Al-Khidr (a): Difference between revisions

Khidr's name is not mentioned in the Holy Qur'an, but in 18:60-82 there is a mysterious story of the Prophet Moses (a), meeting a righteous person, who is described as “one of Our servants, on whom We had bestowed Mercy from Ourselves and whom We had taught knowledge from Our Own Presence” (the Holy Qur'an, 18:65). Almost all Muslim scholars took this righteous servant of God to be al-Khidr (a).

Here is a summary of the story of Moses (a) and al-Khidr (a) as narrated by the Holy Qur'an:

Moses traveled to Majma' al-Bahrayn (the junction of two seas) together with a young man (according to Islamic sources, Moses's nephew and successor, [[Joshua]], the son of Nun). When Moses asked his companion to bring the fish they had taken with them to eat, Joshua told him that the fish had come back to life and entered the sea, and he forgot to let Moses know about this. Moses took this to be a sign of the person he was looking for. So they returned to the place where the fish had come back to life. They met a person who was endowed with divine mercy and knowledge. This person was al-Khidr (a). Moses (a) asked al-Khidr (a) to permit him to accompany him, but al-Khidr (a) told him: “you will not be able to have patience with me!” Moses (a) insisted on the company and so they moved on together provided that Moses (a) ask no questions about whatever actions he saw until the truth was revealed. They boarded a ship and al-Khidr (a) started to scuttle the ship. Moses (a) objected to him, and al-Khidr (a) reproached him for breaking his promise not to ask any questions. They moved on and saw a teenage boy on the way, and al-Khidr (a) abruptly killed the boy. Moses (a) objected to al-Khidr (a) again, and al-Khidr (a) reproached him for the second time. They then entered a village whose residents refused to give them food, but al-Khidr (a) started to reconstruct a wall in that village that was on the point of falling down. Again Moses (a) objected to him, and this time al-Khidr (a) told him that this was a parting between them. However, he explained the reasons behind his odd actions to Moses (a): he had scuttled the ship because it was owned by some poor people, and if it were scuttled, the king would withdraw from usurping the ship. He killed the teenage boy because he would lead his faithful parents to infidelity. And beneath that wall was a treasure belonging to two teenage orphans from a beneficent father, and the reconstruction of the wall would help them find it after their maturity.