Surah Al-Kahf 18:46 — Meaning, Translation & Reflection
سُورَةُ الكَهۡفِ · Meccan · Verse 46 of 110
ٱلْمَالُ وَٱلْبَنُونَ زِينَةُ ٱلْحَيَوٰةِ ٱلدُّنْيَا ۖ وَٱلْبَٰقِيَٰتُ ٱلصَّٰلِحَٰتُ خَيْرٌ عِندَ رَبِّكَ ثَوَابًۭا وَخَيْرٌ أَمَلًۭا
English: Wealth and children are the attractions of this worldly life, but lasting good works have a better reward with your Lord and give better grounds for hope.
Bengali: ধনৈশ্বর্য ও সন্তান-সন্ততি পার্থিব জীবনের সৌন্দর্য এবং স্থায়ী সৎকর্মসমূহ আপনার পালনকর্তার কাছে প্রতিদান প্রাপ্তি ও আশা লাভের জন্যে উত্তম।
Meaning & Reflection
'Wealth and children are the adornment of worldly life, but the enduring good deeds are better with your Lord in reward and better in hope.' al-Saadi and Ibn Kathir note the reframe of the two things people most build their legacy on — 'mal wa banun', wealth and children — named as passing 'zina', ornament, while 'al-baqiyat as-salihat', the lasting righteous deeds, are what actually endure and pay out. Ask yourself: I invest my deepest hopes for permanence in exactly these two — my wealth and my family, the things I want to 'leave behind'. This verse gently relativises them: they are adornment, real but temporary. What truly endures — 'better in reward and better in hope' — is the lasting good I do. It does not say abandon wealth and children; it says do not mistake the ornament for the treasure. Am I pouring my life into the adornments, while neglecting the enduring deeds that are the only part that lasts?
Grounded in classical tafsir: al-Saadi, Ibn Kathir, Ibn Ashur.
Reflect with the Five Lenses
Maani's framework for Tadabbur (heart-centred reflection) on Surah Al-Kahf 18:46:
- Wording. Look closely at the specific words and structure. Which word stands out, and why might Allah have chosen it here?
- Quranic Worlds. Place the verse in its context — what is happening around it, and what world does it open up?
- Personal Experience. Ask not just what this means, but what it means TO me and FOR me, right now in my life.
- Connections. How does this verse connect to other verses, to the Sunnah, or to themes across the Quran?
- General Lessons. What timeless lesson or action point can I carry away and live by?