Beautiful Quran Recitation of Surah Al Kahf by Qari Sohaib Ahmed Meer Muhammadi Hafizahullah

Period of Revelation
This is the first of those Surahs which were revealed in the third stage (from the fifth to the tenth year) of Prophethood at Makkah. The persecutions of Muslims were severe but migration to Habsha had not yet taken place.

Major Issues, Divine Laws, and Guidance
Story of the Companions of the Cave who were wakened up from their sleep after hundreds of years.
Whenever you promise to do something in the future, always say "Insha Allah (If Allah so wills)."
Similitude of this worldly life and its relationship with the life after death.
Story of the Prophet Musa as a student of the Prophet Khizr.
Story of King Zul-Qarnain.
The favors of Allah are countless and cannot be recorded even if all the oceans were to be used as an inkwell and other such oceans are brought to replenish this ink.
Muhammad (pbuh) is but a human being like you.
Theme
This Surah was basically sent down in answer to the following three questions which the mushrikin of Makkah, in consultation with the Jews, had put to the Prophet in order to test him:

Who were "the Companions of the Cave?"
What is the real story of Khizr?
Who was Zul-Qarnain?
These three questions and the stories involved concerned the history of the Jews, and were unknown in Arabia. These questions were intended to test whether the Prophet was really Divinely guided or would try to avoid the questions. Allah not only provided a complete answer to their questions but also explained the three stories to the disadvantage of the opponents of Islam.

The questioners were told that the Companions of the Cave believed in the same doctrine of Tawhid (Oneness of God) which was being put forward in the Qur'an and that their condition was similar to the condition of the persecuted Muslims of Makkah. On the other hand, the persecutors of the Companions of the Cave had behaved in the same way towards them as the disbelieving Qureysh were behaving towards the Muslims. Besides this, the Muslims have been taught that even if a believer is persecuted by a cruel society, he should not bow down before falsehood, rather he should migrate from that place if needed. The disbelievers of Makkah were told that the story of the 'Companions of the Cave was a clear proof about the life hereafter. Allah has the power to resurrect after a long sleep of death as He did in case of the Companions of the Cave.

The story of the Companions of the Cave is also used to warn the chiefs of Makkah who were persecuting the newly formed Muslim community. At the same time, the Prophet is being instructed that he should in no case make a compromise with the persecutors nor should he consider them to be more important than his poor followers. This story is also meant to comfort and encourage the oppressed Muslims and relate to them how righteous people in the past saved their Faith. On the other hand, the chiefs of Qureysh are admonished that they should not be puffed up with this transitory life that they are enjoying; rather they should seek the excellence of hereafter which will be permanent and eternal.

Name
This Surah takes its name from v. 9 in which the word (al-kahf) occurs.

Period of Revelation
This is the first of those Surahs which were sent down in the third stage of Prophethood at Makkah. We have already divided the life of the Holy Prophet at Makkah into four stages in the Introduction to Chapter 6. According to that division the third stage lasted from the fifth to the tenth year of Prophethood. What distinguishes this stage from the second and the fourth stages is this. During the second stage the Quraish mainly resorted to ridiculing, scoffing, threatening, tempting, raising objections and making false propaganda against the Holy Prophet and his followers in order to suppress the Islamic Movement. But during the third stage they employed the weapons of persecution, manhandling and economic pressure for the same purpose. So much so that a large number of the Muslims had to emigrate from Arabia to Habash, and those who remained behind were besieged in Shi'ib Abi Talib along with the Holy Prophet and his family. To add to their misery, a complete social and economic boycott was applied against them. The only redeeming feature was that there were two personalities, Abu Talib and Hadrat Khadijah, whose personal influence had been conducive to the support of two great families of the Quraish. However, when in the tenth year of Prophethood these two persons died, the fourth stage began with such revere persecutions as forced the Holy Prophet and all his Companions to emigrate from Makkah.

It appears from the theme of the Surah that it was revealed at the beginning of the third stage when in spite of persecutions and opposition, migration to Habash had not yet taken place. That is why the story of "Ashab-i-Kahf" (the Sleepers of the Cave) has been related to comfort and encourage the persecuted Muslims and to show them how the righteous people have been saving their Faith in the past.