As for the ship which its people did good to us, I damaged it. It was for the poor. This is evidence for ash-Shafi'i that the poor is in a worse situation than the miskin, because these people own a ship that they work in the sea to help them with their livelihood.

And since the damage was from his action, he attributed it to himself specifically, out of respect for Allah, glorified and exalted is He, and said: 'So I intended to damage it.' For indeed, losing its benefit for an hour of the day and burdening its people with a plank to cover it is a lighter harm than losing its benefit entirely, by the king taking it. And I did not intend to drown its people as is commonly understood; then he added the reason for his action and said: 'And there was behind them,' meaning in front of them. Perhaps he expressed it with the word 'behind' as a metaphor for encompassing the matter in every direction that surrounded them and they surrounded it. Al-Harali explained it in Surah Al-Baqarah as being behind them in its absence from their knowledge, even though it was in front of them in their direction, because he explained 'behind' as that which cannot be perceived by the senses or knowledge, wherever it may be in place. He said: Perhaps it can be that something is behind in the sense that it is unknown, and it is in front in place.

'A king takes' at that time 'every ship' that has no defect 'by force' from its owners, and its owners had no knowledge of it.