Al-Khidr

Shaykh Ibn Atā’allāh al-Iskandarī—may Allāh bless his soul—said:
Shaykh Abū al-Abbās al-Mursī—may Allāh be pleased with him—said, “A man once asked the shaykh, ‘What do you say about al-Khidr? Is he alive or dead?’ The shaykh replied, ‘Go to the jurisprudent Nāsir ad-Dīn Ibn al-Aybārī, who has issued a legal decision to the effect that he is alive, and that he is a prophet. Not only so, but Shaykh ‘Abd al-Mu’tī once met him, and was silent for an hour thereafter.’ He also said, ‘I have met him, and his index and middle fingers are the same.’”

Know that al-Khidr’s continued existence is a matter of unanimous agreement among the members of this community, while the saints of every age recount having met him and received teaching on his authority. In fact, such accounts are so well-known and have been passed down based on so many independent chains of transmission that their veracity is undeniable. There are thus numerous stories told in this connection.

Shaykh Abū al-Hasan ash-Shādhilī—may Allāh be pleased with him—said, “I have met al-Khidr in the ‘Īdhāb desert once and he said to me, ‘Abū al-Hasan, may Allāh cause wonderful kindness to attend you, and may He be a companion to you in times of both rest and itineration.’”

Shaykh Muhyī ad-Dīn Ibn ‘Arabī—may Allāh be pleased with him—mentioned that one day Abū as-Sa’ūd Ibn ash-Shibl was sweeping the school of Shaykh ‘Abd al-Qādir al-Kīlānī—may Allāh be pleased with him. As he was bent down over his broom, al-Khidr stood at his head and said, ‘May peace be upon you!’ Raising his head, Abū as-Sa’ūd replied, ‘And upon you be peace!’ then went back to work. Al-Khidr said to him, ‘Why do you take no notice of me, as though you did not recognize me?’ ‘But I do recognize you,’ replied Abū as-Sa’ūd. ‘You are al-Khidr.’ ‘So why do you take no notice of me?’ asked al-Khidr. Then, looking at me, Abū as-Sa’ūd said to him, ‘Shaykh ‘Abd al-Qādir al-Kīlānī has left no room in this shaykh for anyone else.’”

Recounting an experience of his own, Shaykh Muhyī ad-Dīn Ibn ‘Arabī said, “I was once with a companion of mine in al-Maghrib along the seashore, where there was a mosque to which certain ’substitutes’ repaired for shelter. My companion and I saw a man who placed a mat in the air, four cubits above the ground, then prayed on it. My companion and I approached the man and, as I stood beneath him, I said,

The lover has been distracted from his beloved, By the love of the One who created the air and subjected it to His command.
Gnostics’ minds are bound [to Him], Purged of every created entity in which they might find satisfaction.

For they, in His presence, are graced with honor, And with Him their secrets are preserved and consecrated to His service.
The man prayed briefly, then said, ‘I only did this for the sake of the denier who is with you. I am Abū al-Abbās al-Khidr.’ I hadn’t known that my companion was someone who denied the miracles of the saints, so I turned to him and said, So-and-so, did you used to deny the miracles of the saints?’ ‘Yes, I did,’ he said. ‘What do you say now?’ I asked him. He replied, ‘After one has seen with one’s own eyes, there is nothing more to be said.’”

Shaykh ‘Abd al-Mu’tī al-Iskandarī said to his disciple as he was dying, “Take this robe. Many times have I embraced al-Khidr in it.”
The wife of al-Qurashī—may Allāh be pleased with him—said, “I left the shaykh’s presence one day, and when I left, there was no one else with him. However, after I had left, I heard a man speaking with him. I paused until the talking had stopped, then I went in and said, ‘Master! When I left your presence, there was no one else here with you, but just now I heard someone speaking to you.’ The shaykh said, ‘Al-Khidr brought me an olive from the land of Najd and said to me, “Eat this olive, for in it is your healing.” But I said to him, “Depart, and take your olive with you, for I have no need of it.”‘” The shaykh was afflicted with leprosy.

It has been reported that when the Messenger of God (S) died, they heard someone speaking from inside the house, though they could not see him, and the person said, “In Allāh there is a successor for everyone who perishes and a compensation for everything that passes away. Indeed, the one afflicted is he who is denied the reward.” The narrator notes that those who heard it thought that the speaker was al-Khidr.

Know—may Allāh be gracious unto you—that whoever denies al-Khidr’s existence is in error; the same applies to anyone who says that he is other than the Khidr who spoke with Moses, or whoever holds that every age has a Khidr and that rank of “Khidr-hood,” if you will, is occupied by someone in every age. Moreover, he who denies al-Khidr’s existence thereby confesses that he has not received the divine grace of meeting him. However, even if he has failed to receive this grace, would that he could have faith in the possibility of doing so.

Be not deceived by what is stated by Abū al-Faraj Ibn al-Jawzī in his book entitled, ‘Ujālat al-Muntazir fī Sharh Hāl al-Khadir (”The Haste of Those Awaiting an Explanation of the State of al-Khadir”), in which he denies al-Khidr’s existence. He states, “Those who say that he exists say so based on their own fixed ideas and delusions.” As evidence of al-Khidr’s non-existence, al-Jawzī cites the words of Allāh Almighty, “Never have We granted life everlasting to any mortal before you [O Prophet]” (Holy Qur’ān 21:34).

Curious, that this man should cite this verse when it provides no evidence for what he claims. After all, “life everlasting” refers to a permanence which is not followed by death; however, this is not being claimed with respect to al-Khidr. Rather, what is being claimed with respect to al-Khidr is an extended stay on earth, as it were, to be followed ultimately by death. Be amazed, then—may Allāh be gracious to you—at a man who believes in such an extended existence for Iblīs, while denying it of al-Khidr.

As for the tradition attributed to the Prophet (S), “If al-Khidr were alive, he would visit me,” it has not been confirmed by scholars of prophetic traditions. Moreover, if they say, “If this were so, it would have been passed down in written accounts,” you should realize that not everything which Allāh revealed to the Prophet (S) was something which he was to pass on to others. After all, it has been reported concerning him (S) that he said, “My Lord has taught me three types of knowledge: one type which He has commanded me to spread, another type which He has forbid me to spread, and still another type which He has left me free either to spread or to conceal.”

A certain gnostic has said that Allāh , exalted be He, gave al-Khidr knowledge of the spirits of the saints [before they entered earthly life]. Hence, he asked his Lord to preserve him in the realm of the visible in order for him to be able to see them in the world of the visible just as he has seen them in the realm of the hidden.