Surah Al-Kahf 18:80
سُورَةُ الكَهۡفِ · Meccan · Verse 80 of 110
وَأَمَّا ٱلْغُلَٰمُ فَكَانَ أَبَوَاهُ مُؤْمِنَيْنِ فَخَشِينَآ أَن يُرْهِقَهُمَا طُغْيَٰنًۭا وَكُفْرًۭا
Translation
The young boy had parents who were people of faith, and so, fearing he would trouble them through wickedness and disbelief,
English translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem.
Meaning and reflection
'And as for the boy, his parents were believers, and we feared he would overburden them with rebellion and disbelief.' al-Saadi and Ibn Kathir note the second, hardest revelation, the child's death, so monstrous to Musa, was mercy toward his believing parents, sparing them a future of grief and a son who would have dragged them toward ruin. Ask yourself: the most morally unbearable event of the three turns out to have been merciful in a way utterly invisible in the moment, protecting a future no one but God could see. It does not make the loss painless, but it dismantles the certainty that such a loss cannot be part of a merciful plan. The events I find most impossible to reconcile with God's mercy are precisely the ones whose wisdom is most hidden from me. When I face the loss that seems to prove God is not merciful, can I remember the boy, and hold that a mercy I cannot see may be exactly what is at work?
Grounded in classical tafsir: al-Saadi, Ibn Kathir, Ibn Ashur.
Topics that discuss this verse
Surah Al-Kahf 18:80 is discussed in 8 study guides on Maani. Each guide gathers the key verses, Arabic words and lessons of one Quranic topic.
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