Surah 18:77

"So they both set out (and continued on) until, when they came to the people of a town, they asked its people for food, but they refused to offer them hospitality. They both found in it a wall on the verge of collapse, and he set it up. He said, ‘If you had wished, you could indeed have taken a reward for that.’"

Islamic Commentaries (1)Manuscripts (35)

The Story of repairing the Wall Verses 18:77-78

Show Full Scripture Context (18:77-78) — 2 Verses

Verse 77

فَٱنطَلَقَا حَتَّىٰٓ إِذَآ أَتَيَآ أَهۡلَ قَرۡيَةٍ ٱسۡتَطۡعَمَآ أَهۡلَهَا فَأَبَوۡاْ أَن يُضَيِّفُوهُمَا فَوَجَدَا فِيهَا جِدَارٗا يُرِيدُ أَن يَنقَضَّ فَأَقَامَهُۥۖ قَالَ لَوۡ شِئۡتَ لَتَّخَذۡتَ عَلَيۡهِ أَجۡرٗا

So they both set out (and continued on) until, when they came to the people of a town, they asked its people for food, but they refused to offer them hospitality. They both found in it a wall on the verge of collapse, and he set it up. He said, ‘If you had wished, you could indeed have taken a reward for that.’

Verse 78

قَالَ هَٰذَا فِرَاقُ بَيۡنِي وَبَيۡنِكَۚ سَأُنَبِّئُكَ بِتَأۡوِيلِ مَا لَمۡ تَسۡتَطِع عَّلَيۡهِ صَبۡرًا

He said, ‘This is the parting between me and you. (Now) I shall inform you about the interpretation of what you were not able (to have) patience with.

Allah tells us that

ithey both proceeded} after the first two instances,

4 till when they came to the people of a town, ^

Ibn Jarir narrated from Ibn Sirin that this was Al-Aylah. 1 ' 1 According to the Hadith;

uWhen they came there, the people of the town were mean.u^
i.e., miserly

ithey 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 Mttsa said to him:

ilfyou 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.

iHe 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.

41 will tell you the interpretation) meaning explanation,

4of (those) things over which you were not able to be patient.)

About this Source & Scholarly Authority (Tafsir Ibn Kathir)

Universal Sunni Consensus: Tafsir al-Qur'an al-Azim by Hafiz Ibn Kathir (701–774 AH / 1301–1373 AD) is universally regarded across all major schools of Sunni Islam (traditional, Salafi, Ash'ari) as the most authoritative classical exegesis. It is prized because it relies on Tafsir bil-Ma'thur—interpreting the Quran using the Quran itself, authentic Hadiths of Prophet Muhammad, and recorded statements of the early Companions (Sahabah).

Standard English Edition: This text is from the standard 10-volume English abridgment published by Dar-us-Salam Publications (supervised by Shaykh Safiur-Rahman Al-Mubarakpuri), which is the official, most widely distributed English Quranic commentary in mosques and Islamic libraries worldwide today.

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