[18:5]
(A thing) whereof they have no knowledge, nor
(had) their 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 on 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 thereon 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 fled 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
?