SURAH AL-KAHF: THE SURAH TO UNDERSTAND THE MODERN AGE

donshafi911September 19, 2022

SURAH AL-KAHF: THE SURAH TO UNDERSTAND THE MODERN AGE

وَنَزَّلْنَا عَلَيْكَ الْكِتٰبَ تِبْيَانًا لِّكُلِّ شَيْءٍ وَّهُدًي وَّرَحْمَةً وَّبُشْرٰي لِلْمُسْلِمِيْنَ

..And we have sent down to thee (O Muhammad) the Book (i.e., the Qur'an) which explains all things and as a guidance and mercy and good tidings for the Muslims (those who have submitted to the One God) - Qur'an, al- Nahl, 16:89

The Qur'an is Haq-ul-Yaqeen, the Absolute Truth. Hence, the Qur'an is the primary source of knowledge and as Imam Jafar as-Sadiq(peace be upon him) delineated theguideline of using the Qur'an to validate prophetic traditions : if they were in agreement (with the Qur'an) they are accepted, if not, they are rejected.Concluding that Qur'an sits in judgment over everything. It is based on this methodology we are going to explain how Surah al-Kahf is linked with the Modern Age.

The major signs of the last day include Dajjal and Gog and Magog, both of which are mentioned in this Surah. Gog and Magog are mentioned in the Qur'an directly whereas Dajjal is mentioned indirectly. Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) said that a believer must memorize the first 10 verses of Surah al-Kahf to be protected from the fitnah of Dajjal and he also advised the believers to recite Surah al-Kahf every Jummah to get Nur (Divine Light) from Allah Most High.

“Abu Sa’eed al-Khudri reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) said : Whoever recites Surah al-Kahf on Jumu’ah (i.e., ‘Friday’ of the pagan world) will have illumination from the light (of the Surah) from one Jum’ah to the next.” - Nasa’i, Baihaqi, Hakim

“He among you who will survive to see him (Dajjal) should recite over him the opening verses of Surah al-Kahf.” - Sahīh Muslim

Historical background of the Surah

The Pagan Arabs wanted to seek help from the Jews to know if Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) was indeed a true Prophet of the Lord God, so they went to the Rabbis in Yathrib (present day Medina) and the Rabbis told the delegation of the Quraish that had come from Makkah to ask him (Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ)) three questions, they said, ask him about the Ruh (spirit), ask him about the great traveller (Dhul- Qarnain) and ask him aboutthe young man and the cave. And in response to these questions posed by the Jewish Rabbis, Allah most High send down Surah-al Kahf.

Ilm al-Zahir and Ilm al-Batin

Ilm al-Zahir is external knowledge,knowledge that is derived from only external source andIlm al-Batin is knowledge that is internally or spiritually acquired. Modern western civilization believes that knowledge can only be derived externally by research and observation on physical things, hence the Modern Age comes to a conclusion that material world is the only world and that knowledge gained by experimentations is the only source of knowledge. • Dajjal only sees with his right eye and is blind in his left eye indicating that Dajjal is internally blind and those who follow Dajjal are a people who are internally blind. Such a people will not recognize appearance and reality as opposite in the end times and will be led to believe that the law of the state is the Supreme law and the Law of God plays no role in the state affairs, this is precisely the world in which we live today.

Ad-Dajjal was mentioned in the presence of the Prophet. The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "Allah is not hidden from you; He is not one-eyed," and pointed with his hand towards his eye, adding, "While Al-Masih Ad-Dajjal (Dajjal the false Messiah) is blind in the right eye and his eye looks like a protruding grape." - Bukhari

Most of mankind including Muslims have submitted and accepted that the law of the state is the Supreme law and don’t care two pins for the law of Allah.

Qur'an is for the thinkers

• Allah says in the Qur'an that He has sent down the Qur'an to a people who think, only those who have internal as well as external knowledge can penetrate the reality of the world today and can understand the link of the four parables in Surah al-Kahf with the Modern Age.

