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Al-Khidhr and Moses (PUT)
Al-Khidhr is the scholar and the faithful man that was appointed by Quran
[please refer to the chapter of Al-Kahf:65] and the most famous saying
is that his name was Elias (Elijah) ben Milkân ben `Âmir ben
Arfakhshad ben Shem ben Noah (PUH)[most probably this is the ancestry as
in Torah: ben Joktan ben Eber ben Arpachshad ben Shem ben Noah, but the
name Shelah is not mentioned in the Arabic version so it is not mentioned
here in this notation], this is the most famous ancestry as copied from
our scholars, and some said his name is Khidhrawaih ben Qâbil (Cain)
ben Adam, and some said his name is Khadhrun, and there are other sayings,
it is said that he was called Al-Khidhr because because whenever he used
to sit on a plain ground then this piece of earth would shake and turn
green [Arabic: Green = Akhdhar] as it was mentioned, and he was at the
head of the army of Ðul-Qarnain when he entered into the darkness and
drank of the water of life, and Ðul-Qarnain was seeking that spring,
and when he knew that he drank of it he said to him: you are its owner
and your life will span until the doomsday, and the speech about this is
mentioned before in the chapter of Ðul-Qarnain, and some say he is
one of the prophets, and some said that he is a prophet and a messanger,
and others said that he is a viceroy but not a prophet, and the last opinion
is the one mostly famous for the public, and about his father they said
he is Adam, and others said he is the son of the pharaoh, and the son of
Esau ben Isaac, and the son of Kilyân, and the son of Milkân
and the last one is the most famous.
As it is mentioned by Al-Bukhâri that he denies that he (Al-Khidhr)
is still alive, and also by Muslim, and they brought the clue for his death
from a prophetic narration (by the prophet PUH), and one scholar was asked
about this matter so he mentioned God's saying: We appointed immortality
for no mortal before thee(Al-Anbiyâ':34), and as attributed to Ibn
Taymiyah he said: if Al-Khidhr was alive then he should had come to the
prophet (PUH) and fight under his command and learn from him.
And as attributed to Ibrâhim Al-Harbi about this matter, he had
a long talk that points out that it is impossible that he is still alive
and that nothing did make the people believe in that except of the devil.
Lot of scholars of the public believe that he is dead and maybe this matter
is not something to discuss with other muslims.
But as attributed to our Imam, Al-Ridhâ (PUH) that he said: when
the prophet (PUH) died, Al-Khidhr came and stood at the door of the house
and there were `Ali and Fâtimah and Al-Hasan and Al-Husain (PUT)
all are inside and the prophet was laid down with a cloth over him, and
he said: peace upon you O people of the house, every soul will taste the
death and your rewards will be fulfilled at the doomsday, God had made
descendants for every dead and a sympathy for every adversity and a chance
with everything that passes by, so depend on Him and trust Him and I shall
ask for forgiveness from God for me and for you, so then the prince of
believers (PUH) said: this is my brother Al-Khidhr came to have sympathy
with you for your prophet.
The pray of Kumail [a famous pray for Shiites, usually read every Thursday
at night, and it is full of self-humiliation towards God] the well-known
in the books of prays and it is the one that the prince of believers (PUH)
taught to Kumail ben Ziyâd is actually for Al-Khidhr (PUH), and in
the books of prays it is mentioned that this pray is originally was for
Al-Khidhr, as it is one of natural things, although it is not necessary
that he was there at that time but they all do understand that from the
saying of the prince of believers (PUH): it is the pray of my brother Al-Khidhr,
and it is well known for them that the pray of visiting the prince of believers
at the day of his death, the twenty first of Ramadhan is also for Al-Khidhr.
It is mentioned that at the day that the prince of believers (PUH)
had died, a man with fine looks and a white beard came to the house of
the prince of believers in Kufa and got his head from the door looking
at those who were sitting inside and the people were gathering around Al-Hasan
(PUH) and he spoke these words as a sympathy for Al-Hasan and his brother
Al-Husain (PUT) for the death of their father, so he said: may God has
mercy upon you O father of Al-Hasan, you were the first to be a muslim
and the purist in faith, and the most confident, and fearing God the most,
... and it is a long talk that is used to visit the prince of believers
in that day of each year, and some of it is that: you were his (the prophet)
viceroy truely with no arguments and did not care about the claims of hypocrites
and the anger of the disbelievers and the hate of enviers and the hate
of the wrong-doers, and also from it: you were, by God, the bee of the
religion, you were for the disbelievers a torture and for the believers
a fort, and you went so far away, and made people after you so tired. All
of that carry the clues that it is a speech of a holy person that knows
better the value of the prince of believers, check it back in references
such as those for Al-Kaf`umi and Al-Mazâr Al-Kabeer and so on, and
there is no need to discuss longer for what there is no doubt about, about
the existance of Al-Khidhr (PUH) until this very day, add to that that
there are many speeches and narrations that mention that Al-Khidhr will
be out one day with the last viceroy (Al-Mahdi) and be one of his soldiers,
may our souls be a ransom for him, and may peace be upon them and mercy
of God and His blessings, so let us back to our subject may God make success
for us.
God did say: And when Moses said unto his servant: I will not give
up until I reach the point where the two rivers meet, though I march on
for ages. And when they reached the point where the two met, they forgot
their fish, and it took its way into the waters, being free. And when they
had gone further, he said unto his servant: Bring us our breakfast. Verily
we have found fatigue in this our journey. He said: Didst thou see, when
we took refuge on the rock, and I forgot the fish - and none but Satan
caused me to forget to mention it - it took its way into the waters by
a marvel. He said: This is that which we have been seeking. So they retraced
their steps again. Then found they one of Our slaves, unto whom We had
given mercy from Us, and had taught him knowledge from Our presence. Moses
said unto him: May I follow thee, to the end that thou mayst teach me right
conduct of that which thou hast been taught? He said: Lo! thou canst not
bear with me..etc(Al-Kahf:60-67), so on with phrases from the chapter of
Al-Kahf.
As it is mentioned by Al-Bâqir (PUH): the servant is Joshua (Jeshua)
ben Nun, and it is said that he is Joshua ben Nun ben Ephraim ben Joseph
(PUH), and he used to be with Moses all the time and never leave him and
serve him and for this he was called his servant, and the point where the
two rivers meet [notice that in Arabic the word used is two seas
and not two rivers, but this is how Pickthall's translation goes] is most
apparently the point of meeting of the seas of Rum and Fâris (Romans
and Persia) [this sea of Rum or the Romans is known to be the Midterranean
and this is how ancient Arabs used to call it, but Sea of Persia is not
apparent, but seems it is more closer to be the Black Sea] and it is the
place that Moses was promised to meet Al-Khidhr in. [then comes phrases
explaining words in Arabic that were used in the previous mentioned phrases.
Not included here for the style of translation].
