Al-Kahf · Makki · ayah 78 of 110

Al-Kahf 18:78

قَالَ هَـٰذَا فِرَاقُ بَيْنِى وَبَيْنِكَ ۚ سَأُنَبِّئُكَ بِتَأْوِيلِ مَا لَمْ تَسْتَطِع عَّلَيْهِ صَبْرًا

“[Al-Khiḍr] said, "This is parting between me and you. I will inform you of the interpretation of that about which you could not have patience.”

Saheeh International

Essence

He does not promise an explanation but an outcome, in a word whose picture is milk left to thicken.

A reflection

Not an explanation, an outcome

The word usually translated interpretation is not a word about meaning.

One lexicon gives its root as holding a beginning and an end at once. The first of a thing takes a word from it. So does returning, coming round to where a thing belongs.

And the picture is domestic. Milk is said to do this when it is left to settle and thickens into its final state.

The ibex was said to be named from the same root, for returning to the mountain when it needs safety. A man's household takes the word, because they are the ones whose return is to him, and his to them.

So the word means what a thing finally comes to.

Which changes what he is offering. He is not promising to justify himself. He is promising to tell Musa how each of the three things turned out.

That is a different gift, and most of us would rather have the other one.

A man shown a seedling can be told two things. Why somebody planted it, or what it will be in thirty years. The second is more useful and much harder to supply.

And there is a reason the outcome is the only thing on offer here. The reasons would have required Musa to have knowledge he did not have, which was the whole problem.

The outcomes only require him to wait and be told.

So the sentence is precise. Not: here is why I was right. Here is where each of those things ended up.

The full entry has 5 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.