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fa-nṭalaqā ḥattā ʾidhā laqiyā ghulāman fa-qatalahū qāla ʾa-qatalta nafsan zakiyyatan bi-ghayri nafsin la-qad jiʾta shayʾan nukran
So they went on until they came upon a boy, whereat he slew him. He said, ‘Did you slay an innocent soul, without [his having slain] anyone? You have certainly done a dire thing!’
— Ali Quli Qarai
Surah Al-Kahf – Verses 73 - 74
73. “He said: ‘Do not take me to task that I forgot, and be not hard upon me for my affair’.”
74. “So they twain departed; until, when they met a lad, he (Khidr) slew him. He (Moses) said: ‘Slew you an innocent person who had slain none? You have indeed done a horrible thing’.”
The Arabic term /’irhaq/ from the root /rahiqa/ means both ‘to encompass forcefully’, and ‘to impose a difficult task on any one’. Moses (as), who regretted for his haste, which was naturally for the importance of the event, remembered his promise and tried to excuse. He turned to the godly teacher and said:
The voyage of those two (Moses and Khidr) ended and they got out of the ship. They continued their way on the land. In their way, occasionally they met a young boy whom that learned man (Khidr) suddenly killed. The holy verse in this regard says:
Here, Moses (as) became inconvenient again. He saw the horrible scene of killing an innocent young boy, which had no legal permission. As if a curtain of sorrow and discontentment had fallen upon his eyes. It was so hard for him that he forgot his promise again and began protesting against that action. The verse says: