18. Sūrat al-Kahf

110 verses. It is widely reported that it was revealed during the Meccan period. It takes its name from the story of the ٱلْكَهْف (the cave) told in verses 9-26.

The sūra contains four separate narratives — the People of the Cave, the owner of the two gardens, Moses and the servant given knowledge, Dhū'l-Qarnayn — and all four meet at the same place: how much is known of what one has in hand.

In all four, the lack of knowledge is given not as a defect but as the human position. I record this as my own reading, and its support is the sūra's own sentences: qul rabbī aʿlamu bi-ʿiddatihim (22), wa lā taqūlanna li-shayʾin innī fāʿilun dhālika ghadan illā an yashāʾa'llāh (23-24), mā lam tuḥiṭ bihī khubrā (68).

"Praise belongs to God, who sent down the Book upon His servant and left in it no crookedness: a straight Book…"

عِوَجًا — root ع-و-ج: crookedness. The root was treated in al-Zumar at 39/28 (ghayra dhī ʿiwaj), and the distinction the lexicographers record was given there: ʿiwaj is crookedness that is not seen, ʿawaj is crookedness that is seen. I do not repeat it here.

And the two sūras may be compared: in al-Zumar ghayra dhī ʿiwaj (having no crookedness) came as an attribute; here it is wa lam yajʿal lahu ʿiwajā — as a verbal sentence. That is, the absence of crookedness is reported not as a quality but as the outcome of an act.

قَيِّمًا — root ق-و-م: standing straight, upright and in balance. The same root as Qayyūm (treated in al-Baqara at 2/255).

ب-خ-ع root: to grieve to the point of destroying oneself. The lexicographers explain the word with the picture of "reaching as far as the vein in his neck".

This sentence occurs in al-Shuʿarāʾ at 26/3 as well, and the same limit was treated in Fāṭir 35/8, Luqmān 31/23 and al-Qaṣaṣ 28/56. I rely on that treatment.

Hādhā'l-ḥadīth — the Book's being called a "discourse" was treated in al-Jāthiya 45/6, al-Wāqiʿa 56/81, al-Zumar 39/23 and Luqmān 31/6. The same designation in five sūras.

"We made what is on the earth an adornment for it, so that We might test which of them is best in deed. And We shall surely make what is upon it a bare, dry ground."

Two verses set the frame for all the stories of the sūra:

جُرُز — land on which nothing grows, parched ground. The root was treated in al-Sajda at 32/27 (ila'l-arḍi'l-juruz) — there it occurred as dry ground onto which water is driven. Here the same word reports the outcome.

I record this as my own reading: before entering the four stories, the sūra states both what is in hand (adornment, testing) and its end (dry ground). And the story of the two gardens (32-44) and the parable of this world (45-46) will be the application of these two verses.

"Did you suppose that the People of the Cave and al-Raqīm were a wonder among Our signs? When those young men took refuge in the cave and said: 'Our Lord! Give us mercy from Your presence and prepare for us a right course in our affair.' So We struck upon their ears in the cave for a number of years."

ٱلرَّقِيم — what the word is is not known with certainty. The root ر-ق-م was treated in al-Muṭaffifīn (kitābun marqūm): to write, to mark.

The explanations transmitted in the classical commentaries: a written tablet, the name of the cave or of the valley, or the name of the dog. None of them is certain knowledge; I content myself with transmitting them.

فَضَرَبْنَا عَلَىٰٓ ءَاذَانِهِمْ — "We struck upon their ears."

The construction of the idiom is worth recording: the verse does not say "We put them to sleep". The veil is drawn over the ear, not over the eye.

I record this as my own reading: what breaks sleep is most often sound. And in Fuṣṣilat at 41/5 it was treated that those addressed said fī ādhāninā waqr (in our ears is a heaviness) — there it was an excuse. Here a veil struck on the same region is a protection. The two usages may be compared.

ثُمَّ بَعَثْنَٰهُمْ لِنَعْلَمَ أَىُّ ٱلْحِزْبَيْنِ أَحْصَىٰ لِمَا لَبِثُوٓا۟ أَمَدًا (12) — and the ground for the awakening: to bring out which of the two parties would better count how long the period was.

I record this as an observation: as early as the twelfth verse the subject of the story is stated to be the length of time — and the sūra will take this matter up again and again in verses 19, 25 and 26. That is, at the centre of the story stands not an extraordinary sleep but the unknowability of the length of time.

"We recount to you their tidings in truth: they were young men who believed in their Lord, and We increased them in guidance. When they stood up and said, 'Our Lord is the Lord of the heavens and the earth', We bound fast their hearts."

وَرَبَطْنَا عَلَىٰ قُلُوبِهِمْ — rabṭ: to bind, to hold in place.

The idiom was treated in al-Qaṣaṣ at 28/10 (lawlā an rabaṭnā ʿalā qalbihā — the mother of Moses). In both places the same expression is used for the same work:

I record this as an observation: in both scenes the person does something he could not bear on his own, and the support is given to the heart. The act works from within, not from without.

إِذْ قَامُوا۟ — "when they stood up." The choice of verb is worth recording: the word is spoken standing, not seated.

وَزِدْنَٰهُمْ هُدًى — "We increased them in guidance." The same structure was treated in Maryam at 19/76 (wa yazīdu'llāhu'lladhīna'htadaw hudā) and in al-Furqān: guidance is spoken of as something added on top of what has already been given.

"When the sun rose it inclined away from their cave to the right, and when it set it passed them by, cutting away on the left… You would suppose them awake, though they were asleep. We turned them to the right and to the left. And their dog lay at the entrance, its two forelegs stretched out."

These two verses are the most detailed description in the sūra, and the kind of detail is worth recording:

تَزَاوَرُ — root ز-و-ر: to incline, to turn aside. (The "falsehood/crookedness" branch of the root was treated in al-Furqān at 25/72 as zūr.) تَقْرِضُ — root ق-ر-ض: to cut, to cut across. The root was treated in al-Baqara at 2/245 (qarḍan ḥasanā) — there the picture of a loan as "cutting off and setting apart" was given. Here it is the sun's light cutting across.

I record this as my own reading: while recounting what is extraordinary (a sleep of years) the verse goes into ordinary details — the angle of the sun, the direction they lay in, the dog at the door. And these are given not as a list of miracles but as the description of a scene. Indeed the ninth verse had already asked: am ḥasibta anna aṣḥāba'l-kahfi … kānū min āyātinā ʿajabā — "did you suppose it a wonder?"

The mention of the dog belongs to this same frame: it is not counted among the protagonists of the story; it stands at the door as a part of the scene.

"And thus We awakened them, so that they might question one another. One of them said: 'How long have you stayed?' They said: 'A day, or part of a day'… 'Send one of you to the city with this silver coin of yours; let him look for which food is purest and bring you a provision of it. And let him be very careful.'"

لَبِثْنَا يَوْمًا أَوْ بَعْضَ يَوْمٍ — the same measure was treated in al-Muʾminūn at 23/113 (labithnā yawman aw baʿḍa yawm) and in al-Aḥqāf at 46/35 (sāʿatan min nahār). In all three places a long stretch of time is supposed short.

And the difference here must be recorded: the others are said in the hereafter; this is said in this world — and those who say it are wrong for good reason, because they have just woken. That is, the sūra shows the misjudging of a length of time not as a defect but as the limit of the human instrument of measure. I record this as my own reading.

وَلْيَتَلَطَّفْ — "let him be very careful."

ل-ط-ف root: fineness, gentleness; to act quietly and with care. The word was treated in Luqmān at 31/16 (laṭīf).

I record this as an observation: the most detailed command in the story comes on the smallest matter — being careful while making a purchase. And the reason is in the next sentence: wa lā yushʿiranna bikum aḥadā — let him make no one aware of you.

"'They were three, the fourth of them their dog', they will say… Say: 'My Lord knows best their number; only a few know them.' So do not dispute about them beyond a surface dispute, and do not ask anyone about them for a ruling."

The verse transmits the dispute over the number (three-four, five-six) and, after giving two different estimates, reports a third: wa yaqūlūna sabʿatun wa thāminuhum kalbuhum.

And instead of pronouncing a verdict it does three things:

I record this as my own reading, and its support is the ordering of the three commands: the text does not fill in a piece of knowledge it does not have — and it forbids the attempt to fill it in as well. The detail is not the subject of the story.

And this agrees with the ninth verse of the sūra: am ḥasibta … kānū min āyātinā ʿajabā — the astonishing quality of the story had already been made unimportant.

مِرَآء — root م-ر-ي: to quarrel, to dispute. The root was treated in Fuṣṣilat at 41/54 (mirya), and the picture the lexicographers record, "to squeeze an animal's udder", was given there. I do not repeat it here.

"Do not say of anything, 'I shall certainly do that tomorrow' — without 'if God wills'. And remember your Lord when you forget."

