"So they went on till they came upon the people of a town and sought food from them. But they refused to show them any hospitality. Then they found therein a wall that was about to fall down; so he set it up straight. He said, 'Hadst thou willed, thou couldst have taken a wage for it.' He said, 'This is the parting between thee and me. I shall inform thee of the meaning of that which thou couldst not bear patiently:"
Quran 18:77-78
And here is the third action of Khidr that puzzles Moses, less horrifying than the killing of the young boy but more mysterious than carving the hole in the boat. Khidr is cutting ties with Moses, but he's also preparing to explain his actions, which we'll discuss tomorrow.
In the meantime, we can reflect upon Nasr's words in the commentary:
"Commentators read a moral lesson into Moses' protest and Khidr's reaction, namely, that doing a good deed and then seeking worldly reward for it nullifies the spiritual merit of the good deed. Spiritual virtue and perfection come from God and should be sought for their own sake, not for the sake of worldly reward. Some commentators also suggest that Moses' protest here was the last straw, because although Moses' earlier protests concerned the welfare of others (those on the ship, the young boy), his protest in this case arose from his own hunger and desire.
According to the interpretation of this account as a symbolic narrative for the journey of the soul, if the ship broken by Khidr represents the body 'broken' by spiritual exercises and asceticism, and the slain boy represents the lower soul inclined to evil, which is slain by overcoming the passions, then the repaired wall symbolizes the 'soul at peace', which can be restored through the perfecting of character and virtue once the bodily passions and the lower soul have been subdued." (p. 754)
Quran 18:77-78
And here is the third action of Khidr that puzzles Moses, less horrifying than the killing of the young boy but more mysterious than carving the hole in the boat. Khidr is cutting ties with Moses, but he's also preparing to explain his actions, which we'll discuss tomorrow.
In the meantime, we can reflect upon Nasr's words in the commentary:
"Commentators read a moral lesson into Moses' protest and Khidr's reaction, namely, that doing a good deed and then seeking worldly reward for it nullifies the spiritual merit of the good deed. Spiritual virtue and perfection come from God and should be sought for their own sake, not for the sake of worldly reward. Some commentators also suggest that Moses' protest here was the last straw, because although Moses' earlier protests concerned the welfare of others (those on the ship, the young boy), his protest in this case arose from his own hunger and desire.
According to the interpretation of this account as a symbolic narrative for the journey of the soul, if the ship broken by Khidr represents the body 'broken' by spiritual exercises and asceticism, and the slain boy represents the lower soul inclined to evil, which is slain by overcoming the passions, then the repaired wall symbolizes the 'soul at peace', which can be restored through the perfecting of character and virtue once the bodily passions and the lower soul have been subdued." (p. 754)
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