Al-Kahf 18:74

"So they set out, until when they met a boy, he [i.e., al-Khiḍr] killed him. [Moses] said, "Have you killed a pure soul for other than [having killed] a soul? You have certainly done a deplorable thing.""

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.'))"

Когда Хадир убил маленького мальчика, Муса сильно разгневался. Праведник убил ребенка, который не совершил ни единого греха, и это было несовместимо с канонами религии. Муса упрекнул Хадира в совершении гнусного поступка, да и что может быть хуже убийства ребенка, который никого не убивал и даже не запятнал свою душу грехами?! В первый раз Муса упрекнул Хадира по забывчивости, но в этот раз он не запамятовал, а просто не смог совладать собой.

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.

Other English translations

Tafsīr · classical commentary

The Story of killing the Boy