Ali Quli Qarai, The Qur’ān with a Phrase-by-Phrase English Translation (2005)
4 and to warn those who say,
‘Allah has taken a son.’
5 They do not have any knowledge of that,
nor did their fathers.
Monstrous is the utterance
that comes out of their mouths,
and they say nothing but a lie.
6 You are liable to imperil your life
for their sake,
if they should not believe
this discourse,1 out of grief.
7 Indeed We have made whatever is on the earth
an adornment for it
that We may test them [to see]
which of them is best in conduct.
8 And indeed We will turn whatever is on it
into a barren plain.
9 Do you suppose that the Companions of the Cave
and the Inscription
were among Our wonderful signs?
10 When the youths took refuge in the Cave,
they said, ‘Our Lord!
Grant us a mercy from Yourself,
and help us on to rectitude in our affair.’
11 So We put them to sleep 2 in the Cave
for several years.
12 Then We aroused them that We might know
1 That is, the Qur’ān.
2 Literally: ‘struck on their ears,’ or ‘drew a curtain (or veil) on their ears.’
