Allah Teaches Infanticide

 

The Quran speaks of several characters that never made it to the Bible.  One of these is Al Khidr.   In the Quran Al Khidr is a respected servant of Allah and he has some lessons to teach us.  But one of his lessons is quite disconcerting. 

Al Khidr means “Mr. Green”.  Apparently, according to the stories, he is called Mr. Green, because every time he sits on dry grass, the grass becomes green.  He was said to have existed in the time of Noah, attended the funerals of Aaron and Moses, and, if you can believe it, also the funeral of Muhammad!  The same guy apparently lived over a thousand years, because he is said to have drunk from the “fountain of youth”.  In Islam, Moses thought al Khidr was the most knowledgeable person of his time.

Al Khidr was apparently a good servant who had been taught knowledge of Allah.  Though not explicitly named in the Quran, some Qurans identify him in parentheses:

"And they found a servant from among Our servants [i.e., al-Khiḍr] to whom We had given mercy from Us and had taught him from Us a [certain] knowledge." Quran 18:65, Saheeh Intl

Now Al Khidr did a very evil thing:

"Then they both proceeded, till they met a boy, and he (Khidr) killed him. Mûsâ (Moses) said: "Have you killed an innocent person who had killed none? Verily, you have committed a thing Nukr (a great Munkar - prohibited, evil, dreadful thing)!" " Quran 18:74, Hilali-Khan

Moses rightfully reacts. “You have killed an innocent person!”  Al Khidr responds:

              (Khidr) said: "Did I not tell you that you can have no patience with me?" Quran 18:75

Al Khidr eventually explains.  It was a lesson for Moses.  The parents were believers, and that he feared that the boy would lead the parents into sin and disbelief:

"And as for the boy, his parents were believers, and we feared lest he should oppress them by rebellion and disbelief." Quran 18:80

However, the boy had committed no sin!  He was the son of a family of believers.  By the Islamic principle of Fitrah, he would have been a Muslim too.  But al Khidr feared future sin from the boy.  He thought the boy would be a troublemaker, so he killed him.  They boy was punished for a crime before committing any crime.  Many Muslims believe in fate and that you cannot change your fated destiny.  But to the rest of us, Allah slaughtered an innocent child.

Muslims might claim otherwise.  They might try reframing it as Allah killing someone who wanted to be evil.  But in Quran 18:80, it clearly says the reason for killing the boy, which was fear.  We see this in many of the English translations:

              "We feared that he would pressure them into defiance and disbelief." The Clear Quran

              "We feared he would overwhelm them with transgression and denial." Soliman Bridges

              "fearing he would trouble them through wickedness and disbelief,"  Abdul Hareem

"So I feared that if he grew up, he would cause them to disbelieve in Allah" Abridged Explanation of the Quran

Also, every single time the Arabic word is used in the Quran, it is rendered fear (see Corpus Quran here).  Al Khidr murdered the son out of fear.

Finishing the story, Allah plans to provide the parents a replacement son:

"So we desired that their Lord would give them in exchange (a son) better in purity (of conduct) and closer in affection. Quran 18:81, Yusuf Ali

The slaying by Al Khidr was very brutal.  From Tafsiral-Jalalayn on Q.18:74:

So they set off after leaving the ship making their way on foot until when they met a boy who had not yet reached puberty playing with other boys among whom his face was the fairest — and he al-Khidr slew him by slitting his throat with a knife while he lay down or by tearing his head off with his hand or by smashing his head against a wall all of which are different opinions the coordinating fā’ of fa-qatalahu ‘and he slew him’ is used here because it indicates that the slaying took place after the encounter; the response to idhā ‘when’ is the following statement qāla … — he Moses said to him ‘Have you slain an innocent soul that is a pure one that had not reached the age of legal responsibility a variant reading for zākiya has zakiyya one slain not in retaliation for another soul? in other words one that has not slain any soul. Verily you have committed an dreadful thing’ read nukran or nukuran that is to say an abomination.

This Tafsir here testifies that the boy was under the age of legal responsibility. 

By contrast, the Bible entrusts parents to raise their children up in righteousness:

 "Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it." Proverbs 22:6, NIV

The Bible does not instruct us to "kill the child if you fear rebellion".  Instead, parents are taught to train a child and help steer the path they take in life.  Good parenting helps mold a child and can save them from a lifetime of wrong decisions.

The al Khidr story only makes sense in a fatalistic world where free will does not exist.  In this world, there is nothing the parents could have done to instruct the boy to be good, for his fate had been pre-determined by Allah.  Islam presents a depressing world view.  

The truth is, God presents us with choices.  God calls us, and those he calls he provides the choice to either follow him or turn away from him:

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12, ESV

Jesus is calling you to follow him today.  Won't you open the Bible and learn more?