that which Allah has taught me and you do not know, and you possess some of the knowledge of Allah that Allah has taught you which I do not know.'

Moses said: 'You will find me, if Allah wills, patient, and I will not disobey you in any order.' Al-Khidr said to him: 'If you follow me, then do not ask me about anything until I make mention of it to you.' So they set off walking along the seashore, and a ship passed by them, and they asked them to carry them. They recognized al-Khidr and carried him without a fee. When they boarded the ship, suddenly, al-Khidr pulled out a plank from the planks of the ship with an adze. Moses said to him: 'A people who carried us without a fee, you intend for their ship to drown its people? You have indeed done a grievous thing.' He said: 'Did I not say that you will not be able to have patience with me?' He said: 'Do not hold me accountable for what I forgot, and do not be hard upon me for my affair with difficulty.'

The Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said: 'The first [objection] from Moses was out of forgetfulness.' He said: 'A bird came and landed on the edge of the ship and pecked once in the sea. Al-Khidr said to him: 'My knowledge and your knowledge compared to the knowledge of Allah is only like what this bird has taken from this sea.' Then they exited the ship, and while they were walking on the shore, al-Khidr saw a boy playing with other boys. Al-Khidr took his head with his hand and pulled it off, killing him. Moses said to him: 'Have you killed a pure soul for other than [a soul for] a soul? You have indeed done a repulsive thing.' He said: 'Did I not tell you that you will not be able to have patience with me?' He said: 'This is more severe than the first. If I ask you about anything after this, then do not keep me as a companion; you have reached an excuse from me.' So they set off until they reached the people of a town; they asked its people for food, but they refused to host them. Then they found therein a wall that wanted to fall down—he said: 'leaning'—and al-Khidr took it with his hand like this and straightened it. Moses said: 'A people whom we came to and they did not feed us nor host us; if you had wished, you could have taken a payment for it.' He said: 'This is the parting between me and you. I will inform you of the interpretation of that which you could not have patience for.'

The Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said: 'We wish that Moses had remained patient so that Allah could relate to us more of their story.'

Sa'id ibn Jubayr said: 'Ibn Abbas used to recite: "And there was before them a king who would seize every good ship by force," and he used to recite: "And as for the boy, he was a disbeliever, and his parents were believers."

12876 - From Sa'id ibn Jubayr, he said: I was with Ibn Abbas in his house when he said: 'Ask me.' I said: 'O Abu Abbas, may Allah make me a ransom for you: there is a storyteller in Kufa called Nawf, who claims that he [the Moses of this story] is not the Moses of the Children of Israel.' He said: 'The enemy of Allah has lied! Ubayy ibn Ka'b narrated to me, he said: The Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said...'