Surah Al-Kahf 18:67
سُورَةُ الكَهۡفِ · Meccan · Verse 67 of 110
قَالَ إِنَّكَ لَن تَسْتَطِيعَ مَعِىَ صَبْرًۭا
Translation
The man said, ‘You will not be able to bear with me patiently.
English translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem.
Meaning and reflection
'He said: You will not be able to have patience with me.' Ibn Ashur and al-Saadi note the teacher's opening warning, the lessons ahead will be unbearable to watch without understanding, and Musa's patience will fail precisely because he will see actions whose wisdom is hidden. Ask yourself: the very first thing the teacher predicts is not a lack of intelligence but a lack of patience, the hardest thing will be to witness what he cannot yet comprehend and hold back. It names the deepest human difficulty: to endure what I do not understand without protest. So much of my distress with God's decree is exactly this, I am shown events whose wisdom is concealed, and I cannot stay patient. The teacher's warning is really about my relationship with everything in my life I can't yet make sense of. Am I able to sit with the not-yet-understood, or does it always break my patience into protest?
Grounded in classical tafsir: Ibn Ashur, al-Saadi, al-Biqa'i.
Topics that discuss this verse
Surah Al-Kahf 18:67 is discussed in 6 study guides on Maani. Each guide gathers the key verses, Arabic words and lessons of one Quranic topic.
Reflect on this verse
Open Surah Al-Kahf 18:67 in Maani to reflect on it through the Five Lenses: its wording, its context, what it means for you, its connections across the Quran and its lessons, grounded in classical tafsir.