Two verses stand at the exact middle of the story of the cave and turn the subject of the story into a rule.

I record this as my own reading, and its support is the position of the verses: what was disputed throughout the story was the unknowability of the length of time (12, 19, 22, 25-26). These two verses apply the same unknowability to the future: do not speak with certainty about tomorrow.

And the same limit was treated in Luqmān at 31/34 (wa mā tadrī nafsun mādhā taksibu ghadā). The two verses are read together: one reports that it is not known, the other commands that one speak accordingly.

وَٱذْكُر رَّبَّكَ إِذَا نَسِيتَ — "remember your Lord when you forget."

The lexicographers differ over the scope of the sentence:

Both readings are transmitted; I do not impose a preference.

And the sūra, immediately after giving the number, leaves that too to its source.

I record this as an observation about the word order: a figure is stated (three hundred and nine) and after it comes quli'llāhu aʿlamu bimā labithū. In the classical commentaries it is disputed whether this expression transmits the words of those who state the number or is itself a report; I transmit the disagreement and do not impose a preference.

What is certain is this, and it is read off the text: the sūra opens the matter of the number in three separate places, and in all three it ties it to the same place.

"Keep yourself patient with those who call upon their Lord morning and evening, seeking His face. And let not your eyes stray from them, desiring the adornment of the life of this world."

The verb must be recorded: lā taʿdu — root ع-د-و: to overstep, to pass beyond. That is, it does not say "look at them"; it says let your eye not stray from them.

I record this as my own reading: the sentence corrects the direction of a gaze. And the ground of the prohibition is stated too: turīdu zīnata'l-ḥayāti'd-dunyā.

The construct Zīnatu'l-ḥayāti'd-dunyā had occurred in the seventh verse of the sūra (innā jaʿalnā mā ʿala'l-arḍi zīnatan lahā). And it will come once more in the forty-sixth (al-mālu wa'l-banūna zīnatu'l-ḥayāti'd-dunyā). Three occurrences: a pattern that can be verified within the sūra.

The same matter was treated in ʿAbasa (the blind man who came being left unattended while the eminent man was turned towards), and the line recorded there may be carried over here: the measure in choosing whom to address being taken from social standing. I rely on that treatment.

بِٱلْغَدَوٰةِ وَٱلْعَشِىِّ — the two extreme times of day. The same pair was treated in Ghāfir (al-Muʾmin) 40/55 and Maryam 19/11.

The construction of the sentence is worth recording: two imperatives, in two opposite directions.

In Arabic this pattern (fa'l-yuʾmin … fa'l-yakfur) is understood not as a command but as leaving free and reporting the consequence. The same structure was treated in al-Zumar at 39/15 (fa'ʿbudū mā shiʾtum min dūnih); I rely on that treatment.

And immediately after it comes the consequence: innā aʿtadnā li'ẓ-ẓālimīna nārā. That is, the freedom is not left without an outcome.

Waḍrib lahum mathalan rajulayni jaʿalnā li-aḥadihimā jannatayni min aʿnābin wa ḥafafnāhumā bi-nakhlin wa jaʿalnā baynahumā zarʿā

"Set forth for them the example of two men: to one of them We gave two gardens of vines, and We surrounded them with date palms, and between them We placed tilled land."

The verse describes the garden in three layers: vineyards, date palms around them, tilled land between. And it reports the yield: kilta'l-jannatayni ātat ukulahā wa lam taẓlim minhu shayʾā — "both gardens gave their produce and diminished nothing of it."

وَلَمْ تَظْلِم مِّنْهُ شَيْـًٔا — the ظ-ل-م root: it was analysed in Luqmān at 31/13 (to put a thing somewhere other than its place, to make deficient). Here it is used of the garden: it did not diminish.

I record this as an observation: the same root will be used of the man himself in the thirty-fifth verse: wa dakhala jannatahu wa huwa ẓālimun li-nafsih. The garden does not diminish; its owner diminishes himself. This is a repetition that can be verified within the story.

"'I do not think that this will ever perish. Nor do I think the Hour will come.'"

Both sentences are built with the same verb: mā aẓunnu — "I do not think".

The ظ-ن-ن root was the whole axis of al-Jāthiya (45/24 in hum illā yaẓunnūn, 45/32 in naẓunnu illā ẓannā) and in Fuṣṣilat at 41/23 it was treated that conjecture is a cause of destruction. I rely on that treatment.

