Lesson 9: Setting forth how the slaying and poisoning of the goldsmith was (prompted) by Divine suggestion, not by sensual desire and wicked meditation.

Meaning: The killing of that man at the hands of the divine physician was done neither out of hope nor out of fear.

Meaning: He did not kill him to please the king, nor did he do so until the command and inspiration of God had come.

Meaning: As for the boy whose throat was cut by Khidr, ordinary people cannot grasp the secret behind it.

Meaning: He who receives revelation and answers from God, whatever he commands, is the absolute right and truth.

Meaning: He who bestows life may also rightfully take it, for he is the divine vicegerent, and his hand is the hand of God.

Meaning: Lay down your head before him like Ishmael, and surrender your life before his blade with joy and laughter.

Meaning: So that your soul may remain joyful forever, like the pure soul of Ahmad (Muhammad) in unity with the One.

Meaning: Lovers drink the cup of true joy only when the beloved ones slay them with their own hand.

Meaning: The king did not shed that blood out of lust; so let go of your suspicion and dispute.

Meaning: You imagined that he had committed impurity, but how could true purity allow any dross to pollute its clarity?

Meaning: This spiritual discipline and hardship are for the sole purpose that the furnace may purge the dross from the silver.

Meaning: The testing of good and bad exists so that the gold may boil, its dross rise to the surface, and be revealed.

Meaning: If his act had not been by divine inspiration, he would have been a tearing hound, not a king.

Meaning: He was pure of lust, greed, and passion; what he did was good, though it appeared evil to the eye.

Meaning: If Khidr broke the boat in the sea, within that breaking lies a hundred rightnesses.

Meaning: Even Moses's understanding, despite all his spiritual light and excellence, remained veiled from grasping that secret; so do not attempt to fly without wings.

Meaning: The goldsmith’s blood is in truth a red rose, so do not call it bloodshed or a crime; and the divine physician is intoxicated with divine wisdom, so do not call him mad.

Meaning: If shedding the blood of a Muslim had been his desire, then I would be an unbeliever were I ever to speak his name with praise.

Meaning: The divine Throne trembles at the praise of a wicked man, and the devout grow suspicious upon hearing such praise.

Meaning: He was a king and a deeply heedful king; he was among God's chosen ones, His own elect.

Meaning: Whoever is slain by such a king is, in fact, drawn toward good fortune and the finest of stations.

Meaning: Had he (the king) not seen his (the goldsmith's) benefit in his severity, how should that absolute Mercy have sought to act with severity?

Meaning: For instance, a child trembles in fear at the practitioner's needle, while the loving mother feels happy and relieved (knowing it is for her child's own good and well-being).

Meaning: He takes away a meagre half-life and bestows a hundred lives in return; he grants you what your imagination could never even conceive.

Meaning: You measure (the works of God and His saints) by your own standard, but look closely — see how far, how very far, you have strayed from the truth.