Allah (awj) knew that the continuation of the young man’s...

Allah (awj) knew that the continuation of the young man’s life would lead to nothing but more spiritual and material loss for him because he would mislead his believing parents, break apart family ties, and deprive them of the worldly and otherworldly blessings of faith for the family and for society.

Thus, since the good in his life up until that point had come to an end, Allah (awj) determined to terminate his life and put in place the means of taking his life—just as a person takes care of things as long as their good outweighs their harm, but then no longer takes an interest in them when that is not the case.

In this instance, though the soul was seized by the angel Jibra`il and his servants, Allah (awj) wished for the apparent executor of His will (ending the life of that young man) to be one of His chosen and merciful servants who had knowledge of His special sciences, namely Khidr (ع).

In other words, his action was based on Allah’s (awj) creational and legislative will with respect to the death of that young man, and in this respect his death was like all other deaths that are caused by accidents or other causes (with the difference that an accidental killing is not in accordance with Allah’s (awj) legislative will and He has not commanded it to take place; but the killing under discussion and all natural deaths take place in accordance with Allah’s (awj) permission and indication both legislatively and creationally [i.e.

natural causality]. Imam Ja’far b. Muhammad as-Sadiq (ع) solving this problem, says, “…Khidr’s concern was for events not to take such a turn that he would be prevented from carrying out what he was commanded, such that he would remain deprived of the reward of carrying out Allah’s will, that is, ending the life of that young man (the beginning and end of which are both in accordance with Divine grace and the greater good, not in accordance with what the human being deserves)—especially since carrying out this command was a source of mercy for the parents of that youth (since as the Qur`an clearly says, Khidr (ع) knew that in place of that son Allah would give them a child who would be pure and a source of unity for the family.