Moses’ Apology and the Meaning of Forgetfulness

Al-Khiḍr had made Moses promise not to question his actions. However, when Moses witnessed the piercing of the ship, he forgot his promise. When al-Khiḍr told him again that he could not bear to accompany him, Moses apologized and said with complete composure that he should not be held accountable for his forgetfulness and negligence, nor should he be put in difficulty because of his action, and asked him to be lenient regarding their companionship: “Do not hold me accountable for what I forgot, and do not make my matter difficult for me.”

Moses had truly forgotten that he was supposed to remain silent and not ask questions.

However, forgetfulness (nisyān) in this context does not carry a negative connotation. Rather, this type of forgetfulness is praiseworthy and differs from blameworthy forgetfulness (forgetting religious rulings) or ordinary forgetfulness that would cause people to lose trust and confidence in an infallible one (maʿṣūm). His forgetfulness was based on religious zeal and for the preservation of religious law and safeguarding of religion and divine revelation. Such forgetfulness will never cause people to lose their trust and confidence, nor is it improper or reprehensible. Therefore, attributing forgetfulness to Moses in this matter falls within the domain of divine authority (wilāya) and its mysteries, and the apparent incompatibility with religious law, not within the domain of religious law itself, because divine prophets are not subject to error or forgetfulness in receiving revelation and religious rulings.

Based on this, the view of some exegetes who have considered forgetfulness (nisyān) here to mean abandonment(239) is not complete, although forgetfulness sometimes carries the meaning of abandonment, as in the verse “Thus did Our signs come to you, but you forgot them, and thus will you be forgotten today”.(240) Forgetfulness meaning abandonment in this verse is not problematic because it comes with contextual evidence and represents deliberate abandonment as punishment, since God the Exalted says to the wrongdoer on the Day of Judgment that you deliberately turned away from Our signs, so We deliberately abandoned you, cast you aside, and removed you from Our mercy. However, in the verse under discussion, the context indicates otherwise, because if it meant deliberate abandonment, this would be incompatible with Moses’ commitment, since deliberately breaking a commitment is unethical. Therefore, interpreting forgetfulness as deliberate abandonment in the verse under discussion is incorrect.