ONE AYAT A DAY
اَمَّا السَّفِيْنَةُ فَكَانَتْ لِمَسٰكِيْنَ يَعْمَلُوْنَ فِى الْبَحْرِ فَاَرَدْتُّ اَنْ اَعِيْبَهَاۗ وَكَانَ وَرَاۤءَهُمْ مَّلِكٌ يَّأْخُذُ كُلَّ سَفِيْنَةٍ غَصْبًا
Ammas-safīnatu fa kānat limasākīna ya‘malūna fil-baḥri fa arattu an a‘ībahā, wa kāna warā'ahum malikuy ya'khużu kulla safīnatin gaṣbā(n).
As for the ship, it belonged to poor people working at sea. So I intended to cause defect in it as there was after them a king who seized every [good] ship by force.
Interpretations of why the Ship was damagedThis is an explanation of what Musa found so hard to understand, and the appearence of which he condemed. Allah showed Al-Khidr the hidden reasons, so he said, "I damaged the ship to make it faulty, because they used to pass by a king who was one of the oppressors, whoيَأْخُذُ كُلَّ سَفِينَةٍ(seized every boat), i.e., every good, sound boatغَصْباً(by force.) `So I wanted to prevent him from taking this boat by making it appear faulty, so that its poor owners who had nothing else could benefit from it.' It was also said that they were orphans.