Both of them walked on the river bank for a long time, till they saw a boat which was taking travelers to the other side of the river. The wise man and Moses joined the travelers and came to the other side of the river. To Moses’ surprise, his companion dug a hole in the boat.
“What have you done? This boat will drown the passengers. This is a very dangerous step you have taken,” said Moses abruptly.
“Have I not mentioned before that you would not be able to control yourself?” said the wise man.
Moses was sorry for his sudden outburst of anger and said, “I am really sorry, but it is my first mistake. You are a great man and people like you always overlook the first slips. I will not disobey you again.”
“Alright, if you insist on accompanying me, don’t ask me any questions about my actions until I talk about them myself,” said the wise man.
After this conversation, they embarked on a new journey. On the way, they met a young boy who was crossing the border of manhood. Moses’ companion killed the young man. Seeing this Moses again lost his control and said, “You have killed a human being who has not taken anyone’s life. It is indeed a very bad thing.”
“Have I not told you before that you would not be able to keep quiet?” said the wise man.
Moses was mortified by his second outburst, but he apologized for his mistake and begged to remain with the wise man. His apology was accepted and the journey restarted.
It was a long and tiring journey; both trudged on for a long time till they arrived at a village. In those days, it was a tradition to offer food and shelter to strangers, because there were no hotels. However, the inhabitants of that village didn’t honor the tradition. On the contrary, they jeered, humiliated, and scoffed at Moses and his companion and told them that they were tricksters who wanted free food without work.
“You both are strong and healthy, so go and work. You should be ashamed of yourselves bothering us poor people and not working.”
Moses was seething but controlled his anger. To his utter surprise, he saw that his companion was mending a wall which was about to fall. As he made the wall strong, Moses asked him a question: “Why have you worked for these rude villagers? If you wanted you could ask them for remuneration.
The wise man declared, “We must part now. However, before going I am going to explain my actions which you could not wait for my explanation. The boat in which I dug a hole belonged to honest hard- working laborers. They were earning their livelihood with this boat. There is a very cruel king living on the other side of the river who seizes all the good boats for his fleet. I dug a hole in it so the vicious king would refrain from confiscating a damaged boat.
“As for the juvenile delinquent, he was an unruly, rebellious, and wicked person who was always doing some abominable actions. His parents were god-fearing and virtuous persons. The fear was that he would implicate them in his unlawful activities because he had no respect or love for them. In order to save his parents from the injurious effects of his actions, I killed him. Now God is going to give the parents a son who will love and respect them.
“The last incident which shocked you was the repair of the wall. This wall belonged to two orphan boys in the village; their father was a very honest and hard-working man who had buried a treasure beneath the wall. If the wall had fallen the villagers could have discovered, taken and used the treasure. In order to prevent such an eventuality, I repaired the wall and made it strong. When the boys grow up they will get the treasure. These are the answers to your questions. Moreover, my actions were not based on my judgment; they were done under directions from God.” With these words, the wise man departed.
This is an open-ended story in the Quran, which can be interpreted in many ways. The technique used in this episode was not known before the time of the revelation of the Quran.
