Surah Al-Kahf: Verse 77 - فانطلقا حتى إذا أتيا أهل... - English

Tafsir of Verse 77, Surah Al-Kahf

فَٱنطَلَقَا حَتَّىٰٓ إِذَآ أَتَيَآ أَهْلَ قَرْيَةٍ ٱسْتَطْعَمَآ أَهْلَهَا فَأَبَوْا۟ أَن يُضَيِّفُوهُمَا فَوَجَدَا فِيهَا جِدَارًا يُرِيدُ أَن يَنقَضَّ فَأَقَامَهُۥ ۖ قَالَ لَوْ شِئْتَ لَتَّخَذْتَ عَلَيْهِ أَجْرًا

English Translation

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."

English Transliteration

Faintalaqa hatta itha ataya ahla qaryatin istatAAama ahlaha faabaw an yudayyifoohuma fawajada feeha jidaran yureedu an yanqadda faaqamahu qala law shita laittakhathta AAalayhi ajran

Tafsir of Verse 77

So they departed; until, when they reached the people of a city, they asked the people for food, but they refused to receive them hospitably. There they found a wall about to tumble down, and so he set it up. He said, 'If thou hadst wished, thou couldst have taken a wage for that.'

Then they proceeded: until, when they came to the inhabitants of a town, they asked them for food, but they refused them hospitality. They found there a wall on the point of falling down, but he set it up straight. (Moses) said: "If thou hadst wished, surely thou couldst have exacted some recompense for it!"

The habitation mentioned أَهْلَ قَرْ‌يَةٍ (the people of a town - 77) which Sayyidna Musa and al-Khadir (علیہ السلام) passed through and whose inhabitants refused to host them was Antakiah, as in the report of Sayyidna Ibn ` Abbas ؓ ، and Aikah, as in the report of Ibn Sirin. It has also been reported from Sayyidna Abu Hurairah ؓ that it was some habitation of al-Andulus (Spain) (Mazhari). Allah knows best.

The Story of repairing the Wall Allah tells us that

فَانطَلَقَا

(they both proceeded) after the first two instances,

حَتَّى إِذَآ أَتَيَآ أَهْلَ قَرْيَةٍ

(till when they came to the people of a town,) Ibn Jarir narrated from Ibn Sirin that this was Al-Aylah. According to the Hadith;

«حَتَّى إِذَا أَتَيَا أَهْلَ قَرْيَةٍ لِئَامًا»

(When they came there, the people of the town were mean.) i.e., miserly

اسْتَطْعَمَآ أَهْلَهَا فَأَبَوْاْ أَن يُضَيِّفُوهُمَا فَوَجَدَا فِيهَا جِدَاراً يُرِيدُ أَن يَنقَضَّ

(they asked them for food, but they refused to entertain them. Then they found therein a wall about to collapse and he (Khidr) set it up straight.) means, he fixed it so it was standing upright properly. We have already seen in the Hadith quoted above that he set it up with his own hands, supporting it until it was standing straight again, which is something extraordinary. At this point Musa said to him:

لَوْ شِئْتَ لاَتَّخَذْتَ عَلَيْهِ أَجْراً

(If you had wished, surely you could have taken wages for it!) meaning, because they did not entertain us as guests, you should not have worked for them for free.

قَالَ هَـذَا فِرَاقُ بَيْنِى وَبَيْنِكَ

(He said: "This is the parting between you and I) meaning, because you said after the boy was killed that if you asked me anything after that, you would not accompany me any further. So this is the parting of the ways between me and you.

سَأُنَبِّئُكَ بِتَأْوِيلِ

(I will tell you the interpretation) meaning explanation,

مَا لَمْ تَسْطِـع عَّلَيْهِ صَبْراً

(of (those) things over which you were not able to be patient.)

Verse 77 - Surah Al-Kahf: (فانطلقا حتى إذا أتيا أهل قرية استطعما أهلها فأبوا أن يضيفوهما فوجدا فيها جدارا يريد أن ينقض فأقامه ۖ قال...) - English