Tafseer of The Cave · Al-Kahf · 18:77
So they set out, until when they came to the people of a town, they asked its people for food, but they refused to offer them hospitality. And they found therein a wall about to collapse, so al-Khidh r restored it. [Moses] said, "If you wished, you could have taken for it a payment."
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: فَانْطَلَقَا حَتَّى إِذَا أَتَيَا أَهْلَ قَرْيَةٍ اسْتَطْعَمَا أَهْلَهَا فَأَبَوْا أَنْ يُضَيِّفُوهُمَا فَوَجَدَا فِيهَا جِدَارًا يُرِيدُ أَنْ يَنْقَضَّ فَأَقَامَهُ قَالَ لَوْ شِئْتَ لاتَّخَذْتَ عَلَيْهِ أَجْرًا (18:77)
Allah the Exalted says: Mūsā and the learned one journeyed on حَتَّى إِذَا أَتَيَا أَهْلَ قَرْيَةٍ اسْتَطْعَمَا أَهْلَهَا — they asked them for food but were not fed; they asked for hospitality فَأَبَوْا أَنْ يُضَيِّفُوهُمَا فَوَجَدَا فِيهَا جِدَارًا يُرِيدُ أَنْ يَنْقَضَّ — they found in the village a wall that was about to fall and collapse. One says: "inqaḍḍat al-dār" when a house collapses and falls; hence also "inqiḍāḍ al-kawkab" — the falling down of a star, its dropping away from its place; hence the verse of Dhū al-Rumma:
فَانْقَضَّ كَالكَوكَبِ الدُّرِّيِّ مُنْصَلِتًا
(He shot down like a brilliant star, swift as an arrow.)
It is related from Yaḥyā ibn Yaʿmar that he read: "yanqāḍḍ" (with ā).
The Arabic language scholars differed about its meaning when read in this way. Some of the Baṣran scholars said: the meaning of "yanqāḍḍ" is "breaking loose from its root and cracking" — as one says: "inqāḍḍat al-sinn" (the tooth has split), that is: split from its root. One says: "a separation like the splitting of a tooth" — that is: without coming back together.
Some of the Kūfan scholars said: "al-inqiyāḍ" is the crack along the length of the wall, in the lining of a well, and in a person's tooth — one says: "inqāḍḍat sinnu-hu" when a tooth splits lengthwise.
It has been said that the village whose inhabitants Mūsā and his companion asked for food but who refused them hospitality was al-Ayla.
Those who said this are mentioned below:
Al-Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad al-Dharrāʿ related to me, saying: ʿImrān ibn al-Muʿtamir, the companion of al-Karābīsī, related to us, saying: Ḥammād Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Sīrīn. He said: "Visit al-Ayla, for whoever comes to it rarely returns empty-handed; it is the land whose people refused hospitality; it is the land of Allah furthest removed from the heaven."
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning فَانْطَلَقَا حَتَّى إِذَا أَتَيَا أَهْلَ قَرْيَةٍ — and he recited up to لاتَّخَذْتَ عَلَيْهِ أَجْرًا : "The worst of villages is the village that offers the traveler no hospitality and does not recognize the traveler's right."
The Arabic language scholars differed about the meaning of Allah's word يُرِيدُ أَنْ يَنْقَضَّ . Some of the Baṣran scholars said: a wall has no will, nor does the inanimate; but when it is in this state of decay, that is its "will" — as the Arabs say about other things:
يُرِيدُ الرُّمْحُ صَدْرَ أبِي بَرَاءٍ وَيَرْغَبُ عَنْ دِمَاءِ بَنِي عُقَيْلِ
(The lance wills the breast of Abū Barāʾ — but desires nothing of the blood of Banū ʿUqayl.)
Another scholar among them said: people were addressed in terms they understand; and because it was close to collapsing, it was permissible to say: "it wills to collapse." He said: "Similar is تَكَادُ السَّمَاوَاتُ يَتَفَطَّرْنَ and the expression: 'I nearly fly with joy' — though you are not at all close to that and do not strive for it, but the gravity of it for you makes such an expression possible."
Some of the Kūfan scholars said: "In Arabic it is customary to say: 'the wall wills to fall.'" He said: "Similar is the verse of the poet:
إِنَّ دَهْرًا يَلُفُّ شَمْلِي بِجُمْلٍ لَزَمَانٌ يَهُمُّ بِالإِحْسَانِ
(That a fate which gathers me together with Jumal — is indeed a time that intends kindness.)
And the verse of another:
يَشْكُو إِلَيَّ جَمَلِي طُولَ السُّرَى صَبْرًا جَمِيلا فَكِلانَا مُبْتَلى
(My camel complains to me of the length of the night journey — beautiful patience, for we are both tried.)
He said: 'The camel does not complain; but one speaks thus to say: if it could speak, it would say that.'" And likewise the verse of ʿAntara:
وَازْوَرَّ مِنْ وَقْعِ القَنَا بِلَبَانِهِ وَشَكَا إِلَيَّ بِعَبْرَةٍ وَتَحَمْحُمِ
(He turned aside from the striking of the lances upon his breast — and complained to me with a tear and a whinny.)
