Surah Al Kahf Tafseer

Damaging the Boat

Allah tells:

فَانطَلَقَا حَتَّى إِذَا رَكِبَا فِي السَّفِينَةِ خَرَقَهَا قَالَ أَخَرَقْتَهَا لِتُغْرِقَ أَهْلَهَا

So they both proceeded, till, when they boarded the boat, he (Khidr) damaged it.

Musa said:"Have you damaged it wherein its people will drown!

Allah tells us that Musa and his companion Al-Khidr set out having come to an agreement and reached an understanding. Al-Khidr had made the condition that Musa should not ask him about anything he found distasteful until he himself initiated the discussion and offered an explanation. So they went on board the ship, as described in the Hadith quoted above -- the crew recognized Al-Khidr and let them ride on board free of charge, as an honor to Al-Khidr.

When the boat took them out to sea and they were far from the shore, Al-Khidr got up and damaged the boat, pulling out one of its planks and then patching it up again.

Musa, peace be upon him, could not restrain himself from denouncing him, so he said:

أَخَرَقْتَهَا لِتُغْرِقَ أَهْلَهَا

(Have you damaged it wherein its people will drown).

The grammatical structure of the sentence in Arabic implies that this was the consequence, not the purpose, of his action.

لَقَدْ جِيْتَ شَيْيًا إِمْرًا

Verily, you have committed a thing Imr.

About `Imr', Mujahid said:

"An evil thing."

Qatadah said,

"An astounding thing."

At this point, reminding him of the previously agreed condition,

قَالَ أَلَمْ أَقُلْ إِنَّكَ لَن تَسْتَطِيعَ مَعِيَ صَبْرًا