Virtues of reciting Surah al-Kahf on Friday

(b). Hafiz Zya’ al-Maqdisi, in his book Al-Mukhtarah, has reported on the authority of Sayyidna ` Ali ◌ؓ that the Holy Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said, “One who recites Surah al-Kahf on the day of Jumu’ah will remain protected from every fitnah. And if Dajjal appears, he will stay safe against the trying challenges released by him as well.” (All these narrative reports have been taken from Tafsir ibn Kathir)

The cause of revelation:

The two Quraysh emissaries returned to Makkah al-Mukarramah, informed their tribesmen that they had come back with a decisive plan of action and told them all about their encounter with the Jewish scholars of Madinah. Then, these people took these questions to the Holy Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم . He heard the questions and said that he will answer them tomorrow. But he forgot to say ‘Insha Allah’ at that time. These people went back and the Holy Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم kept waiting for the Divine revelation in the hope that he will be told about answers to these questions through wahy. But no wahy came until the next day as promised. In fact, fifteen days went by, and things stood as they were, neither did Sayyidna Jibril come nor did the revelation. The Quraysh of Makkah started throwing taunts which caused real pain to the Holy Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم .

After fifteen days, came angel Jibril with Surah al-Kahf (wherein the delay caused has also been explained by saying that one should say ‘insha Allah’ when promising to do something in the future. Since, this was not done in the event concerned, therefore, revelation was delayed as a measure of reminder. There are four stories in Sura Al-Kahf. 1) The Story of the people of the cave – A Trial of Faith. 2) The Story of the man who owns two gardens – A Trial of Wealth. 3) The Story of Musa and Al-Khidr – A Trail of Knowledge. 4) The Story of the Dhul Qarnayn (A Righteous King) – A Trial of Power.

Tafsir of Surah Al-Khaf:

Being upright; to warn of a severe punishment from Him, and to give glad tidings to the believers who do good works, that for them is a beautiful reward. They will abide therein forever. And to warn those who say, “Allah has taken a son”. They and their fathers have no knowledge of the matter whatsoever. How dreadful is the word that comes out of their mouths. They only speak a lie.

Do you deem that the People of the Cave are our most wondrous sign? The Ashab al-Kahf were the progeny of kings and chiefs among their people who were idol-worshippers. Once their people went out of the town to participate in some religious festival of theirs. This was a place where they met every year, worshipped their idols and sacrificed animals to please them. Their king was a tyrant, he used to force his people to worship idols. That year, when everyone had gathered in this festival, these young men identified as the Ashab al-Kahf also reached there and saw their people taking rocks carved with their own hands as God, worshipping them and sacrificing for them. At that time, Allah Ta` ala blessed them with the good sense to shun this absurd practice of their people. Thus, when they used their reason, they arrived at the conclusion that this worship belongs to none but that supreme Power who has created the heavens and the earth and everything therein. This thought crossed the minds of those few young men simultaneously and they started moving away from there to avoid the absurd practice of their people in the fair name of worship. This became the talk of the town. Backbiters told on them before the king who ordered that they all should be brought to him. When they came into the royal court, the king asked them about their belief and its mores. Allah gave them the courage to state their belief in the Oneness of Allah. In fact, they invited the king himself to believe as they did. When these young men acted bold before the king and invited him to believe, he turned the call down and threatened them with drastic action. They ran from there and took refuge in a cave. Scholars say they were seven youths and the dog being the eighth. The dog followed the youths to the cave. Say thou: “When those youths took to their cave and said, “Our Lord! Bestow upon us from You a mercy and grant us guidance in our aƯair”. Allah caused the People of the Cave to sleep, and that heavy sleep, which prevented any voices from arriving to their ears, was likened to placing a veil over them. Allah made them sleep for many years (approx. 309 years). When they woke up, they felt they had slept for a day or half a day. One of them went to the town to get some food disguising himself thinking that the people would recognize and harm him. Only to find himself amongst diƯerent people. The people of the town were amazed at his appearance of this man and the old coins he was using. When the People of Kahf went out, the Mushrik king, the oppressive ruler of that city had died. Centuries went by. Then, it was taken over by people who were pure monotheists. Their new king was a righteous man. The king wanted to meet the people of cave, but they died and could not meet the king. The story of the people of the cave serves as a trial of religion. Their faith was on trial because they were surrounded by nonbelievers who oppressed them, harm, tortured and threatened them so as to cause them deviate from the religion but they invoked in Allah and they became successful.

The story of the owner of the two gardens is among the many amazing lessons we can derive from Surah Al-Kahf. Allah begins by introducing the incredibly rich owner of the two gardens to us. He had two grape gardens and other cultivated fields, with rivers that streamed in between, and the whole property was surrounded with date-palm trees. Allah made his gardens in such a way that they never failed to produce good quality fruits and crops, always fertile, and constantly brought forth maximum results. So not only were his gardens beautiful, but they always brought him maximal profits. A person who is immensely wealthy and always successful has the potential to be extremely arrogant, and indeed, the owner of the two gardens was aƯlicted with this spiritual disease. When he invited his friend, who was poor, to his garden, it wasn’t because he wanted to give some of his produce away as charity, he only wanted to brag about himself, and to show oƯ his wealth to his friend. The owner was so prideful of himself, that as he entered his garden, he said three sinful statements against Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala – the One who gave him everything he owned. The first sinful statement was, when he said that his gardens would never, ever be destroyed. His properties always yielded abundant crops, never brought him any kind of loss throughout the years, and so he thought it was because he was very wise, exceptionally smart, and experienced in managing his properties. He attributed his success to himself, not to Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala – not even one ‘Alhamdulillah’. The second sinful statement was, that he doubted the existence of the Day of Judgment. And his third sinful statement was, when he said that even if the Day of Judgment was true, he would surely be granted with something better than what he had right now. He thought his worldly success was a sign that Allah was pleased with him, and therefore he likened his status in the hereafter to be even better than his current status in this dunya. “His companion said to him during the talk with him: Do you disbelieve in the One Who created you from dust, then formed you into a man? But as for my part, (I believe) that He is Allah, my Rabb, and none shall I associate as partner with my Rabb.” “It was better for you to say when you entered your garden: ‘This is what Allah has willed, there is no power except with Allah!’ If you see me less than you in wealth and children. It may be that my Rabb will give me something better than your garden and will send on it a torment from the sky, then it will be a slippery earth. Or the water thereof (of the gardens) becomes deep-sunken (in the underground) so that you will never be able to seek it.” Scholars in tafseer say that the poor friend advised him out of sincerity, but the owner of the two gardens did not take heed of his friend’s advice, and thus Allah destroyed all of his wealth – every single one of them! Not a single piece of his property survived, not even one piece of grape. All was utterly ruined. The consequences of his sins and arrogance reached him, and the owner finally regretted his sins, and He cried: ‘Alas! I wish I had never associated anyone with my Rabb (in worship)’. We need to understand that this dunya is a test, and some of us will be tested with wealth and poverty. Be certain that our worldly success or loss is not a definite measurement of our akhirah, but it is our Taqwa of Allah.