Lessons from Surah al-Kahf (Pearls from the Qur'an)

by Abu Ammaar Yasir Qadhi

From this we learn that when we face a dilemma and don’t know the answer to something Islamic, we must go to the people of knowledge.

There is also a beautiful miracle here: the delay the Prophet f faced in receiving the revelation, although it caused tension for him at the time—being unable to respond to the Quraysh for two weeks—it shows us that the Qur’an is not the speech of the Messenger f. He was not sitting at home composing verses, because if that had been the case then he would have presented them with his revelation the next day.

Scholars say that just like Allah S protected the Sleepers through the cave, the Book will shelter us in a similar manner.

virtue of having good companionship.

This is how feeble-minded people are, they assume that this is ‘my’ intelligence, ‘my’ degree, ‘my’ hard work, ‘my’ education, ‘my’ corporation, ‘my’ effort, yet do not take into account that they would be nowhere without Allah S having facilitated all of this for them.

Allah S says in the Qur’an that He gives of the blessings to all groups. This dunyā is not the test that Allah S loves you, rather it is the next world that determines this.

The word ‘kafara’ is often translated as rejecting Allah S, but this is in fact one of the two meanings of the term. The other meaning is to be ungrateful to Allah S and that is why in the Qur’an ‘kufr’ has two opposites. The first opposite of kufr is īmān and the other opposite is shukr (thankfulness).

‘are you so ungrateful to the One who created you from dust and then from this drop of sperm He made you into a man?’

As the Messenger f said, ‘The people are all the children of Adam and Adam was created from dust.’31 And you come from a nuṭfah, a drop of fluid that disgusts you such that if it falls on your garment you wash it off.

Our Prophet f has also said that the phrase, lā ḥawla wa lā quwwata illā billāh, is found under the throne of Allah S and inscribed on one of the doors that leads to Jannah.

It is especially important when we feel a sense of ghurūr, a type of self-delusion or self-grandeur, or when we feel ḥasad, or jealousy, towards another;

And this has been narrated by many of the Ṣaḥābah, that if we find ourselves feeling jealousy towards somebody, we should say mā shā’ allāhu lā quwwata illā billāhi.

what we’re supposed to do when we feel jealous is to make duʿā’ that Allah S gives baraka in the other person’s wealth: bāraka Allāhu lak.

Ḥawl means ‘change’and quwwa means power; so the phrase means nothing will change unless Allah S wills it and nobody has the power to execute the change unless Allah S has willed it.

A notable point here is the companion who is criticizing the man does so by teaching him as to how the latter should have acted. A Muslim never criticizes just by being negative and demeaning; rather, even in his criticism, he is merciful and tender.

We know from hadith how much Allah S despises kibr (arrogance) and that people have no right to feel an atom’s weight of pride:

So Allah S says you need a little bit of this world, but if you immerse yourself too much into it then it will cause your own destruction.

Our Prophet f explained that this meant every human being will be resurrected in front of Allah S barefoot, naked and uncircumcised.

And when you don’t want to do what Allah S commands, you are imitating

Iblīs.

This also proves that Iblīs has children, and these children are the leaders of evil.

In one example, a Ṣaḥābī complained about struggling to concentrate in ṣalāh and the Prophet f said that there is a Shayṭān whose name is Khinzab and whose job is to spoil your concentration in ṣalāh.

Too much philosophizing and questioning is not a characteristic of the believers. The believers believe in what Allah S has said; they listen to what He has to say and they follow it in the best way possible.

This means the worst of the worst will be forgiven if they turn to Allah S and ask for His forgiveness.

When you embody evil, Allah S will be strict with you, and when you embody good He will be gentle with you.

if Allah S were to deal with you as you deserve in fairness, the punishment would have come right now. But they will have some time to think, to seek forgiveness and be guided if they want.

But there is a time, and that time will not be hastened just because you don’t understand Allah’s S wisdom.

Knowledge is a blessing if it is acted upon, but it becomes a curse if it leads to arrogance.

This hadith is in al-Bukhārī and Muslim, and it shows us we cannot just open the Qur’an and interpret it without referring to the Sunnah.

The last Ṣaḥābī would have died literally in the year 110 AH. The Prophet f said nobody alive on the face of the earth will be alive in 100 years. As such, if Khiḍr had been alive, he wouldn’t be alive after 100 years. Such claims go against the Qur’an and Sunnah, as well as common sense.

Imam al-Bukhārī said that the first human who ever travelled for the sake of

knowledge was Mūsā a. So he travelled and made Hijrah for the sake of ʿilm (knowledge), and after him all the scholars made this their model to leave their lands and travel for the sake of knowledge.

Thus, the salām was taught directly to Adam a, and it became a mark of all those who believe in Allah S to greet one another with salām.

Notice it is raḥmah that comes first before knowledge in the verse. This is because if we have raḥmah without knowledge, we can still be good people, but knowledge without raḥmah is a problem.

(O Prophet) it was thanks to Allah’s mercy that you were gentle to them. Had you been rough, hard-hearted, they would surely have scattered away from you.

surely Allah loves those who put their trust (in Him).

Even in the case of our Prophet f, if he didn’t have good akhlāq, or manners, the people would have left him. So, the first thing we need to have is manners; we need to have humbleness and mercy, and then comes knowledge.

The scholar who is merciful and has manners, that is the highest level.

This also shows us that the best way—and some scholars have said the only way—to gain knowledge is by studying it with the ʿulamā’, the teachers of knowledge. Those who try to gain knowledge through books alone fall into many errors.

To study medicine we don’t just read books, half of medical training is being mentored by doctors one-on-one. This is the way knowledge is taught.

One of the themes of Surah al-Kahf is to not speak without knowledge, and yet unfortunately when it comes to Islam everybody thinks they can be a self-taught Sheikh. Google becomes their teacher and Wikipedia their mufti. Yet, they never do this for any other discipline.

Most likely they left Yūshaʿ behind to wait, as the term employed in verse 71, fanṭalaqā, is a dual verb implying just Mūsā and Khiḍr.

We know through the hadith of the Prophet f that it is the right of a Muslim upon another Muslim that he feeds him and houses him for one day in a generous manner, and then after that two days in the normal way that he lives (i.e. three days and nights overall). Ḍiyāfah, or being a host, is something that is expected. Our scholars have said that this means if a stranger comes to the city and he doesn’t have any money, the community is obliged to ensure someone takes care of the stranger’s basic needs for three days before he moves on.

What we learn from this is if we want to protect our wealth we should give it fī sabīlillāh, in the way of Allah S. If we want to protect our car or our money then we should be generous with it and do with it what Allah S wants us to do with it. Then Allah S will protect it. And so Allah S saved the instrument of the fishermen’s generosity because of that generosity.

Allah’s S qadar works in ways that are beyond our understanding. Next time we face a calamity of a financial nature, or an accident, or any misfortune, let us remember this story and realize Allah S knows best.