A Discussion of the Narrations

1) Identifying the Village as the City of “Nazareth”

From Abū ʿAbdallāh (a.s.): “It is a village on the seashore called Nazareth, and from it the Christians (Naṣārā) derived their name.”(360)

Note: Careful consideration is needed regarding both the name of such a village and such an etymology.

2) The Meanness of the Village People

From the Prophet (s.a.w.) who said: “They were mean village people.”(361)

Abū ʿAbdallāh (a.s.) said: “They did not host them both, and they will not host anyone after them until the Day of Resurrection.”(362)

Note: This tradition has been transmitted in an incomplete chain (mursal) from Imam al-Ṣādiq by al-Ṭabrisī(363), Mullā Fatḥ Allāh Kāshānī(364) (d. 988), al-Jazāʾirī(365) (d. 1112), and ʿAllāma al-Majlisī.(366) In another transmission it states: “…and they never hosted anyone and never fed a stranger…”(367)

If the nature of a group and the character of some people is base and vile, it is possible that over time, this ugly trait may remain in their lineage.

Turning away a guest is worse than not feeding someone who asks for food.

3) Raising the Wall Miraculously

From Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad (a.s.) who said: “…They found there a wall about to collapse, so he set it up straight”—al-Khiḍr placed his hand and “set it up straight”…(368)

From ʿAlī ibn Ibrāhīm: …al-Khiḍr looked at a wall that had shifted and was about to collapse. al-Khiḍr placed his hand on it and said: “Stand by God’s permission,” and it stood. Moses said: “You should not have set up the wall until they had fed us and given us shelter,” and this is referenced in God’s words—Mighty and Majestic: “If you had wished, you could have taken payment for it.”(369)

Note: As mentioned in the exegetical text, the setting up of the wall was an ordinary act, not in the form of a miracle or supernatural occurrence, because the apparent attribution of the action to a specific doer in “he set it up” (fa-aqāmahu) refers to building the wall in a natural way. However, if it is established through reliable traditions that its construction was done in an extraordinary way, that is, in the form of a miracle or supernatural occurrence, then after verifying the chain of transmission it would be completely acceptable.