18:2Valuable—to warn of severe punishment from Himself; and to deliver good news to the believers who do righteous deeds, that they will have an excellent reward.

18:5They have no knowledge of this, nor did their forefathers. Grave is the word that comes out of their mouths. They say nothing but a lie.

18:7We made what is upon the earth an ornament for it, to test them as to which of them is best in conduct.

18:10When the youths took shelter in the cave, they said, “Our Lord, give us mercy from Yourself, and bless our affair with guidance.”

18:16“Now that you have withdrawn from them, and from what they worship besides God, take shelter in the cave. And your Lord will unfold His mercy for you, and will set your affair towards ease.”

18:19Even so, We awakened them, so that they may ask one another. A speaker among them said, “How long have you stayed?” They said, “We have stayed a day, or part of a day.” They said, “Your Lord knows best how long you have stayed.” “Send one of you to the city, with this money of yours, and let him see which food is most suitable, and let him bring you some provision thereof. And let him be gentle, and let no one become aware of you.”

18:22They will say, “Three, and their fourth being their dog.” And they will say, “Five, and their sixth being their dog,” guessing at the unknown. And they will say, “Seven, and their eighth being their dog.” Say, “My Lord knows best their number.” None knows them except a few. So do not argue concerning them except with an obvious argument, and do not consult any of them about them.

18:24Without saying, “If God wills.” And remember your Lord if you forget, and say, “Perhaps my Lord will guide me to nearer than this in integrity.”

18:28And content yourself with those who pray to their Lord morning and evening, desiring His Presence. And do not turn your eyes away from them, desiring the glitter of this world. And do not obey him whose heart We have made heedless of Our remembrance—so he follows his own desires—and his priorities are confused.

18:31These will have the Gardens of Eden, beneath which rivers flow. Reclining on comfortable furnishings, they will be adorned with bracelets of gold, and will wear green garments of silk and brocade. What a wonderful reward, and what an excellent resting-place.

18:32And cite for them the parable of two men. To one of them We gave two gardens of vine, and We surrounded them with palms-trees, and We placed between them crops.

18:36“And I do not think the Hour is coming. And even if I am returned to my Lord, I will find something better than this in return.”

18:38But as for me, He is God, my Lord, and I never associate with my Lord anyone.

18:39When you entered your garden, why did you not say, “As God wills; there is no power except through God”? Although you see me inferior to you in wealth and children.

18:40Perhaps my Lord will give me something better than your garden, and release upon it thunderbolts from the sky, so it becomes barren waste.

18:45And cite for them the parable of the present life: it is like water that We send down from the sky; the plants of the earth absorb it; but then it becomes debris, scattered by the wind. God has absolute power over everything.

18:46Wealth and children are the adornments of the present life. But the things that last, the virtuous deeds, are better with your Lord for reward, and better for hope.

18:47On the Day when We set the mountains in motion; and you see the earth emerging; and We gather them together, and leave none of them behind.

18:48They will be presented before your Lord in a row. “You have come to Us as We created you the first time. Although you claimed We would not set a meeting for you.”

18:49And the book will be placed, and you will see the sinners fearful of its contents. And they will say, “Woe to us! What is with this book that leaves nothing, small or big, but it has enumerated it?” They will find everything they had done present. Your Lord does not wrong anyone.

18:50We said to the angels, “Bow down to Adam.” So they bowed down, except for Satan. He was of the jinn, and he defied the command of his Lord. Will you take him and his offspring as lords instead of Me, when they are an enemy to you? Evil is the exchange for the wrongdoers.

18:52On the Day when He will say, “Call on My partners whom you have claimed.” They will call on them, but they will not answer them. And We will place between them a barrier.

18:54We have elaborated in this Quran for the people every kind of example, but the human being is a most argumentative being.

18:55What prevented people from accepting faith, when guidance has come to them, and from seeking their Lord’s forgiveness? Unless they are waiting for the precedent of the ancients to befall them, or to have the punishment come upon them face to face.

18:56We send the messengers only as deliverers of good news and warners. Those who disbelieve argue with false argument, in order to defeat the truth thereby. They take My Verses, and the warnings, for a joke.

18:58Your Lord is the Forgiver, Possessor of Mercy. Were He to call them to account for what they have earned, He would have hastened the punishment for them. But they have an appointment from which they will find no escape.

18:59And these towns—We destroyed them when they committed injustices, and We set for their destruction an appointed time.

18:60Recall when Moses said to his servant, “I will not give up until I reach the junction of the two rivers, even if it takes me years.”

18:63He said, “Do you remember when we rested by the rock? I forgot about the fish. It was only the devil who made me forget it. And so it found its way to the river, amazingly.”

18:65Then they came upon a servant of Ours, whom We had blessed with mercy from Us, and had taught him knowledge from Our Own.

18:66Moses said to him, “May I follow you, so that you may teach me some of the guidance you were taught?”

18:67He said, “You will not be able to endure with me.

18:69He said, “You will find me, God willing, patient; and I will not disobey you in any order of yours.”

18:70He said, “If you follow me, do not ask me about anything, until I myself make mention of it to you.”

18:71So they set out. Until, when they had boarded the boat, he holed it. He said, “Did you hole it, to drown its passengers? You have done something awful.”

18:72He said, “Did I not tell you that you will not be able to endure with me?”

18:73He said, “Do not rebuke me for forgetting, and do not make my course difficult for me.”

18:74Then they set out. Until, when they encountered a boy, he killed him. He said, “Did you kill a pure soul, who killed no one? You have done something terrible.”

18:75He said, “Did I not tell you that you will not be able to endure with me?”

18:76He said, “If I ask you about anything after this, then do not keep company with me. You have received excuses from me.”

18:77So they set out. Until, when they reached the people of a town, they asked them for food, but they refused to offer them hospitality. There they found a wall about to collapse, and he repaired it. He said, “If you wanted, you could have obtained a payment for it.”

18:78He said, “This is the parting between you and me. I will tell you the interpretation of what you were unable to endure.

18:81So we wanted their Lord to replace him with someone better in purity, and closer to mercy.

18:82And as for the wall, it belonged to two orphaned boys in the town. Beneath it was a treasure that belonged to them. Their father was a righteous man. Your Lord wanted them to reach their maturity, and then extract their treasure—as a mercy from your Lord. I did not do it of my own accord. This is the interpretation of what you were unable to endure.”

18:83And they ask you about Zul-Qarnain. Say, “I will tell you something about him.”

18:84We established him on earth, and gave him all kinds of means.

18:87He said, “As for him who does wrong, we will penalize him, then he will be returned to his Lord, and He will punish him with an unheard-of torment.

18:95He said, “What my Lord has empowered me with is better. But assist me with strength, and I will build between you and them a dam.”

18:96“Bring me blocks of iron.” So that, when he had leveled up between the two cliffs, he said, “Blow.” And having turned it into a fire, he said, “Bring me tar to pour over it.”

18:98He said, “This is a mercy from my Lord. But when the promise of my Lord comes true, He will turn it into rubble, and the promise of my Lord is always true.”

18:101Those whose eyes were screened to My message, and were unable to hear.

18:102Do those who disbelieve think that they can take My servants for masters instead of Me? We have prepared Hell for the hospitality of the faithless.

18:104“Those whose efforts in this world are misguided, while they assume that they are doing well.”

18:106That is their requital—Hell—on account of their disbelief, and their taking My revelations and My messengers in mockery.

18:110Say, “I am only a human being like you, being inspired that your god is One God. Whoever hopes to meet his Lord, let him work righteousness, and never associate anyone with the service of his Lord.”