Surah Al-Kahf 18:6 — Meaning, Translation & Reflection
سُورَةُ الكَهۡفِ · Meccan · Verse 6 of 110
فَلَعَلَّكَ بَٰخِعٌۭ نَّفْسَكَ عَلَىٰٓ ءَاثَٰرِهِمْ إِن لَّمْ يُؤْمِنُوا۟ بِهَٰذَا ٱلْحَدِيثِ أَسَفًا
English: But [Prophet] are you going to worry yourself to death over them if they do not believe in this message?
Bengali: যদি তারা এই বিষয়বস্তুর প্রতি বিশ্বাস স্থাপন না করে, তবে তাদের পশ্চাতে সম্ভবতঃ আপনি পরিতাপ করতে করতে নিজের প্রাণ নিপাত করবেন।
Meaning & Reflection
'Perhaps you would destroy yourself with grief over them, if they do not believe in this message.' Ibn Ashur and al-Saadi note the tenderness toward the Prophet — 'bakhi'un nafsak', consuming yourself with sorrow — and the gentle restraint: their guidance is not on your shoulders to force. Ask yourself: I can grieve myself sick over people I love who refuse what is good for them — a straying child, a friend on a destructive path — as if their choice were mine to override. This verse honours that grief while relieving me of an impossible burden: I am responsible to *convey* and to *care*, not to *compel*. Where am I destroying my own peace over someone else's refusal, taking onto myself a weight of outcome that was never mine to carry?
Grounded in classical tafsir: Ibn Ashur, al-Saadi, al-Biqa'i.
Reflect with the Five Lenses
Maani's framework for Tadabbur (heart-centred reflection) on Surah Al-Kahf 18:6:
- 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?