Tafseer of The Cave · Al-Kahf · 18:41
Or its water will become sunken [into the earth], so you would never be able to seek it."
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: أَوْ يُصْبِحَ مَاؤُهَا غَوْرًا (Or that its water sinks deep away [18:41])
He says: or that its water sinks away into the earth, and he placed "al-ghawr" — which is an abstract noun — in the position of "al-ghāʾir" (that which has sunk away), as the poet said:
"His horses keep whinnying over him, shackled with their reins in the standstill."
— with the meaning of "nāʾiḥa" (singing a lament). And as another said:
"Let it flow, from the tears of the two of them, O Ḍubāʿ, and answer lament with lament."
The Arabs use "al-ghawr" in the singular both with the plural and with the dual, and they use it in the masculine form with both masculine and feminine words. One says: māʾ ghawr (deeply sunken water), māʾāni ghawr, and miyāh ghawr.
By His word غَوْرًا (sunk deep away) He means: drained away, having sunk deep into the earth, vanished, so that the rope of the bucket can no longer reach it.
As Bishr related to us, he said: Yazīd related to us, he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning أَوْ يُصْبِحَ مَاؤُهَا غَوْرًا: that is to say: vanished, having sunk deep into the earth.
The word فَلَنْ تَسْتَطِيعَ لَهُ طَلَبًا (Then you will never be able to seek it) — He says: then you will not be able to reach the water that was in your garden after its sinking away, however much you seek it.
