have ye tarried? They said : We have tarried a day or some part of a day , ( Others ) said : Your Lord best knoweth what ye have tarried . Now send one of you with this your silver coin unto the city , and let him see what food is purest there and bring you a supply thereof . Let him be courteous and let no man know of you .

18.20 . For they , if they should come to know of you , will stone you or turn you back to their religion ; then ye will never prosper .