Appearance
Moses’s Impatience with Khiḍr’s Teaching Method
Khiḍr responded to Moses’s request by saying that he would not have the capacity and patience for his teaching method, and would not be able to tolerate what he would witness during the course of learning: “Indeed, you will never be able to have patience with me.” This verse strongly negates Moses’s patience for what he would witness from Khiḍr during the course of instruction. As our teacher ʿAllāmah Ṭabāṭabāʾī explained, there are several indicators of this emphatic negation of Moses’s patience:
The emphasis of the statement with “inna.”
The indefinite form of “patience” (ṣabr) occurring in a negative context, which indicates universality.
The phrase “you will not have the power and capacity for patience”: “you will never be able to have patience with me,” which carries more emphasis than simply saying “you will not be patient” (lan taṣbir).