What are the main ideas of Surah al-Kahf? What stories are in it? How do they connect to each other, and how do different people understand them? Use this PowerPoint as a guide to help explore that question! QConference, Tawheed Institute, Sydney, 2016 Suggested resource: Translation of Surah al-Kahf from The Study Qur'an, ed. S. H. Nasr

1. Approaching
Qur’anic Tafsir
Surat al-Kahf
The Chapter of the Cave
Amina Inloes

2. About Surat al-Kahf
• 110 ayat
• Mostly revealed in Mecca
• It is narrated that when someone recites this surah on the night of Friday, that
person’s sins will be forgiven
• It is narrated that when someone recites the first or last 10 verses of this surah,
that person will be safe from the Dajjal.
• 3 main stories not mentioned elsewhere in the Qur’an
• The context suggests that the people fo Mecca were familiar with these stories.
• Possibly, revealed to answer a challenge to the Prophet (S) (pp. 74-76).
What are the themes and goals of this surah?
Give evidence for your answers. The most convincing answers with the
best evidence win!

3. Overview of Surat al-Kahf
• Introductory verses
• Companions of the Cave
• The next life
• The two men and the gardens
• Creation and resurrection
• Musa (A) and Khidr
• Dhu al-Qarnayn
• Concluding verses

4. Companions of the Cave
• Qur’anic narrative: What happened?
• Where was the cave?
• What does raqim mean?
• Why would it not be a wondrous sign?
• What condition were they in when they were revived, and
how does that compare to the Day of Resurrection?
• Why did this miracle happen at that time?
• “The Companions of the Cave kept their faith secret,
pretending to be unbelievers, so God gave them two rewards.”
– Imam al-Sadiq (A)
• “People are asleep, and, when they die, they awaken.”
• He it is Who takes your souls by night, and He knows what you do by
day. Then by day He resurrects you, for a term appointed… (66:60)
• Imam Husain (A) and ayah 18:9
• The Companions of the Cave
and the Mahdi (A)
Group discussion: What are
the main morals of this story?
Background historical
information – filling in the gaps
– Nouman Ali Khan (8:57)
Dramatization – What ayat is it
referencing? (1:17, 1:26)

5. The two men and the gardens
• What happens in the story?
• What are the main messages of it?
“These verses contain two parables explaining the reality of wealth and children that
human beings have in the life of this world. They are embellishments and adornments
of this deceptive worldly life which quickly vanishes and is no more; this is what human
beings adorn themselves with. These adornments distract people from remembering
their Lord and seduce people into thinking they will live forever and can depend on
these adornments. They are deluded into thinking that they possess and control these
adornments until tragedy befalls them, and God makes these ornaments disappear and
come to an end, and nothing remains of them except the like of a dream or a false hope.
These verses return the discussion to explaining the truth God alluded to in 18:7-8.

6. He said: I do not think that this will ever perish: This is the human condition. The human soul does not cling to
something ephemeral because it expects it to change or disappear. The human heart only clings to what
seems eternal in it – in whatever form that appears – and that is what allures people; the heart does not
incline toward a thing’s mortal aspects. You see that if the world comes toward a person, that person begins
to relyon it and enjoy its adornments and then becomes engrossed in it. That person’s desires make him
single-minded and his hopes high, as if he sees no end for himself. He cannot imagine that the blessing he
has at his disposal would ever disappear or the means which helped him get it would ever be severed. You
see that if the world moves away from him, despair and pessimism take hold of him, making him forget any
hope of salvation. He becomes convinced that he will live forever, and that wretchedness and difficult
circumstances will last forever.
The reason for this is that God made human nature (fitra) such that people are attached to these ephemeral
adornments; he did this as a trial and a test. If people turn their backs on the remembrance of their Lord,
they occupy themselves with the worldly adornments before them, and the apparent causes surrounding
them and they cling to the present situation which they perceive. Through their attraction, these
embellishments and adornments engross people in them, until people forget their transient nature and
believe they will be immortal. Whever their instinctive sense of reason tries to warn them that time will
betray them, that these causes will desert them, that life’s pleasure will also leave them, and their appointed
lifetimes will reach their appointed ends, their pursuit of their desires and high hopes prevent them from
listening or paying any attention to it.

7. Creation and resurrection
• The mountains passing away and the earth levelled
• Adam and Iblis
• Wilayah is from/for Allah
• Taking Iblis and his progeny as masters or protectors (awliya’)
• Was Iblis an angel or a jinn?
Tafsir al-Ayyashi relates from Imam al-Sadiq (A): “When it is the Day of
Resurrection, every person will be given his book and told: ‘Read’. I [Khalid ibn
Najih] asked: “Will he recognize what is in it?” He replied: “He will remember it.
There will not be a single moment, word, movement of a foot, or anything he
has done which is not mentioned, as if he has done it that very instant. That is
why they will say, Ah, woe to us! What a book this is! It does not omit a small one or a
great one, but it takes account of them (all).”

8. Musa (A) and Khidr
• Was it the same Moses who faced Fir`awn?
• What happened to the fish?
• Could the Shaytan make a prophet forget?
• Who was al-Khidr? (p. 173)
• Why kill the child?
• What does ‘Allamah say about how Moses speaks with Khidr? (p. 181)
• Detailed examination of tasfir (pp. 197-205)
• What can be deduced about al-Khidr from the narrations that ‘Allamah cites?
• What meanings of the story are mentioned in the narrations?

