Al-Kahf 18:79
The Cave · ayah 79 of 110
Amma assafeenatu fakanatlimasakeena yaAAmaloona fee albahri faaradtu anaAAeebaha wakana waraahum malikun ya/khuthukulla safeenatin ghasba
Saheeh International translation
Other English translations
Abdel Haleem (Oxford)+
"the boat belonged to some needy people who made their living from the sea and I damaged it because I knew that coming after them was a king who was seizing every [serviceable] boat by force."
Pickthall (classic)+
"As for the ship, it belonged to poor people working on the river, and I wished to mar it, for there was a king behind them who is taking every ship by force."
Yusuf Ali (classic)+
""As for the boat, it belonged to certain men in dire want: they plied on the water: I but wished to render it unserviceable, for there was after them a certain king who seized on every boat by force."
Tafsīr · classical commentary
Ibn Kathir
Abridged English, public domain
+
Ibn Kathir
Abridged English, public domain
Interpretations of why the Ship was damaged
This is an explanation of what Musa found so hard to understand, and the appearence of which he condemed. Allah showed Al-Khidr the hidden reasons, so he said, "I damaged the ship to make it faulty, because they used to pass by a king who was one of the oppressors, who
(seized every boat), i.e., every good, sound boat
(by force.) `So I wanted to prevent him from taking this boat by making it appear faulty, so that its poor owners who had nothing else could benefit from it.' It was also said that they were orphans.
Tafsir Saʿdi
English translation, public domain
+
Tafsir Saʿdi
English translation, public domain
Maʿārif al-Qur'ān
Mufti Shafi Usmani, English
+
Maʿārif al-Qur'ān
Mufti Shafi Usmani, English
Commentary
In the first verse, it was said: أَمَّا السَّفِينَةُ فَكَانَتْ لِمَسَاكِينَ (As for the boat, it belonged to some poor people - 79). About the poor people to whom this boat belonged, it has been reported from Sayyidna Ka'b al-Ahbar ؓ that they were ten brothers. Five of them were handicapped while the other five worked hard to eke out a living for all of them by plying a boat against whatever fare they could collect.
The definition of a Miskin
A miskin has been defined as one who has nothing. But, from this verse, we learn the true definition of a miskin: Anyone who does not have the amount of wealth and property that exceed his need, basic and necessary, to the limit of legal nisab (threshold of zakah). One who has less than that is also included under the definition of miskin. The reason is that people called 'al-masakin' (plural of miskin: poor people) had at least one boat the price of which will not be less than the amount of nisab (threshold). But, as it was engaged in earning what those people needed, basically and necessarily, they were still called 'masakin' (poor people). (Mazhari)
Regarding the last sentence of verse 79: مَّلِكٌ يَأْخُذُ كُلَّ سَفِينَةٍ غَصْبًا ، al-Baghawi has reported from Sayyidna Ibn ` Abbas ؓ that the direction in which this boat was sailing, there was a cruel king who used to take boats ferrying people through by force. Al-Khadir (علیہ السلام) found it expedient to pull out a plank from the boat so that the cruel king, seeing this damaged boat, would let it go and thus those poor people would remain safe from the likely mishap. Comments sage Rumi:
گَر خضر در بحر کشتی را شکست صد درستی شکست خضر ہست
Yes, al-Khidr did break the boat while sailing at sea But,
a hundred saving graces in his breaking we see
Tafsīr sourced from quran.com's open API. These are classical commentaries; for personal rulings consult a qualified scholar.