18:74 Al-Kahf (The Cave)

{ فَانْطَلَقَا حَتَّى إِذَا لَقِيَا غُلَامًا ْ} أي: صغيرا { فَقَتَلَهُ ْ} الخضر، فاشتد بموسى الغضب، وأخذته الحمية الدينية، حين قتل غلاما صغيرا لم يذنب. { قَالَ أَقَتَلْتَ نَفْسًا زَكِيَّةً بِغَيْرِ نَفْسٍ لَقَدْ جِئْتَ شَيْئًا نُكْرًا ْ} وأي: نكر مثل قتل الصغير، الذي ليس عليه ذنب، ولم يقتل أحد؟! وكانت الأولى من موسى نسيانا، وهذه غير نسيان، ولكن عدم صبر

يقول تعالى " فانطلقا " أي بعد ذلك " حتى إذا لقيا غلاما فقتله " وقد تقدم أنه كان يلعب مع الغلمان في قرية من القرى وأنه عمد إليه من بينهم وكان أحسنهم وأجملهم وأضوأهم فقتله وروي أنه احتز رأسه وقيل رضخه بحجر وفي رواية اقتلعه بيده والله أعلم فلما شاهد موسى عليه السلام هذا أنكره أشد من الأول وبادر فقال " أقتلت نفسًا زكية " أي صغيرة لم تعمل الحنث ولا عملت إثما بعد فقتلته " بغير نفس " أي بغير مستند لقتله " لقد جئت شيئًا نكرا " أي ظاهر النكارة.

The Story of killing the Boy

فَانطَلَقَا

(Then they both proceeded,) means, after the first incident,

حَتَّى إِذَا لَقِيَا غُلاَمًا فَقَتَلَهُ

(till they met a boy, and he (Khidr) killed him.) It has been stated previously that this boy was playing with other boys in one of the towns, and that Al-Khidr deliberately singled him out. He was the finest and most handsome of them all, and Al-Khidr killed him. When Musa, peace be upon him, saw that he denounced him even more fervently than in the first case, and said hastily:

أَقَتَلْتَ نَفْسًا زَكِيَّةً

(Have you killed an innocent person) meaning, a young person who had not yet committed any sin or done anything wrong, yet you killed him

بِغَيْرِ نَفْسٍ

(without Nafs) with no reason for killing him.

لَّقَدْ جِئْتَ شَيْئاً نُّكْراً

(Verily, you have committed a thing Nukr!) meaning, something that is clearly evil.

قَالَ أَلَمْ أَقُلْ لَّكَ إِنَّكَ لَن تَسْتَطِيعَ مَعِىَ صَبْراً

(He said: "Did I not tell you that you can have no patience with me") Once again, Al-Khidr reiterates the condition set in the first place, so Musa says to him:

إِن سَأَلْتُكَ عَن شَىْءٍ بَعْدَهَا

(If I ask you anything after this,) meaning, `if I object to anything else you do after this,'

فَلاَ تُصَاحِبْنِى قَدْ بَلَغْتَ مِن لَّدُنِّى عُذْراً

(keep me not in your company, you have received an excuse from me.) `you have accepted my apology twice.' Ibn Jarir narrated from Ibn `Abbas that Ubayy bin Ka`b said: "Whenever the Prophet mentioned anyone, he would pray for himself first. One day he said:

«رَحْمَةُ اللهِ عَلَيْنَا وَعَلَى مُوسَى لَوْ لَبِثَ مَعَ صَاحِبِهِ لَأَبْصَرَ الْعَجَبَ، وَلَكِنَّهُ قَالَ:

إِن سَأَلْتُكَ عَن شَىْءٍ بَعْدَهَا فَلاَ تُصَاحِبْنِى قَدْ بَلَغْتَ مِن لَّدُنِّى عُذْراً»

(May the mercy of Allah be upon us and upon Musa. If he had stayed with his companion he would have seen wonders, but he said, (`If I ask you anything after this, keep me not in your company, you have received an excuse from me.'))"

So they set off after leaving the ship making their way on foot until when they met a boy who had not yet reached puberty playing with other boys among whom his face was the fairest — and he al-Khidr slew him by slitting his throat with a knife while he lay down or by tearing his head off with his hand or by smashing his head against a wall all of which are different opinions the coordinating fā’ of fa-qatalahu ‘and he slew him’ is used here because it indicates that the slaying took place after the encounter; the response to idhā ‘when’ is the following statement qāla … — he Moses said to him ‘Have you slain an innocent soul that is a pure one that had not reached the age of legal responsibility a variant reading for zākiya has zakiyya one slain not in retaliation for another soul? in other words one that has not slain any soul. Verily you have committed an dreadful thing’ read nukran or nukuran that is to say an abomination.

We now move to the sentence: حَتَّىٰ إِذَا لَقِيَا غُلَامًا (until when they met a boy -74). The word: غُلَام (ghulam) in the text is used for a minor boy in the Arabic usage. This boy killed by al-Khadir (علیہ السلام) was a minor - as corroborated by Sayyidna Ibn ` Abbas ؓ and most commentators. Further on, when the words: نَفْسًا زَكِيَّةً (innocent person) were used for him, that too supports the view that he was a minor. The reason is that زَكِيَّةً (zakiyyah) means 'free of sin' and it can be either the attribute of a prophet or a minor child who faces no accounting for what is done by him and no sin is written in his Book of Deeds.