Maulana Wahiduddin Khan
Surah Al-Kahf
Surah 18 · Al-Kahf · verse 77 of 110

Quran 18:77 · Al-Kahf

فَٱنطَلَقَا حَتَّىٰٓ إِذَآ أَتَيَآ أَهۡلَ قَرۡيَةٍ ٱسۡتَطۡعَمَآ أَهۡلَهَا فَأَبَوۡاْ أَن يُضَيِّفُوهُمَا فَوَجَدَا فِيهَا جِدَارٗا يُرِيدُ أَن يَنقَضَّ فَأَقَامَهُۥۖ قَالَ لَوۡ شِئۡتَ لَتَّخَذۡتَ عَلَيۡهِ أَجۡرٗا

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

Translation: Sahih International
Maulana’s commentary · Tazkirul Quran

The Prophet Moses and Khidr, God’s favoured servants, who were very near to Him, wanted the local people of a place they had reached to treat them as guests and feed them. But they refused to do so. This shows that it is not enough for one simply to be in oneself righteous and truthful and to be in God’s favour, in order to have a place in others’ esteem. Had the people of that place recognized them, they would have certainly made them their guests and obtained their blessings. But due to their ordinary outward appearance, they ignored them. They could not see them in the light of their inner reality. In spite of this inhospitable treatment, Khidr repaired a crumbling wall belonging to the local people. The behaviour of God’s true and pious subjects with others is not retaliatory, but is always in accordance with the norms of justice and righteousness.

Maulana Wahiduddin Khan, Tazkirul Quran

In the lectures

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