Al-Khidr (a): Difference between revisions

According to a hadith in ''[[Sahih al-Bukhari]]'' and ''[[Sahih Muslim]]'', [['Abd Allah b. al-'Abbas]] had an argument with another person about the identity of Moses's master. So they went to [[Ubayy b. Ka'b]] to settle their dispute. He cited a remark by the [[Prophet Muhammad (s)]]: “Moses was among a group of Israelite people. Someone went to him and asked him if he knew anyone more knowledgeable and wiser than himself. “No!” replied Moses. Then God revealed to him that there was someone wiser than him: His servant, al-Khidr. Moses asked God how to meet him. God specified a fish as a sign and told him that when he lost the fish, he had to go back all the way to meet al-Khidr. This hadith from the Holy Prophet (s) mentioned the name of al-Khidr, and states that the reason why Moses departed to Majma' al-Bahrayn (the junction of two seas) was to meet al-Khidr.

According to another hadith, in response to [[Sa'id b. Jubayr]]'s question, Ibn al-'Abbas said that Moses (a) in this story is the well-known Israelite Prophet Moses, the son of Imran. He accused [[Nawf al-Bikali]] of lying because he took this Moses to be someone else, and on some accounts, he called him an enemy of God.

Many various elements of the story of Moses (a) and al-Khidr (a) in Islamic sources, especially Quranic exegeses, have their origin in [[Muqatil b. Sulayman]]'s views. In his exegesis, he tried to specify the exact locations of their travels and their motivations. He took al-Khidr (a) to be the Prophet Elisha, since his knowledge is as vast as the six skies and earths. According to Muqatil, he lived where the two rivers, Rass and Kurr, met on the other side of the [[Azerbaijan]] region and pour into the sea. On his account, Moses (a) met al-Khidr (a) in an island while wearing woolen clothes, and al-Khidr (a) immediately recognized him with his God-given knowledge. Muqatil interpreted the word, “mercy”, in the Holy Qur'an 18:56 as prophethood, and took al-Khidr (a) to be a prophet like Moses (a). For Muqatil, the superiority of Khidr's knowledge to Moses's is a matter of differences made by God between His prophets, not that al-Khidr had a position superior to prophethood.

Among the later exegetes of the Holy Qur'an, [[Fakhr al-Din al-Razi]] (d. 606/1209) investigated the story from different aspects in more detail. He emphasized that Moses (a) in these verses refers to Moses, the son of Imran, the well-known Israelite prophet to whom [[Torah]] is attributed, since according to an argument by [[Abu Bakr al-Qaffal al-Marwzi]] (d. 417/1026), if someone else (such as Moses b. Misha b. Joseph b. Jacob) was intended, there had to be distinguishing evidence and attributes, since the name, Moses, without any qualifications, refers to the well-known Moses (a). Fakhr al-Din al-Razi also concerned himself with other issues, including the master-commander relationship between Moses and al-Khidr, the theological problems of potency (istita'a) and the [[infallibility]] of prophets, and a [[jurisprudential]] issue about whether it is permissible, recommended or obligatory to give food.