And the word order here must be recorded: two acts of ẓann, one after the other. The first about what is in hand (the garden will not perish), the second about the future (the Hour will not come).

I record this as my own reading: the second conjecture is given as the natural extension of the first. One who believes in the permanence of what is in hand also believes that the end will not come. And the eighth verse of the sūra was precisely the answer to this: wa innā la-jāʿilūna mā ʿalayhā ṣaʿīdan juruzā.

"'When you entered your garden, why did you not say: "What God wills comes to be; there is no power except with God"!'"

And this is tied word for word to the twenty-third verse of the sūra: wa lā taqūlanna li-shayʾin innī fāʿilun dhālika ghadan illā an yashāʾa'llāh.

The same reservation, once as a command and once as the noting of its absence. This is a repetition that can be verified within the sūra, and it is the application, in the second story, of the rule placed in the middle of the story of the cave.

The story of the owners of the garden was treated in al-Qalam at 68/17-33, and the expression wa lā yastathnūn (they made no exception) was analysed there. The two stories recount the same lack:

Two sūras show the same failing in two separate stories. I rely on that treatment.

"He began to wring his hands over what he had spent on it."

The bodily description is worth recording: yuqallibu kaffayh — he keeps turning his palms over.

In al-Furqān at 25/27 there was a description in the same field: yaʿaḍḍu'ẓ-ẓālimu ʿalā yadayh — to bite one's hands. Both sūras recount regret through the hand.

وَيَقُولُ يَٰلَيْتَنِى لَمْ أُشْرِكْ بِرَبِّىٓ أَحَدًا — and what he says is the counterpart of the sentence in the thirty-eighth verse (lākinna huwa'llāhu rabbī wa lā ushriku bi-rabbī aḥadā). What his companion said, he himself says in the end.

"Set forth for them the example of the life of this world: it is like water We send down from the sky; the plants of the earth mingle with it, and then it becomes dry stubble that the winds scatter. Wealth and children are the adornment of the life of this world; but the lasting righteous deeds are better with your Lord in reward and better in hope."

هَشِيم — root ه-ش-م: to be broken up and crumbled. The same process was treated in al-Wāqiʿa 56/65 and al-Zumar 39/21 with the word ḥuṭām; in al-Qamar at 54/31 hashīmi'l-muḥtaẓir had occurred. Three sūras recount the same end with three words.

تَذْرُوهُ ٱلرِّيَٰحُ — dharw: to scatter. In al-Dhāriyāt the root ذ-ر-و was treated on the occasion of the sūra's name; I rely on that treatment.

The construct is worth recording: the lasting righteous deeds.

And what is set against it: al-mālu wa'l-banūn — wealth and children.

I record this as my own reading, and its support is the attribute itself: the opposition is not good/bad — it is lasting/passing. Wealth and children are not condemned; they are called "adornment" (the same word used in verse 7 of what is on the earth). That is, the matter is the misjudging of a length of time — and this is the shared subject of the four stories of the sūra.

وَخَيْرٌ أَمَلًا — "better in hope too." And this meets the sentence of the man in the thirty-sixth verse: wa la-in rudidtu ilā rabbī la-ajidanna khayran minhā munqalabā — he too had hope, but it was fastened to the wrong place.

"And the day We shall set the mountains moving and you will see the earth laid bare… The Book is set down; and you will see the guilty in dread of what is in it, saying: 'Woe to us! What kind of book is this, that it has left out nothing small or great without counting it!'"

غ-د-ر root: to leave, to leave behind. (From the same root ghadr — to abandon one's word, treachery.)

The verb occurs twice, two verses apart:

The same verb, once for persons and once for acts. This is a repetition that can be verified within the sūra, and I record it as my own reading: the completeness of the scope is reported with the same word on two planes.

بَارِزَة — root ب-ر-ز: to come out into the open, to be exposed. The root was treated in Ghāfir (al-Muʾmin) at 40/16 (yawma hum bārizūn) and it was recorded there: that no place to hide remains. Here the same word is used of the earth — everything upon it removed, stripped bare.

And this agrees with the eighth verse of the sūra: wa innā la-jāʿilūna mā ʿalayhā ṣaʿīdan juruzā. The two verses give the same state with two different words.

لَّقَدْ جِئْتُمُونَا كَمَا خَلَقْنَٰكُمْ أَوَّلَ مَرَّةٍۭ (48) — "you have come to Us as We created you the first time."

The same proof was treated in al-Wāqiʿa at 56/62 (wa laqad ʿalimtumu'n-nashʾata'l-ūlā) and in Maryam 19/9, 19/67. I rely on that treatment.

