When stories are cited in the Qur’an, they are meant to be pondered upon and lessons are meant to be extracted from them; how much then, have you pondered upon the lessons in the beautiful story you read every Friday?
Suuratul Kahf, verse 74 tells us the story of the Prophet Musa and Khidr, who was sent by Allah and taught Musa some important lessons on their journey.
“So they set out, until when they met a boy, and al-Khidhr killed him. [Moses] said, “Have you killed a pure soul for other than [having killed] a soul? You have certainly done a deplorable thing.”
Did I say ‘beautiful story’? You may want to ask what’s beautiful about a messenger sent by God killing an innocent boy,
and if it had been your son in a similar situation – you may wonder if Allah is truly merciful; you may wonder why he would take your only son and allow such a little boy go through the pains of a gruesome murder.
The beauty in the story lies in the explanation Khidr would later give to Muusa during the latter stages of their journey, when he said:
“And as for the boy, his parents were believers, and we feared that he would overburden them by transgression and disbelief.”
-Sura Al-Kahf, Ayah 80
“So we intended that their Lord should substitute for them one better than him in purity and nearer to mercy.”
-Sura Al-Kahf, Ayah 81
The latter part of this story tells us that the boy was killed as an act of mercy upon his parents and even himself, for if he had been allowed to live longer, he would have died a disbeliever worthy of Jahannam and would have caused his parents to die as believers too.
Not only that, but even in worldly affairs, he would have been an undutiful child to his parents and would have caused them misery in this world even before they return to face Allah.
Out of Allah’s mercy however, he allowed the boy to be killed while he was young and innocent, so he would be of the people of paradise, and so Allah would replace him with a more pious and merciful child to his parents, and the parents would die as believers and all would be United again in Jannah.
Do you think about this story when something goes wrong? Do you think about it when you fail your exams, when you lose a contract, when you lose a loved one? Do you remeber this story and understand, that it may be that you nailing that which you wish would cause you unrest both in this world and the next?
Verily there is a reason behind The Prophet asking us to recite these verses every Friday – but if we do and the lessons in the stories are not applied to our lives, what do we gain then?
Lan Rey Hasan
