English Translation

Muhammad ibn Ya'qub Abu al-Haytham al-Zubali told me, he said: Mu'tamir ibn Sulayman told us, he said: I heard my father — Raqaba told us, from Abu Ishaq, from Sa'id ibn Jubayr, from Ibn Abbas: Ubayy ibn Ka'b told us, he said: I heard the Prophet of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, say: "While Musa, peace be upon him, was among his people reminding them of the days of Allah" — and the days of Allah are His blessings and His trials — "he said: 'I do not know of anyone on earth better than me or more knowledgeable than me.'" He said: "So Allah, blessed and exalted, revealed to him: 'I know better who is better, or with whom it is; there is a man on earth who is more knowledgeable than you.'" He said: "'O Lord, direct me to him.'" So it was said to him: "Take provisions of a salted fish." So he did, then he went out and met al-Khidr, and matters proceeded between them as they did, until at the end of it they passed by a town whose people were mean, so they went around the gatherings asking for food, but they refused to host them. Then he narrated to him the account of the ship, and that he had only made a hole in it so that the king would pass it by and not want it. As for the boy, he was created a disbeliever from the day he was created; his parents had shown him affection, and had he lived to reach maturity, he would have burdened them with tyranny and disbelief. As for the wall, it belonged to two orphan boys in the town.