Surah Al-Kahf 18:11
سُورَةُ الكَهۡفِ · Meccan · Verse 11 of 110
فَضَرَبْنَا عَلَىٰٓ ءَاذَانِهِمْ فِى ٱلْكَهْفِ سِنِينَ عَدَدًۭا
Translation
We sealed their ears [with sleep] in the cave for years.
English translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem.
Meaning and reflection
'So We cast a cover over their ears in the cave for a number of years.' Ibn Ashur and al-Saadi note the gentle image, 'darabna 'ala adhanihim', We drew a veil over their hearing, sending them into a sleep that stretched across centuries, sheltered and unaware. Ask yourself: their rescue came not as a dramatic battle but as rest, God's protection took the form of a long, peaceful sleep while the danger passed. Sometimes His deliverance is not the fight I expect but a season of being quietly kept, hidden, held, while what I feared works itself out beyond my sight. Are there times God protected me most by simply carrying me through a period I barely remember, a sleep, a numbness, a waiting, rather than by the rescue I was demanding?
Grounded in classical tafsir: Ibn Ashur, al-Saadi, al-Biqa'i.
Topics that discuss this verse
Surah Al-Kahf 18:11 is discussed in 8 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 18:11 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.