Tafsir of Al-Kahf 18:44

{الولاية} (Al-wilāyah): With a fatḥa (al-walāyah), it means support and patronage. With a kasra (al-wilāyah), it means authority and dominion. Both have been recited.

The meaning of {هنالك} (there/at that moment) is: in that situation and state, support belongs to Allah alone. No one else possesses it, and no one else is capable of it. This confirms His statement: “And he had no company to help him other than Allah” (18:43).

Alternatively, it means: there, authority and dominion belong to Allah; He cannot be overcome, and nothing can escape Him.

Or, in such a dire situation, everyone who is distressed turns to Allah and believes in Him. This implies that his statement, “Oh, I wish I had not associated anyone with my Lord” (18:42), was a word he was compelled to say out of panic from the calamity that befell him due to the wretchedness of his disbelief; had it not been for that, he would not have said it.

It is also possible that the meaning is: there, the patronage belongs to Allah, for He supports His believing allies against the disbelievers, takes vengeance for them, and heals their hearts against their enemies. This means He granted victory to the believing brother over the disbeliever, fulfilling his statement: “Perhaps my Lord will give me [something] better than your garden and will send upon it a calamity from the sky” (18:40). This is supported by His statement: “Better in reward and better in outcome” (18:44)—meaning for His allies.

It is said that {هنالك} refers to the Hereafter; that is, in that abode, authority belongs to Allah, as in His saying: “To whom belongs [all] sovereignty this Day?” (40:16).

It has been recited as {الحق} (al-ḥaqq) in the nominative and genitive cases as an adjective for al-wilāyah or Allah. ‘Amr ibn ‘Ubayd recited it in the accusative as an emphatic, like saying: "This is the true servant of Allah, not the false one." It is an eloquent and excellent recitation, and ‘Amr ibn ‘Ubayd was among the most eloquent and sincere of people.

{عقبا} (ʿuqban) has been recited with the qāf both damma-voweled and quiescent, and as ʿuqbā (on the pattern of fuʿlā). All of these carry the meaning of "the outcome."

{واضرب لهم مثل الحيواة الدنيا كمآء أنزلناه من السماء فاختلط به نبات الا رض فأصبح هشيما تذروه الرياح وكان الله على كل شىء مقتدرا}

"And present to them the example of the worldly life: [it is] like rain which We send down from the sky, and the vegetation of the earth mingles with it and [then] it becomes dry remnants, scattered by the winds. And Allah is ever, over all things, Perfect in Ability."