What Surah Kahf says about the relationship between parents and children - Part 3

The incident after Khidr kills the boy takes us directly to the next scene, where Musa and Khidr have been traveling for a long time, and they reach a town and ask for some food and assistance but they get denied.

In that same area, there is a wall that is collapsing, and Khidr helps the townspeople put the wall back up.

Why did Khidr help them without payment or food, even though they were rude and inhospitable to him?

Khidr helped them because underneath that wall was a treasure that belonged to two orphan boys, and at this stage, the orphan boys would have been taken advantage of and the treasurer would have been stolen from them since they have no authority or strength.

Allah inspired Khidr to rebuild the wall in order to keep the treasure hidden until the boys grew up and were strong enough to retrieve the treasure themselves.

But there’s another important factor in this story:

The father. 

Allah mentions it in the Qur’an directly:

وَأَمَّا الْجِدَارُ فَكَانَ لِغُلَامَيْنِ يَتِيمَيْنِ فِي الْمَدِينَةِ وَكَانَ تَحْتَهُ كَنزٌ لَّهُمَا وَكَانَ أَبُوهُمَا صَالِحًا فَأَرَادَ رَبُّكَ أَن يَبْلُغَا أَشُدَّهُمَا وَيَسْتَخْرِجَا كَنزَهُمَا رَحْمَةً مِّن رَّبِّكَ وَمَا فَعَلْتُهُ عَنْ أَمْرِي ذَٰلِكَ تَأْوِيلُ مَا لَمْ تَسْطِع عَّلَيْهِ صَبْرًا

And as for the wall, it belonged to two orphan boys in the city, and under the wall was a treasure that belonged to them, and their father had been a righteous man. So your Lord willed that these children should come of age and retrieve their treasure, as a mercy from your Lord. I did not do it ˹all˺ on my own. This is the explanation of what you could not bear patiently.

Surah al Kahf 18:82

What did Allah say about the father?

The father was a righteous man.

Because of his righteousness, Allah willed the father’s hidden treasure to reach his two boys at a later time.

This is an important lesson not in just being righteous and having taqwa, but also in taking action.

This righteous father didn’t just sit in the masjid and pray all day.

This father was a provider, and not only did he provide, he made sure he left something substantial for his family. 

He put his trust in Allah, and tied his camel.

He put his trust in Allah, and also put in the work, the effort.

You probably heard this phrase before, but it comes from a famous Hadith about belief and action:

Anas ibn Malik reported: A man said, “O Messenger of Allah, should I tie my camel and trust in Allah, or should I leave her untied and trust in Allah?” The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “Tie her and trust in Allah.”

Sunan al-Tirmidhi 2517

We can’t just keep making dua and not take the next steps in our lives. 

If you want results, you have to do your part while putting your trust in Allah.