إِنَّ فِى ذَٰلِكَ لَـَٔايَـٰتٍ لِّقَوْمٍ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ

Surely in this are signs for people who reflect (think). - Quran, 45:37)

The four parables:

1) Young man and the cave

2) The rich man and the poor man

3) Encounter between Khidr (peace be upon him) and Prophet Moses (peace be upon him)

4) Dhul-Qarnain

1) The story of the young man and the cave

“Ask him what happened to the young men who disappeared in ancient days, for they had a marvellous story?”This was one of the three questions posed by the Jewish Rabbis of Medina.

The answer to this question is narrated between verses 9- 26 of Surah al-Kahf, to keep the article brief we will not give the explanation of each verse but will explain how this story has its links with the fitnah of Dajjal.

• The godless people wanted to target the people who possessed faith and hence the young men fled their homes in order to protect their faith. The modern western civilization created by Dajjal has been waging war on the religious way of life since it emerged and most of the people who possess faith are struggling to protect their faith. This parable is the answer and guide to how we should protect our faith when a godless civilisation is ruling the world.

• A civilisation that corrupts whatever it touches be it the monetary system, banking system, food, energy, etc. To protect our faith, we need to follow in the footsteps of the young men who made Hijrah and put their trust in Allah Most High. We need to follow this example and leave our high-profile jobs in Europe, North America, etc and move to a place where a person can find his own food and shelter.

After all Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) did prophecy in the end times the best property of a man will be his goats and that in order to protect his faith he should relocate to the mountain sides.

- Abu Sa’eed al-Khudri reported that the Prophet (ﷺ) said : A time would soon come when the best possession of a Muslim will be his goats with which he would seek asylum in a valley or in the hills for the sake of his faith.

- Bukhari 

- & in another version which is present in Sahih Muslim, the Prophet (ﷺ) specifically mentioned that because of Dajjal and his fitnah people would have to move to the mountains, when he said,the people will flee from the false Messiah (i.e., Dajjal) to the mountain sides.

2) The story of rich man and the poor man

In the story of two men, verse 32-46 of Surah al-Kahf, one to whom Allah Most High had given wealth in the form of two very fertile gardens, while the other was poor. The rich man was corrupted and deceived by his wealth and consequently his faith was destroyed,theoretically he worshipped Allah, factually, however, he worshipped his wealth (i.e., the Dunyah). And that was Shirk. Allah’s punishment eventually overtook him and his wealth was destroyed. • The poor man, on the other hand, recognized the corruption in the heart of the rich man to be blasphemy (Shirk), and warned of the Divine Punishment that could ensue, i.e., that Allah Most High could destroy his gardens and thus take away his wealth.

The Modern Western Civilization has given us a monetary system that is bogus, fraudulent and haram. It is a system in which the rich elites of mankind remain permentanly rich and the poor are imprisoned in permeant poverty and destitution. Today, most of the people worship their wealth and consider themselves as superior to those who have less wealth. Around the world of Islam today, the rich support governments that have, in turn, become clients of the rulers of the world. And the poor masses have been effectively excluded from power and the decision-making process. This has worked admirably to Israel’s benefit.

اَلْمَالُ وَالْبَنُوْنَ زِيْنَةُ الْحَيٰوةِ الدُّنْيَا ۚ وَالْبٰقِيٰتُ الصّٰلِحٰتُ خَيْرٌ عِنْدَ رَبِّكَ ثَوَابًا وَّخَيْرٌ اَمَلًا

“Wealth and children are an adornment of the life of this world: but good deeds, the fruit whereof endures forever, are of far greater merit in thy God’s sight, and far better as hope.” - Qur'an, al-Kahf 18:46

3. Encounter between Khidr and Prophet Moses (peace be upon them both)

The encounter between Khidr and Moses (peace be upon them both) is narrated between verses 60-82 of Surah al-Kahf and this is where the Qur'an has explained Dajjal’s ‘one eye’ while teaching the crucially important epistemological lesson that knowledge comes through two sources.The two sources being 'Ilm al-Zahir' and 'Ilm al-Batin'. In this parable, we get the knowledge that appearance and reality will be opposite in the end times and we need to integrate the two seas of knowledge, that is external and internal knowledge to understand the reality in the end times. • The three incidents that Moses (peace be upon him) encountered with Khidr (peace be upon him) were about the boat, killing of a boy and rebuilding of the wall. On all three occasions the reality was different from appearance and Moses (peace be upon him) representing the external source of knowledge did not show patience with the man that had internal spiritual insight or internal knowledge.