وَوَجَدُوا۟ مَا عَمِلُوا۟ حَاضِرًا (49) — "they found present what they had done."

The verb is worth recording: wajadū — they found. In al-Jāthiya at 45/29 the Book was speaking; here the deed is found present. Two sūras give the character of the record with two different verbs.

"When We said to the angels, 'Prostrate to Adam'… except Iblīs; he was of the jinn and he departed from the command of his Lord… Man is of all things the most given to dispute."

This story was treated in al-Baqara at 2/30-38 and in Ṣād at 38/71-85. I do not repeat it here.

The differences here must be recorded, and this is a datum of the text:

ف-س-ق root: the date's coming out of its skin — to overflow a boundary. It was treated in al-Ḥujurāt at 49/6 and in al-Baqara at 2/26.

أَفَتَتَّخِذُونَهُۥ وَذُرِّيَّتَهُۥٓ أَوْلِيَآءَ مِن دُونِى وَهُمْ لَكُمْ عَدُوٌّ — the same line was treated in Fāṭir at 35/6 (fa'ttakhidhūhu ʿaduwwā); I rely on that treatment.

The ج-د-ل root was the whole backbone of Ghāfir (al-Muʾmin) — there its five occurrences were tabulated and it was recorded that what is condemned is dispute without support. And in al-Baqara at 2/197 the concrete sense of the root (to twist a rope tightly) was analysed. I rely on that treatment.

The expression here is worth recording: akthara shayʾin jadalā — "of all things the most disputatious".

I record this as an observation: the sentence names dispute as the most marked characteristic of man. And in the twenty-second verse of the sūra dispute was itself limited (fa-lā tumāri fīhim illā mirāʾan ẓāhirā). The two verses are read together: the tendency is identified, then a limit is placed.

"What kept people from believing when guidance came to them, and from asking forgiveness of their Lord, is only their waiting for the way of those before them to come upon them too… Those who disbelieve dispute with falsehood, to make the truth slip by means of it."

This expression had occurred word for word in Ghāfir (al-Muʾmin) at 40/5 and was treated there: the د-ح-ض root — the slipping of the foot, slippery ground; and it was recorded there: the aim is not to refute the truth but to move it out of its place. I do not repeat it here.

And in al-Kahf at 18/54 (wa kāna'l-insānu akthara shayʾin jadalā) dispute was named as the most marked characteristic of man. Five verses later the same root returns as dispute by means of falsehood. This is a pattern that can be verified within the sūra.

And the root of nisyān occurs once more in the sūra.

Three occurrences, three separate planes. And the third is worth recording: what is forgotten is what a person's own hand sent on ahead.

This sentence has the same structure as Fāṭir 35/45 (wa law yuʾākhidhu'llāhu'n-nāsa bimā kasabū mā taraka ʿalā ẓahrihā min dābba) and was treated there. I rely on that treatment.

The difference here must be recorded: in Fāṭir the scope was all living creatures; in al-Kahf lahum mawʿid — an appointed time is reported.

مَوْئِل — root و-أ-ل: to take refuge, to flee and be protected. The word occurs only here in the Qurʾān.

Wa idh qāla Mūsā li-fatāhu lā abraḥu ḥattā ablugha majmaʿa'l-baḥrayni aw amḍiya ḥuqubā

"And when Moses said to his young companion: 'I shall not stop until I reach the place where the two seas meet, or I shall go on for years.'"

حُقُب — root ح-ق-ب: a long stretch of time. The root was treated in al-Nabaʾ at 78/23 (lābithīna fīhā aḥqābā).

And the event begins with an act of forgetting: nasiyā ḥūtahumā.

I record this as my own reading, and its support is the twenty-fourth verse of the sūra: there the command wa'dhkur rabbaka idhā nasīt — "remember your Lord when you forget" had been given. And immediately after that command, the knot of the story is tied by an act of forgetting.

And the young companion's words confirm this (63): wa mā ansānīhu illa'sh-shayṭānu an adhkurah — "none but Satan made me forget to remember it."

سَرَبًا — root س-ر-ب: an underground passage, a tunnel, to flow away.

قَالَ ذَٰلِكَ مَا كُنَّا نَبْغِ فَٱرْتَدَّا عَلَىٰٓ ءَاثَارِهِمَا قَصَصًا (64) — "that is what we were seeking; and the two of them went back, following their own tracks."

