Al-Kahf Section 10 – Moses Following The One Gifted With Knowledge Of God
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Moses travels and meets with wonder-striking events
Al-Kahf Verses 71 – 82
فَانْطَلَقَا حَتَّىٰ إِذَا رَكِبَا فِي السَّفِينَةِ خَرَقَهَا قَالَ أَخَرَقْتَهَا لِتُغْرِقَ أَهْلَهَا لَقَدْ جِئْتَ شَيْئًا إِمْرًا
Then they went (their way) until they embarked in the boat, he made a hole in it. (Moses) said: “Made thee a hole in it to drown its inmates? Indeed thou hast done a strange thing?” (18:71)
قَالَ أَلَمْ أَقُلْ إِنَّكَ لَنْ تَسْتَطِيعَ مَعِيَ صَبْرًا
He said: “Said I not unto thee that thou canst not be with me in patience?” (18:72)
قَالَ لَا تُؤَاخِذْنِي بِمَا نَسِيتُ وَلَا تُرْهِقْنِي مِنْ أَمْرِي عُسْرًا
Said he (Moses): “Chide1me not that I forgot, and constrain me not to a difficulty in my affair.” (18:73)
فَانْطَلَقَا حَتَّىٰ إِذَا لَقِيَا غُلَامًا فَقَتَلَهُ قَالَ أَقَتَلْتَ نَفْسًا زَكِيَّةً بِغَيْرِ نَفْسٍ لَقَدْ جِئْتَ شَيْئًا نُكْرًا
Then they went on until they met a boy, he slew him. Said (Moses): “Slew thou an innocent person, who had slain none? Indeed thou hast done a horrible thing!” (18:74)
قَالَ أَلَمْ أَقُل لَّكَ إِنَّكَ لَن تَسْتَطِيعَ مَعِىَ صَبْرًا
He said: “Said I not unto thee that thou couldst not be with me in patience?” (18:75)
قَالَ إِن سَأَلْتُكَ عَن شَىْءٍۭ بَعْدَهَا فَلَا تُصَـٰحِبْنِى ۖ قَدْ بَلَغْتَ مِن لَّدُنِّى عُذْرًا
Said he2: “If ever I ask thee about anything after this, then suffer me not to be in thy company; then indeed thou hast had an excuse (to do so) unto me3.” (18:76)
فَٱنطَلَقَا حَتَّىٰٓ إِذَآ أَتَيَآ أَهْلَ قَرْيَةٍ ٱسْتَطْعَمَآ أَهْلَهَا فَأَبَوْا۟ أَن يُضَيِّفُوهُمَا فَوَجَدَا فِيهَا جِدَارًا يُرِيدُ أَن يَنقَضَّ فَأَقَامَهُۥ قَالَ لَوْ شِئْتَ لَتَّخَذْتَ عَلَيْهِ أَجْرًا
Then went they on until they came to the people of a town, they asked its people for food, but they declined to receive them as (their) guests, then they4found in it (the town) a wall about to fall, and he5set it upright. Said he6: “If thou hadst wished, thou mightest surely have taken a return (payment) for it7”. (18:77)
قَالَ هَـٰذَا فِرَاقُ بَيْنِى وَبَيْنِكَ ۚ سَأُنَبِّئُكَ بِتَأْوِيلِ مَا لَمْ تَسْتَطِع عَّلَيْهِ صَبْرًا
He said: “This shall be the parting point between me and thee, now I will acquaint thee of the interpretation of what thou couldst not bear with patience.” (18:78)
أَمَّا ٱلسَّفِينَةُ فَكَانَتْ لِمَسَـٰكِينَ يَعْمَلُونَ فِى ٱلْبَحْرِ فَأَرَدتُّ أَنْ أَعِيبَهَا وَكَانَ وَرَآءَهُم مَّلِكٌ يَأْخُذُ كُلَّ سَفِينَةٍ غَصْبًا
“As for the boat, it was of (some) poor men they plied in the sea and I intended that I should damage it, for there was after them a king who seized every boat by force” (18:79)
وَأَمَّا ٱلْغُلَـٰمُ فَكَانَ أَبَوَاهُ مُؤْمِنَيْنِ فَخَشِينَآ أَن يُرْهِقَهُمَا طُغْيَـٰنًا وَكُفْرًا
“And as for the boy, because his parents are believers and feared we that he should grieve them by rebellion (against them) and disbelieve (in God).” (18:80)
فَأَرَدْنَآ أَن يُبْدِلَهُمَا رَبُّهُمَا خَيْرًا مِّنْهُ زَكَوٰةً وَأَقْرَبَ رُحْمًا
“So we did intend that their Lord giveth them instead one better than him in purity (of conduct) and closer in affection.” (18:81)
وَأَمَّا ٱلْجِدَارُ فَكَانَ لِغُلَـٰمَيْنِ يَتِيمَيْنِ فِى ٱلْمَدِينَةِ وَكَانَ تَحْتَهُۥ كَنزٌ لَّهُمَا وَكَانَ أَبُوهُمَا صَـٰلِحًا فَأَرَادَ رَبُّكَ أَن يَبْلُغَآ أَشُدَّهُمَا وَيَسْتَخْرِجَا كَنزَهُمَا رَحْمَةً مِّن رَّبِّكَ وَمَا فَعَلْتُهُۥ عَنْ أَمْرِى ذَٰلِكَ تَأْوِيلُ مَا لَمْ تَسْطِع عَّلَيْهِ صَبْرًا
“And as for the wall, it was of two orphan boys in the city, and was underneath it (depo-sited) a treasure (intended) for them two and their father was a righteous man; so willed thy Lord that they should attain their maturity and take out their treasure (which is) a mercy from thy Lord; and I did it not of my own will. This is the interpretation of what thou couldst not have patience.” (18:82)
Commentary
Verses 78 - 79
The owners of the boat, though reduced to a miserable poverty, did not resort to any disrespectful means of earning their sustenance. They used to earn their livelihood by plying their boats but the cruel King wanted to commandeer the boats of his subjects. If these self-respecting poor souls lost the boat, which was the only means of their subsistence, they would have been reduced to beggary. Khizr simply made it useless for the time being and saved it from being snatched away from them.
