Surah Al-Kahf 18:62
سُورَةُ الكَهۡفِ · Meccan · Verse 62 of 110
فَلَمَّا جَاوَزَا قَالَ لِفَتَىٰهُ ءَاتِنَا غَدَآءَنَا لَقَدْ لَقِينَا مِن سَفَرِنَا هَٰذَا نَصَبًۭا
Translation
They journeyed on, and then Moses said to his servant, ‘Give us our lunch! This journey of ours is very tiring,’
English translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem.
Meaning and reflection
'When they had passed on, he said to his servant: Bring us our meal; we have certainly suffered fatigue from this journey of ours.' al-Saadi and Ibn Kathir note the human ordinariness, even a prophet on a divine quest grows tired and hungry, and only after passing the goal does the fatigue surface, because they had overshot the very place they sought. Ask yourself: there is something tender and instructive in this, the great journey includes exhaustion, hunger, ordinary weariness; spiritual seeking is not all lofty moments but also tired legs and a need for lunch. And note: the tiredness that finally makes them stop is what leads them to realise they missed the mark. Sometimes my very exhaustion is the signal that I have gone past where I was meant to stop. Do I honour the limits of my own fatigue as information, or push blindly past the marker I was actually looking for?
Grounded in classical tafsir: al-Saadi, Ibn Kathir, Ibn Ashur.
Topics that discuss this verse
Surah Al-Kahf 18:62 is discussed in 7 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 18:62 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.