Immortal : A Collection of The Miracles of Qur'an.

Thoughts on Surah al-Kahf (the Cave)

Thoughts on Surah al-Kahf
(the Cave)

In discussing the meanings embedded in the Our'an, one
should be aware of the implicit and underlying wisdom of its verses. It is not uncommon for the reader of the Our'an to miss certain meanings which Allah intended us to contemplate. This does not mean however, that one should ascribe to the words of the Our'an any meaning other than that which they actually possess. Scholars, in their attempts to keep pace with modern trends and meet the challenges they face from science and sceptical doctrines, may try to find a common ground between some of the spectacular new scientific theories and the miraculous portents revealed in
the Our'an, or to try to find evidence to support the Our'an with these theories or these theories from the Our'an, The danger of such practices lies in the fact that scientific theories
are susceptible to modification and misinterpretation. Indeed, the situation would be precarious and damaging to the
whole religion if it so happened that we used one of these scientific theories to validate some Our'anic facts, only to
discover, later, that the theory was false. It is, therefore, neither wise nor desirable that our enthusiasm cause us to search the Qur'an for facts which accord with any modern scientific hypothesis or discovery. The Our'an is, in the first place, a religious scripture and not a textbook and as such should never be used as source material for explaining science. In fact, Allah explicitly defined the main purpose of the Our'an when He said:

"This is the Scripture whereof there is no doubt, a
guidance unto those who ward off evil; who believe in
the Unseen, and establish worship, and spend of that
which We have bestowed upon them."
(al-Baqarah 2:2-3)

In these few words, Allah defines the whole purpose of the Our'an as being a guidance for believers. As has already been mentioned, those who study the Qur'an should be sensitive to the meanings implicit in the Revelation. For Allah has placed within the Our'an many signs that are worthy of profound contemplation and thought. Siirah al-Kahf serves as a great indication of this because of the many mystical facts it contains and the challenge it offers to the inquisitive mind. As we all know, a cave, or kahf in Arabic, from which the Siirah derives its name, is a cavity found on the side of a mountain. Allah has created these caves in nature so that we can discover for ourselves how they look and what impression they make upon our senses. No one can truly know how impressive a cave is unless he has had the opportunity to explore one. Therefore the title of the passage should not pass without some thought. If we do skim over it, we will soon come to realise that the passage abounds with moral caves, or things which reveal many of the mystic facts about events which take place in this
universe. This is exemplified in the story of Moses and the good slave (al-Kahf 18:65) (a man whom Allah favoured with unlimited knowledge). The true meaning of this is that we should not judge things according to their external features. The scuttling of the boat (18:71) that was owned by poor people, which Moses judged as an evil act, was in actual fact a good deed, because it saved those who owned it from an unjust tyrant king who had planned to seize the boat. Likewise, the slaying of the young lad (18:74) appeared, on the surface, to be a wicked sin, but this deed had behind
it the good motive of saving his virtuous parents and rewarding them with new offspring free from evil. So was the building of the wall (18:77) for the inhospitable villagers who refused to give them food or hospitality. Although it did not
appeal to logic as a good deed, the truth behind it is that it
was built to protect a treasure which was left to two orphaned
children by their dead father. If the wall had been left to collapse, the villagers would have taken the treasure and deprived the children of receiving it when they reached adulthood. These parables cannot be summed up in a few lines, but at least give an indication of just how significant the word 'cave' actually is. Allah wishes to impress on us in this surah certain facts which are mostly implied and not easily accessible to human comprehension. This also serves to remind us not to take things at their face value or be deceived by superficiality, for what is sometimes interpreted as wicked and evil can in actual fact be a blessing in disguise.