Surah Al-Kahf (18) — Ayah 65

(Ayah 65) ➊ { عَبْدًا مِّنْ عِبَادِنَاۤ:} By this is meant Khidr (peace be upon him) (with the letter kha having a fatha and the letter dad having a kasrah, or with the kha having a kasrah and the dad being sakin). The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: [ إِنَّمَا سُمِّيَ الْخَضِرُ لِأَنَّهٗ جَلَسَ عَلٰی فَرْوَةٍ بَيْضَاءَ فَإِذَا هِيَ تَهْتَزُّ مِنْ خَلْفِهٖ خَضْرَاءَ] [ بخاری، أحادیث الأنبیاء، باب حدیث الخضر… : ۳۴۰۲ ] "He was called Khidr because he sat on a patch of white earth, and it turned green and lush behind him." He was a Prophet of Allah, and the proof of this is that he said at the end, "I did not do this of my own accord." (Kahf: 82) Rather, all of this was by Allah's command, which comes to the Prophets in the form of revelation. Likewise, in the detailed hadith above, his saying, "I have a knowledge which Allah has taught me, and you do not know it..." No matter how close a wali (friend of Allah) is, his inspiration is not a proof, nor can he kill anyone based on inspiration, otherwise every believer is a wali of Allah. (Baqarah: 257) He would then use Allah's command as a pretext to kill whomever he wished, while no one holds this view.
The verifying scholars, among whom are great imams such as Imam Bukhari, Ibn Taymiyyah, and Hafiz Ibn Hajar (may Allah have mercy on them), state that Khidr (peace be upon him) has passed away, because if he were alive, then according to Surah Al-Imran, verse (81), it would have been obligatory for him to come to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), believe in him, and fight jihad alongside him, whereas there is no mention of his coming, nor any mention from any companion of meeting him. The hadith in Sahih Bukhari is also proof of this, in which the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: [أَرَأَيْتَكُمْ لَيْلَتَكُمْ هٰذِهِ، فَإِنَّ رَأْسَ مِائَةِ سَنَةٍ مِنْهَا لَا يَبْقَی مِمَّنْ هُوَ عَلٰی ظَهْرِ الْأَرْضِ أَحَدٌ ] [ بخاری، العلم، باب السمر في العلم : ۱۱۶، عن ابن عمر رضی اللہ عنھما ] "From tonight, within one hundred years, none of those who are on the surface of the earth will remain." Those who say that he lives not on the earth but in rivers and seas are refuted by the hadith narrated from Jabir (may Allah be pleased with him), in which the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said one month before his death: [ مَا مِنْ نَفْسٍ مَنْفُوْسَةٍ الْيَوْمَ، تَأْتِيْ عَلَيْهَا مِائَةُ سَنَةٍ، وَ هِيَ حَيَّةٌ يَوْمَئِذٍ ] [ مسلم، فضائل الصحابۃ، باب بیان معنی قولہ صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم : علی رأس مائۃ… : ۲۵۳۸ ] "No soul that is present today will live to see one hundred years from now." Those who claim that Khidr (peace be upon him) is still alive have no authentic proof. Ibn Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) said that all the narrations mentioning Khidr (peace be upon him) being alive until now are all fabricated. The greatest proof they present is that many righteous people have met him, whereas to call this a proof is an insult to the concept of proof, because how did those who saw him know that he was Khidr? Had they seen Khidr (peace be upon him) before, so that upon meeting him they recognized him? As for someone claiming, "I am Khidr," to accept him as Khidr is the height of naivety, which Satan has exploited to mislead countless people, but all of them are those who came after the companions, because the companions (may Allah be pleased with them) were not easily deceived by Satan. The Ayn al-Hayat (Water of Life) mentioned in Sahih Bukhari and Tirmidhi is not established from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and nothing is established except by his statement.

➋ { اٰتَيْنٰهُ رَحْمَةً مِّنْ عِنْدِنَا … :} In the Noble Qur'an, {’’ رَحْمَةً مِّنْ رَّبِّكَ ‘‘} refers to prophethood in several places, as He said: «وَ قَالُوْا لَوْ لَا نُزِّلَ هٰذَا الْقُرْاٰنُ عَلٰى رَجُلٍ مِّنَ الْقَرْيَتَيْنِ عَظِيْمٍ (31) اَهُمْ يَقْسِمُوْنَ رَحْمَتَ رَبِّكَ » [ الزخرف:۳۱، ۳۲ ] "And they said, 'Why was this Qur'an not sent down upon a great man from one of the two towns?' Do they distribute the mercy of your Lord (i.e., prophethood)?" See also Surah Dukhan (5, 6) and Qasas (86), and "knowledge from Allah" is used to mean revelation and prophethood. See Surah Nisa (113). Although these words are not exclusive to prophethood, the context of {’’ وَ مَا فَعَلْتُهٗ عَنْ اَمْرِيْ ‘‘} is clear evidence that here these words refer to prophethood and divine revelation, and without doubt Khidr (peace be upon him) was a Prophet of Allah. (Shanqiti) To take "ilm ladunni" (special knowledge from Allah) as referring only to the knowledge of the awliya (friends of Allah) and to give them a higher status than the Prophets is clear heresy and irreligion, by which the heretics seek to throw off the yoke of Shariah from their necks. The commands of Allah, which are protected from every kind of satanic interference, are revealed only through the Prophets. See Surah Jinn (26-28) and Surah Hajj (52). Whoever gives this status to anyone else is a disbeliever; he should be made to repent, and if he does not, he should be killed. (Qurtubi, summarized)

➌ The proof that Khidr (peace be upon him) was not "knower of the unseen" is his asking Musa (peace be upon him), "How is there a greeting of peace in this land?" Then, when Musa (peace be upon him) told him his name, he asked, "Are you Musa of the Children of Israel?" Then his clear statement to Musa (peace be upon him), "The knowledge you have, I do not know..." Then, comparing his and Musa's knowledge to Allah's knowledge as a bird's beakful of water compared to the sea. How unfortunate are those who, instead of considering Khidr (peace be upon him) a Prophet, consider him a wali, and then, based on a few of his incidents, attach "ilm ladunni" to the awliya and make them "knowers of the unseen."

65. 1 By "this servant" is meant Khidr, as clarified in authentic ahadith. Khidr means green and flourishing; once he sat on a white piece of land, and that part of the land beneath him became green and lush, which is why he was named Khidr (Sahih Bukhari, Tafsir Surah Kahf).

65. 2 By رَحْمَۃ, the commentators have meant those special favors which Allah bestowed upon this special servant of His, and most commentators have taken this to mean prophethood.

65. 3 This refers to a knowledge other than the knowledge of prophethood, which Prophet Musa (علیہ السلام) also possessed; it is a knowledge of certain special matters which Allah had granted only to Khidr, and even Prophet Musa (علیہ السلام) did not have that knowledge. Based on this, some Sufis claim that Allah grants some people, who are not prophets, knowledge through inspiration, which is the result of a direct source of grace without a teacher, and this inner knowledge is different from the apparent knowledge of Shariah, which exists in the form of the Quran and Hadith, and sometimes even opposes and contradicts it. But this reasoning is not correct because, regarding Khidr, Allah Himself has clarified the granting of this special knowledge, whereas for anyone else, there is no such clarification anywhere. If this were generalized, then every trickster could make such a claim, and indeed, such claims are common in this group. Therefore, such claims have no validity.

The tafsir of this ayah is included with the following verse(s).