Surah Al-Kahf 18:60-70 - Quran Translation Commentary

60. And (remember) when Moosa said to his servant: “I will not give up until I reach the point where the two seas meet, though I may march on for ages.”⁸⁷

61. And when they reached the point where the two met, they forgot their fish, it took its way into the sea, being free.⁸⁸

62. And when they had gone further, Moosa said to his servant: “Bring us our food; we are tired from our traveling.”⁸⁹

63. He said :” Did you see that when we were resting on the rock, and I forgot the fish— and none but Satan caused me to forget to mention it—it took its way into the sea in an amazing way.”⁹⁰

64. He (Moosa) said : “This is what we had been seeking.”⁹¹ So they retraced their steps.⁹²

65. Then they found one of Our slaves, to whom We had given mercy from Us, and whom We had endowed with knowledge from Our presence.⁹³

66. Moosa said to him: “May I follow you so that you may teach me right judgment, which has been taught to you? “⁹⁴

67. He replied: “you will not be able to bear with me.”

68 ”How can you bear with that which is beyond your knowledge?”⁹⁵

69. Moosa said: “Allah willing, you will find me patient, and I will not disobey you in anything.”

70. He said : “If you are bent on following me, you must not question me about anything till I myself speak to you concerning it.”⁹⁶

Commentary

87. The contents of the verse show that Prophet Moosa was proceeding on a special mission on receiving a hint from Allah, and that mission was that he should meet a particular slave of Allah at a particular place to receive the benefit of his knowledge, concerning the hidden secrets behind the events taking place in this world, especially granted to him by Allah. Prophet Moosa had taken his servant with him and before embarking on this journey had informed him that however long it might take him to reach his destination, he would continue his journey, and that destination is the confluence of the two seas.

What are these two seas and where do they meet have not been clarified by Qur’an, because the purpose for which this chronicle is being unfolded did not need those details which were irrelevant. From the evidence available it can be surmised that Prophet Moosa might have undertaken this journey while he was staying in Sinai and the Bani Israil were subjected to the punishment of wandering in the Sinai Desert for forty years for avoiding to participate in the jihad. It is very unlikely that he would have left Bani Israil and undertaken such a long journey before this, nor is it likely that he would have undertaken this journey during his stay in Egypt, because at that time he was busy with the important duties of conveying the message of truth to Firaun, to convince him fully of the reasonableness of the dawah, and of freeing the Bani Israil from the tutelage of Firaun. Therefore, all evidences lead to the conclusion that this journey would have taken place during his stay in Sinai. And from this the conclusion can be drawn that the confluence of the two seas is that place where the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba meet. This place is in the south of the Sinai Peninsula near Sharm-al-Shaikh, where there are small islands, and in front of them, that is on the other bank of the Gulf of Aqaba, the region of Madyan lies.

88. In this journey Prophet Moosa was directed that he should take a fish with him, and where this fish would disappear would be his destination. This fish was kept by his servant in his tiffin box, and since through this the indication of the destination was to be had, it was necessary to be on the alert concerning it. But both of them forgot. Prophet Moosa was resting, but his servant saw the fish making its’ way into the water, and he forgot to mention it to Prophet Moosa, who also did not remember to inquire about the fish after awaking. The fish had become live and went into the sea from the tiffin box. This was a manifestation of Allah’s might, and it occurred because His messenger was to be guided towards his destination. It also shows that it is not at all difficult for Allah to revive any dead thing.

89. When they proceeded a little further from that place, prophet Moosa felt a little tired. Since they had gone further away from their destination, Allah caused Prophet Moosa to feel weary and tired. At that time he demanded from his servant his meal.

90. The servant admitting his forgetfulness, related to Prophet Moosa the amazing way of the fish reviving and finding its way into the sea, and blamed the devil for his forgetfulness, as he is known to prompt men to forget their important duties and indulge in other things.

91. That is: This is the place, the destination, which we were seeking. The revival of the fish and its finding its way into the sea in an amazing way indicates their arrival at the destination.

92. That is: Both of them retraced their steps, following the footprints left by them; they reached the rock where they had forgotten their fish. Footprints become very prominent in the desert. It appears that the particular rock was very near the seashore in the desert.

93. Near the rock they met a special slave of Allah, whose name in the hadith is given as Khidhr, ‘whom We had given mercy from Us’ means that he was blessed with prophethood, and ‘whom We had endowed with knowledge from our presence’, means that he was blessed with the knowledge of secrets behind the happenings. Further in the ayah No.82, the statement of this slave of Allah is narrated that what he did was not done by his own will, which proves that god’s command used to reach him through revelation and he used to act according to that. Such a revelation comes only to a Prophet, and on this very account his words are taken as the last word, the final judgment, only to be obeyed. So far as the general commentators are concerned they deem this slave of God to be a prophet. However, some think that he was an angel. Their contention is not supported by these words of the ayah: ‘To whom We had given mercy from Us’, for in the Qur’an nowhere such kind of a statement is made concerning an angel that he was blessed with or was given mercy by God. And angels are appointed for obeying the divine commands concerning creation or effecting changes. Therefore, the statement of being blessed with mercy cannot fit an angel but is quite appropriate for a prophet.

94. Allah had blessed the prophets with varying distinctions: Prophet Moosa was blessed with the honour of conversing with God, while Prophet Eesa was granted the miracle to revive the dead; Prophet Yusuf was given the knowledge of understanding the interpretation or dreams, while Prophet Sulaiman Was honoured with the gift of understanding the language of the birds. Similarly, Prophet Khidhr Was blessed with the talent of understanding the secrets behind the external events and conditions, which had developed in him an extraordinary ability of understanding the significance of the worldly events. Prophet Moosa was a very high-ranking prophet, who wanted to derive the benefit from this distinguishing knowledge of Prophet Khidhr, and for this very purpose he had undertaken this journey.

95. Prophet Khidhr used to take appropriate steps concerning the secrets of creation which used to be disclosed to him by Allah, but since Prophet Moosa was not in the know of the realities behind the secrets, he was justified in thinking the steps taken by Prophet Khidhr as wrong; and man comes to a decision only, after seeing the external appearance of things. Therefore, the misgivings of Prophet Khidhr were correct that Prophet Moosa would not be able to tolerate the extraordinary acts that he would perform.

96. This was a test of Prophet Moosa in the matter of attaining knowledge. The hard condition of not questioning him was imposed by Prophet Khidhr so that Prophet Moosa should clearly realise the true position about his knowledge and the nature of his work.