The damage done could be easily repaired by the owners after the boat escaped the seizure by the King. This incident served the purpose of bringing home to the intelligent mind that the working of the Divine Plan in this world is never without the absolute wisdom active in it, towards some good in the ultimate, though outwardly it might seem to be detrimental to the immediate interest of some, but it might lead to a really favourable end.
Verse 80
The act of killing the youth seemed to be a definite cruelty. But it was not a secret for Khizr that the boy was practically lost to his parents as an outlaw, as such, was an encumbrance to the society, a danger to the life of the public and thus a source of a torturous grief to his gentle and righteous parents. The statement being in first person plural, indicates that Khizr did not act on his own but was guided by the Divine inspiration.
Verse 81
The parents were promised in return, a better recompense through the gift of a better-behaved son who would be a source of pride and an asset to them.
This incident like the first one indicates that the value of integrity and excellence in human character and conduct is greater than the value of a life of one or a few, and when the larger interest of the peace and security of the public at large needs it, the loss of the fewer in number is no loss.
Verse 82
A righteous man who was no more had buried a treasure under the wall for his young orphans to inherit their property. If the wall had been allowed to fall, the buried treasure would have been exposed and would be owned by the others and consequently the poor orphans would have been deprived of what their good-hearted father had left for them and the issues of the righteous man would also naturally be righteous and of service above self to the others. Hence serving the interest of the poor orphans was also serving the
cause of public charity. The repairing of the wall by Khizr without any compensation or return for his labour, indicates that while doing any good the immediate return for it should not be the concern of the individual who does it. Good should be done for the sake of goodness.
It is reported that the Sixth Holy Imam Ja’far Ibn Muhammad As-Sadiq and also the Eighth Holy Imam Ali Ibn Musa Ar-Ridha’ that under the wall which tended to fall and which was repaired by Khizr without any wages for his labours, were buried some very valuable tablets of higher knowledge and on one of the tablets was inscribed:
1. In the name of God the Beneficent and the Most Merciful.
2. There is no God save I (Myself).
3. I wonder at the man who is sure of his death and yet rejoices.
4. I wonder at the man who knows that only the Will of the Lord is done and yet grieves.
5. I wonder at the man who knows the uncertainty of this world and yet covets for it.
The Sixth Holy Imam said that the issues of a man do get their share of the reward or the return for the goodness as well as the evils of their parents. There is no room to wonder at this statement for we see in the daily working of the laws of nature that the issues of strong and healthy parents are also strong and healthy and likewise the children of sickly parents, the victims of the hereditary diseases. The law is simple and reasonable that those who inherit the assets of a concern shall also have its liabilities. The children who inherit the goodness or the badness of the bodies of their parents will also naturally have the virtues and the vices of their spiritual aspects of the personalities. It is in this sense that the law of heredity in the native endowments of a man is acceptable.
In giving the reasons for his three deeds, in the first instance: Kidr attributed the act to himself, saying, ‘I intended’, in the second instance he uses plural 'we intended’, and the third instance he attributes the act totally to God and at the end he says 'I have not done anything of my own accord’. Two reasons have been given for this method of speech:
1. In the first instance it is a mere act demanding the courtesy required not to attribute the act of damaging to God. In the second instance the action has two aspects, the disadvantage to the boy killed and the advantage to the parents. Hence the use of the plural, to refer the disadvantageous aspect to Kidr and the advantageous aspect to God. In the third instance, it was purely advantageous.
2. The method was based on the usual movement from a phenomenon to its utmost background and the genetic cause.
In the first instance he holds himself as the causative agent. In the second instance he moves further - he takes the apparent and the real causes into consideration, hence he used the plural 'we’.
In the third, he reaches the zenith and discards the agency of a creature totally and attributes the act to its real Author, and for emphasis, he declares that he has not done anything of his own accord.
The story of Kidr and Moses for the moral of the instances of the Divine Blessings in disguise and that how extensive and deep may be the human knowledge, even of those who are under revelation, regarding the administration of the world by God, is still limited and subject to further increase and that the mysteries behind the events are far from our grasp. (A.P.).