قَصَص — root ق-ص-ص: to follow a track; and to narrate. The root was treated in al-Qaṣaṣ on the occasion of the sūra's name. I do not repeat it here.

And the word's being used here in the sense of tracking is worth recording: what is sought is found by going back. That is, the act of forgetting itself becomes the sign.

The person's name is not given. The only thing given is his description: ʿabdan min ʿibādinā.

I record this as an observation: throughout the sūra persons are not named — the People of the Cave are not counted, the owners of the gardens have no name, this servant is nameless. Only Moses and Dhū'l-Qarnayn are named. The name transmitted for this person in the classical commentaries is not certain knowledge; in this commentary the report is not passed on.

مِن لَّدُنَّا عِلْمًا — "a knowledge from Our presence."

The particle ladun reports a closer proximity than ʿind, and the lexicographers explain this as direct, without intermediary. The word has occurred twice more in the sūra: in verse 2 (baʾsan shadīdan min ladunh) and in verse 10 (ātinā min ladunka raḥma).

"'You will never be able to bear with me. And how will you bear with what you cannot encompass in knowledge?'"

The second sentence is the key that explains all the stories of the sūra, and I record this as my own reading.

The sentence takes patience out of being a matter of character and ties it to a matter of knowledge: wa kayfa taṣbiru ʿalā mā lam tuḥiṭ bihī khubrā.

إحاطة — root ح-و-ط: to surround, to encompass. The root was analysed in al-Baqara at 2/255 (wa lā yuḥīṭūna bi-shayʾin min ʿilmih) and it was recorded there: what is denied is not knowing but encompassing. I rely on that treatment.

And its bond with the four stories of the sūra must be recorded:

That is, the sūra shows the same thing in four separate scenes: judgement hurried where knowledge is lacking. This is a pattern that can be verified from the text.

سَتَجِدُنِىٓ إِن شَآءَ ٱللَّهُ صَابِرًا (69) — and the answer of Moses applies the rule of the twenty-third verse of the sūra: in shāʾa'llāh. The verse thereby places the correct use of the rule inside the story.

Three acts come one after another, and each is built with the same structure: the act → the objection of Moses → the reminder.

And the force of the objections decreases: the first is a question, the second a sharper question (la-qad jiʾta shayʾan nukrā), the third not even an objection — a suggestion.

I record this as my own reading, and its support is the form of the third objection: in the third Moses brings no moral objection; he finds it strange that no return was taken. That is, the three acts also form a sequence with respect to how objectionable they are.

A record, per the method (Method): this act is not presented as work a human being could do on his own decision. Indeed the eighty-second verse will say this plainly: wa mā faʿaltuhu ʿan amrī — "I did not do it of my own accord."

This sentence is the ruling of the story, and I record this as my own reading: no general rule of conduct can be derived from the story; what can be derived is the deferral of judgement where knowledge is lacking — indeed the sixty-eighth verse had said this from the outset.

And in the third explanation one detail is worth recording: wa kāna abūhumā ṣāliḥā — "and their father was a righteous man."

I record this as an observation: what is protected is the property of the children; the reason mentioned is the state of the father. The verse establishes this bond and leaves it; it does not explain it.

فَأَرَادَ رَبُّكَ أَن يَبْلُغَآ أَشُدَّهُمَا وَيَسْتَخْرِجَا كَنزَهُمَا رَحْمَةً مِّن رَّبِّكَ — and in all three explanations the ascription of the act changes:

Three verbs, three separate subjects: I, we, your Lord. This is a gradation that can be verified from the text and it has been dwelt upon in the classical commentaries. I record this as an observation about the word order; I content myself with transmitting the explanations of why the ascriptions change, and I do not impose a preference.

Wa yasʾalūnaka ʿan Dhi'l-Qarnayn qul sa-atlū ʿalaykum minhu dhikrā

"They ask you about Dhū'l-Qarnayn. Say: I shall recite to you a remembrance of him."

Who Dhū'l-Qarnayn was is not reported in the Qurʾān. It is transmitted that in the classical and the modern sources he has been matched with various historical figures; none of these is certain knowledge, and no preference is adopted among them in this commentary.

What the verse gives is a dhikr — a report that is recounted. And the sūra itself states what is to be drawn from the story (98): hādhā raḥmatun min rabbī.

"When he reached the place where the sun sets, he found it setting in a muddy spring."

The verb must be recorded: wajadahā — "he found it …".

