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FAREWELL POSTINGS

When to Kill Your Progeny   

April 29, 2025

Almost six years on, and I still often wakeup in the middle of the night thinking of Lucette and needing her advice. Last night it was about adding an excerpt that would add more pages to an already lengthy text. As mentioned early on, Lucette planned her passing after becoming aware that the first draft of Remembering Uzza was complete.

Actually, there is a bit more to it than that. After 460+ pages she said it was enough and to end it. I ended it and a short time later she arranged her assisted suicide. Since what I want to add will keep the pages below what I consider her threshold, I think she will be okay with it.

After 460+ pages she said it was enough and to end it. I did, and a short time later she arranged her assisted suicide. Since what I want to add will keep the pages below what I consider her threshold, I think she will be okay with it. The excerpt that I have chosen to include here, after talking it over—yes, it was a somewhat a one-sided conversion, but a conversation nonetheless—contains revelations where Allah sanctions the killing of a son you fear will grow up to question His Revelations.

MOSES AND KHIDR

(Abbreviated from Shared Prophets, Boreal Books)

Moses and Khidr is about an expedition to the Red Sea during which Moses will be joined by a mysterious fellow by the name of Khidr. During their time together they will encounter a boy whom Khidr will kill without any hesitation or apparent provocation. The story of Moses and Khidr begins with Moses determined to find where the Gulf of Aqaba and the Gulf of Suez meet. Why Moses would want to do this is not mentioned.

18:60 And [remember] when Moses said to his servant (he is believed to be Joshua): “I will not give up until I reach the confluence of the two seas (the Gulf of Aqaba and the Gulf of Suez in the Red Sea), or else walk on for years.”

18:61 Then, when they reached their confluence, they forgot their fish, and thus it slipped into the sea unhindered.

18:62 But when they had passed on, he said to his servant: “Bring us our food; we have been exposed in our travels to a lot of fatigue.”

 18:63 He (the servant) said: “Do you see; when we repaired to the rock, I forgot the fish. It was only the Devil who made me forget it; and so it slipped away into the sea in a strange way.”

18:64 He (Moses) said: “This is what we were seeking”; and so they turned back retracing their steps.

On their way back they encounter Khidr, a servant of Allah who knows God’s mind.

18:65 And so they found one of Our servants whom We had accorded a mercy of our Own and had imparted to him knowledge from Ourselves.

What happened next requires little or no explanation.

18:66 Moses said to him (Khidr): “Shall I follow you so that you may teach me of the good you have been taught.”

18:67 He (Khidr) said: “You will not be able to bear with me.”

18:68 “And how will you bear with what you have no knowledge of?”

 18:69 He (Moses) said: “You will find me, Allah willing, patient and I will not disobey any orders of yours.”

18:70 He said: “If you follow me, do not ask me about anything, until I make mention of it.”

18:71 So, they set out; but no sooner had they boarded the ship that he made a hole in it. He (Moses) said: “Have you made a hole in it so as to drown its passengers? You have indeed done a grievous thing.”

 18:72 He (Khidr) said: “Did I not tell you that you will not be able to bear with me?”

18:73 He (Moses) said: “Do not reproach me for what I have forgotten, and do not overburden me with hardship.”

18:74 Then they departed; but when they met a boy, he (Khidr) killed him. Moses said: “Have you killed an innocent person who has not killed another? You have surely committed a horrible deed.”

18:75 He (Khidr) said: “Did I not tell you that you will not be able to bear with me?”

18:76 He (Moses) said: “If I ask about anything after this, do not keep company with me. You have received an excuse from me.”

18:77 So they went on, until they reached the inhabitants of a town. Whereupon they asked its inhabitants for food, but they refused to offer them hospitality. Then, they found in it a wall about to fall down, and so he (Khidr) straightened it. He (Moses) said: “Had you wished, you could have been paid for that.”

It is after they reach the town mentioned in Revelation 18:77 that Khidr explains why he sunk a ship drowning everyone on board and why he killed a seemingly innocent boy.

18:78 He (Khidr) said: “This is where we part company. [Now] I will tell you the interpretation of that which you could not bear patiently with.

The reason given for sinking the ship would justify the taking of innocent lives if it means denying your enemy a sought after prize.

18:79 “As for the ship, it belonged to some poor fellows who worked upon the sea. I wanted to damage it, because, on their trail, there was a king, who was seizing every ship by force.

As for the killing of the boy:

18:80 “As for the boy, his parents were believers; so we feared that he might overwhelm them with oppression and unbelief.

18:81 “So we wanted that their Lord might replace him with someone better in purity and closer to mercy.

For Allah, protecting the believers by killing unbelievers with whom they might come into contact and who might inadvertently lead them astray, even their children, is an act of mercy. The boy murdered by Khidr may not have been actively trying to convert his parents, but his normal familial contact with his mom and dad meant his parents were regularly exposed to other beliefs and other points of view. Better to kill a seemingly wayward child, or for some else to do so, and not risk Hell’s Fire.

In Islamic traditions, Khidr continues to guide the perplexed and those who invoke his name. Some believe he is an angel who functions as a guide to those who seek God; others that he is a perfect Wali, one whom God has taken as a friend, a Saint.