Surah Kahf– Tafseer For Kids!!

Bismillah

The Young Men and the Kahf (Cave)

Once upon a time, in a faraway land, there was a town. The people who lived in this town had forgotten that they had to worship Allah. They made statues out of wood and stone and worshiped them, asking them for anything that they needed.

Among these people, there were some young men who had imaan(belief in Allah) in their hearts. One day, all the people of the town gathered outside the city to worship the idols that they had made. When these young men saw this, they immediately felt in their hearts that this was not right. Only Allah had the right to be worshiped as He was Al Khaliq—the creator of the heavens and the earth!!

One by one, these young men left the company of the Kuffar(the people who disbelieved) and sat under a tree. None of them knew the other, but it was Allah who guided them to each other.

After some time the people found out about them and told their king.

The king questioned them about their faith. The young men told him that they believed in Allah and invited the king and the people of the town to believe in Allah.

But, the king did not believe in Allah and got angry with the young men and told his guards to punish the young men.

While in punishment, the king told the young men to give up the religion of Allah and come back to worshiping the idols, else they awaited a more terrible punishment!!

However while they were in punishment, Allah the Most Merciful helped the young men to escape.

They found a cave and went inside it to hide. They felt worried but Allah blessed them with sakina( peace) and strengthened their Imaan( belief in Allah) and they made a dua.

“Our Lord, grant us from Yourself mercy and prepare for us from our affair right guidance.”

Then Allah caused them to sleep and told the sun to rise and set in such a manner that it did not disturb the sleeping men. From then onwards, the Sun obediently rose in the sky leaning towards the right side of the cave and set in the evening towards the left to follow Allah’s command. And thus Allah turned their bodies on the right and on the left while their dog stretched out on its forelegs.

Had you entered the cave, you would have thought they are awake and would have been astonished.  J

Like this they slept for years and years and years.

One day, Allah woke them up. One of the men asked the other,” how long did we sleep”?, to which the others replied “ maybe a day or a part of the day”. Then they thought Only Allah knows how long they slept, so they decided to send one of the young men to the city with some money to buy some food. But they told the young man to be careful, lest they catch him and make him turn back to the wrong religion.

So he disguised himself and took a different road to the city, but as he neared it, he was not able recognize it as everything had changed completely in the centuries that had passed. He thought maybe he was dreaming or confused!!

He quickly went to man who was selling food. When the man saw the coin the young man offered, he could not recognize it and thought maybe the young man had found some treasure!!

They asked him from where did he get the coin and the young man said:” I am from this land, I was living here yesterday!!”

They of course did not believe him and took him to their King, who questioned him about the situation.

The young man told them all about themselves. And then took the king and the city’s people to the cave to meet with the other companions.

And thus Allah made the people of the city know about them so that they may see that indeed the Promise of Allah is true and the Hour of Judgment will come soon.

Allah caused them to sleep and made them die.

Inshallah the young men are in Jannah Now !!

What a wonderful story!!

What do you learn from it?

We learn that no matter what happens or where we are ,we must always worship Allah and leave the place where we live in if the people are not letting us worship Allah. And then Allah’s help will come and He will reward us  inshallah!!

 

 Bismillah

The Two Men and The Garden.

Once upon a time, there lived two men. One of them Allah blessed with 2 gardens of grapes, surrounded by palm trees and it was rich and abundant with fruit. A river also flowed merrily through it.

The man who owned the garden was a very proud man. He took a lot of pride in his beautiful garden.

He told his friend, “I am greater than you in wealth and have more servants and attendants and children!!”

Then he went out to his garden and looked at it and said “I think this will not perish ever”!!

He forgot to say inshallah –if Allah wills!!

He was forgetting that it was Allah who had given him the wealth and so said “I don’t think the Hour will ever come” !!!!!!!!!

His friend said,” Don’t u believe that Allah created you? I believe that Allah is my Lord and I will never worship anyone except Allah.”

“it would have been better had you said “  Ma shaa Allah –that which Allah wills (will happen)! La hawla wala quwata illa billa (there is no power but will Allah!!) when you saw my less wealth and children!”

