Surah Al-Kahf 18:109
سُورَةُ الكَهۡفِ · Meccan · Verse 109 of 110
قُل لَّوْ كَانَ ٱلْبَحْرُ مِدَادًۭا لِّكَلِمَٰتِ رَبِّى لَنَفِدَ ٱلْبَحْرُ قَبْلَ أَن تَنفَدَ كَلِمَٰتُ رَبِّى وَلَوْ جِئْنَا بِمِثْلِهِۦ مَدَدًۭا
Translation
Say [Prophet], ‘If the whole ocean were ink for writing the words of my Lord, it would run dry before those words were exhausted’- even if We were to add another ocean to it.
English translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem.
Meaning and reflection
'Say: If the sea were ink for the words of my Lord, the sea would be exhausted before the words of my Lord ran out, even if We brought the like of it as a supply.' Ibn Ashur and al-Saadi note the staggering image of God's infinitude, all the oceans as ink, and more oceans besides, would run dry before His words (His knowledge, wisdom, and creative decrees) came to an end. Ask yourself: this verse hands me the true scale of God's knowledge against the drop of my own. Everything I know, every book, every science, every certainty I hold, is less than a single word from an ocean of words that no ocean of ink could exhaust. It should make me both humble and awed: humble, because my grasp is a droplet; awed, because the Reality I'm dealing with is limitless. When I feel confident I've 'figured things out', or when I demand full understanding of His decree, do I remember that the seas would dry before His words ran out, and that my knowledge is the faintest trace of His?
Grounded in classical tafsir: Ibn Ashur, al-Saadi, al-Biqa'i.
Topics that discuss this verse
Surah Al-Kahf 18:109 is discussed in 3 study guides on Maani. Each guide gathers the key verses, Arabic words and lessons of one Quranic topic.
Reflect on this verse
Open Surah Al-Kahf 18:109 in Maani to reflect on it through the Five Lenses: its wording, its context, what it means for you, its connections across the Quran and its lessons, grounded in classical tafsir.