He said: "Likewise Allah's word: وَلَمَّا سَكَتَ عَنْ مُوسَى الْغَضَبُ — anger does not fall silent; only its possessor falls silent. The meaning is: it subsided." And His word فَإِذَا عَزَمَ الأَمْرُ — "the matter" does not decide; only its people decide.
Another scholar said: this belongs to the most eloquent Arabic; the "will" of the wall is its leaning, as the Prophet ﷺ said: "Let their two fires not see each other" — and by that he meant two fires each of which stands so close to the other that someone standing between them can see the other; similar is Allah's word concerning the idols: وَتَرَاهُمْ يَنْظُرُونَ إِلَيْكَ وَهُمْ لا يُبْصِرُونَ . The Arabs say: "My house looks toward the house of so-and-so" — meaning: how close they stand to each other. He proved this with the verse of Dhū al-Rumma describing a watering place or abandoned dwelling:
قَدْ كَادَ أَوْ قَدْ هَمَّ بِالبُيُودِ
(It was almost, or it had intended, to vanish.)
He said: "He presented it as though it had an intention — but the meaning is only: it had been altered by decay."
What we say about this: Allah, mighty be His mention, in His mercy has made speech available among His creation as a mercy for them — so that one may make clear to another what is within his innermost self, which their senses do not perceive. The Arabs understood the intent of the poet who said:
فِي مَهْمَةٍ قَلِقَتْ بِهِ هَامَاتُهَا قَلَقَ الفُئُوسِ إِذَا أَرَدْنَ نُصُولَا
(In a vast wasteland the skulls quivered — as axes quiver when they wish to lose their handles.)
They understood that axes are not described with the inner thoughts of the children of men, even though they are described as "wishing." They understood what the poet meant by:
كَمِثْلِ هَيْلِ النَّقَا طَافَ المُشَاةُ بِهِ يَنْهَالُ حِينًا وَيَنْهَاهُ الثَّرَى حِينًا
(Like the pouring-down of sand around which the walkers move — at times it pours away and at times the moist earth restrains it.)
The poet did not mean that the moist earth spoke; he meant that the moisture compacted the sand and prevented it from pouring away — so that its prevention of it was like the prohibition of those who possess speech. Likewise جِدَارًا يُرِيدُ أَنْ يَنْقَضَّ — it was known that the meaning is: it drew near to falling; Allah has spoken in the Qurʾān to those upon whose tongue the Arabic of the Revelation descended, and they understood what He meant by it — even though it is unfathomable to the dull and blind, and the ignorant and limited go astray in it.
His word فَأَقَامَهُ : it is related from Ibn ʿAbbās that he said: "He demolished it and sat down to rebuild it anew."
Ibn Ḥumayd related that to us, saying: Salama related to us, saying: Ibn Isḥāq related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan ibn ʿUmāra, on the authority of al-Ḥakam ibn ʿUtayba, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās.
And others said what al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Dīnār, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, concerning فَوَجَدَا فِيهَا جِدَارًا يُرِيدُ أَنْ يَنْقَضَّ . He said: "He set the wall upright with his hand and it stood straight."
The most correct view about this, in my opinion, is that Allah, mighty be His mention, has reported that the companion of Mūsā and Mūsā found a wall that was about to collapse; the companion of Mūsā set it upright — in the sense of: he corrected its leaning until it stood straight again.
It is possible that this was by restoration after demolition; it is also possible that it was by setting it upright with his hand, so that it became straight by Allah's power and its leaning departed from it by His grace. Neither the Book of Allah nor any unambiguous report indicates how it precisely was.
His word قَالَ لَوْ شِئْتَ لاتَّخَذْتَ عَلَيْهِ أَجْرًا : Mūsā said to his companion: "Had you wished, you would not have set up a wall for these people — unless they gave you a wage for it." Some said: by the "wage" in لَوْ شِئْتَ لاتَّخَذْتَ عَلَيْهِ أَجْرًا Mūsā meant food — that is: until they offer us hospitality, for they refused us hospitality.
Others said: by it he meant compensation and reward for setting up the leaning wall.
The reciters differed about its reading. The general reading of the reciters of Medina and Kūfa is لاتَّخَذْتَ عَلَيْهِ أَجْرًا — they took it as lā-ftaʿaltu from al-akhdh (taking). Some of the Baṣran reciters read: "la-takhidhta" with takhfīf (lightening) of the tāʾ and kasra of the khāʾ — its origin is lā-ftaʿaltu; but they treated the tāʾ as a root consonant, for the verb according to their view is: "takhidha fulān kadhā yatkhidhuhu takhdhan" — and that is a dialect which — as is mentioned — belongs to Hudhayl. One of the poets said:
وَقَدْ تَخِذَتْ رِجْلِي لَدَى جَنْبِ غَرْزِهَا نَسِيفًا كَأَفْحُوصِ القَطَاةِ المُطَرِّقِ
(My foot had acquired, beside her stirrup, a worn patch — like the nest of a fleeing sand-grouse.)
The most correct view about this, in my opinion, is that they are two well-known dialects of the Arabs with the same meaning; with whichever of the two the reader reads, he has done well. I, however, choose the reading with tashdīd (doubling) of the tāʾ — on the pattern of lā-ftaʿaltu — for that is the clearest and best-known of the two dialects and the most current on the tongues of the Arabs.
