Al-Kahf is the 18th surah of the Qur’an and is one of the last chapters of the Qur’an to be revealed. It is believed to have been revealed to Muhammad (ﷺ) in two ways. In the first, a group of his followers were present with him when he received the revelation, and in the second, the archangel Gabriel revealed it to him in a vision.

The story of the archangel Gabriel and the first two verses of the surah is believed to be a hadith that is reliable because of the narration of many people, including the Prophet (ﷺ) and his companions. The next three verses of the surah are also a part of the hadith and are also believed to be true. The last three verses of the surah are also narrated by al-Nawawi in his al-Adab al-Sadiq al-Masnoon.

Al-Kahf is the first surah of the Qur’an that is believed to be a direct revelation from God (Arabic: الله‎, Allah). The Quran states: “Those who study the Quran only acquire two things: either utterance (meaning) or insight (meaning)” (Quran, 59:24). The first meaning of al-Kahf is that it is the word of God, and the second meaning is that the whole surah is a wisdom (or a parable) of God.