I record this as my own reading, and its support is the verb itself: the sentence does not report where the sun sets; it recounts what Dhū'l-Qarnayn saw. The verb is bound to the position of the observer. And the same verb is used in the next scene as well: wajadahā taṭluʿu ʿalā qawmin (90).

I write this plainly, per the method (Method): no ruling about the physical position of the sun can be derived from this verse — neither an accusation of the form "the Qurʾān says the sun sets in mud", nor the gleaning of some pointer to modern astronomy from it. Both are making the text say what it does not say.

حَمِئَة — root ح-م-أ: black mud. A variant reading is transmitted: there is also the reading ḥāmiya (burning, hot), and it changes the sense. I record both readings and do not impose a preference.

And two options are left to him. His answer is worth recording (87-88): to punish the one who does wrong, and for the one who believes and does righteous deeds jazāʾan'l-ḥusnā.

I record this as an observation: the one to whom authority is given uses it by making a distinction. And in al-Ḥajj at 22/41 (alladhīna in makkannāhum fi'l-arḍ) the condition of power was treated; the same line is given here by way of a story.

Per the method (Method): the knowledge the Qurʾān gives about Yaʾjūj and Maʾjūj is limited — they are mentioned here and in al-Anbiyāʾ 21/96. What is transmitted about their identity, their place and their time is not certain knowledge; no speculation is entered into in this commentary.

"'What my Lord has established me in is better. Help me with your strength and I shall set a solid barrier between you and them.'"

Two things are worth recording:

First: payment is refused (a kharjan had been offered, 94). And the ground is the sufficiency of what has been given to him.

Second: help is asked for — fa-aʿīnūnī bi-quwwa. That is, the work is not done alone.

I record this as my own reading: the story gives, in one and the same sentence, both that a man of means took no payment and did not work alone.

And the process of construction is recounted in detail (96): blocks of iron, the working of the bellows, molten copper. The softening of iron was treated in Sabaʾ at 34/10-11; I rely on that treatment.

فَمَا ٱسْطَٰعُوٓا۟ أَن يَظْهَرُوهُ وَمَا ٱسْتَطَٰعُوا۟ لَهُۥ نَقْبًا (97) — two verbs are worth recording: isṭāʿū (to climb over it) and istaṭāʿū (to bore through it). Two different patterns from the same root: one lightened, the other full.

The lexicographers relate this difference to the degree of difficulty of the tasks: climbing over is easier, boring through is harder — and the longer verb was used for the harder one. I transmit this explanation in the form the lexicographers give it.

And the story ends by stating the transience of the work that was done.

I record this as my own reading, and its support is the eighth verse of the sūra: wa innā la-jāʿilūna mā ʿalayhā ṣaʿīdan juruzā. Even the most solid structure in the sūra is placed under the same ruling — and the one who says so is the very man who built it.

"On that day We shall leave them surging against one another; the trumpet is blown and We gather them all together… They are those whose eyes were under a veil against remembering Me, and who could not bear to hear."

يَمُوجُ فِى بَعْضٍ — root م-و-ج: to surge, to move in waves. The word pictures the movement of the crowd like a wave of the sea.

And in al-Kahf at 18/97-98 the barrier of Dhū'l-Qarnayn was recounted; the ninety-eighth verse said fa-idhā jāʾa waʿdu rabbī jaʿalahu dakkā. The ninety-ninth verse describes the state in which that promise is fulfilled. The two verses stand one after the other and are bound to each other.

غِطَآء — a veil, a covering.

The word was treated in Qāf at 50/22 (fa-kashafnā ʿanka ghiṭāʾaka fa-baṣaruka'l-yawma ḥadīd) and it was recorded there: "what changes is not you but the veil." I rely on that treatment.

The two verses may be compared:

One recounts the outcome, the other the cause. I record this as an observation.

وَكَانُوا۟ لَا يَسْتَطِيعُونَ سَمْعًا — "they could not bear to hear."

And the eleventh verse of the sūra must be recalled: fa-ḍarabnā ʿalā ādhānihim fi'l-kahfi sinīna ʿadadā — there the veil struck upon the ear was a protection.

The same organ, in two opposite functions. This is a repetition that can be verified within the sūra.

أَفَحَسِبَ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوٓا۟ أَن يَتَّخِذُوا۟ عِبَادِى مِن دُونِىٓ أَوْلِيَآءَ (102) — and the verb ḥasiba occurs here for the third time in the sūra (9, 18, 102). The "supposing" axis of the sūra is gathered in the looking-back table.

"Say: 'Shall We tell you of those who lose most by their deeds? They are those whose whole effort in the life of this world has gone astray, while they suppose they are doing good work.'"

