One of the Suwar (plural of Surah) that the Beloved, Al Mustafa (PBUH) recommends us to recite and meditate upon on Friday is Surat Al Kahf. In this Surah, there are successive scenes, each of which presents a meaning the people of belief need. On this blessed day, the Honored Friday, I'd like the meditate, with your honor, upon one of the texts of this blessed Surah.
This text presents to us a dialogue between a materialist and a believer. In it, material ideas are contrasted with fiducial truths. Our Lord, Exalted He is, presents to us this dialogue in the framework of a story of two men, one is satiated with riches, wealth, servants, followers and subjects, but in spite of all that, he is heedless of the Benefactor. He believes that all that he possesses is given to him because of his lore, intelligence, talent and superiority.

Before this satiated rich man, stands a poor believer, who has nothing of worldly possessions that the rich man has, but he holds in his heart a faith in the Benefactor who owns the heaven and the earth, and in whose Hands, the treasures of this world and the unseen one are.
This is a scene whose connotations we are in great need for, especially at a time in which we daily hear about a boisterous dialogue and high clamor between the people of materialism that are proud of their power, and the people of belief whose supporters have become few and whose tools have become less.
Our Lord, Exalted He is, said: "Set forth to them the parable of two men". This example the Exalted presents to us is a factual story that we should have always present in our minds.
"Set forth to them the parable", the addressee here is our Master, Muhammad (PBUH) who is sent by the Exalted Allah to be a teacher to mankind. The Prophet (PBUH) said: "I have been sent to be a teacher".
The Exalted Allah said: "Set forth to them the parable of two men; for one of them we provided two gardens of grapevines and surrounded them with date palms; in between of the two we placed corn fields. Each of those gardens brought forth its produce, and failed not in the least therein. In the midst of them We exploded a river to flow. {Abundant} was the fruits this man had. He said to his companion, in the course of a mutual argument: 'More wealth have I than you, and more honor and power in {my following of} men'. He went into his garden in a state {of mind} unjust to his soul. He said: "I deem not that this will ever perish. Nor do I deem that the Hour {of Judgment} will {ever} come. Even if I am brought back to my Lord, I shall surely find {there} something better in exchange'. His companion said to him, in the course of the argument with him: 'Do you deny Him Who created you out of dust, then out of a sperm-drop, then fashioned you into a man? But {I think} for my part that He is Allah, my Lord, and none shall I associate with my Lord. ' If only, when you entered your garden, you had said: That which Allah wills {will come to pass}! There is no strength save in Allah! Though you see me as less than you in wealth and children. If you see me less than you in wealth and sons, it may be that my Lord will give me something better than your garden, and that He will send on your garden thunderbolts {by way of reckoning} from heaven, making it {but} slippery sand! Or the water of the garden will run off underground so that you will never be able to find it. So his fruits {and enjoyment} were encompassed {with ruin}, and he remained twisting and turning his hands over what he had spent on his property, which had {now} tumbled to pieces to its very foundations, and he could only say, 'Woe is me! Would I had never ascribed partners to my Lord and Cherisher!' Nor had he numbers to help him against Allah, nor was he able to deliver himself. There, the {only} protection comes from Allah, the true one. He is the best to reward, and the best to give success" (Al Kahf, 32-44).
If you want to imagine how this story took place, it is necessary to present the geometrical picture as conveyed by the Holy Qur'an concerning the environment of this story. Imagine that there were two huge oases so that a great river ran through them. These oases were not watered by streams. Imagine what might be present in this picture where there was a river that ran and on both sides there were great oases. Imagine how spacious they were. Image the running of the river, its length, and the flowing of its water. Imagine how much grain, legumes and whatever greenery of different products and harvest the land produced.
After this scene, imagine the river that ran between the two big oases, the plants that spread and the owner of the two oases who was one of the slaves of Allah. He enjoyed looking at the water and greenery. Around the plants, there were vine trees. When they were squeezed they became delicious drink for the present and the future, so that its owner felt great pleasure and ecstasy to have them. Beyond the vine trees, there were date trees that surrounded the two oases from all sides. These trees produced fresh, ripe and pressed dates. In the Hadith, it is said: "The people, in a house where there are no dates, are hungry".
It is a picture drawn by the Holy Qur'an, through which the degree of wealth and mastery and the level of geometrical craftsmanship are presented. It is a picture that appeals to man. Certainly, the owner of these oases exerted a lot of effort to make them so splendid.
Why should these two oases perish? They needed no rain from the sky, for the river of the earth was running through them to water their plants, grapes and date trees.
Imagine how self-sufficient this rich man was due to selling the fruits and products of his harvest!
Hence, the Holy Qur'an pointed out to two words, namely, eating and fruits. Eating: is what was eaten in these two oases when the owner of the oases, his servants, followers, subjects, workers, clerks and supporters used to eat…, and all that is related to eating.
But there is also a reference to the wealth in the following statement: "{Abundant} was the fruits this man had", a reference to the great wealth of the man.
Consequently, we can see a painted picture: two big oases, watered by a great river. There are plants on both sides of the river. Vine trees surround the plants, behind which there are date trees. There is eating and self sufficiency. Fruits that are sold to people bring much wealth, so that silver and gold coins are accumulated in the safes of this wealthy man.
This is the first picture. Let us read the previously mentioned verses with some meditation. The Exalted Allah said: "Set forth to them the parable of two men, for one of them" (the rich one whom we are talking about), "we provided two gardens of grapevines and surrounded them with date palms; in between the two we placed corn fields. Each of those gardens brought forth its produce, and failed not in the least therein", i.e., the products of the fruits or of the harvest was agriculturally in good condition, void of any diseases or defects. This land was fertile and produced perfect products.
"In the midst of them, We explode a river to flow". Let us have a little pause at this statement to realize the abundant flowing of the river. It was neither a small stream nor a rivulet. It was rather a great river whose water flew so quickly that it seemed to be exploding. "{Abundant} was the fruits this man had" indicates the great golden wealth this man had in his safes from the profit of these gardens.
The dialogue began while the rich man was looking at the favor he had proud and self-conceited of his possessing the material: "He said to his companion, in the course of a mutual argument: 'More wealth have I than you, and more honor and power in {my following of} men' ", i.e., 'what I possess can never be compared to what you possess, and the number of my servants, subjects, and supporters cannot be compared to the loneliness you are living in'. Mercy be upon the one who said:

