Tafseer of The Cave · Al-Kahf · 18:35
And he entered his garden while he was unjust to himself. He said, "I do not think that this will perish - ever.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The explanation of the word of Allah, the Exalted: وَدَخَلَ جَنَّتَهُ وَهُوَ ظَالِمٌ لِنَفْسِهِ قَالَ مَا أَظُنُّ أَنْ تَبِيدَ هَذِهِ أَبَدًا (And he entered his garden while he was wronging himself. He said: 'I do not think that this will ever perish' [18:35])
Allah, the Exalted, says: the one to whom We had given two gardens of grapevines, دَخَلَ جَنَّتَهُ — that is to say: his orchard — وَهُوَ ظَالِمٌ لِنَفْسِهِ (while he was wronging himself). His wronging of himself consisted in his disbelief in the Resurrection, his doubt about the coming of the Hour, and his forgetting of the return to Allah, the Exalted. Thereby he earned for himself the wrath of Allah and His painful punishment.
The word قَالَ مَا أَظُنُّ أَنْ تَبِيدَ هَذِهِ أَبَدًا — Allah, the Majestic, says: when he beheld his garden and saw what was in it of trees, fruits, crops, and flowing rivers, he harbored doubt about the return to Allah: I do not think that this garden will ever perish, or be destroyed, or be laid waste. And I do not think that the Hour which Allah has promised His creation — the gathering therein — will come and come to pass. Then he expressed yet another desire, out of his doubt, and said: وَلَئِنْ رُدِدْتُ إِلَى رَبِّي (And if I am indeed brought back to my Lord) — should I return to Him, though he was by no means certain that he would return — لأَجِدَنَّ خَيْرًا مِنْهَا مُنْقَلَبًا (I shall surely find something better than this as a place of return) — that is to say: I shall find with Allah something better than my two gardens here, should I be brought back to Him as a place of return and final destination. He says: He has only given me this garden in the worldly existence because of the better that He has with Himself for me at the return, if I am brought back to Him.
