Tafseer of The Cave · Al-Kahf · 18:58
And your Lord is the Forgiving, full of mercy. If He were to impose blame upon them for what they earned, He would have hastened for them the punishment. Rather, for them is an appointment from which they will never find an escape.
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 meaning of the words of Allah the Exalted: وَرَبُّكَ الْغَفُورُ ذُو الرَّحْمَةِ لَوْ يُؤَاخِذُهُمْ بِمَا كَسَبُوا لَعَجَّلَ لَهُمُ الْعَذَابَ بَلْ لَهُمْ مَوْعِدٌ لَنْ يَجِدُوا مِنْ دُونِهِ مَوْئِلا (verse 58)
Allah the Exalted says to His Prophet ﷺ: And your Lord, O Muḥammad, is the One Who covers the sins of His servants by forgiving them when they repent of them — ذُو الرَّحْمَةِ لَوْ يُؤَاخِذُهُمْ بِمَا كَسَبُوا: these people who turn away from His signs when they are reminded by them, on account of the sins and transgressions which they have committed — لَعَجَّلَ لَهُمُ الْعَذَابَ: but on account of His mercy toward His creation He does not do that to them until their appointed time and their final term have arrived. بَلْ لَهُمْ مَوْعِدٌ: that is to say: rather, for them there is a promised time, and that is the moment at which their punishment will arrive — and that is the Day of Badr. لَنْ يَجِدُوا مِنْ دُونِهِ مَوْئِلا: Allah the Exalted says: These polytheists (mushrikīn), even though the punishment is not hastened for them in the worldly life and before the promised term which He has fixed as the time of their torment, will find, apart from that promised term, no place of refuge to flee to, and no deliverance by which they are delivered — that is to say: they will find no stronghold in which to entrench themselves against the punishment of Allah.
In accordance with what we have said concerning this verse, the exegetes have also said.
The narration of those who said this: Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to us, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us — and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us — both on the authority of Ibn Abī Najiḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, who said concerning مَوْئِلا: "An impregnable fortress."
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid — to the same effect.
ʿAlī related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said concerning لَنْ يَجِدُوا مِنْ دُونِهِ مَوْئِلا: "A place of refuge."
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, who said concerning لَنْ يَجِدُوا مِنْ دُونِهِ مَوْئِلا: "That is to say: they will find, apart from Him, neither protector nor place of refuge."
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning لَنْ يَجِدُوا مِنْ دُونِهِ مَوْئِلا: "There is, apart from Him, no place of refuge to which they may take refuge."
