Tafseer of The Cave · Al-Kahf · 18:76
[Moses] said, "If I should ask you about anything after this, then do not keep me as a companion. You have obtained from me an excuse."
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The explanation of the words of Allah the Exalted: إِنْ سَأَلْتُكَ عَنْ شَيْءٍ بَعْدَهَا (18:76)
Mūsā said to him: إِنْ سَأَلْتُكَ عَنْ شَيْءٍ بَعْدَهَا — that is: after this time — فَلا تُصَاحِبْنِي — Allah says: then leave me, be no longer my companion — قَدْ بَلَغْتَ مِنْ لَدُنِّي عُذْرًا — Allah says: you have attained from me the excuse (al-ʿudhr); that is: you are fully justified with respect to me.
The reciters differed over the reading of this. The general reading of the reciters of Medina is مِنْ لَدُنِّي عُذْرًا with fatḥa on the lām, ḍamma on the dāl, and takhfīf (lightening) of the nūn. The general reading of the reciters of Kūfa and Baṣra is with fatḥa on the lām, ḍamma on the dāl, and tashdīd (doubling) of the nūn. Some reciters of Kūfa read with a light ḍamma on the lām, sukūn on the dāl, and takhfīf of the nūn.
Those who doubled the nūn did so because they wished to protect the nūn, which in "ladan" is naturally quiescent (sākin), from vocalization — by doubling it they avoid the necessity of a vowel, just as one does with "min" and "ʿan" when they are attached to the first-person pronoun, doubling them into "minnī" and "ʿannī." Those who lightened the nūn based themselves on the fact that the first-person pronoun in the genitive is merely a yāʾ without a nūn alongside it, and they treated "ladan" accordingly.
The correct view on this, in my opinion, is that they are two fully valid dialectal forms, both of which have been transmitted by the experts of Qurʾān recitation; whichever the reciter reads, he is correct. Nevertheless, I prefer the reading with fatḥa on the lām, ḍamma on the dāl, and tashdīd of the nūn — for two reasons: the first is that this is the better known of the two forms; the second is that Muḥammad ibn Nāfiʿ al-Baṣrī related to us; he said: Umayya ibn Khālid related to us; he said: Abū al-Jāriya al-ʿAbdī related to us, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, on the authority of Ubayy ibn Kaʿb, that the Prophet ﷺ read قَدْ بَلَغْتَ مِنْ لَدُنِّي عُذْرًا with tashdīd (doubling).
ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Ziyād related to me; he said: Ḥajjāj ibn Muḥammad related to us, on the authority of Ḥamza al-Zayyāt, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, on the authority of Ubayy ibn Kaʿb, on the authority of the Prophet ﷺ — the same. And he mentioned that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ recited this verse and said: "Mūsā felt ashamed before Allah."
Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us; he said: Badal ibn al-Muḥabbar related to us; he said: ʿAbbād ibn Rāshid related to us; he said: Dāwūd [related to us] concerning the word of Allah إِنْ سَأَلْتُكَ عَنْ شَيْءٍ بَعْدَهَا فَلا تُصَاحِبْنِي قَدْ بَلَغْتَ مِنْ لَدُنِّي عُذْرًا . He said: "The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: 'Mūsā felt ashamed before Allah on account of that.'"
ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Ziyād related to me; he said: Ḥajjāj ibn Muḥammad related to us, on the authority of Ḥamza al-Zayyāt, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, on the authority of Ubayy ibn Kaʿb. He said: "The Prophet ﷺ, whenever he mentioned someone and supplicated for him, used to begin with himself. One day he said: 'May Allah have mercy upon us and upon Mūsā — had he remained with his companion, he would have seen marvelous things. But he said: إِنْ سَأَلْتُكَ عَنْ شَيْءٍ بَعْدَهَا فَلا تُصَاحِبْنِي قَدْ بَلَغْتَ مِنْ لَدُنِّي عُذْرًا — with tashdīd.'"