In narrations it is told that when the prophet (PUH) told Quraysh [Quraysh
is
the main tribe in Mecca] about the story of the people of the cave [people
of the cave are the seven sleepers of Ephesus in the christian version
of the story, and the chapter of the Al-Kahf in Quran was named mainly
after their story. Al-Kahf means The Cave], they asked him: tell us about
the scholar that Moses was ordered by God to follow him and what is his
story? He answered them: the reason for this is that when God talked to
Moses and revealed the tablets for him and in them what God did say about:
And We wrote for him, upon the tablets, the lesson to be drawn from all
things and the explanation of all things(Al-A`râf:145), and then
he got back to his people, the Israelites, and told them that God revealed
upon him the Torah and talked to him, then he said to himself: God did
not create someone that knows better than me, so then God inspired to Gabriel:
rescue Moses he is to be doomed, and tell him that there where the two
seas meet at the rock, there is a man that knows better than you so go
to him and learn from him, so Gabriel came down to Moses and told him that
so Moses then humiliated himself and knew that he was wrong and he got
scared and said to his viceroy Joshua: God had ordered me to follow a man
at the point where the two seas meet and to learn from him, so Joshua took
a salted whale (fish) and they went out and when they reached that point
they saw a man lying down on his back but they did not know him, so Moses'
viceroy took out the whale and wahsed it with water and put it on the rock
and they went along and forgot about it, and that water was the water of
life so the whale got alive again and went into the water, and Moses with
Joshua walked on until they got tired and Moses then said to Joshua: prepare
our lunch [in Pickthall's translation it is mentioned to be a breakfast,
but yet in Arabic the word used is the one used for "lunch"] we got tired
of this travelling, so Joshua remembered the fish and what happened to
it so he said to Moses: I've forgot the fish at that rock, so Moses then
said: that man we saw at that rock, he is the one we desire, so they traced
back their traces and found the man busy with praying, so Moses sat down
until he finished his praying and greeted him.
In a speech attributed to Al-Ridhâ (PUH) he said: Moses came
to the scholar in an island while he was sitting there, so Moses greeted
him and he said to him: who are you? He answered: I am Moses ben Amram
that God spoke to, he replied: and what is your need? He answered: I came
to you to teach me some of what you know, then the man said: I was appointed
for something that you cannot bear, and then the scholar started to tell
him about the adversities of the Household of Muhammad (PUT) until they
both cried loudly, and then he talked to him about the virtues of the Household
of Muhammad (PUT) which made Moses say: wish if I was one of the Household
of Muhammad (PUT), and he mentioned to him some of the adversities and
wrong that will strike them after the death of the prophet (PUH), and he
mentioned for him what the prophet will face from his people, until he
interpreted for him the meaning of the holy phrase: We confound their hearts
and their eyes. As they believed not therein at the first(Al-An`âm:110)
[some words come after but I did not understand or translate them!].
In that same speech it is mentioned that Moses said: May I follow thee,
to the end that thou mayst teach me right conduct of that which thou hast
been taught? So Al-Khidhr answered: Lo! thou canst not bear with me, How
canst thou bear with that whereof thou canst not compass any knowledge?
Moses then answered: God willing, thou shalt find me patient and I shall
not in aught gainsay thee, then Al-Khidhr said: Well, if thou go with me,
ask me not concerning aught till I myself make mention of it unto thee,
meaning do not ask me about anything until I explain it to you, and Moses
said: yes, so then the three of them went to the seashore, and a ship that
was there was ready to leave, so the masters of the ship said: we shall
carry those faithful people, and so they did, and when the ship was into
the sea, Al-Khidhr went to the side of the ship and broke some of it and
put on it some mud and clothes, and then Moses came so angry and said to
Al-Khidhr: Hast thou made a hole therein to drown the folk thereof? Thou
verily hast done a dreadful thing, so Al-Khidhr then said: Did I not tell
thee that thou couldst not bear with me? Then Moses said: Be not wroth
with me that I forgot, and be not hard upon me for my fault, and then they
went out of the ship and Al-Khidhr saw a kid that was playing with other
kids and he was of a fine face like a moon, so Al-Khidhr meditated a while
at him and then he took him and killed him, and then Moses changed and
been angry and said to him: What! Hast thou slain an innocent soul who
hath slain no man? Verily thou hast done a horrid thing, and Al-Khidhr
said: Did I not tell thee that thou couldst not bear with me? Moses then
said: If I ask thee after this concerning aught, keep not company with
me. Thou hast received an excuse from me, so they went along until they
reached a village called Al-Nâsirah (Nazareth) for which the christians
are named after [Arabic: Nasârâ = Christians, an adjective
in plural form for Nâsrani meaning "one of Nazareth" or Christian
in general], but they did not welcome them and did not apply hospitality
towards them, so then Al-Khidhr looked at a wall that was inclined and
moved from his position and almost ruined, so then Al-Khidhr put his hand
on it and said to it: get up by God's permission, so he fixed it, and then
Moses said: if you want you can take a reward for this, you shouldn't have
fixed this wall until they do us hospitality, and then Al-Khidhr said:
This is the parting between thee and me! I will announce unto thee the
interpretation of that thou couldst not bear with patience, as for the
ship that I did break some of it it was for poor people that make a living
by it so I wanted to make some damage in it because there is a king that
takes every ship by force, but if the ship had some damages he does not
will to take it, and as for the kid, his parents were faithful people and
we are afraid that he will make them tired with his tyranny so we desired
that God give them instead a faithful offspring, and as for the wall it
belongs to two orphans in the town and there is a treasure that was buried
under that wall that belongs to them, and their father was a faithful man
so your Lord wanted them to be adult and get that treasure out for themselves,
this is the interpretation of what you could not bear.
