The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 3) — Page 699
AL-KAHF CH. 18 ثُمَّ أَتْبَعَ سَبَبًا حَتَّى إِذَا بَلَغَ مَطْلِعَ الشَّمْسِ وَجَدَهَا PT. 16 90. Then indeed he followed another way. 91. Until, when he reached the rising of the sun, he found it تَطْلُعُ عَلَى قَوْمٍ لَّمْ نَجْعَل لَّهُمْ مِنْ rising on a people for whom We دُونِهَا سِتران had made no shelter against it. 2127 كَذَلِكَ وَقَدْ اَحَطْنَا بِمَا لَدَيْهِ خُبْرًا Thus indeed it was. Verily. 92 ثُمَّ أَتْبَعَ سَبَبًا We encompassed with Our knowledge all that was with him. 2128 93. Then he followed another Way. 2129 2127. Commentary: This verse refers to Cyrus' expedition to the East-to Afghanistan and even Baluchistan. The words, on a people for whom We had made no shelter against it, signify that at that time the Afghans were an uncivilized people. They did accounts not live in houses made of brick and stone but in huts and tents. The words may also apply to Baluchistan. But very sketchy references about Cyrus' expeditions to Afghanistan and Baluchistan are found in books of history. Contemporary historians, most of them being Greek, have given detailed of the conquests of Cyrus in the West but have very little to say about his conquests in the East. They do not go beyond remarking that in the East Cyrus attacked regions in the neighbourhood of Afghanistan. But as Sistan then formed a part of the Persian Empire we are inclined to the view that the verse can apply to Baluchistan also because the words, for whom We had made no shelter against it, give an apt description of this barren and arid country, full of deserts and rocks. The verse may also apply to the people who lived in the plains which have extended for hundreds of miles to the east of Sistan and Herat and to the north of Duzdab 1907 up to Meshed. 2128. Commentary: The words, We encompassed with Our knowledge all that was with him, mean that Cyrus in his expeditions was under Divine protection. These words with agree the Biblical statement viz. "I will go before thee and make the crooked places straight" (Isaiah 45:2). 2129. Commentary: The verse refers to Cyrus' third expedition to the north of Persia―to the territory between the Caspian Sea and the Caucasian mountains.