Tafseer of The Cave · Al-Kahf · 18:79
As for the ship, it belonged to poor people working at sea. So I intended to cause defect in it as there was after them a king who seized every [good] ship by force.
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: أَمَّا السَّفِينَةُ فَكَانَتْ لِمَسَاكِينَ يَعْمَلُونَ فِي الْبَحْرِ فَأَرَدْتُ أَنْ أَعِيبَهَا وَكَانَ وَرَاءَهُمْ مَلِكٌ يَأْخُذُ كُلَّ سَفِينَةٍ غَصْبًا (18:79)
Allah says: "As for my action with the ship — it was the property of poor people يَعْمَلُونَ فِي الْبَحْرِ فَأَرَدْتُ أَنْ أَعِيبَهَا — by the hole that I made in it."
As Ibn ʿAmr related to me; he said: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us; he said: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning فَأَرَدْتُ أَنْ أَعِيبَهَا . He said: "To make a hole in it."
Al-Ḥārith related to us; he said: al-Ḥasan related to us; he said: Warqāʾ related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid — the same.
Al-Qāsim related to us; he said: al-Ḥusayn related to us; he said: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj — the same.
His word وَكَانَ وَرَاءَهُمْ مَلِكٌ : there was before them and ahead of them a king.
As al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us; he said: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us; he said: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning وَكَانَ وَرَاءَهُمْ مَلِكٌ . Qatāda said: "Before them — do you not see that Allah says: مِنْ وَرَائِهِمْ جَهَنَّمُ and that is before them?"
Bishr related to us; he said: Yazīd related to us; he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda. He said: "In the reading it stood: 'There was before them a king who took every good ship by force.'" And it is related from Ibn ʿUyayna, on the authority of ʿAmr, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, that he read: "before them a king."
Abū Jaʿfar said: Some linguists regarded "warāʾ" as a word that has opposite meanings, and claimed that it can mean both "before" and "behind"; they proved that with the verse of the poet:
أَيَرْجُو بَنُو مَرْوَانَ سَمْعِي وَطَاعَتِي وَقَوْمِي تَمِيمٌ وَالفَلاةُ وَرَائِيَا
(Do the sons of Marwān hope for my hearing and obedience — while my people are Tamīm and the desert is before me?)
With the meaning "before me." But that scholar overlooked the correct position. One says of something that is before a person: "it is behind me" — for you are behind it; you will meet it as it will meet you; because it will encounter you, it is as if it is behind you and you have passed it. Some Kufan linguists do not permit saying of someone who stands before you: "he is behind me"; nor of someone behind you: "he is before me." They say: that is only permissible with epochs and times — as one says: "behind you is severe cold" and "before you is heat" — for you are behind it; it is permissible because it is something that is coming, so that when it reaches you it is as if behind you, and when you reach it as if before you.
His word يَأْخُذُ كُلَّ سَفِينَةٍ غَصْبًا : one may then ask: what did it avail the owners of the ship that the scholar made the hole, if the king seized all ships anyway — both damaged and undamaged? What was the justification of the hole, if he said that behind them was a king who took every ship by force? The answer: he took every undamaged ship by force — and left the damaged one; not that he took the good and the bad. If one asks: what is the proof of that? His word: فَأَرَدْتُ أَنْ أَعِيبَهَا — by it he made clear that he damaged it only because the damaged one was not claimed; he confined himself to that without saying: "behind them was a king who took every good ship by force" — whereas that is so in some readings.
Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us; he said: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us; he said: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda. He said: "In the reading of Ibn Masʿūd: 'behind them was a king who took every good ship (ṣāliḥa) by force.'"
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us; he said: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq. He said: al-Ḥasan ibn Dīnār related to me, on the authority of al-Ḥakam ibn ʿUyayna, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās. He said: "In the reading of Ubayy: 'behind them was a king who took every good ship (ṣāliḥa) by force' — and I only damaged it to ward him off from it."
Al-Qāsim related to us; he said: al-Ḥusayn related to us; he said: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, concerning وَكَانَ وَرَاءَهُمْ مَلِكٌ يَأْخُذُ كُلَّ سَفِينَةٍ غَصْبًا : "When they had passed him, they repaired it with pitch and continued to enjoy it." Ibn Jurayj said: "Wahb ibn Sulaymān informed me, on the authority of Shuʿayb al-Jabaʾī, that the name of the man who took every ship by force was Hudad ibn Budad."
