18:77 Al-Kahf (The Cave)

{ فَانْطَلَقَا حَتَّى إِذَا أَتَيَا أَهْلَ قَرْيَةٍ اسْتَطْعَمَا أَهْلَهَا ْ} أي: استضافاهم، فلم يضيفوهما { فَوَجَدَا فِيهَا جِدَارًا يُرِيدُ أَنْ يَنْقَضَّ ْ} أي: قد عاب واستهدم { فَأَقَامَهُ ْ} الخضر أي: بناه وأعاده جديدا. فقال له موسى: { لَوْ شِئْتَ لَاتَّخَذْتَ عَلَيْهِ أَجْرًا ْ} أي: أهل هذه القرية، لم يضيفونا مع وجوب ذلك عليهم، وأنت تبنيه من دون أجرة، وأنت تقدر عليها؟. فحينئذ لم يف موسى عليه السلام بما قال، واستعذر الخضر منه

يقول تعالى مخبرًا عنهما أنهما انطلقا بعد المرتين الأولتين حتى إذا أتيا أهل قرية روى ابن جريج عن ابن سيرين أنها الأيلة وفي الحديث " حتي إذا أتيا أهل قرية لئاما "أي بخلاء " فأبوا أن يضيفوهما فوجدا فيها جدارًا يريد أن ينقض " إسناد الإرادة ههنا إلى الجدار على سبيل الاستعارة فإن الإرادة في المحدثات بمعنى الميل والانقضاض هو السقوط وقوله " فأقامه " أي فرده إلى حالة الاستقامة وقد تقدم في الحديث أنه رده بيده ودعمه حتى ردّ ميله وهذا خارق فعند ذلك قال موسى " له لو شئت لاتخذت عليه أجرًا " أي لأجل أنهم لم يضيفونا كان ينبغي أن لا تعمل لهم مجانًا.

The Story of repairing the Wall Allah tells us that

فَانطَلَقَا

(they both proceeded) after the first two instances,

حَتَّى إِذَآ أَتَيَآ أَهْلَ قَرْيَةٍ

(till when they came to the people of a town,) Ibn Jarir narrated from Ibn Sirin that this was Al-Aylah. According to the Hadith;

«حَتَّى إِذَا أَتَيَا أَهْلَ قَرْيَةٍ لِئَامًا»

(When they came there, the people of the town were mean.) i.e., miserly

اسْتَطْعَمَآ أَهْلَهَا فَأَبَوْاْ أَن يُضَيِّفُوهُمَا فَوَجَدَا فِيهَا جِدَاراً يُرِيدُ أَن يَنقَضَّ

(they asked them for food, but they refused to entertain them. Then they found therein a wall about to collapse and he (Khidr) set it up straight.) means, he fixed it so it was standing upright properly. We have already seen in the Hadith quoted above that he set it up with his own hands, supporting it until it was standing straight again, which is something extraordinary. At this point Musa said to him:

لَوْ شِئْتَ لاَتَّخَذْتَ عَلَيْهِ أَجْراً

(If you had wished, surely you could have taken wages for it!) meaning, because they did not entertain us as guests, you should not have worked for them for free.

قَالَ هَـذَا فِرَاقُ بَيْنِى وَبَيْنِكَ

(He said: "This is the parting between you and I) meaning, because you said after the boy was killed that if you asked me anything after that, you would not accompany me any further. So this is the parting of the ways between me and you.

سَأُنَبِّئُكَ بِتَأْوِيلِ

(I will tell you the interpretation) meaning explanation,

مَا لَمْ تَسْطِـع عَّلَيْهِ صَبْراً

(of (those) things over which you were not able to be patient.)

So they set off until when they came to the folk of a certain town namely Antioch Antākya they asked its folk for food they asked them for food by way of hospitality but they refused to extend them any hospitality. They then found in it a wall one hundred cubits high about to collapse that is it was close to falling down because of its tilt; so he al-Khidr straightened it with his own hands. He Moses said to him ‘Had you wished you could have taken a variant reading for la-ttakhadhta has la-takhidhta a wage for it’ some sort of payment since they did not extend us any hospitality despite our need for food.

The habitation mentioned أَهْلَ قَرْ‌يَةٍ (the people of a town - 77) which Sayyidna Musa and al-Khadir (علیہ السلام) passed through and whose inhabitants refused to host them was Antakiah, as in the report of Sayyidna Ibn ` Abbas ؓ ، and Aikah, as in the report of Ibn Sirin. It has also been reported from Sayyidna Abu Hurairah ؓ that it was some habitation of al-Andulus (Spain) (Mazhari). Allah knows best.