Back to full surahأَمَّا السَّفِينَةُ فَكَانَتْ لِمَسَاكِينَ يَعْمَلُونَ فِي الْبَحْرِ فَأَرَدتُّ أَنْ أَعِيبَهَا وَكَانَ وَرَاءَهُم مَّلِكٌ يَأْخُذُ كُلَّ سَفِينَةٍ غَصْبًا ٧٩
Amma alssafeenatu fakanat limasakeena yaAAmaloona fee albahri faaradtu an aAAeebaha wakana waraahum malikun yakhuthu kulla safeenatin ghasban
As for the boat, that belonged to some poor people who used to toil for wages on the river. So I decided to make it defective (because) a (cruel) king was (standing) ahead of them, snatching every (undamaged) boat by force (from the owners without any compensation). (18:79)
Interpretations of why the Ship was damaged
This 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, who
يَأْخُذُ كُلَّ سَفِينَةٍ
(seized every boat), i.e., every good, sound boat
غَصْباً
(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.
