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Surah 18. Al-Kahf, Ayah 77

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فَٱنطَلَقَا حَتَّىٰٓ إِذَآ أَتَيَآ أَهْلَ قَرْيَةٍ ٱسْتَطْعَمَآ أَهْلَهَا فَأَبَوْا۟ أَن يُضَيِّفُوهُمَا فَوَجَدَا فِيهَا جِدَارًا يُرِيدُ أَن يَنقَضَّ فَأَقَامَهُۥ ۖ قَالَ لَوْ شِئْتَ لَتَّخَذْتَ عَلَيْهِ أَجْرًا
Fa i n t alaq a h att a i tha atay a ahla qaryatin ista t AAam a ahlah a faabaw an yu d ayyifoohum a fawajad a feeh a jid a ran yureedu an yanqa dd a faaq a mahu q a la law shita la i ttakha th ta AAalayhi ajr a n
And so the two went on, till, when they came upon some village people, they asked them76 for food; but those [people] refused them all hospitality. And they saw in that [village] a wall which was on the point of tumbling down, and [the sage] rebuilt it - [whereupon Moses] said: "Hadst thou so wished, surely thou couldst [at least] have obtained some payment for it?"
  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "asked its people".

They travelled on until they came to the people of a town. They asked them for some food, but they refused to receive them as their guests. There they found a wall on the point of falling down, so he restored it. Musa said: "If you wanted you could demand some payment for it!"
  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik
So they moved on until they came to the people of a town. They asked them for food, but the people refused to give them hospitality. There they found a wall ready to collapse, so the man set it right. Moses protested, 'If you wanted, you could have demanded a fee for this.'
  - Mustafa Khattab
So they twain journeyed on till, when they came unto the folk of a certain township, they asked its folk for food, but they refused to make them guests. And they found therein a wall upon the point of falling into ruin, and he repaired it. (Moses) said : If thou hadst wished, thou couldst have taken payment for it.
  - Marmaduke Pickthall
Then they proceeded: until when they came to the inhabitants of a town they asked them for food but they refused them hospitality. They found there a wall on the point of falling down but he set it up straight. (Moses) said: "If thou hadst wished surely thou couldst have exacted some recompense for it!" 2419 2420
  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

As they were refused hospitality, they should, as self-respecting men, have shaken the dust of the town off their feet, or shown their indignation in some way. Instead of that, Khidhr actually goes and does a benevolent act. He rebuilds for them a falling wall, and never asks for any compensation for it. Perhaps he employed local workmen for it and paid them wages, thus actually benefiting a town which had treated him and his companion so shabbily! Moses is naturally surprised and asks, "Could you not at least have asked for the cost?"

The inhabitants were churlish. They broke the universal Eastern rule of hospitality to strangers, and thus showed themselves beyond the pale of ordinary human courtesies. Note that they would have been expected to offer hospitality of themselves, unasked. Here Moses and his companion actually had to ask for hospitality and were refused point-blank.

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