9. Analysing the tafsir
Introduction (pp. 171-173)
• What main ideas does ‘Allamah present here?
• Do those ideas give you a different perspective on the chapter?
Commentary (pp. 173-179)
• What types of grammatical/linguistic discussions does ‘Allamah engage in?
Which of them is the most helpful to you?
• What is ‘Allamah’s view about the fish?
• Can the Shaytan make prophets forget?
• What is the source of al-Khidr’s knowledge?
• How is the inability for Musa (A) to be patient with al-Khidr emphasized?

10. Examining narrations (pp. 197-205)
• What are some characteristics of al-Khidr which are narrated?
• What is ‘Allamah’s view on the narrations that al-Khidr was in Dhu
al-Qarnayn’s army or that he drank from the spring of life?
• How does ‘Allamah evaluate the narration which begins on page 199?
• What appears to be the purpose of the narration on the bottom of
page 203?
• Why might different types of treasures be mentioned? (pp. 204-205)
• What can you conclude about how ‘Allamah evaluates and uses
ahadith?
More on al-Khidr in narrations: “The
Awaited: al-Khidr and Imam Mahdi” (3:47)

11. Musa (A) and Khidr – A symbolic interpretation
• Khidr is the prophet of initiation into divine mysteries
• Moses represents exoteric knowledge, and Khidr represents esoteric knowledge (the two seas
and the two mountains)
• The sea represents the spring of life
• Moses’ journey represents a journey away from God into worldly existence and then its
journey back to God.
• At the junction of the two seas, Moses was sustained like a child in its mother’s womb, with no
hunger or wearniness; passing beyond this, the soul returned to its worldly existence, and
Moses needed sustenance.
• Moses retracing his steps represents the spiritual journey back to God and a reversal of the
Fall
• Breaking the ship represents the way the hold of the body on the soul can be broken
through spiritual exercises and asceticism
• Slaying the young boy represents how the soul which inclines towards evil is “slain” when
one overcomes anger and other negative passions within one’s self
• Repairing the wall represents the “soul at peace” through perfecting one’s character after the
lower desires have subdued.
Agree or disagree? Why or why not?
A Shi’i symbolic interpretation (Musa and Khidr,
“Physical versus Spiritual Realms” - 45:05)

12. Dhu al-Qarnayn
• According to the story, what kind of person was Dhu al-Qarnayn?
• Do these ayat give a sense of where Dhu al-Qarnayn was?
• Gog and Magog as signs of the end of time
• The challenges of discovering Dhu al-Qarnayn’s identity from narrations
• Was he born with two horns?
• Was he killed and resurrected twice?
• Was he resurrected and then he grew horns?
• Was he king of the world’s two horns?
• Was he an angel?
• Did he grasp the horns of the sun?
• Did he wear a helmet with horns?
• Where was the barrier?

13. Say: If the sea were ink…
The verse is an independent explanation of the vastness of God’s words and their inexhaustibility. It would
not be surprising if they were revealed on their own and not among the rest of the chapter’s verses.
However, if they were revealed among the rest of the verses, they are linked to everything discussed in the
chapter. That is because the beginning of the chapter points to the fact that there are divine realities. It first
mentions (by way of consolation to the Prophet (S) over his grief over people’s turning their backs on
remembrance) that they are all asleep to [these realities] but they will eventually awake from their slumber.
The story of the Companions of the Cave is cited with regard to that. Then he is reminded of matters at
the end of which is the story of Musa and al-Khidr, because Musa witnessed him do things, the
significance of which he was not aware of. Their outward appearance made him oblivious to their hidden
meaning until al-Khidr explained it to him. At that his anxiety was clamed. It then cites the story of Dhu al-
Qarnayn and the barrier which he erected by God’s command against the mischief-makers, that is, Gog and
Magog, who were prevented from reaching beyond the barrier and causing havoc.
These, as the reader can see, are matters beneath which are realities and secrets and are in fact words which
reveal divine purposes and explanations which inform of hidden things to which the “Wise Remembrance”
[the Qur’an] calls people. The verse, though God knows best, informs of these matters, that is, God’s
words inform of His endless purposes. Because the verse comes after the chapter’s comprehensive
explanation, it is like someone who has spoken at length, saying: There is no end to this discussion. Let us
content ourselves with what we have said.

14. Say: I am only a mortal like you…
“This verse completes the chapter and summarizes what was intended by
the explanation in the chapter. It puts together all three roots of the
religion – that is, belief in one God, prophethood, and resurrection.”
…How?

15. Contemporary viewpoints - analysis
1. “The Theme of Surat al-Kahf: Trials and Tribulations”
2. “Overcoming Trials: The Message of Surat al-Kahf ”
3. “The Productive Sleepers”
In each group…
• Read the article
• Explain the main arguments of the article to us
• Argue for or against the viewpoint in the article based on your
understanding of this surah

16. Returning back to the themes…
• Identify the main themes in the surah
• What evidence from each section or story can you use to support that
theme?
• Brainstorming: Are there any issues in our community or social situation
which these themes apply to today?