Surah Al-Kahf is the 18th surah, with 110 ayat across about eleven and a half pages of the Madani mushaf (pages 293 to 304). It sits right in the middle of the Quran, at the meeting point of juz 15 and 16.
It’s one of the most rewarding surahs to memorize, partly for its virtue and partly because it’s built almost entirely of stories. Stories are easier to remember than almost anything else, because each event leads to the next.
Surah Al-Kahf at a glance
- Surah
- 18
- Juz
- 15 and 16
- Mushaf
- Pages 293 to 304
- Ayat
- 110
- Length
- About 11.3 pages
- Recited in
- about 33 minutes
How many days will it take?
| New lines a day | Days |
|---|---|
| 3 (a few lines) | 57 days |
| 5 (a third of a page) | 34 days |
| 7 (half a page) | 25 days |
| 10 (two thirds of a page) | 17 days |
| 15 (a full page) | 12 days |
Counts days of new memorization on the 169 lines of Surah Al-Kahf. Add revision on top. Make a day-by-day plan.
Test yourself
Memorized Surah Al-Kahf? Find the ayat you’re not sure of.
Quran Memorizer asks you what comes next, which ayah is missing and which look-alike ayah goes where, on the same Madani mushaf pages you learned from. With Premium, Daily Review brings your weakest ayat back first, so you can revise Surah Al-Kahf a little every day.
Free to start, no card needed. On the web or iPhone, choose Surah Al-Kahf as what you want to be tested on.
More on Surah Al-Kahf: How long it takes to memorize · How long it takes to recite · All surah guides
Start with the first ten ayat
The Prophet ﷺ said that whoever memorizes the first ten ayat of Surah Al-Kahf will be protected from the Dajjal (Sahih Muslim 809a). One narrator of the same hadith reported it as the last ten ayat instead (Sahih Muslim 809b), so many people memorize both.
The first ten ayat take most people a few days. They open with praise of Allah who sent down the Book without any crookedness in it, warn those who claim Allah has taken a son, comfort the Prophet ﷺ, and then begin the story of the young men who took refuge in the cave. Ayah 10 is their dua:
إِذْ أَوَى ٱلْفِتْيَةُ إِلَى ٱلْكَهْفِ فَقَالُوا۟ رَبَّنَآ ءَاتِنَا مِن لَّدُنكَ رَحْمَةً وَهَيِّئْ لَنَا مِنْ أَمْرِنَا رَشَدًا
Even if you stop there for now, you’ve memorized the passage with the clearest virtue.
The map of the surah
Al-Kahf is built around four main stories, with reflections and warnings between them:
| Ayat | Section |
|---|---|
| 1 to 8 | Opening: the Book, the warning, the adornment of the earth |
| 9 to 26 | The people of the cave |
| 27 to 31 | Patience with the believers, and the reward of each group |
| 32 to 44 | The two gardens and the man who was proud of his wealth |
| 45 to 59 | The parable of this life, the Day of Judgment, and Iblis |
| 60 to 82 | Musa and the knowledgeable servant (al-Khidr) |
| 83 to 98 | Dhul-Qarnayn |
| 99 to 110 | The final scenes and the closing ayat |
Before memorizing each section, read a translation or a short tafsir so you know the sequence of events. Once you know that Musa sets out with his young companion, loses the fish, meets the servant, and then the boat, the boy and the wall come in that order, the order of the ayat is much easier to remember.
A four-week plan
About half a page a day, five or six days a week, with one or two revision days.
| Week | Section |
|---|---|
| 1 | Ayat 1 to 26 (opening and the people of the cave) |
| 2 | Ayat 27 to 59 (two gardens, the parable of this life, Iblis) |
| 3 | Ayat 60 to 82 (Musa and al-Khidr) |
| 4 | Ayat 83 to 110 (Dhul-Qarnayn and the ending), then full revision |
If half a page a day is too much, take eight weeks instead. The order stays the same.
Free tool
Want a plan for Al-Kahf that fits your week? Choose your daily lines and study days and get exact pages for each day. Open the hifz plan generator →
Passages that need extra care
The three trials in the story of Musa
Each of the three events in 18:71-82 has a similar structure: they set out, the servant does something strange, Musa objects, and the servant answers him. The wording of Musa’s objection and the servant’s reply changes slightly each time. Compare them side by side and note the differences. Memorizing Similar Verses explains how.
Dhul-Qarnayn’s journeys
Dhul-Qarnayn travels three times (18:85-93), and each journey begins with a very similar phrase. Learn the order of the destinations first: where the sun sets, where it rises, then between the two barriers.
The ayat about the number in the cave
Ayah 22 lists the different guesses about how many were in the cave. Make sure you’re clear on the order of the numbers before you memorize the wording.
Recite it on Fridays
Reciting Al-Kahf every Friday is a widespread practice, based on narrations recorded outside the six main hadith collections, whose gradings scholars have discussed. If you recite it every week, you’ll revise it every week too, which is one of the surest ways to hold on to a long surah.
Revising Al-Kahf
Al-Kahf is long enough that it needs a plan. Once you’ve memorized it:
- Recite the whole surah once a week, ideally on Friday.
- Use one section in your night prayer each day.
- Check it against the mushaf every month or so, especially the Musa and Dhul-Qarnayn passages.
The Quran Memorizer daily review brings Al-Kahf round with the rest of your hifz, and its mutashabihat mode is especially useful for the repeated phrases in the story of Musa.
More guides: How to memorize the first 10 ayat of Surah Al-Kahf
