مَّالَهُمبِهِۦمِنْعِلْمٍۢوَلَالِـَٔابَآئِهِمْ ۚكَبُرَتْكَلِمَةًۭتَخْرُجُمِنْأَفْوَٰهِهِمْ ۚإِنيَقُولُونَإِلَّاكَذِبًۭا٥

They have no knowledge of it,¹ nor had their fathers. Grave is the word that comes out of their mouths; they speak not except a lie.

Then perhaps you would kill yourself through grief over them, [O Muḥammad], if they do not believe in this message, [and] out of sorrow.

Indeed, We have made that which is on the earth adornment for it that We may test them [as to] which of them is best in deed.

And indeed, We will make that which is upon it [into] a barren ground.

Or have you thought that the companions of the cave and the inscription were, among Our signs, a wonder?¹

[Mention] when the youths retreated to the cave and said, "Our Lord, grant us from Yourself mercy and prepare for us from our affair right guidance."

So We cast [a cover of sleep] over their ears within the cave for a number of years.

Then We awakened them that We might show which of the two factions was most precise in calculating what [extent] they had remained in time.

It is We who relate to you, [O Muḥammad], their story in truth. Indeed, they were youths who believed in their Lord, and We increased them in guidance.

And We bound [i.e., made firm] their hearts when they stood up and said, "Our Lord is the Lord of the heavens and the earth. Never will we invoke besides Him any deity. We would have certainly spoken, then, an excessive transgression.

These, our people, have taken besides Him deities. Why do they not bring for [worship of] them a clear evidence? And who is more unjust than one who invents about Allāh a lie?"