The Holy Quran 18:79 — Surah Al-Kahf

Arabic text

أَمَّا ٱلسَّفِينَةُ فَكَانَتْ لِمَسَـٰكِينَ يَعْمَلُونَ فِى ٱلْبَحْرِ فَأَرَدتُّ أَنْ أَعِيبَهَا وَكَانَ وَرَآءَهُم مَّلِكٌ يَأْخُذُ كُلَّ سَفِينَةٍ غَصْبًا

Translation

"As for the boat (which I damaged), it belonged to a few poor persons who worked by the sea (whose livelihood depended on their boat). I wished to damage (spoil) it (their boat because) there was a king ahead of them who forcefully seized possession of every boat." (However, he would not seize their boat when he noticed that it was damaged. Thereafter, the poor persons could easily repair their boat and use it again instead of losing it altogether.)

Tafsir (excerpt) — Tafsir Usmani

That is, they earned their living by toiling at work on the river. That is, in the direction in which the boat was about to go there was a tyrannical king who would seize every good boat he saw, or press it into forced labour.

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