Musnad al-Humaydi

Saeed bin Jubair narrates: I said to Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them): Nauf Bakkali says that the Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him) who met Sayyiduna Khidr (peace be upon him) was not the Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him) from Bani Israel, but rather another Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him). So Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them) said: The enemy of Allah has lied. Sayyiduna Ubayy bin Ka'b (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated this hadith to me that he heard the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) say: Once Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him) was standing among Bani Israel delivering a sermon. He was asked: Who among the people has the most knowledge? He replied: I have the most knowledge. So Allah expressed displeasure at him for not attributing that knowledge to Allah (i.e., Allah knows best who has more knowledge). Allah said: "At the junction of the two seas, there is a servant of Mine who has more knowledge than you." Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him) said: O my Lord! How can I reach him? Allah said: "Take a fish, put it in a vessel, and set out. The place where you lose the fish will be the place." So Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him) took a fish, put it in a vessel, and set out. With him was his young companion, Sayyiduna Yusha' bin Nun (peace be upon him). When they reached the rock, both of them rested their heads and slept. The fish became restless in the vessel, came out, and fell into the sea. As mentioned in the Qur'an: "So it made its way into the sea." Allah stopped the flow of water for the fish, and the sea became like an arch for it. When Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him) woke up, his companion forgot to tell him about the fish, and both of them continued walking for the rest of that day and the following night. When the next day came, Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him) said to his companion: (as mentioned in the Qur'an) "Bring us our food; we have certainly faced much fatigue in this journey." The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Although Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him) did not feel tired until he had passed the place about which Allah had instructed him. So his companion said to him (as mentioned in the Qur'an): "Did you see when we reached the rock, I forgot the fish—and none but Satan made me forget to mention it. It took its way into the sea in a wondrous manner." The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "That was the way for the fish, and it was a wondrous thing for Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him) and his companion." Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him) said: (as mentioned in the Qur'an) "That is what we were seeking." So both of them retraced their steps. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Both of them returned, following their footprints, until they reached the rock, where there was a man covered with a garment." Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him) greeted him with salam, so Sayyiduna Khidr (peace be upon him) said: From where does this salam come in this land? Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him) said: "I am Musa (peace be upon him)." He asked: The Musa (peace be upon him) from Bani Israel? Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him) replied: "Yes. I have come to you so that you may teach me some of the good that you have been taught." So Sayyiduna Khidr (peace be upon him) said: (as mentioned in the Qur'an) "You will not be able to have patience with me. O Musa (peace be upon him)! I have knowledge from Allah which Allah has given me, and you do not know it, and you have knowledge from Allah which Allah has given you, and I do not know it." So Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him) said to him: (as mentioned in the Qur'an) "If Allah wills, you will find me patient, and I will not disobey you in any matter." So Sayyiduna Khidr (peace be upon him) said: (as mentioned in the Qur'an) "If you accompany me, then do not ask me about anything until I myself mention it to you." Both of them set out along the seashore. A boat passed by them, and they spoke to the boatmen to take them aboard. The boatmen recognized Sayyiduna Khidr (peace be upon him) and took them on board without any payment. When both of them boarded, after a short while, Sayyiduna Khidr (peace be upon him) took an axe and made a hole in one of the planks of the boat. Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him) said: These people took us aboard without any payment, and you have damaged their boat? (The following words are from the Qur'an) "So that you may drown its people. You have done a grave thing." Sayyiduna Khidr (peace be upon him) said: (as mentioned in the Qur'an) "Did I not say that you would not be able to have patience with me?" So Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him) said: (as mentioned in the Qur'an) "Do not blame me for what I forgot, and do not be hard upon me in my affair." The narrator says: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: This was the first forgetfulness from Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him). The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Meanwhile, a bird came and sat on the edge of the boat and took a drop of water from the sea in its beak. Sayyiduna Khidr (peace be upon him) said to Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him): My knowledge and your knowledge, compared to Allah's knowledge, is not even as much as what this bird has taken from the sea. Both of them disembarked from the boat and walked along the shore. During this, Sayyiduna Khidr (peace be upon him) saw a boy playing with other boys. Sayyiduna Khidr (peace be upon him) caught his head and twisted it with his hands and killed him. Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him) said to him: (as mentioned in the Qur'an) "Have you killed an innocent soul without (its having killed) a soul? You have done a terrible thing." So Sayyiduna Khidr (peace be upon him) said: Did I not tell you that you would not be able to have patience with me? The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "This warning was more severe than the previous one." So Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him) said: (as mentioned in the Qur'an) "If I ask you about anything after this, then do not keep me with you. You have received an excuse from me." Allah Almighty says: "So they both proceeded until they came to the people of a town. They asked its people for food, but they refused to offer them hospitality. Then they found in it a wall about to collapse." The narrator says: This means (it was about to fall), so Khidr (peace be upon him) straightened it with his hand. Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him) said: These are such people that we came to them, but they did not feed us nor host us. (The following words are from the Qur'an) "If you wished, you could have taken a payment for it." So Sayyiduna Khidr (peace be upon him) said: (as mentioned in the Qur'an) "This is the parting between me and you. I will inform you of the interpretation of that over which you could not have patience." The narrator says: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "We wished that Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him) had been patient so that more details of their events would have been revealed." Saeed bin Jubair says: Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them) used to recite: "Beyond that, there was a king who used to seize every good boat by force." He also recited: "As for the boy, he was a disbeliever and his parents were believers."