The Al-Khidr Story

Musa comes across the Allah-guided unnamed Al-Khidr.

S 18:65-82 Then they found a slave of our slaves whom we had given mercy from us and had taught knowledge from us. 66 Musa said to him: Can I follow you that you may teach me of what you were taught as being well guided? 67 He said: You will not be able to have patience with me. 68 And how will you be patient about what you have not encompassed of in information? 69 He said: You will find me, if Allah wills, patient and I shall not disobey your command. 70 He said: So if you follow me, do not ask me about anything until I produce for you a recollection of it. 71 So they set out until when they embarked in the ship he pierced it. He said: Have you pierced it to drown its occupants? You have come up with an idiotic thing. 72 He said: Did I not say: You will not be able to have patience with me? 73 He said: Do not censure me for what I forgot nor cause me anxiety on account of my affair in difficulty. 74 Then they set out until when they met a boy; then he killed him. He said: Have you killed a pure soul for other than a soul? You have done an abominable thing. 75 He said: Did I not tell you you would not be able to have patience with me? 76 He said: If I ask you about anything after it, do not have me as a companion. You have reached an excuse from me. 77 So they set out until when they came to the people of a village they asked its people for food but they refused to offer them hospitality. Then they found therein a wall that wants to collapse so he raised it. He said: Had you willed you would have taken a wage for it. 78 He said: This is a parting between me and you. I shall inform you of an interpretation of what you were not able to have patience for. 79 As for the ship, it was poor people’s, working in the sea. So I wanted to render it defective and there was a king behind them taking every ship by force. 80 And as for the boy his parents were believers and we feared that he would weary them with oppression and kufr. 81 So we wanted their lord to change for them one better than he in zakah and closer in compassion. 82 And as for the wall, it belonged to two orphan boys in the city and a treasure for them was under it and their father was righteous. So your lord wanted them to reach their maturity and to take their treasure out as a mercy from your lord. And I did not do it on my command. That is an interpretation of what you were not able to have patience for.

He scuppers a ship on the grounds that a king was requisitioning vessels. If it's repairable, then the king might repair it. If not, the poor people are still inconvenienced.

He next comes across the boy. Who is/are "we" who feared his oppression and kufr? Is this Allah and Al-Khidr? Is Al-Khidr Allah? How was he killed? The Jalalayn give a few opinions on this matter:

So they set off after leaving the ship making their way on foot until when they met a boy who had not yet reached puberty playing with other boys among whom his face was the fairest — and he al-Khidr slew him by slitting his throat with a knife while he lay down or by tearing his head off with his hand or by smashing his head against a wall all of which are different opinions the coordinating fā’ of fa-qatalahu ‘and he slew him’ is used here because it indicates that the slaying took place after the encounter; the response to idhā ‘when’ is the following statement qāla … — he Moses said to him ‘Have you slain an innocent soul that is a pure one that had not reached the age of legal responsibility a variant reading for zākiya has zakiyya one slain not in retaliation for another soul? in other words one that has not slain any soul. Verily you have committed an dreadful thing’ read nukran or nukuran that is to say an abomination.

Altafsir.com - The Tafsirs - التفاسير

In a hadith we read that Allah had predestined the boy to be a disbeliever.

Narrated Ibn 'Abbas:

that Ubayy bin Ka'b narrated that the Prophet (ﷺ) said: "The boy that Al-Khidr killed was destined to be a disbeliever the day he was created.'"

https://sunnah.com/urn/641690

Sidenote: Isn't everyone supposedly born Muslim? Then what about the boy?

Continuing with the story we find that a wall wanted to collapse.

Compare. From Legends of the Jews, Chapter VII:

GOD'S JUSTICE VINDICATED

Among the many and various teachings dispensed by Elijah to his friends, there are none so important as his theodicy, the teachings vindicating God's justice in the administration of earthly affairs. He used many an opportunity to demonstrate it by precept and example. Once he granted his friend Rabbi Joshua ben Levi the fulfilment of any wish he might express, and all the Rabbi asked for was, that he might be permitted to accompany Elijah on his wanderings through the world. Elijah was prepared to gratify this wish. He only imposed the condition, that, however odd the Rabbi might think Elijah's actions, he was not to ask any explanation of them. If ever he demanded why, they would have to part company. So Elijah and the Rabbi fared forth together, and they journeyed on until they reached the house of a poor man, whose only earthly possession was a cow. The man and his wife were thoroughly good-hearted people, and they received the two wanderers with a cordial welcome. They invited the strangers into their house, set before them food and drink of the best they had, and made up a comfortable couch for them for the night. When Elijah and the Rabbi were ready to continue their journey on the following day, Elijah prayed that the cow belonging to his host might die. Before they left the house, the animal had expired. Rabbi Joshua was so shocked by the misfortune that had befallen the good people, he almost lost consciousness. He thought: "Is that to be the poor man's reward for all his kind services to us?" And he could not refrain from putting the question to Elijah. But Elijah reminded him of the condition imposed and accepted at the beginning of their journey, and they travelled on, the Rabbi's curiosity unappeased. That night they reached the house of a wealthy man, who did not pay his guest the courtesy of looking them in the face. Though they passed the night under his roof, he did not offer them food or drink. This rich man was desirous of having a wall repaired that had tumbled down. There was no need for him to take any steps to have it rebuilt, for, when Elijah left the house, he prayed that the wall might erect itself, and, lo! it stood upright. Rabbi Joshua was greatly amazed, but true to his promise he suppressed the question that rose to his lips. So the two travelled on again, until they reached an ornate synagogue, the seats in which were made of silver and gold. But the worshippers did not correspond in character to the magnificence of the building, for when it came to the point of satisfying the needs of the way-worn pilgrims, one of those present said: "There is not dearth of water and bread, and the strange travellers can stay in the synagogue, whither these refreshments can be brought to them." Early the next morning, when they were departing, Elijah wished those present in the synagogue in which they had lodged, that God might raise them all to be "heads." Rabbi Joshua again had to exercise great self-restraint, and not put into words the question that troubled him profoundly. In the next town, they were received with great affability, and served abundantly with all their tired bodies craved. On these kind hosts Elijah, on leaving, bestowed the wish that God might give them but a single head. Now the Rabbi could not hold himself in check any longer, and he demanded an explanation of Elijah's freakish actions. Elijah consented to clear up his conduct for Joshua before they separated from each other. He spoke as follows: "The poor man's cow was killed, because I knew that on the same day the death of his wife had been ordained in heaven, and I prayed to God to accept the loss of the poor man's property as a substitute for the poor man's wife. As for the rich man, there was a treasure hidden under the dilapidated wall, and, if he had rebuilt it, he would have found the gold; hence I set up the wall miraculously in order to deprive the curmudgeon of the valuable find. I wished that the inhospitable people assembled in the synagogue might have many heads, for a place of numerous leaders is bound to be ruined by reason of multiplicity of counsel and disputes. To the inhabitants of our last sojourning place, on the other hand, I wished a 'single head,' for the one to guide a town, success will attend all its undertakings. Know, then, that if thou seest an evil-doer prosper, it is not always unto his advantage, and if a righteous man suffers need and distress, think not God is unjust." After these words Elijah and Rabbi Joshua separated from each other, and each went his own way. Legends of the Jews index