Then they came upon a servant of Ours, whom We had blessed with mercy from Us, and had taught him knowledge from Our Own.
Moses said to him, “May I follow you, so that you may teach me some of the guidance you were taught?”
He said, “You will not be able to endure with me.
And how will you endure what you have no knowledge of?”
He said, “You will find me, God willing, patient; and I will not disobey you in any order of yours.”
He said, “If you follow me, do not ask me about anything, until I myself make mention of it to you.”
So they set out. Until, when they had boarded the boat, he holed it. He said, “Did you hole it, to drown its passengers? You have done something awful.”
He said, “Did I not tell you that you will not be able to endure with me?”
He said, “Do not rebuke me for forgetting, and do not make my course difficult for me.”
Then they set out. Until, when they encountered a boy, he killed him. He said, “Did you kill a pure soul, who killed no one? You have done something terrible.”
He said, “Did I not tell you that you will not be able to endure with me?”
He said, “If I ask you about anything after this, then do not keep company with me. You have received excuses from me.”
So they set out. Until, when they reached the people of a town, they asked them for food, but they refused to offer them hospitality. There they found a wall about to collapse, and he repaired it. He said, “If you wanted, you could have obtained a payment for it.”
He said, “This is the parting between you and me. I will tell you the interpretation of what you were unable to endure.
As for the ship, it belonged to poor people working at sea. So I intended to cause defect in it as there was after them a king who seized every [good] ship by force.
And as for the boy, his parents were believers, and we feared that he would overburden them by transgression and disbelief.
So we intended that their Lord should substitute for them one better than him in purity and nearer to mercy.
And as for the wall, it belonged to two orphan boys in the city, and there was beneath it a treasure for them, and their father had been righteous. So your Lord intended that they reach maturity and extract their treasure, as a mercy from your Lord. And I did it not of my own accord. That is the interpretation of that about which you could not have patience.”
