قَالَ أَلَمْ أَقُلْ لَكَ إِنَّكَ لَنْ تَسْتَطِيعَ مَعِيَ صَبْرًا ﴿۷۵﴾ قَالَ إِنْ سَأَلْتُكَ عَنْ شَيْءٍ بَعْدَهَا فَلَا تُصَاحِبْنِي قَدْ بَلَغْتَ مِنْ لَدُنِّي عُذْرًا ﴿۷۶﴾ فَانْطَلَقَا حَتَّى إِذَا أَتَيَا أَهْلَ قَرْيَةٍ اسْتَطْعَمَا أَهْلَهَا فَأَبَوْا أَنْ يُضَيِّفُوهُمَا فَوَجَدَا فِيهَا جِدَارًا يُرِيدُ أَنْ يَنْقَضَّ فَأَقَامَهُ قَالَ لَوْ شِئْتَ لَاتَّخَذْتَ عَلَيْهِ أَجْرًا ﴿۷۷﴾

﴾75﴿ Qaala alam aqul laka innaka lan tastatee'a ma'iya sabraa
﴾76﴿ Qaala in sa altuka 'an shai'im ba'dahaa falaa tusaahibnee qad balaghta mil ladunnee 'uzraa
﴾78﴿ Fantalaqaa hattaaa izaaa atayaaa ahla qaryatinis tat'amaaa ahlahaa fa abaw any yudaiyifoohumaa fawajadaa feehaa jidaarany yureedu any yanqadda fa aqaamah; qaala law shi'ta lattakhazta 'alaihi ajraa

﴾75﴿ He said, Did I not tell you that you would never be able to have patience with me
﴾76﴿ Moses (peace be upon him) said, If I ask you about anything after this, then do not keep me in your company. Indeed, you have received an excuse from me
﴾77﴿ So they both set out until they came to the people of a town. They asked its inhabitants for food, but they refused to host them. Then they found a wall there that was about to collapse, so he set it upright. Moses (peace be upon him) said, If you had wished, you could have taken a payment for it

[75] This time he added the word laka (for you) because of the intensification of anger.
[76] In fa-lā tuṣāḥibnī (so do not accompany me), there is an indication that a person’s excuse is accepted twice, but on the third time, the excuse comes to an end.
And it is mentioned in a hadith: May Allah have mercy on Musa (peace be upon him), for he showed patience (and did not set this condition); otherwise, we would have heard more wonders.
[77] In (istaṭʿamā) (they asked for food), the intended meaning is hospitality, but the word ṭaʿām (food) has been applied to it. Then afterward, the term ḍiyāfah (hospitality) is used for it. This indicates that a type of food can be named ṭaʿām when attributed to those who eat it, and it can be called ḍiyāfah when related to the household providing it.
Benefit: Similarly, in jurisprudence, regarding ṭaʿām al-mayyit (the food of the deceased—which is a reprehensible innovation), the term ittikhādh al-ḍiyāfah (taking hospitality) is used, and also the phrase ṭaʿām al-ṭaʿām is applied. What is meant by this is charity distributed from the house of the deceased. Whether it is called this or that, by consensus it is an innovation and a practice of the ignorant era (Jāhiliyyah).
This verse is proof that in times of hunger, seeking provision is permissible, and this does not conflict with the status of prophethood.
When Musa (peace be upon him) reached Madyan and gave water to the flocks of Shu‘ayb’s daughters (peace be upon him), he did not ask them for food—but here, he did.
This points to the idea that when a person is alone, he should act according to ʿazīmah (firm resolve), but when with companions, he may follow the path of rukhsah (concession) out of consideration for them.
It is also possible that the hunger was not intense there, so asking was not appropriate, whereas here, hunger was severe—so he asked.
The wisdom behind this is that the first journey was a journey of migration, meant to rely solely on the support and help of Allah the Exalted. But this journey was one of discipline (ta’dīb), and it brought much hardship upon them.
As for the people of that town, they were miserly and base, but the greater obstacle was their polytheism and disbelief. They recognized Khidr (peace be upon him) as a caller to monotheism, and thus detested him.
In (law shi’ta lattakhadhta ʿalayhi ajran) (if you had wished, you could have taken a wage for it), the objection of Musa (peace be upon him) was that this people was polytheistic and vile (and he thought that the wall belonged to them)—so why show them kindness? Rather, due to necessity, you could have taken a wage from them.
The second meaning is: since you knew how to build walls, you could have taken a wage for this work, and from that we could have obtained food—thus there would have been no need to ask.