The story of Hazrat Khezr and a youth

One of questions that has been asked about the story of Khezr (peace be upon him) and Musa (peace be upon him) is '' why did Hazrat Khezr murder a youth whereas he had not committed any crimes? This matter has been questioned with different aspects which we will refer to them:

1. The jurisprudence aspect:

From the aspect of retributive jurisprudence, it is not legitimate and legal before someone committed any crimes to be punished. Now this question is asked '' how is the explanation of the action of Khezr from the point of view of the God religion?
2. What is difference between the science of Imam Ali (peace be upon him) about the future of Ibn Mojlam and his science toward the future of the youth?
When Imam Ali (peace be upon him) informed Ibn Moljam of his murder story and Ibn Moljam requested Imam Ali to murder him before he committed any crimes, Imam Ali( peace be upon him) said '' do you want me to punish before the crime has happened?
Whereas Hazrat Khezr knew that the youth had not committed any crimes and he would commit crimes in the future, he killed him.
Isn't there any responsibility for the prediction of Imam Ali (peace be upon him) in relation to Ibn Moljam? Isn't there any responsibility for the prediction of Hazrat Khezr (peace be upon him) in relation to the action of the youth in the future?
It is an attempt to analyze the action of Hazrat Khezr (peace be upon him) from the point of view of the necessity of religious and incipient systems and then we will compare the action of Hazrat Khezr (peace be upon him) and Imam Ali (peace be upon him).
 

Answer

The first remark: the religious and incipient system

a. the incipient system:

The necessity of the incipient system is creation, prudence and possession of the creatures of the world through cause and effect based on the province of God. In other words, each creature in the world is due to a certain reason and with certain regulations.
Using this regulation, a group has answered, Hazrat Khezr was not the religious emissary of God, but he was the incipient emissary. According to the prudence and wisdom of God, his mission from God was to do such action. The objection of Hazrat Musa has happened according to appearance and the religious system.

In other words, as God uses the angels and the creatures to follow a certain purpose and all of the creatures and the causes in the world are the emissaries of God. Therefore, Hazrat Khezr (peace be upon him) is the emissary of doing such affairs.
The sacred verse of 61 (Anam Surah) refers to such matter that God said

وَهُوَ الْقَاهِرُ فَوْقَ عِبَادِهِ وَيُرْسِلُ عَلَيْكُمْ حَفَظَةً حَتَّى إِذَا جَاءَ أَحَدَكُمُ الْمَوْتُ تَوَفَّتْهُ رُسُلُنَا وَهُمْ لَا يُفَرِّطُونَ.
He is the irresistible, (watching) from above over His worshippers, and He sets guardians over you. At length, when death approaches one of you, our angels take his soul, and they never fail in their duty.
In other words, the mission of Hazrat Khezr like an angel that takes over the soul was to take over the soul. As we know, Hazrat Musa could not tolerate the actions of Hazrat Khezr, therefore, their mission was different from each other. The mission of Hazrat Musa (peace be upon him) was related to the appearance of human and the mission of Khezr was the inner of human.

