Al-Kahf (The Cave)

64. “He (Moses) said: ‘That was what we were seeking for!’ So they returned, retracing their footsteps.”

65. “Then they found one of Our servants unto whom We had given mercy from Us, and We had taught him knowledge from Our presence.”

In view of the fact that the subject was as a sign for Moses (as) in connection with finding that great-learned man, Moses said:

“He (Moses) said: ‘That was what we were seeking for!’ So they returned, retracing their footsteps.”

When Moses and his attendant returned to the first place they had started their way, i.e. beside the rock and near ‘the Junction of the Seas’, suddenly they found one of Allah’s servants to whom He had bestowed His mercy and whom He had taught a considerable amount of knowledge.

The verse says:

“Then they found one of Our servants unto whom We had given mercy from Us, and We had taught him knowledge from Our presence.”

The application of the word /wajada/, in the verse, shows that they had been seeking after the knowledgeable man, and finally they found him.

And the Qur’anic phrase /‘abdan min ‘ibadina/ (one of Our servants) indicates that the highest honour of a man is that he would be a true servant of Allah, and this very rank of servitude causes man to be bestowed the mercy of the Lord and the windows of the science to be opened to his heart, (mind).

Again the Qur’anic phrase /min ladunna ‘ilma/ (We had taught him knowledge from Our presence) also denotes that the knowledge of that learned man (Khidr) was not an ordinary knowledge, but he was aware of a part of the secrets of this world and of the mysteries of the events which only Allah knows.

Imam Sadiq (as) said:

“Moses was more learned than Khidr in religious prudence, but Khidr was more aware of a branch and a mission other than that.”1

However the objective meaning of /‘abd/ (servant), in this verse, is Khidr (as) who was a prophet reasoned by the following evidences:

1. He who becomes the teacher of a prophet, like Moses (as), is surely a prophet.

2. Some Arabic terms, such as: /‘abdina/ (our servant), /‘abdahu/ (His servant), and /‘ibadana/ (Our servants), mentioned in the Qur’an, have often been used for divine prophets.

3. Khidr told Moses that all extra-ordinary actions that he saw from him and did not have patience with him were done by the command of Allah and he did not do any thing of his own accord. Khidr (as) said:

“…I did it not of my own accord…”2

4. Moses promised Khidr that he would not do anything other than he taught him, and the person whom an’Ulul-‘azm prophet absolutely obeys, is certainly inerrant and is surely a Divine prophet.

5. Intuitive knowledge is particularized to Divine prophets.

Allah said about Khidr:

“We had taught him knowledge from Our presence.”

6. Some commentators say that the term ‘mercy’ here means ‘prophethood’.