An intellectual paralysis has set upon the world were most people lack the capacity to understand the true reality of things.People have stopped thinking critically and have been blinded by Dajjal’s deception. This is the precise reason most of mankind followed Dajjal’s order on social distancing and have stood 3 feet apart while performing salaat to the utter disgrace and shame of the Ummah of our blessed Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ). Dajjal is also succeeding in his mission of deception in making the people believe it is Russia that is the oppressor in Ukraine while the neo Nazi forces are being portrayed as heroes. And we are afraid there is a tomorrow coming when most people will even fail to recognise the Imam i.e., Al-Mahdi (peace be upon him)

4. Story of Dhul-Qarnain

One of the questions asked by the Rabbis was about the great traveller who travelled to the two ends of the earth. The story begins from verse 83 and ends at verse 101 of Surah al-Kahf. It is in this story that the Qur'an for the first time makes mention of Gog and Magog. In the first journey, Dhul-Qarnain travels to the West where he comes across a community of people and Allah Most High gives him the choice of using power either to punish or to reward them. And he replies that he will use his power to punish the oppressors. When he travels East, he comes across a people who are living a primitive way of life and leaves them as it is. In his third journey he comes across a people who were troubled by Gog and Magog, and the people told him to build a barrier to contain Gog and Magog. He builds a wall of iron and coats it with molten copper but warns the people when the time comes the Lord God will bring the barrier down.

• In terms of international relations, the world order of Dhul Qarnain in the first Qarn (Qarn meaning age or an epoch), was that of the moral order where the moral law was the highest law.

Allah is al-Awwal (The First), Allah is Al-Akhir (The Last) and Allah is Al-Haq (The Truth) implying that the course of history travels from one end to the other in which both, the start and the end are the same, history started with Truth and will end at Truth. As, it says Qarnain, meaning there will be two Qarn’s or two ages, where the world order will be like in the first Qarn or age. This passage of the Qur'an is telling us that during the end times there will be the second Qarn when again the moral law will be the highest law and the oppressors will be punished. • We believe we are now living in that second Qarn in which Orthodox Christian Russia is a superpower which is using its power to punish the oppressor and rewarding those who are being oppressed. The events that are unfolding in Ukraine are an ominous sign that we are living through the second Qarn. But to recognise that this is the second Qarn we need to see with two eyes and not one!

And we would like to remind you again that Dajjal's age is the age of deception where appearance and reality are completely opposite to each other as the Prophet (ﷺ) said, Part of Dajjal's Fitnah will be that he will have with him Paradise and Hell, but his Hell will be a Paradise and his Paradise a Hell (implying that in the age of Dajjal appearance and reality will be opposite to each other) - Ibn Majah

We would like to conclude with a paragraph taken from Sheikh Imran Hosein’s book the Surah Kahf and the Modern Age. It carries a message of ominous importance, Here is the paragraph:

“USA, UK, Canada, Europe, Australia, Singapore, etc are portrayed and marketed as heaven on earth and all the internally blind masses of mankind are so brainwashed that they live in dream of obtaining a passport to that ‘ heaven-on-earth’. But that ‘heaven’ that dazzles the mainstream society around the world actually takes them into the hell fire. Yet one eyed Muslim ‘house slaves’ criticize the establishment of Muslim villages that seek to disengage from the modern world. These house slaves would insist that Muslims must remain a part of ‘mainstream society’, even when the mainstream is heading for the garbage bin of history.”

Share it With Your Friends And Family