R K: Makarem Shirazi, Tafsir Nemune, v 12 p 507, 508, Tehran, Dar Al-Kotob Al-Eslamiye, Sixth Edition, 1368
Shoarani has written about this matter
لأن تلك الأفعال كانت من أحكام روح الإلهام الولائي.
These behaviors issue from the rules of the soul of inspiration.
Al-Shoarani, Abu Al-Mavaheb Abd Al-Vahab Ben Ahmad Ben Ali Al-Maruf (died in 973 hejira), Al-Tabaghat Al-Kobra Al-Mosamat Belvagheh Al-Anvar Fi Tabaghat Al-Akhyar, v 1 p 320, Published by: Dar Al-Kotob Al-Elmie, Beirut, 1418 hejira- 1997, First Edition, Researched by: Khalil Al-Mansur
Hazrat Khezr says at the end of this story
وَما فَعَلْتُهُ عَنْ أَمْري
I did it not of my own accord.
There are a lot of narrations in the Sunni sources that confirm this point of view. We will mention some of them:
1. Moslem narrates from Abi Bin Kaab that the prophet of the Islam said
إِنَّ الْغُلَامَ الذي قَتَلَهُ الْخَضِرُ طُبِعَ كَافِرًا وَلَوْ عَاشَ لَأَرْهَقَ أَبَوَيْهِ طُغْيَانًا وَكُفْرًا.
The young man who was killed by Khezr turned to be an apostate;( He would not believe in Islam), and had he lived, he would have killed his parents while he was an apostate
-Al-Neishaburi, Moslem Ben Al-Hajaj Abu Al-Hossein Al-Ghashiri (died in 261), Sahih Moslem, v 4 p 2050, hadith 2661, Published by: Dar Ehya Al-Torath Al-Arabi, Beirut, Researched by: Muhammad Foad Abd Al-Baghi
2. Ahmad Bin Hanbel narrates this narration from Ibn Abbas in this way that the prophet (peace of Allah be upon him and his descendants) said
الْغُلاَمُ الذي قَتَلَهُ الْخَضِرُ طُبِعَ كَافِراً زَادَ أبو الرَّبِيعِ في حَدِيثِهِ وَلَو أَدْرَكَ لا رهق أَبَوَيْهِ طُغْيَاناً وَكُفْرا.
The youth that Hazrat Khezr murdered had become an apostate and Abu Rabie said in his Hadith'' if he had been mature enough, he would have murdered his parents as he had become an apostate.
Al-Sheibani, Ahmad Ben Hanbal Abu Abdullah (died in 241 hejira), Mosnad Ahmad Ben Hanbal, v 5 p 274, no 21159, Published by: Ghartabat Institute, Egypt
What prudence and wisdom have caused such action and this mission? it can be understood from the appearance of the verse that the faith of the parents has a lot of value for God as much as God ordered to kill their child because he was not a righteous child so that God would grant them more righteous and better than him in order to keep their faith.
In fact, it was a favor that God granted to those two righteous persons.
Fakhr Razei has written about this matter
لأن بقاء ذلك الغلام حياً كان مفسدة للوالدين في دينهم وفي دنياهم ، ولعله علم بالوحي أن المضار الناشئة من قتل ذلك الغلام أقل من المضار الناشئة بسبب حصول تلك المفاسد للأبوين، فهلذا السبب أقدم على قتله.
The survival of the servant was a corruption for the parents in their religion life. Hazrat Khezr may have known through the revelation that disadvantages from the murder of the servant were less than his survival for his parents. Therefore, he decided to kill him.
Al-Razi Al-Shafei, Fakhr Al-Din Muhammad Ben Omar Al-Tamimi (died in 604), Al-Tafsir Al-Kabir Ao Mafatih Al-Gheib, v 21 p 136, Published by: Dar Al-Kotob Al-Elmie, Beirut, 1421 hejira- 2000, First Edition
R k, Muhammad Hossein Tabatabai, Tafsir Al-Mizan Fi Al-Quran, v 13 under the verse 82, Beirut, Dar Al-Matbuat Ala, First Edition

B: The religious system:

The religious system is the viable regulations and rules that God has considered to guide human and the person is obliged to act to these orders and religious rules with their choice. The rule of punishment before the occurrence of crime and the question presented in this area is in the limitation of the religious system.

According to this point of view, the son was a mature and obliged youth and the word '' servant'' is used for an immature youth. Fakhr Razei has written about this matter