I find people inclined to the one who owns wealth,
But they turn away from the one who has no wealth.
I find people gather around the one who has silver,
And disperse from the one who has no silver.
I find people go to the one who has gold,
And get away from the one who has no gold.
"He went into his garden in a state {of mind} unjust to his soul", i.e., he was proud of his ability, his power and his wealth, forgetting about the favor of Allah. He forgot about the Benefactor Who gave him what He liked this material portion. The one who was proud of his own ability, power and followers depended on other than Allah. He took partners beside Allah, but the monotheist regarded only the favor of the Benefactor, Exalted He is, Who sponsors His creatures. Therefore the Exalted Allah described him as : "Unjust to his soul", for the Exalted Allah said: "to ascribe partners {unto Him} is a tremendous wrong" (Luqman, 13).

Pride in his wealth and self, and the material state in his heart (for materialism blinded his heart) made him imagine that this favor would never perish. How can a worshipper imagine the perishing of his idol? He is the slave of the material. How can the worshipper of this idol imagine the perishing of his idol?
Therefore, he looked at the mastery of this craftsmanship before him and said: "He said, "I deem not that this will ever perish".
How can this mastery that had no equal on the earth perish? "Nor do I deem that the Hour {of Judgment} will {ever} come". On the Last Hour, there will be confusion, but he lived in a well balanced world when he could see the law of Allah in His universe represented in the most magnificent balance.
If you look at the cogwheels of an ancient clock that are dexterously made and that run according to an accurate balance, and if you are dazzled by the high quality of its working, you may say: This work will never perish.
Consequently, the mastery and equilibrium this man found in the balance of the universe created by the Exalted Allah led him to believe that confusion would never take place.
Why should this discipline stop as he had never found any defect during his life in the balance of the universe?
Then he said: "Even if I am brought back to my Lord", i.e., 'if the matter is as you say, that is, this world will be destroyed then another world will replace it', "I shall surely find {there} something better in exchange". 'But to say that Allah is the One Who favors me with these gardens, is something I reject. If He (Allah) creates another universe, and another world, He will favor me as He does in this world'.
The fact that this world is not the place of favoring is missing from the mind of this idiot ignorant man. This is the world of entrusting, for if it were a world of favoring, Allah would not have give even little water for the unbeliever to drink. It is rather the place of trial and test.

