English Translation

Abu Bakr Abdullah ibn Muhammad ibn Abi Shayba told me, Ubaydullah ibn Musa told us, from Isra'il, from Abu Ishaq, from Sa'id ibn Jubayr, from Ibn Abbas, who said: We were with him, and the people said: "Nawf al-Shami claims that the one who went seeking knowledge was not the Musa of the Children of Israel." Ibn Abbas had been reclining; he then sat up straight and said: "Is that so, O Sa'id?" I said: "Yes, I heard him say that." Ibn Abbas said: "Nawf has lied. Ubayy ibn Ka'b told me that he heard the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, say: 'The mercy of Allah be upon us and upon Salih; the mercy of Allah be upon us and upon the brother of Aad.'" Then he said: "Musa, peace be upon him, while delivering a sermon to his people one day, said to them: 'There is no one on earth more knowledgeable than me.' So Allah, blessed and exalted, revealed to him: 'There is on earth one more knowledgeable than you, and the sign of that is that you should take provisions of a salted fish; when you lose it, then he is there where you lost it.' So he took provisions of a salted fish, and he and his young companion set off until, when they reached the place they had been commanded to, and reached the rock, Musa went off to search, and his young companion placed the fish upon the rock; it stirred and took its way into the sea, tunnelling through. His young companion said: 'When the Prophet of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, comes I will tell him' — but Satan made him forget. So they went on, and they were struck by what strikes a traveler of exhaustion and fatigue, though he had not been struck by what strikes a traveler of exhaustion and fatigue until he had passed beyond what he had been commanded. Musa said to his young companion: 'Bring us our morning meal; we have certainly suffered exhaustion from this journey of ours.' His young companion said to him: 'O Prophet of Allah, do you see, when we took refuge at the rock, I indeed forgot to tell you — and none made me forget it except Satan — so it took its way into the sea, tunnelling through.' He said: 'That is what we were seeking.' So they returned, retracing their footsteps, tracking the path, until, when they reached the rock, he went around it, and there he was, wrapped in his garment. He greeted him with peace, and he raised his head and said to him: 'Who are you?' He said: 'Musa.' He said: 'Which Musa?' He said: 'The Musa of the Children of Israel.' He said: 'I was informed that you have knowledge, so I wished to accompany you.' He said: 'Indeed, you will never be able to have patience with me.' He said: 'You will find me, if Allah wills, patient, and I will not disobey you in any matter.' He said: 'How can you be patient concerning something you have not encompassed in knowledge?' He said: 'I have been commanded to do it.' He said: 'You will find me, if Allah wills, patient.' He said: 'Then if you follow me, do not ask me about anything until I myself make mention of it to you. So they set off until, when they had embarked on the ship,' someone who was in it got out, and he stayed behind to make a hole in it. Musa said to him: 'You make a hole in it to drown its people? You have certainly done a grave thing.' He said: 'Did I not say that you would never be able to have patience with me? Do not blame me for what I forgot and do not make my matter difficult for me.' Then they went on until they came upon boys playing on the seashore, among them a boy — there was no boy among them cleaner, meaning, than him — and he took him and killed him. Musa, peace be upon him, recoiled at that and said: 'Have you killed a pure soul for no other soul? You have certainly done a deplorable thing. He said: Did I not tell you that you would never be able to have patience with me?' He said: A sense of shame and embarrassment overtook him from his companion, and he said: 'If I ask you about anything after this, do not keep me as a companion; you have obtained from me an excuse. So they went on until, when they came to the people of a town,' a mean one, 'they asked its people for food,' and Musa, peace be upon him, was afflicted by hardship, but they did not host them. 'And they found in it a wall about to collapse, so he set it upright.' Musa said to him, because of the hardship that had befallen them: 'If you had wished, you could have taken payment for it. He said: This is the parting between me and you.' So Musa, peace be upon him, took hold of the edge of his garment and said: 'Tell me.' He said: 'As for the ship, it belonged to poor people working at sea,' 'and there was after them a king who seized every ship by force'; so whenever he passed it and saw it damaged, he would leave it, and its owners patched it with a piece of wood and benefited from it. As for the boy, he was created a disbeliever from the day he was created, and love for him had been cast into his parents' hearts, and had they obeyed him, he would have burdened them with tyranny and disbelief. So we intended that their Lord should replace him for them with one better in purity and closer in mercy. His father then had relations with his mother, and she conceived and bore from him one better in purity and closer in mercy. And as for the wall, it belonged to two orphan boys in the town, and beneath it was a treasure belonging to them, and their father had been righteous, so your Lord intended that they reach their maturity and extract their treasure, as a mercy from your Lord. And I did not do it of my own accord. That is the interpretation of that over which you could not have patience.'