A Discussion of the Narrations

Boarding the Ship and Making a Hole in It

From Ibn ʿAbbās, Ubayy ibn Kaʿb narrated that he heard the Messenger of God saying: “…So they set off… walking along the seashore when a ship passed by. They asked them for passage, and they recognized Khiḍr, so they carried him without charge. When they boarded the ship, suddenly Khiḍr pulled out a plank from the ship’s planks with an adze. Moses said to him: ‘These people carried us without charge, yet you deliberately damaged their ship…’ The Messenger of God said: ‘The first instance from Moses was due to forgetfulness…’”(262)

ʿAlī ibn Ibrāhīm said: Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn Bilāl narrated to me from Yūnus who said: Yūnus and Hishām ibn Ibrāhīm disagreed about the scholar whom Moses went to… So they wrote to Abū l-Ḥasan al-Riḍā (a.s.) asking him about this, and he wrote in response: “…The three of them proceeded until they reached the seashore where a ship was loaded and ready to cross. He said to the owners of the ship: ‘Carry these three persons, for they are righteous people.’ So they carried them. When the ship sailed into the sea, Khiḍr went to the sides of the ship, broke them, and filled them with holes and clay. Moses became extremely angry and said to Khiḍr: ‘Have you made a hole in it to drown its people?…’”(263)

Note: The essence of these two hadiths has been covered in the exegetical discussion. While some exegetical narrations clarify aspects of this story, certain details remain undisclosed. However, these details are not essential to the main themes, and their ambiguity does not affect the central message—such as the uncertainty regarding why the other passengers did not object to the ship being damaged. It is possible that they were absent at the time of the incident, having left the ship for some reason. Alternatively, they may have been present but unaware of the actions of God’s saint.