As for the Hereafter, it might be either a place of honoring or a place of retribution; a place of reward or of punishment. But in this world, there is trial of thanks or patience. If He, Exalted He is, gives you a favor, He tries you with its thanks, and if He prevents you His favor and inflicts tribulation upon you, He tries your patience. This is life. It is a trial between thanks and patience, and passing through these two states is inevitable.
Talking about Solomon (PBUH) who was given everything (a sovereignty that would not belong to anybody after him), the Exalted Allah said: "how excellent a slave! Lo! he was ever turning in repentance {to his Lord}" (Sad, 30).
Concerning Job who was inflicted with a disease that nobody was inflicted with, and he was patient with his catastrophe, the Exalted Allah said: "We found him steadfast, how excellent a slave! He was ever turning in repentance {to his Lord}" (Sad, 44).
The Exalted Allah repeats the same statement in both cases, for the one who was thankful, and for the one who was patient.
This is life that this idiot ignorant man did not comprehend. He believed that the one who was favored in this world by the Exalted Allah, would inevitably be favored in the Hereafter. He contrasted this life with the second, and vice versa, and believed them to be the same. He was as the Exalted Allah said: "As for man, whenever his Lord tries him by honoring him, and is gracious unto him, he says: My Lord honors me", it is a misleading state. "But whenever He tries him by straitening his means of life, he says: My Lord despises me. Nay" (Al Fajr, 15-17). Do not have such illusion. This life is a place of trial and testing. You cannot distinguish between honoring and despising until your eyesight becomes piercing: "Now We have removed from thee thy covering, and piercing is thy sight this day" (Qaf,22).
In this life, you cannot know whether you are honored or not. But if you find that the Exalted Allah accepts you as worthy of His obedience, then you become hopeful, because He bestows on you this obedience only to give you the good tidings of your being accepted, but if you find that you are surrounded by sins, then you have to feel fear because it is a hasty punishment inflicted on you.
"His companion said to him, in the course of the argument with him", herein appears the logic of faith, "Do you deny Him Who created you out of dust, then out of a sperm-drop, then fashioned you into a man?", i.e., don't you remember that you originally came out of dust, when you were equal to the poor? Don't you remember when you were a sperm equal to the poor? Don't you remember your dust origin and the stages of the sperm when you were equal to those you feel superior to and pride yourself on?
Have you forgotten the Benefactor and pride yourself on the favor? "But {I think} for my part that He is Allah, my Lord", i.e., my Lord is Allah. You worship the material, but I worship Allah, "and none shall I associate with my Lord". I ascribe no favor or disfavor, glory or humility, but to the One in whose Hand the reign of all affairs is.
"If only, when you entered your garden, you had said: That which Allah wills {will come to pass}! Would that you were of the people of belief, and entered into the favor that the Exalted Allah bestowed on you and said: "That which Allah wills {will come to pass}!", i.e., this favor is from what Allah wills. Only what Allah desires and His Ability presents will be present in the dominion of Allah.
"There is no strength save in Allah!". All the wealth, servants, subjects and followers exist by the Ability of Allah. In this verse, the Exalted Allah refers to two of His Attributes, to His enforceable will, i.e., His will that will definitely be in force; and to His Ability by which He creates everything.


If only, when you entered your garden, you had said: That which Allah wills {will come to pass}!", this is the product of what Allah wills, "There is no strength save in Allah!", how do I feel honored by something that does not really belong to me? It is only a loan the Exalted Allah has entrusted me with: "All of you guardians and every guardian is responsible for his subjects", as the Prophet (PBUH) said.
"If you do see me less than you in wealth and sons. It may be that my Lord will give me something better than your garden, and that He will send on your garden thunderbolts {by way of reckoning} from heaven, making it {but} slippery sand! Or the water of the garden will run off underground so that you will never be able to find it." Consequently, the Exalted Allah points out to a fact known by the people of knowledge as 'what is possible for Him', for He will not be questioned as to that which He does, but they will be questioned for what they do.
He said to him: "If the Exalted Allah wills to make me wealthy, he will have done so in this world, and will have changed you into a humiliated pauper, for this is possible on His part".
Haven't you seen one who was on his throne then he ended in prison and hanging. In this world, there is no everlasting state. Consequently, be with the Changer of states, and beware of being with the state. Turn to the One in whose Hand the ability of changing the states is.
Oh You Who can see the mosquito's stretching of its wing,
In the dark gloomy murky night.
And can see the course of its veins in its neck,
And the cerebrum in these tiny bones.
Do condescend to favor me with repentance that removes
The sins I committed in my early life.
States may change, and cruel-hearted people may change into saints.

In the books of exegesis, it is related that Moses (PBUH) was so excited to carry out the order of the Exalted Allah that he wanted to strike with his stick the falsity of the magicians. Gabriel said to him: "Have mercy upon the saints of Allah". Moses was astonished, and wondered how the magician intend to make Pharaoh victorious, and Gabriel asked him to be merciful to them! Gabriel said to him: "Now they are in this life, but in the afternoon they will be in Paradise".

