Faaradna an yubdilahuma rabbuhuma khayran minhu zakatan waaqraba ruhman
English
Ahmed Ali
We hoped their Lord would give them a substitute better than him in virtue and goodness.
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Tafseer
'Abdullāh Ibn 'Abbās / Muḥammad al-Fīrūzabādī
تفسير : (and we intended that their lord should change him for them for one) another child (better in purity) righteous (and nearer to mercy) who is more keen to keep ties of kinship. allah gave them instead of him a girl who later married a prophet and from whom she gave birth to a prophet at whose hand a great number of people were guided. the son killed by khidr, whose name was jaysur, was, on the other hand, a disbeliever, a thief and a murderer. this is why khidr killed him.
Jalāl al-Dīn al-Maḥallī
تفسير : so we desired that their lord should give them in exchange (read yubaddilahumā or yubdilahumā) one better than him in purity, that is, in righteousness and god-fearing, and closer, than him, to mercy (read ruhman or ruhuman, in other words [it is to be understood as] rahmatan, ‘by way of mercy’) namely, [closer to] dutifulness towards his parents. thus god, exalted be he, gave them in exchange a girl, who [afterwards] married a prophet and gave birth to a prophet through whom god guided an entire community.