And then Allah sent a storm  that destroyed everything and the man was left with sadness at the mistake he had mad and  said “I wish that I had worshiped Only Allah “!

What do we learn from this story that Allah tells us?

We learn that we should always remember that whatever we have is a Blessing from Allah and Only Allah has the Power to give it to us. And did you know that “la hawla wa la quwata “ is a one of the treasures of Jannah

 

Bismillah

The Story of Musa (as) and Khidr

One day the Prophet (Sallallaahu alayhi Wasallam) told a story to the sahabas(companions).

Do you want to hear it too??

Ok , lets begin  Bismillah

Once Musa (as) was speaking to the Bani Israel. Somebody asked him, who has the most knowledge?.Musa(as) thought to himself that as he was the prophet of Allah , so in the “dunya” it must be him so he said: “I.”

Now, who has the MOST KNOWLEDGE?

It is Allah.. as it is Allah who has made the heavens and the Earth. And so Allah cautioned Mosa(as) not to think that just because he was a prophet of Allah, he had all the knowledge in the world. So, Allah said to him: “Yes, at the junction of the two seas there is a slave of mine who is more learned than you.” Musa (as) said: “O my Lord! How can I meet him?” Allah said: “Take a fish and put it in a large basket and you will find him at the place where you will lose the fish.”

Musa (as) took a fish, put it in a basket and went along with his (servant) boy, Joshua (Yusha Ibn Nun), till they reached the rock where they lay down. Musa(as) slept, and the fish, moving out of the basket, fell into the sea. It took its way into the sea (straight) as in a tunnel. Allah stopped the flow of water over the fish and it became like an arch (the Prophet(s) pointed out this arch with his hands). They traveled the rest of the night, and the next day Musa (as) said to his boy (servant): “Give us our food, for indeed, we have become very tired in this journey.” Musa (as) did not feel tired till he crossed that place which Allah had ordered him to find. His boy (servant) said to him: “Do you know that when we were sitting near that rock, I forgot the fish, and none but Shaitan caused me to forget to tell (you) about it, and it took its course into the sea in an amazing way?” So there was a path for the fish and that astonished them. Musa (as) said: ‘That was what we were looking for.”

So both of them (Musa (as) and the boy) turned and went back till they reached the rock. There they saw a man lying covered with a cloth. Musa (as) greeted him, and said: “I am Musa.”

The man asked: “Musa of Bani Israel?” Musa (as) said: “Yes, I have come to you so that you may teach me from those things which Allah has taught you.” He said: “O Musa (as)! I have some of the knowledge of Allah which Allah has taught me and which you do not know, while you have some of the knowledge of Allah which Allah has taught you and which I do not know.” Musa (as) asked: “May I follow you?” He said: “But you will not be able to remain patient with me, for how can you be patient about things which you will not be able to understand?” Musa(as) said: “You will find me, if Allah so will, truly patient and I will not disobey you at all.”

So both of them (Musa (as) and AL-Khidr) went out walking along the sea-shore. A boat passed  by them, and they asked the crew of the boat to take them on board. The crew recognized Al-Khidr, so they took them on board without any charge. When they were on board the boat, a sparrow came and stood on the edge of the boat and dipped its beak once or twice into the sea. Al-Khidr said to Musa (as): “O Musa! My knowledge and your knowledge have not decreased Allah’s knowledge except as much as this sparrow has decreased the water of the sea with its beak.”

Then suddenly Al-Khidr pulled up a plank, and Musa (as) did not notice it till he had pulled up a plank. Musa (as) said to him: “What have you done? They took us on board charging us nothing; yet you have intentionally made a hole in their boat so as to drown its passengers. Indeed , you have done a dreadful thing.” Al-Khidr replied: “Did I not tell you that you would not be able to remain patient with me?” Musa (as) replied: “Do not blame me for what I have forgotten, and do not be hard upon me for my fault.” So the first excuse of Musa(as) was that he had forgotten.

