سورة الكهف

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Abdullah ibn Zurara said: Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) said to me: "Convey my greetings to your father and tell him: I find fault with you in order to defend you, because the people and the enemy harm those who are close to us and hold a position with us, and this is on the charge of loving us — to the point that they wish to kill him; and whoever we find fault with, they praise. You are well known for being of our Shia and are censured by the people. We find fault with you so that their harm may be repelled from you." Then the Imam recited the verse: أَمَّا السَّفِینَةُ فَکانَتْ لِمَساکِینَ یَعْمَلُونَ فِی الْبَحْرِ فَأَرَدْتُ أَنْ أَعِیبَها وَ کانَ وَراءَهُمْ مَلِکٌ یَأْخُذُ کُلَّ سَفِینَةٍ غَصْباً [As for the boat, it belonged to (some) poor men who worked on the river and I wished that I should damage it, and there was behind them a king who seized every boat by force], and said: "The boat in fact had no defect; the purpose of showing it as defective was that it would remain safe from the king and not be destroyed at his hand (you too, like that boat, have no defect)."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): وَ کانَ وَراءَهُمْ مَلِکٌ [and there was behind them a king] — meaning ahead of them was a king who seized by force every sound boat.

Ali ibn Ibrahim (may Allah have mercy on him): As for that boat, it belonged to a group of poor people who worked with it at sea; and I wished, by making a hole in the boat, to remove it from the king's seizure. [For] behind them was a [tyrant] king who took every sound boat by force.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Khidr (peace be upon him) said: As for that boat, it belonged to a group of poor people who worked with it at sea; and I wished to render it defective; [because] behind them was a [tyrant] king who took every sound boat by force. [I did this] so that it would remain for them and the king would not seize it by force. And he attributed this act — the making of the boat defective — to himself. Because he wished that when the king saw it, the boat would be defective and he would not take it from the poor people; and Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, through this command that He gave to Khidr (peace be upon him), willed their welfare.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): The likeness of that boat among us and you is that Imam Husayn (peace be upon him) refrained from giving allegiance to Muawiya. And the likeness of that boy among you is like the saying of Imam Hasan al-Mujtaba (peace be upon him) to Abdullah ibn Ali: "May Allah curse you — what an evil disbeliever you are!" It was said to His Holiness: "O Aba Muhammad (peace be upon him)! You have killed him." And the likeness of that wall among you is Ali, Hasan and Husayn (peace be upon them).

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): أَمَّا السَّفِینَةُ فَکانَتْ لِمَساکِینَ یَعْمَلُونَ فِی الْبَحْرِ فَأَرَدْتُ أَنْ أَعِیبَها وَ کانَ وَراءَهُمْ مَلِکٌ یَأْخُذُ کُلَّ سَفِینَةٍ غَصْباً [As for the boat, it belonged to some poor men who worked on the sea, so I wished to damage it, for behind them was a king who was seizing every boat by force]. By this act I wanted them not to lose their boat, and for the king not to seize it. Khidr (peace be upon him) attributed the explanation of this act to himself because of the mention of causing a defect, since he wanted the boat to be defective so that the king would not seize it; and Allah, by this command that He gave to Khidr, willed the welfare of His servants. Then he said: "As for the young man, his father and mother were believers; but he himself was a disbeliever, and Allah the Exalted knew that if he remained alive, he would make his parents too disbelievers and would lead them astray. So He commanded me to kill him, and by this act Allah the Mighty and Majestic willed, in the end, to honour them." Khidr (peace be upon him), in reporting this act, associated himself with Allah in it and said: فَخَشِینا أَنْ یُرْهِقَهُما طُغْیاناً وَ کُفْراً * فَأَرَدْنا أَنْ یُبْدِلَهُما رَبُّهُما خَیْراً مِنْهُ زَکاةً وَ أَقْرَبَ رُحْماً [So we feared he would overburden them with rebellion and disbelief. So we wished that their Lord would give them in exchange one better than him in purity and closer in mercy]. He associated himself with Allah in this explanation because he himself was fearful, whereas Allah has no fear — for nothing is outside the sphere of His knowledge, and nothing can stand in the way of His will. Khidr's (peace be upon him) fear was that he might not be able to carry out the divine command, and consequently that the reward for carrying it out would not reach him; and it occurred to his mind that Allah the Exalted had made him a means through which He would extend His mercy to the parents of that child. In the middle of the affair, human pride affected Khidr (peace be upon him) just as it had affected Musa (peace be upon him). For in that moment he was the one informing and Musa (peace be upon him) was the one being informed. Khidr (peace be upon him) had no superiority over Musa (peace be upon him); rather, Musa (peace be upon him) was more excellent than Khidr (peace be upon him), and this matter was on account of Musa's (peace be upon him) worthiness for elucidation and clarification. Then he said: As for the wall, it belonged to two orphan youths in that city, and beneath it was a treasure belonging to the two of them, and their father was a righteous man. This treasure was neither gold nor silver; rather, it was a golden tablet on which was written: "It is astonishing that one who has faith in death and is certain that he will die can be joyful. And how can one who is certain of the divine decree be sorrowful? It is astonishing that one who knows the Resurrection is true can commit injustice. It is astonishing that one who sees the states and vicissitudes of the world and its people can put his trust in it." The father of these two boys was a righteous man, and between this father and these two boys there were seventy fathers, and Allah preserved those two children on account of that father's righteousness. Then he said: فَأَرادَ رَبُّکَ أَنْ یَبْلُغا أَشُدَّهُما وَ یَسْتَخْرِجا کَنزَهُما [So your Lord willed that they should reach their maturity and bring forth their treasure]. Then Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) said: In this act, Khidr (peace be upon him) considered himself removed from it and attributed the will entirely to Allah the Exalted. For no act remained that he had done and could inform Musa (peace be upon him) about, with Musa (peace be upon him) listening and following what he said. So Khidr (peace be upon him) no longer spoke of his own will and act, and like a sincere servant, he freed himself from having attributed the matter to himself at the beginning of the story and from having associated himself with Allah in it in the middle of the story, and said: رَحْمَةً مِنْ رَبِّکَ وَ ما فَعَلْتُهُ عَنْ أَمْرِی ذلِکَ تَأْوِیلُ ما لَمْ تَسْطِعْ عَلَیْهِ صَبْراً [A mercy from your Lord; and I did not do it of my own accord. That is the interpretation of that over which you could not have patience].