Tafsir

The Story of killing the Boyفَانطَلَقَا(Then they both proceeded,) means, after the first incident,حَتَّى إِذَا لَقِيَا غُلاَمًا فَقَتَلَهُ(till they met a boy, and he (Khidr) killed him.) It has been stated previously that this boy was playing with other boys in one of the towns, and that Al-Khidr deliberately singled him out. He was the finest and most handsome of them all, and Al-Khidr killed him.

When Musa, peace be upon him, saw that he denounced him even more fervently than in the first case, and said hastily:أَقَتَلْتَ نَفْسًا زَكِيَّةً(Have you killed an innocent person) meaning, a young person who had not yet committed any sin or done anything wrong, yet you killed himبِغَيْرِ نَفْسٍ(without Nafs) with no reason for killing him.لَّقَدْ جِئْتَ شَيْئاً نُّكْراً(Verily, you have committed a thing Nukr!) meaning, something that is clearly evil.قَالَ أَلَمْ أَقُلْ لَّكَ إِنَّكَ لَن تَسْتَطِيعَ مَعِىَ صَبْراً (He said: "Did I not tell you that you can have no patience with me") Once again, Al-Khidr reiterates the condition set in the first place, so Musa says to him:إِن سَأَلْتُكَ عَن شَىْءٍ بَعْدَهَا(If I ask you anything after this,) meaning, `if I object to anything else you do after this,'فَلاَ تُصَاحِبْنِى قَدْ بَلَغْتَ مِن لَّدُنِّى عُذْراً(keep me not in your company, you have received an excuse from me.) `you have accepted my apology twice.' Ibn Jarir narrated from Ibn `Abbas that Ubayy bin Ka`b said: "Whenever the Prophet mentioned anyone, he would pray for himself first.

One day he said:«رَحْمَةُ اللهِ عَلَيْنَا وَعَلَى مُوسَى لَوْ لَبِثَ مَعَ صَاحِبِهِ لَأَبْصَرَ الْعَجَبَ، وَلَكِنَّهُ قَالَ:إِن سَأَلْتُكَ عَن شَىْءٍ بَعْدَهَا فَلاَ تُصَاحِبْنِى قَدْ بَلَغْتَ مِن لَّدُنِّى عُذْراً»(May the mercy of Allah be upon us and upon Musa. If he had stayed with his companion he would have seen wonders, but he said, (`If I ask you anything after this, keep me not in your company, you have received an excuse from me.'))"

We now move to the sentence: حَتَّىٰ إِذَا لَقِيَا غُلَامًا (until when they met a boy -74). The word: غُلَام (ghulam) in the text is used for a minor boy in the Arabic usage. This boy killed by al-Khadir (علیہ السلام) was a minor - as corroborated by Sayyidna Ibn ` Abbas ؓ and most commentators. Further on, when the words: نَفْسًا زَكِيَّةً (innocent person) were used for him, that too supports the view that he was a minor. The reason is that زَكِيَّةً (zakiyyah) means 'free of sin' and it can be either the attribute of a prophet or a minor child who faces no accounting for what is done by him and no sin is written in his Book of Deeds.

فقبل الخَضِر عذره، ثم خرجا من السفينة، فبينما هما يمشيان على الساحل إذ أبصرا غلامًا يلعب مع الغلمان، فقتله الخَضِر، فأنكر موسى عليه وقال: كيف قتلت نفسًا طاهرة لم تبلغ حدَّ التكليف، ولم تقتل نفسًا، حتى تستحق القتل بها؟ لقد فَعَلْتَ أمرًا منكرًا عظيمًا.

يقول تعالى : ( فانطلقا ) أي : بعد ذلك ، ( حتى إذا لقيا غلاما فقتله ) وقد تقدم أنه كان يلعب مع الغلمان في قرية من القرى ، وأنه عمد إليه من بينهم ، وكان أحسنهم وأجملهم وأوضأهم فقتله ، فروي أنه احتز رأسه ، وقيل : رضخه بحجر . وفي رواية : اقتطفه بيده . والله أعلم .فلما شاهد موسى ، عليه السلام ، هذا أنكره أشد من الأول ، وبادر فقال : ( أقتلت نفسا زكية ) أي صغيرة لم تعمل الحنث ، ولا حملت إثما بعد ، فقتلته ؟ ! ( بغير نفس ) أي : بغير مستند لقتله ( لقد جئت شيئا نكرا ) أي ظاهر النكارة .