'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful' Al-Khidr, peace be upon him, said: "This" meaning the time or the question. Since that was the reason for the separation or its place, he named it so in exaggeration and said: "A separation between me and you," O Musa, after there had been a connection between them, so there is no longer a connection. In reality, it is above what was connected between them, or the separation of the conversation that was between us, meaning the separation caused by the question. If it descends upon the intertwining, it becomes more apparent. Its estimation is: a separation between me from you as you have informed, and a separation between you from me as I have stipulated. This expression has established the separation in the most eloquent manner. That is because if a separation occurs between me from you by a barrier that intervenes between them, then it has occurred from you in the first place. Its reality is that the separation is the expansive void that separates between the two things, and it is distributed between them. So, the distance of each of them is from the midpoint of that void towards it. If something enters that void, it separates between them, and the distance of each of them is attributed to it, because it has become between what is attributed to each of them from the two separations. At that time, there will be a distinction between them, meaning that the distance of each of them is not the distance of the other. And whoever said that the meaning of "This is a separation between us" is the removal of the distinction and the existence of the connection, he has lied, for the meaning of "This is a connection between us" is the continuation. If this were the meaning of that as well, then the meaning that indicates connection would have united with the meaning that indicates separation. And Allah, glorified and exalted is He, alerted Musa, peace be upon him, as in the interpretation of Al-Asbahani and others, regarding what Al-Khidr, peace be upon him, did concerning what happened to him, equally and similarly. He alerted him through the breach of the ship, whose apparent meaning is destruction and its hidden meaning is salvation from the hand of the oppressor regarding the coffin that was sealed upon it and thrown into the sea out of fear for it from Pharaoh, the oppressor. Its apparent meaning was destruction and its hidden meaning was salvation. And by killing the boy, although he was protected from movement in the matter of killing the Egyptian, even though he did not know it at that time because he had not been informed. And by erecting the wall without payment for watering the daughters of Shu'ayb, peace be upon them, without payment while he was in need of that.

And since it is known how intensely Musa, peace be upon him, sought to understand the hidden aspects of these matters, he said in response to this question: "I will inform you," O Musa, with a promise that there is no contradiction in it, an immense informing "with the interpretation" meaning with the returning "of what you could not be patient with" due to its contradiction with your wisdom. This is that when two harms contradict, it is necessary to commit the lesser to avert the greater, provided that it is verified. And the letter of the imperative has been established here and in what preceded it, indicating that he did not negate except the profound ability to be patient, pointing to the difficulty of what Musa carried from that, not the absolute ability to be patient.