Surah Al-Kahf 18:28
سُورَةُ الكَهۡفِ · Meccan · Verse 28 of 110
وَٱصْبِرْ نَفْسَكَ مَعَ ٱلَّذِينَ يَدْعُونَ رَبَّهُم بِٱلْغَدَوٰةِ وَٱلْعَشِىِّ يُرِيدُونَ وَجْهَهُۥ ۖ وَلَا تَعْدُ عَيْنَاكَ عَنْهُمْ تُرِيدُ زِينَةَ ٱلْحَيَوٰةِ ٱلدُّنْيَا ۖ وَلَا تُطِعْ مَنْ أَغْفَلْنَا قَلْبَهُۥ عَن ذِكْرِنَا وَٱتَّبَعَ هَوَىٰهُ وَكَانَ أَمْرُهُۥ فُرُطًۭا
Translation
Content yourself with those who pray to their Lord morning and evening, seeking His approval, and do not let your eyes turn away from them out of desire for the attractions of this worldly life: do not yield to those whose hearts We have made heedless of Our Quran, those who follow their own low desires, those whose ways are unbridled.
English translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem.
Meaning and reflection
'Keep yourself patiently with those who call upon their Lord morning and evening, seeking His Face; and do not let your eyes pass beyond them, desiring the adornment of worldly life; and do not obey one whose heart We have made heedless of Our remembrance, who follows his desire and whose affair is ever in excess.' al-Saadi and Ibn Ashur note the command to choose one's company, bind yourself to the humble seekers of God's Face, and do not let your gaze drift past them toward the glamorous and heedless. Ask yourself: my soul is quietly shaped by whom I keep close and whom I admire. This verse warns against the exact modern reflex, letting my eyes 'pass beyond' the sincere-but-unglamorous toward the dazzling, influential, and spiritually empty, and taking my cues from them. Who am I actually binding myself to, and whose lives am I letting my gaze linger on with longing? The people I keep near and envy are, slowly, becoming the pattern of my own heart.
Grounded in classical tafsir: al-Saadi, Ibn Ashur, al-Biqa'i.
Topics that discuss this verse
Surah Al-Kahf 18:28 is discussed in 33 study guides on Maani. Each guide gathers the key verses, Arabic words and lessons of one Quranic topic.
- Base Desire (Hawa) (key verse)
- Companionship (Suhbah) (key verse)
- Heedlessness (Ghaflah) (key verse)
- Role Model (Qudwah) (key verse)
- Gradual Enticement (Istidraj)
- Change (Taghyir)
- Dawah
- Distraction (Lahw)
- Patience (Sabr)
- Obedience (Ta'ah)
- Modesty (Iffah)
- Gathering (Ijtima)
- Sincerity (Ikhlas)
- Pessimism (Tasha'um)
- Humility (Tawadu)
- The Truth (Haqq)
- Civilization (Hadarah)
- Fear (Khawf)
- Humiliation (Dhillah)
- Adornment (Zinah)
- The Eye (Ayn)
- Abominations (Fawahish)
- Wealth (Mal)
- Divine Presence (Ma'iyyah)
Reflect on this verse
Open Surah Al-Kahf 18:28 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.