The Cave

This surah promises the faithful a great reward in Paradise and warns the wicked of a horrible punishment in Hell.

Life is a test. Some people will pass, others will fail.

Allah can easily bring the dead back to life.

To enter Jannah, one needs to have faith in Allah and do good.

It is important to say in-sha-Allah when we plan to do something in the future.

We should be grateful for Allah's blessings.

Allah can easily take away blessings if people fail to give thanks.

We should be serious about gaining knowledge.

The deeds of the unfaithful will be worthless in the Next Life.

The wicked will show regret on Judgment Day but it will be too late.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said in an authentic hadith, "No one's feet will move on Judgment Day until they are asked about 4 things: 1. What they did in their youth. 2. How they earned and spent their wealth. 3. What they did with their knowledge. 4. How they spent their lives." {Imam At-Tirmizi}

It is interesting to know that these 4 questions match the 4 stories mentioned in this surah: 1. The story of the youth in the cave. 2. The story of the wealthy man with two gardens. 3. The story of Musa (A.S.) and the man of knowledge. 4. The story of Zul-Qarnain and his life and travels in the service of Allah.

It's recommended to recite this great surah on Fridays. The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "Whoever recites Surah Al-Kahf on a Friday, a light will shine for them until the next Friday." {Imam Al-Hakim} He also said, "Whoever memorizes the first 10 verses of Surah Al-Kahf will be protected from the test of Ad-Dajjal (an evil individual who will appear just before Judgment Day)." {Imam Muslim}

You may know that the surahs of the Quran are not arranged in the order that they were revealed. For example, Surah Al-Alaq (which has the first verses ever revealed of the Quran) is not Surah number 1 in the Quran, but Surah number 96. So the Prophet (ﷺ) arranged the surahs as instructed by Allah through the angel Jibril. In this order, all the surahs are well connected, with Surah 1 serving as the introduction to all following surahs.

You can easily see how: • The end of Surah 17 matches the beginning of Surah 18 (praising Allah and confirming that He has no children). • The end of Surah 22 matches the beginning of Surah 23 (praying and worshipping Allah to gain success). • The end of Surah 52 matches the beginning of Surah 53 (fading of the stars). In many cases, the end of a surah matches its own beginning. For example, • The first and last sections of Surah 4 talk about the laws of inheritance. • The beginning of Surah 20 tells us that the Quran was not revealed to stress out the Prophet (ﷺ) and the end of the surah tells us that those who turn their backs on this revelation will live a stressful life. • At the beginning of Surah 23 we are told that the believers will be successful and at the end of the surah we are told that the disbelievers will never succeed.

Also, there are 'twin surahs' that match and complete each other because they cover the same topics. For example, 2 & 3, 8 & 9, 37 & 38, 55 & 56, 105 & 106, and 113 & 114. All this amazing order and structure proves to us that this Quran is from Allah.

This is the story of a group of Christian youth who hid inside a cave around the year 250 C.E. to escape the abusive idol-worshippers. The youth, along with their dog, slept in the cave for 309 years, according to verse 25. When they finally woke up, some of them thought they slept for a day or less, and others were not too sure. Then they sent one of them to buy food and told him not to attract any attention. However, their old silver coins gave them away.

People, along with their good King, rushed to the cave to greet the youth, who later passed away and were buried in the cave. The King decided to build a place of worship at the cave to honour their memory. Ar-Raqim (mentioned in verse 9) could be a tablet that had the youth's story, or maybe the name of the town, valley, or mountain. It may even be the name of the youth's dog (perhaps a Dalmatian breed). Based on the description given in this surah, many scholars believe that the cave still exists in Jordan.

As we mentioned in Surah 70, we share in the reward or punishment by being around good or bad friends. Let's say you are sitting in a Quran class with your friends and someone comes in to give prizes to that class. You will get a prize even if you don't know how to read properly. In the same way, if you are sitting with thieves somewhere and, all of a sudden, the police arrive, you will be arrested even if your job is only to make tea. Imam Ibn Kathir said in his explanation of 18:18-22 that Allah honoured the dog by mentioning him 4 times simply for being in the company of the good youth, and Allah shamed some human beings in 28:8 for being in the bad company of Pharaoh.

A scholar by the name of Ibn Al-Qayyim said that there are 4 types of friends: 1. Good friends who guide us to do good and keep us away from evil. We cannot live without them because they are like the air we breathe and the water we drink. 2. Colleagues we study and work with. They are like medicine, which is only used if there is a need. 3. People we hang out with just to pass time, not doing anything good or bad. The more we stay away from them, the more productive our life will be. 4. People who encourage us to do evil and stop us from doing good. They are like poison, and we should avoid them completely.

Many of the first Muslims were very poor. One day, the Makkan leaders came to the Prophet (ﷺ) and said, "If you really want us to join you, then you have to get rid of those poor, smelly individuals around you!" The Prophet (ﷺ) was hoping that one day those leaders would become Muslims, so he waited for instructions from Allah. Then verses 6:52 and 18:28 were revealed, ordering the Prophet (ﷺ) to continue to honour the faithful Muslims who sat with him and not to worry about those arrogant leaders. {Imam Muslim & Imam Al-Qurtubi}