Faith Versus Materialism – The Message of Surah al Kahf

Author: Sayed Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi
Translator: Mohiuddin Ahmad
Publisher: Islamic Book Trust
Pages: 129
Binding: Softcover
ISBN: 978-983-9154-78-8

About the Book:
The author has presented in this book the massage of the Quran, in general, and of Surat-al-Kahaf, in particular. It is not a commentary in the conventional sense of the word.

Surat-ul-Kahaf is the story of an unending struggle between the two ideologies of concepts diametrically opposed to each other. One of these is materialism denoting the primacy and objective existence of the external material world. The other one asserts the existence of realities that lie beyond the range of human perception, as, for instance, the existence of God, moral-spiritual forces and their interaction, and so forth. The Surah explains the meaning and the purpose of faith in the Ultimate Reality and warns man against leaning exclusively on observable environments, grounds, and consequences which eventually lead to the denial of God and His Authority.

This spirit of falsehood, deceit, and artful trickery pervade modern civilization simply because it has turned its back to the over Lordship of God, prophethood, unseen realities, and divine revelation; decided to depend exclusively on the senses and perceptible realities; and what is more, reposed its trust in the earthly pleasures, immediate gains, power, and pelf. And this is what this Surah seeks to contradict. The events recounted and the parables eluded in this chapter point to the same moral –the brevity, uncertainty, and vanity of the worldly life, its traps, and illusions.