Abul `Abbas, al-Khidr On him be Allah's Blessings and Peace "Whoever enters the Way without a guide will

take a hundred years to travel a tw o-day journey. The Prophet said, 'In this Way, you have no more faithful companions than your works.' How can these works and this earning in the way of righteousness be accomplished without a master, O father? Can you practice the meanest profession in the world without a master's guidance ? Whoever undertakes a profession without a master becomes the laughingstock of ci ty and town." Rumi, Mathnavi.

Abul `Abbas is Khidr , whom Allah mentioned in the Holy Qur'an [18:65f.] as the servant of Allah who met with the Prophet Musa . He preserved and maintained the Reality of the Golden Chain until the next link in the Chain, `Abdul Khaliq, co uld assume his destined station. Imam Bukhari relates in the Book of Prophets that the Prophet said, "Al-Khidr ( 'the Green Man') was so named because he sat on a barren white land once, after which it turned luxuriantly green with vegetation." The important role of Khidr as the murshid (initiator) of saints may be illustra ted by the importance of his role as the murshid of prophets, particularly of th e Prophet Musa . Moses was a highly powerful prophet, one of the five greatest o nes whom Allah sent to this world: Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad, Pe ace and blessings be upon them. Yet despite Moses' elevated knowledge, Allah cau sed him to be in need of Khidr, even though Khidr was not a prophet. This is to teach us, as Allah said in the Holy Qur'an, that "Above every knower there is a greater knower" (Yusuf, 76). The story of Moses' encounter with Khidr is related in Surat al-Kahf (65-82) and goes thus: Moses and his servant found one of Allah's servants whom Allah had h onored uniquely and had taught knowledge from His Own Presence. Moses said to hi m, "I would like to accompany you." He answered him: "You cannot bear to accompa ny me." Moses was surprised and insisted he was able to do so. Khidr said: "You cannot, but if you do, do not ask about what I am doing no matter what you see m e do. On that condition alone you may follow; but if you wish to ask questions, don't follow me." This meant that Khidr was going to do something that Moses wou ld not understand, although he was the Messenger of a great religion. He was in need of Khidr to teach him something. They took a boat and crossed the Tiberias River in Palestine. When they had reac hed the middle of the river, Khidr made a hole in the boat in order for it to si nk. Moses was unable to keep silent, saying: "Why are you doing this childish ac t? Those people gave you the boat, are you now scuttling it?" Khidr replied: "Di d I not tell you you would be unable to keep company with me?" Moses had not yet understood, even though he was a prophet and could read hearts, that there was something taking place that he did not know. They continued and found a young bo y. As soon as they saw him, Khidr killed him. Moses said: "What are you doing? Y ou sank a boat, and now you kill a child? This is against all laws!" Again Khidr said: "Did I not tell you you could not keep company with me? The third time yo u ask me, we will part ways." Then they reached a city where they asked for food . No one gave them any food, and they threw them out. On their way, they found a wall on the verge of collapse. Khidr rebuilt that wall and made it straight. Mo ses asked: "Why are you doing this? No one accepted us as their guests in this c

ity, and yet you are building their wall for them?" Khidr said: "This is the poi nt where we separate, for you did not understand the wisdom of what I am doing." "O Moses, what we do is what Allah tells us to do. First I caused this boat to s ink because there is a tyrant who is seizing every boat from the poor people on this side of the city. In order for these people not to lose their boat, I made it sink. That tyrant is going to die tomorrow, and tomorrow they can retrieve th eir boat and use it safely. I killed the child because Allah did not want that c hild to cause his parents, who believe in you, to leave and run away from your r eligion. Allah will give them better children than him. I built the wall which b elonged to a man who was in life very generous to the poor. When he passed away, he left a treasure buried under the wall for his two orphans. Were that wall to come down, people would see the treasure and take it. I restored it in order fo r the two children to receive their treasure later. You did not understand God's wisdom." That was Moses who, with all the honor bestowed on him by God, found himself ign orant before Khidr. How can we, who know so little in comparison to Moses, consi der ourselves knowledgeable if Moses himself, with all his knowledge in the Divi ne Presence, was unable to understand certain things? This is a lesson in humili ty for human beings, and particularly for scholars and religious leaders: "Your knowledge is not worth mentioning. There are others more and highly more knowled geable than you. As high or deep as you travel into knowledge, there is deeper d epth and higher height than where you stand." That is why, when someone sits to give advice, he must sit with complete humblen ess and complete respect for the listener. He cannot consider himself higher tha n them, otherwise that light will never reach their hearts. That is also why eac h is in need of a guide, as was shown by the Guide of guides himself, the Prophe t , when he took Jibril as a guide for Revelation, and when he took a guide in traveling to Madina. This is how Ibn `Arabi (q) in Fusus al-hikam explains the three acts of Khidr witnessed by Musa : "Moses was tested 'by many ordeals' [20:41] the first of which was the murder of the Egyptian [28:14-15], an act which he committed by Divine impulsion and with the approbation of God deep inside him, without however, his perceiving it; nev ertheless he felt no affliction in his soul for having killed the Egyptian, alth ough he himself was not acquitted until he had received a Divine revelation on t he subject. For all prophets are interiorly preserved from sin without their bei ng conscious of it, even before they are warned by inspiration. "It is for that reason that al-Khidr showed him the putting to death of the boy, an action for which Moses reproached him, without remembering his murder of the Egyptian, upon which al-Khidr said to him: 'I have not done it of my own initia tive,' recalling thus to Moses the state in which he, the latter, found himself when he did not yet know that he was essentially preserved from all action contr ary to the Divine Order. "He showed him also the perforation of the boat, apparently made to destroy the people, but which has, however, the hidden sense of saving them from the hand of a 'violent man.' He showed this to him as an analogy to the ark which hid Moses when he was thrown into the Nile; according to appearances, this act was equall y to destroy him, but according to the hidden sense, it was to save him. Again h is mother had done that for fear of the 'violent man,' in this case Pharaoh, so that he would not cruelly kill the child... "Moses arrived then at Madyan, there met the two girls and for them drew water f rom the well, without asking from them a salary. Then he 'withdrew to the shade,

' that is to say to the Divine shadow, and said: 'O my Lord, I am poor with rega rd to the blessings Thou bestowest on Me'; he attributed, then, to God alone the essence of the good that he did and qualified himself as poor (faqir) towards G od. It was for that reason that al-Khidr reconstructed before him the crumbling wall without asking a salary for his work, for which Moses reprimanded him, unti l Khidr reminded him of his action of drawing water without asking for reward, a nd other things too, of which there is no mention in the Koran; so that the Mess enger of God -- may God bless him and give him Peace! -- regretted that Moses di d not keep quiet and did not remain with al-Khidr, so that God could tell him mo re of their actions." Of Khidr's sayings to Sahl at-Tustari (q) according to Ibn `Arabi: "Allah created the Light of Muhammad from His Light... This Light stayed before Allah for 100,000 years. Allah directed His Gaze upon it 70,000 times every day and night, adding to it a new light from His Light every time. Then, from that Light, He created all creations." When the Prophet left this world and condolence came, they heard a voice from t he corner of the house saying, "Peace, God's mercy and blessings be upon you, me mbers of the Family of the Prophet !" `Ali (r) then asked if they knew who this was, and he said it was Khidr . Bayhaqi transmitted it in Dala'il an-Nubuwwa.