Surah Kahf

Four Stories In Surah Kahf :

The First Story : The people of the Cave, which is the trial of humility. The story of the believing young men who were living in a disbelieving country. They decided to leave their homes and run away with their religion after a confrontation between them and their people. Allah (SWT) rewarded them with the mercy of the cave and care of the sun. They woke up to find their village were all believers.


The Second Story : The owner of the two gardens, which is the trial of wealth and children. The story of the man who Allah (SWT) had blessed, but he forgot the One, who had blessed him, transgressed and had doubts in his faith. He didn’t give thanks for the blessings, even though his friend reminded him which resulted in Allah (SWT) causing destruction of the crops and harvest and he regretted after it was too late.

At this point in approximately in the middle of the Surah comes the story of Iblees-the one who pulls the strings of fitnah. “Will you then take him and his offspring as protectors and helpers rather than Me while they are enemies to you. What an evil is the exchange for the wrongdoers.” (Surah Kahf, Aayah 50).

The Third Story of Moosa (AS) and Khidr (AS), which is the trial of knowledge. When Moosa (AS) was asked, “ Who is the most knowledgeable person in the earth?” He said, “Me” Then Allah (SWT) revealed to him that there was someone more knowledgeable than him. Moosa (AS) travelled to meet him in order to learn from him how sometimes we do not understand Allah (SWT)’s Wisdom but He is invariably Wise. (i.e. – the ship, the boy, the wall).

The Fourth Story Allah (SWT) talks of Dhul Qarnyan, which is the trial of authority. The story of the great king that joined both knowledge and strength, and travelled to all parts of the earth, helping people and spreading goodness. He overcame the problem of Yajooj and Majooj by building a dam and was able to put to work the strength of the people who could hardly understand a word.

Hadith to recite Surah Kahf On Friday :

a) From Abu Sa’eed al-Khudri, who said: “Whoever reads Soorat al-Kahf on the night of Jumu’ah, will have a light that will stretch between him and the Ancient House (the Ka’bah).”

(Narrated by al-Daarimi, 3407. This hadeeth was classed as saheeh by Shaykh al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Jaami, 6471)

(b)“Whoever reads Soorat al-Kahf on the day of Jumu’ah, will have a light that will shine from him from one Friday to the next.”

(Narrated by al-Haakim, 2/399; al-Bayhaqi, 3/249. Ibn Hajar said in Takhreej al-Adhkaar that this is a hasan hadeeth, and he said, this is the strongest report that has been narrated concerning reading Soorat al-Kahf. See: Fayd al-Qadeer, 6/198. It was classed as saheeh by Shaykh al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Jaami’, 6470)

(c)It was narrated that Ibn ‘Umar (may Allaah be pleased with him) said: “The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: ‘Whoever reads Soorat al-Kahf on the day of Jumu’ah, a light will shine for him from beneath his feet to the clouds of the sky, which will shine for him on the Day of Resurrection, and he will be forgiven (his sins) between the two Fridays.’”

Al-Mundhiri said, this was narrated by Abu Bakr ibn Mardawayh in his Tafseer, with an isnaad with which there was nothing wrong.

(al-Targheeb wa’l-Tarheeb, 1/298)

The soorah may be read during the night or the day of Jumu’ah. The night of Jumu’ah starts from sunset on Thursday, and the day of Jumu’ah ends at sunset. Therefore the time for reading this soorah extends from sunset on Thursday to sunset on Friday.

Al-Mannaawi said:

Al-Haafiz ibn Hajar said in his Amaali: “In some reports it says ‘the day of Jumu’ah’ and in some reports it says ‘the night of Jumu’ah’. They may be reconciled by saying that what is meant is the day which includes the night and vice versa.” (Fayd al-Qadeer, 6/199)