The structure of the sentence must be recorded: two states are reported at once — ḍalla saʿyuhum (their effort went astray) and yaḥsabūna annahum yuḥsinūna ṣunʿā (they suppose they are doing well).

I record this as my own reading: the verse diagnoses not ill intent but a wrong measure. The person works, gives his labour, and is content. The only thing lacking is knowing where the effort is going.

And this agrees word for word with the sixty-eighth verse of the sūra: wa kayfa taṣbiru ʿalā mā lam tuḥiṭ bihī khubrā. There the lack of knowledge produced impatience; here it produces a false confidence.

In Fuṣṣilat at 41/23 (wa dhālikum ẓannukum … ardākum) and in al-Jāthiya at 45/24 it was treated that conjecture is a cause of destruction. I rely on that treatment.

And the verb yaḥsabūn had occurred in the ninth verse of the sūra as well (am ḥasibta) and in the eighteenth (wa taḥsabuhum ayqāẓan wa hum ruqūd). These three occurrences: one belonging to the reader, one to the scene, one to themselves. This is a pattern that can be verified within the sūra.

"Those are the ones who disbelieved in the signs of their Lord and in the meeting with Him; their deeds have come to nothing. On the Day of Resurrection We shall set up no weighing for them. As for those who believe and do righteous deeds, for them the gardens of Firdaws are a lodging; they will remain there always and will not wish to be moved from it."

The sentence is worth recording: the balance's not being set up.

In al-Anbiyāʾ at 21/47 (wa naḍaʿu'l-mawāzīna'l-qisṭ) the setting down of the balance may have been treated; in al-Ḥadīd mīzān was analysed.

I record this as my own reading: the verse does not report a punishment — it reports that the operation is not performed. And this is the natural consequence of the diagnosis in the hundred and fourth verse: those whose effort has gone astray have nothing left to be weighed.

حَبِطَتْ — root ح-ب-ط: an animal's eating a harmful plant, swelling and dying — growth from without, rot from within. The root was analysed in al-Ḥujurāt at 49/2. I do not repeat it here.

And the word's placement here is worth recording: in the hundred and fourth verse the person supposed he was doing good work. The word ḥabṭ describes exactly this: what looks swollen from outside and is rotted from within.

فِرْدَوْس — a garden, land with trees and water. The word occurs in two places in the Qurʾān (here and al-Muʾminūn 23/11). The lexicographers also record that the word may have entered Arabic from another language; I issue no definite ruling.

نُزُل — the first hospitality set before a guest. The word was treated in detail in al-Wāqiʿa at 56/56 and 56/93 and it was recorded there: to say "the first hospitality" is to imply that more will follow. I rely on that treatment.

لَا يَبْغُونَ عَنْهَا حِوَلًا — "they will not wish to be moved from it."

حِوَل — root ح-و-ل: to change state, to pass from one place to another. The word occurs only here in the Qurʾān.

I record this as an observation, and its support is the sūra as a whole: throughout the sūra everything changed — the People of the Cave woke, the garden was ruined, the barrier will be brought down, the earth will become dry ground. The one thing named at the close is that the wish to change is gone.

"Say: 'If the sea were ink for the words of my Lord, the sea would run out before the words of my Lord ran out.' Say: 'I am only a human being like you; it is revealed to me.'"

The first verse gives the same idea as Luqmān 31/27 (the trees as pens, the sea as ink) and it was treated there: inexhaustibility is measured against a countable material. I rely on that treatment.

The two verses may be compared:

The second verse begins word for word like Fuṣṣilat 41/6: qul innamā anā basharun mithlukum yūḥā ilayy. It was treated there and it was recorded there: the answer says that the distance between them does not lie between the two parties. I do not repeat it here.

And the closing sentence of the sūra is worth recording: fa-man kāna yarjū liqāʾa rabbihi fa'l-yaʿmal ʿamalan ṣāliḥan wa lā yushrik bi-ʿibādati rabbihi aḥadā.

I record this as my own reading, and its support is the sūra as a whole: across four stories the limit of knowledge was recounted — the length of time is not known, the ground is not known, the end is not known. And at the close, what is to be done in the midst of what is not known is given in two clauses: righteous deeds, and associating no one with God.

And the word aḥadā must be recorded: the sūra ends with this word — and the same word was the last word of the twenty-second verse too (wa lā tastafti fīhim minhum aḥadā). The sūra is sealed twice with the same word.