"And Moses conceived a fear in his mind". Moses feared that his state may be inverted to the opposite as theirs, so the Exalted Allah said to him: "We said: Fear not! You are the higher" (Taha, 67-68). It is He Who protects you in this life, and it is He Who is going to do the same in the next life.
Then the Exalted Allah said: "So his fruits were encompassed {with ruin}". The Holy Qur'an does not mention the details of destroying the two gardens. Their destruction might be by dryness of its water or by a thunderbolt, because this detail is of no importance to the one who would learn a lesson from this story.
He said: "making it (but) slippery sand". When a thunderbolt strikes a land, it changes it into an arid land that cannot be productive whatsoever, and plants cannot grow in it. Whether the destruction of these gardens was by aridity or by the thunderbolt is not so important to the one who would learn wisdom from this story, for Allah is able to do either of the two cases, so we should not be distracted by these details that have no concern with us.
Therefore, to summarize the issue, He said: "So his fruits were encompassed {with ruin}, for He wants us to learn a lesson from the connotation, not to be distracted by the outside details of the story. What matters is that the two gardens were destroyed, and it is not important to us how they were destroyed.


"And he remained twisting and turning his hands over what he had spent on his property, which had {now} tumbled to pieces to its very foundations". It became void of any plant, or grapes or date trees. The owner of these gardens said: "He could only say, 'Woe is me! Would I had never ascribed partners to my Lord and Cherisher!". The Exalted Allah said: "And when your Lord proclaimed", and this fact should be always present in our minds, "If you give thanks, I will give you more; but if you are thankless, lo! my punishment is dire" (Ibrahim, 7).
If He bestows upon you His favor, and finds you thankful, He will increase His favor to you, but if He finds that you use His favor in disobedience, He will inflict His torture upon you.
"And verily We make them taste the lower punishment before the greater, that haply they may return" (As Sajdah, 21).
The He said: "Nor had he numbers to help him against Allah". Where are your supporters? Where are your servants? Where are your subjects? Where is your wealth? Where is that which you used to feel proud of, disregarding Allah?
"nor was he able to deliver himself", i.e., he was unable to restore anything that had been destroyed by Allah.
"There, the {only} protection comes from Allah, the true one". If you want to comprehend Allah's protection to His slaves, apply the following: Preserve Allah, and He will preserve you; preserve Allah, and you will find Him before you. If He sponsors you, you will have your heart at rest.

Be His saint, and He will be your Sponsor.
It is an equation that our children should learn by heart, our youth have to remember, and whose connotations, our elders have to recall to mind.
If you desire to understand the meaning of sponsoring, do read the above mentioned story.

"Allah is the Protecting Sponsor of those who believe" (Al Baqarah, 257). This is what the Exalted Allah stated.
He also said: "And Allah is the Protecting Sponsor of the believers" (Al Imran, 68).
The Exalted Allah does not sponsor the unbelievers, nor does He sponsor the materialists.
He said: "Let not the vicissitude {of the success} of those who disbelieve, in the land, deceive. It is but a brief comfort" (Al Imran, 196-197). It is a temporary transient pleasure.
"My Protecting Sponsor is Allah who reveals the Scripture", He reveals the Holy Book so that I follow it, "and He sponsors the righteous" (Al A'raf, 196).
Be straightforward and righteous, so that Allah may sponsor you.
Do not deviate from the right way in private or in public, for He, Exalted He is, can see you wherever you are. Do not be disloyal in private, and be sure that Allah can see you in private and as well as in public.
"Say: Shall I choose for a protecting Sponsor other than Allah, the Originator of the heavens and the earth, who feeds and is never fed?" (Al An'am, 14).
"Allah is sufficient as a Sponsor, and Allah is sufficient as a Helper" (An Nisa', 45).
"Lo! verily the saints of Allah are {those) on whom fear {comes} not, nor do they grieve. Those who believe and keep their duty {to Allah}, Theirs are good tidings in the life of the world and in the Hereafter", for the saints, there are good tidings in this life and in the Hereafter, "There is no changing the Words of Allah that is the Supreme Triumph" (Yunus, 62-64).

Be saints of Allah, and you can be so by applying the two following qualities: "Those who believe and keep their duty {to Allah}". Consequently, be of the people of belief in the unseen that the Exalted Allah told about, and be the people of piety by relinquishing what He prohibits.
Then the Exalted Allah said: "He is the best to reward" in this life and in the Hereafter.


"And the best to give success", and the best end in this life and in the Hereafter.
It is a story that shakes the hearts. It makes you prostrate before your Lord, throwing yourself on His threshold, humiliating yourself and surrendering to Him in His Presence , revealing your servitude to Him, and repenting of your seeking glory from the objects, and from the creatures.
Oh Allah, do not turn our hearts but to You; make our dependence in all our affairs only on You, and protect us from the humiliation of this world and the torment of the Hereafter, and make us from those who listen to wisdom and follow the best of it.
I say my words, and ask Allah's forgiveness.