Welcome to this series! I hope you will join me as I journal Surah Kahf. The resources and method are listed in the post as well links to the materials I’m using. Video tutorials for each day are included and while on some days I only journal one ayat, other times, I journal several.

To begin this Quran Journaling series, I simply dove in. I didn't have a specific format for the pages and I can see that it will be refined as I progress. When writing the Ayat in Arabic, I wrote big and left room for the word-for-word translation...just not enough room to add the translation.

For Day 2, instead of reflection on ayat 1, I focused on the four themes/stories of surah Kahf. The four themes or stories for surah Kahf is the fitna (trial) of religion with the story of the youth who sought shelter in the cave.

Having learned from my previous 2 days' work, I decided to leave amp room for the translation, the ayat in Arabic, the word-for-word and my thoughts and reflection. What I didn't leave room for was the illustration.

I love this ayat for its reassurance and hope. In the previous ayat Allah speaks of the severe punishment and the just reward, but you don't know what the reward is until this ayat where it is made clear what you will receive by Allah's mercy for doing righteous deeds.

One subject in our homeschool we spend a lot of time covering is ancient civilizations. I spend a lot of time studying the people, culture and belief of the past.

This ayat needs to be read in Arabic especially and the tafsir examined so that the meaning is clear. Allah is with the Prophet (saw) when the people of Quraysh turned their back on him (saw) and rejected the message.

Today’s Ayat is (for me) at first seems deceptively easy to understand. This world is an adornment so that people may be tested.

In preparing for this day's lesson, I chose to write only 1 ayat and reserve the remainder of page for the next two ayat about the people of the cave.

Once again, I've changed the format for Quran journaling and have decided to write the Arabic and word for word in a separate notebook or use some other format for memorizing the word for word Arabic to English.

Instead of another illustration of mountains or a cave, I decided to illustrate the hadith of the camel in which a bedouin came to the Prophet Muhammad (saw) and asked, ‘Do I tie my camel and trust in Allah or do I leave her untied and trust in Allah?’ The Prophet (saw) replied, “Tie your camel and trust in Allah.”

For ayat 12, I chose to examine three words: the word for resurrection (ba'athnahum), the word for someone who can calculate (Ahsaaw) and the word for two parties (hizbaynee).

The Quran is about one third stories and while it is not a storybook, Quran is a book of guidance and warning, Allah does use stories to teach and remind us

The religious beliefs at the time this story takes place were idolatrous/polytheist. According the the tafsir Ibn Kathir, the whole town was out at a festival celebrating and making offerings to the gods.

This ayat talks about the youths, who are now addressing and accusing the king and the people to bring forth evidence of the claim they make for taking partners with Allah or worshipping other than Allah. Allah increased them in guidance, then made their hearts firm.

This session, I cover 3 ayat from the time the young men decided to seek refuge in a cave to their time asleep and all the Allah does for them (and likely more that isn't mentioned or fully understood) during their sleep to keep them healthy and protected.

When the sleepers awaken, they are not just waking up, they are resurrected, they were in essence not alive for over 300 years and yet they looked alive and well and as if they were just sleeping, tossing and turning in the cave.

One of of the youth is chosen and as he travels into town, nothing looks familiar. He doesn't recognize any of the landmark, nor does he recognize any of the people, commoner or otherwise.

We learn the etiquette, adhab, for when we speak about the future. We are instructed to say "InshaAllah", but if we forget, we say it when we remember.

In Ayat 27, Allah says to recite the Quran. Recite is a word that mean more than read. When we read, we may read to ourselves, or silently, but recitation implies there is an audience.