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Tafsir of Al-Kahf 18:77

Surah Al-Kahf 18:77

ﱛ ﱜ ﱝ ﱞ ﱟ ﱠ ﱡ ﱢ ﱣ ﱤ ﱥ ﱦ ﱧ ﱨ ﱩ ﱪ ﱫ ﱬ ﱭ ﱮ ﱯ ﱰ ﱱ ﱲ ﱳ

So they set out, until when they came to the people of a town, they asked its people for food, but they refused to offer them hospitality. And they found therein a wall about to collapse, so al-Khidh r restored it. [Moses] said, "If you wished, you could have taken for it a payment."

Tafsir

Al-Kashshaf

Verse range: 18:77

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{ أهل القرية } It is Antioch. It is also said to be Al-Ubulla, which is the furthest land on earth from the sky.

{ أن يضيفوهما } It is also read as *yudīfūhumā*. It is said: *ḍāfahu* (he became his guest). Its literal meaning is "to incline toward," derived from *ḍāfa al-sahm* (the arrow veered away from the target). Its counterpart is *zārahu* (he visited him), derived from *al-izwirār* (turning away). *Aḍāfahu* and *ḍayyafahū* mean: he provided him lodging and made him his guest. The Prophet (ﷺ) said: "They were the people of a village who were stingy." It is also said: "The worst of villages is that in which the guest is not hosted, and the rights of the wayfarer are not recognized."

{ يريد أن ينقض } "Wanting" (*irāda*) is used metaphorically here to mean proximity and being on the verge of something, just as "concern" (*hamm*) and "resolve" (*‘azm*) are used metaphorically for this. Al-Rā‘ī said: > *In a desert where their heads were anxious,* > *Like the splitting of axes when they are about to strike.*

And he said:

The spear wants [is about to] pierce the chest of Abū Barā’, And turns away from the destruction of the sons of ‘Aqīl.

And Hassān said:

If time brings my union with Jamala, It is a time that is concerned with kindness.

I have heard people say: "The lamp resolved to go out," and "It sought to go out." If speech, utterance, complaining, truthfulness, lying, silence, rebellion, refusal, pride, obedience, and the like are used metaphorically for inanimate objects and things that lack intellect, then what is the issue with "wanting" (irāda)? He said:

If the girths say to the belly: "Tighten," My teeth say to the date pit: "Crush." Play does not speak until the lute speaks, And he complained to me with tears and a whinny. If my suspicion is true, and he is my confirmer...

{ ولما سكت عن موسى الغضب } > *A rebel rebelled, and the piebald horse showed pride.*

And some say:

Its drowsiness refuses to settle on its eyelids, It is concerned, when worries lead it, to rebel. The buttocks and breasts refused for their garments To touch the bellies or to touch the backs.

{ قالتا أتينا طائعين } It has reached me that some who distort the words of Allah—those who do not know—would attribute the pronoun [in "they both said"] to Al-Khidr. Because of the affliction of ignorance and the sickness of understanding within them, they perceived the highest level of speech as the lowest in rank, so they resorted to far-fetched interpretations to bring it back to what they considered more correct and eloquent. In their view, the further something is from metaphor, the more it enters into the realm of the miraculous.

{ ينقض } It means to fall quickly, derived from the *inqiḍāḍ* (swooping) of a bird. It is the verb form, the passive of *qaḍaḍtuhu*. It is also said to be the *af‘ala* form of *naqḍ* (demolition), like *aḥmar* (red) from *ḥumra* (redness). It is also read as *an yanquḍa* (from *naqḍ*) and *an yanqāṣa* (from *inqāṣat al-sinn*—when a tooth splits lengthwise). Dhu al-Rumma said: > *...splitting and breaking.*

{ فأقامه } It is said: He set it upright with his hand. It is also said: He wiped it with his hand, and it stood up and leveled. It is also said: He set it up with a pillar he used to support it. It is also said: He demolished it and rebuilt it. It is said the wall was one hundred cubits high in the sky. The situation was one of necessity and poverty regarding food. Need had driven them to the last resort of a person, which is begging, yet they found no one to console them. When he set the wall upright, Moses could not restrain himself, seeing the deprivation and the touch of need, so he said: **{ If you had wished, you could have taken a payment for it }**—you could have requested a wage for your work so that we might recover and ward off necessity. It is also read as *lattakhadhta*. The *tā’* in *takhadha* is original, as in *tabi‘a* (to follow), and *ittakhadha* is the *ifti‘al* form of it, like *ittaba‘a* from *tabi‘a*; it has nothing to do with *akhdh* (taking).