They say that Moses asked his Lord: who of Your servants knows best?
He said: the one who seeks the wisdom of people to add to his wisdom so
that he may find a word of guidance or a word that prevents his doom, then
he said: if there are one of Your servants that knows better than I do
guide me to him, then God answered: A-Khidhr knows better than you, he
asked: how can I find him? God answered: on the seashore at the rock, he
asked: how shall I find him? God answered: take a fish with you and wherever
you lose it then there you will find him, so then Moses said to his servant:
if you lost the fish tell me then, so they went on walking and when they
reached the point of meeting of the two seas they forgot their fish and
Moses forgot to ask about it and Joshua forgot to talk about it and tell
Moses how the fish turned alive again..etc, and others say that Moses was
asked: is there someone that knows better than you? He answered: no, so
then God inspired to him: We do have someone that knows better than you,
then he asked: who is he? Then God said to him: Al-Khidhr, and he is at
the point of meeting of the two seas. It is mentioned that Joshua washed
out from the spring of life and when he did so the water went out gushing
towards him and the fish jumped off and took its way to the sea, and when
they crossed the two seas he (Moses) said to his servant: prepare our lunch...etc
and so on.
As for Moses being a prophet that does not mean that he needs not to
be taught by someone else, even though he is a man of a religion that was
revealed upon him and this is so as long it is not a condition assigned
in religion, for the prophet must know better in the religion and the regulations
of the religion more than his people and not to necessarily to have the
ultimate wisdom as it is mentioned in interpretations, and the knowledge
of crafts and industries are not proposed for the prophet and he is not
asked to know them the best, notice. It is possible to be said: Al-Khidhr
was a prophet among the prophets and the prophets differ in the degree
of their wisdom and this is not a shame and not a curse for his value.
About God's saying: and there was beneath it a treasure belonging to them..etc(Al-Kahf:82),
it is mentioned that the treasure mentioned here is not made of gold nor
silver but it was made of a tablet of gold and this was written on it:
Strange how happy could he be who was sure of death
Strange how sad could he be who believed in destiny
Strange how wrong could he be who knew that resurrection is true
Strange how safe could he feel who see how life changes with its
people
And they say there are another four lines and they are:
I Am Allah no other god save but Me and Muhammad is My prophet
Surprised I Am for who has joy of heart and yet he is sure of death
Surprised I Am for who laughs and yet he is sure of the judgement
day
Surprised I Am for who seeks not his fortune and yet he believed
in destiny
Surprised I Am for who sees the first resurrection how shall yet
he denies the last resurrection
[those are five though and not four but this is what is mentioned].
As attrbitued to Al-Sâdiq (PUH): when Moses ben Amram wanted
to leave Al-Khidhr he said to him: advise me, so of what he advised him
was this: becareful of being into importunity or to walk without a need,
or to laugh without wondering, and remember your sins and do not talk about
people's sins..etc, and we talked a lot about them so far and left so much
of their conditions fearing the boredom and missing the most important
facts, and God brings success.
Next: Moses' Soliloquy With His Lord