(77) Then they set off until when they reached some dwellers of a village, they asked its dwellers for food but they ˹resolutely˺ denied[3908] them hospitality. Then they found a wall about to tumble down and he (al-Khiḍr) set it straight. He (Mūsā) said: “If you will, you may have asked payment for it!”
[3908] Abaw (lit. they refused) is for ibā’ which is adamant refusal (cf. Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs al-Lughah, al-Iṣfahānī, al-Mufradāt). The people of the town were extremely mean folk (cf. Muslim: 2380, al-Ṭabarī, Ibn ʿAṭiyyah, Ibn ʿĀshūr).