أن لفظ الغلام قد يتناول الشاب البالغ بدليل أنه يقال رأى الشيخ خير من مشهد الغلام جعل الشيخ نقيضاً للغلام وذلك يدل على أن الغلام هو الشاب...
The word'' servant'' sometimes includes a mature youth because it is said '' the opinion of a mature person is better than the opinion of a young person''. In this example, the Sheikh is versus the servant because the servant is same youth.
Al-Razi Al-Shafei, Fakhr Al-Din Muhammad Ben Omar Al-Tamimi (died in 604), Al-Tafsir Al-Kabir Ao Mafatih Al-Gheib, v 21 p 132, Published by: Dar Al-Kotob Al-Elmie, Beirut, 1421 hejira- 2000, First Edition
Since Hazrat Musa (peace be upon him)says to Hazrat Khezr ( peace be upon him) in his objection '' did you kill a pure soul without punishment ?'' , it demonstrates that he was mature because if he had not been mature and he had killed someone , his rule would have not been sentenced. The sin of the mature youth was apostate because his parents were devout and he was born from devout patents and after they believed in God, they became unbeliever and apostate. in addition, the punishment of the person that has become apostate is murder whether he repents or not.
...فكون الغلام حينذاك كافرا دليل كونه مكلفا! و كون أبويه مؤمنين يجعله مرتدا فطريا يستحق القتل و لا يستتاب و إن تاب لم تقبل، فخشية ارهاقه إياهما طغيانا و كفرا يهدّر دمه ثانيا بعد تهدره بارتداده، ... فحتى لو كان غير بالغ لكان يحق القتل دفعا للإفساد المحتوم.
The youth was unbeliever and obliged. Because his parents were devout, he was considered as an inner apostate and was deserved to be sentenced.
If he repents apparently, it will not be accepted. The fear of his parent's murder by the youth from blasphemy wasted his blood after he became apostate. Even if he had been immature, he should have been killed in order to prevent from the corruption.
Consequently, the youth was murdered due to his crimes and Hazrat Khezr () relates his action to his crimes in the future because he wants to say '' he is not only doing crimes now, but he will also commit greater crimes in the future. Hence, he was killed according to the religious rules due to his crimes not he was sentenced before he committed any crimes.

The second remark: the comparison of the action of Hazrat Khezr and Imam Ali (peace be upon him)

It has been said in the Shiite and Sunni sources with several documents that Imam Ali (peace be upon him and his descendants) was martyred and Ibn Moljam has been introduced as his murder. Deceased Sheikh Mofid has said
وروى جعفر بن سليمان الضبعي عن المعلى بن زياد قال : جاء عبد الرحمن بن ملجم - لعنه الله - إلى أمير المؤمنين عليه السلام يستحمله ، فقال له : يا أمير المؤمنين ، إحملني . فنظر إليه أمير المؤمنين عليه السلام ثم قال له " أنت عبد الرحمن بن ملجم المرادي ؟ " قال : نعم . قال : " أنت عبد الرحمن بن ملجم المرادي ؟ " قال . نعم . قال . " يا غزوان ، أحمله على الأشقر " فجاء بفرس أشقر فركبه ابن ملجم المرادي وأخذ بعنانه ، فلما ولى قال أمير المؤمنين عليه السلام :
" أريد حباءه ويريد قتلي عذيرك من خليلك من مراد "
قال : فلما كان من أمره ما كان ، وضرب أمير المؤمنين عليه السلام قبض عليه وقد خرج من المسجد ، فجئ به إلى أمير المؤمنين ، فقال عليه السلام : " والله لقد كنت أصنع بك ما أصنع ، وأنا أعلم أنك قاتلي ، ولكن كنت أفعل ذلك بك لأستظهر بالله عليك " .
Abd Al-Rahman Bin Moljam came to Amir Momenan (peace be upon him) and asked him a horse. Imam Ali (peace be upon him) looked at him and said '' are you Abd Al-Rahman Bin Moljam Moradi? He said '' yes''. Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said '' O' Ghazvan! Have him sit on the red horse. He brought a red horse and Ibn Moljam sat on it and held the rein of the horse. When he came back, Amir Momenan said '' I want to give him a gift, but he wants to kill me''. Can you bring one of your friends from the Bani Morad Tribe to help you? (Reference to the poem of Umarv Bin Madikerb).
When Ibn Moljam did his intention and wounded Ibn Moljam, he was arrested when leaving the mosque and they brought him to Amir Momenan (peace be upon him). Then Amir Momenan (peace be upon him) said '' I swear God that I granted you the gift although I knew that you would be my murder. However, I did it so that God would be my companion against you.