When they had left the sea, they passed by a boy playing with other boys. Al-Khidr took hold of the boy’s head and plucked it with his hand like this. (Sufyan, the sub-narrator gestured with his fingertips as if he were plucking some fruit.) Musa (as) said to him: “Have you killed an innocent person who has not killed any person? You have really done a horrible thing.” Al-Khidr said: “Did I not tell you that you could not remain patient with me?” Musa (as) said: “If I ask you about anything after this, don’t accompany me. You have received an excuse from me.”

Then both of them went on till they came to some people of a village, and they asked its inhabitants for food but they refused to entertain them as guests. Then they saw a wall  which was just going to collapse and Al Khidr repaired it just by touching it with his hands. Musa (as) said: “These are the people, whom we have called on, but they neither gave us food, nor entertained us as guests, yet you have repaired their wall. If you had wished, you could have taken wages for it.”

Al-Khidr said: “This is the parting between you and me, and I shall tell you the explanation of those things on which you could not remain patient.” [Sahih Bukhari]

The explanations of these events are in the Qur’an:

“As for the ship, it belonged to poor people working in the sea. So I wished to make a defective damage in it, as there was a king after them who seized every ship by force.

“And as for the boy, his parents were believers, and we feared lest he should oppress them by rebellion and disbelief. So we intended that their Lord should change him for them for one better in righteousness and near to mercy.

“And as for the wall, it belonged to two orphan boys in the town; and there was under it a treasure belonging to them; and their father was a righteous man, and your Lord intended that they should attain their age of full strength and take out their treasure as a mercy from your Lord. And I did it not of my own accord. That is the interpretation of those (things) over which you could not hold patience. [18:79-82]

What do you learn from this?

No matter how much ilm(knowledge) you get, there will  always be someone who Allah has blessed with more. So seek Knowledge till you can, never rest and always ask Allah for more knowledge so that you can use it and teach it to others inshallah!! J

And the best Knowledge is that of the Quran

Bismillah

The Story of Dhul Qarnain

Allah tells us the story of a great King Dhul Qarnain. The reason for his greatness is a secret for now. Inshallah when you read the story you will discover the secret.

So listen carefully to what Allah is telling us.

Ready? Let’s begin  Bismillah

Dhul Qarnain went on 3 journeys.

One he took to a western land where he traveled till he reached a place the sun was setting  into a spring of murky (dark) water.

Here he found a nation of people, and Allah (swt) gave him the choice to punish them or treat them kindly. Dhul Qarnain chose to punish those who continued in kufr(disbelief in Allah) and treated the believers well.

His second journey was to an eastern land where he traveled till he came to a place where the sun was rising  and the people who lived there had no protection at all from the Sun.

Allah had not provided with shade, i.e. they had no buildings or trees to keep them shade.

And lastly he traveled to a land between two mountains. 

The people who loved here were greatly troubled by the tribe of Yajuj and Majuj.

They told Dhul Qarnain that if he could help them and build a barrier between them then they would give him something great.

To this Dhul Qarnain replied, “the wealth, authority, and power that Allah has given me is better than anything.  So lend me your support and I will build the wall for you”.

He asked the men to give me blocks of iron. He blocked the place between the two mountains with the iron blocks and then made the men blow so hard that they(the blocks) became hot as fire. Then he poured molten copper on the blocks.

Thus the Yajuj and Majuj could not climb up or dig through the wall and come to the people.

He told the people, that the wall that he helped construct was a mercy from Allah and on the Day of Judgment it would fall down and the Yajuj and Majuj would come out.

Well, did you get the secret behind the strength of Dhul Qarnain?

He was very humble. He knew that whatever he had was given to him by Allah.

So what lesson do we learn from this?

That we should never think we are great J whatever good we have, has been given to us by Allah. So Alhamdullilah for that!! And we should use it for making life better of the people around us.
Can you think of something “special” that Allah has given you?

Now think of how you can use it for HIS sake and do something good for others.

References:

The Quran

Tafseer–Ibn kathir