al-Khidr — Rawzat

The Quranic Narrative

“And they found a servant from among Our servants to whom We had given mercy from Us and had taught him from Us a [certain] knowledge.” (18:65)

Musa (Moses) and his young companion pursue this servant to the meeting point of the two seas. Musa asks to follow him and learn from his knowledge. The servant accepts on one condition: “Then do not question me about anything until I make a mention of it to you.” (18:70)

The three acts that confounded Musa:

The boat: Al-Khidr scuttled a boat belonging to poor fishermen, making it temporarily unseaworthy. Musa protested: “Have you scuttled it to drown its people? You have done a terrible thing.” (18:71) — Later explanation: a tyrant king was seizing every sound boat; the damage protected the owners.
The boy: Al-Khidr killed a young boy. Musa protested: “Have you killed a pure soul for other than [having killed] a soul? You have done a deplorable thing.” (18:74) — Later explanation: the boy would have brought his believing parents to disbelief; Allah would replace him with one better in purity and closer in compassion.
The wall: In a town that refused them hospitality, al-Khidr rebuilt a wall about to collapse. Musa asked why they received nothing for the labor. — Later explanation: the wall concealed a treasure belonging to two orphan boys; their father was righteous; Allah wished to protect it until they came of age.

Who is al-Khidr?

The prophetic identification: The servant is identified as al-Khidr in the hadith narrations (Bukhari, Muslim, from Ubayy ibn Ka’b). The Quran does not give his name.

Is he a prophet or a wali?: Classical scholars debated whether al-Khidr is a prophet (nabi) or merely a wali (a divinely beloved saint). The Sunni mainstream: he is a wali. Some scholars (Ibn Hajar al-‘Asqalani inclines this way): he is a prophet. For the Ismaili tradition, his precise rank matters less than his function: he is an authorized bearer of ilm al-ladunni (knowledge directly from Allah, not derived through human learning).

Is he still alive?: Many Sunni scholars (including Imam al-Nawawi) held that al-Khidr remains alive until the Day of Judgment. Others held he died and what remains is his memory and spiritual influence. The Sufis have particularly honored al-Khidr as the patron of the uwaysi transmission — spiritual knowledge received without a living teacher.

The Ismaili Ta’wil of al-Khidr

Al-Khidr as the Imam’s role: In Ismaili ta’wil, the encounter of Musa with al-Khidr is one of the Quran’s most explicit statements about the zahir-batin relationship:

Musa (the Natiq) and al-Khidr (the Asas): Musa is the Natiq — the Speaking Prophet who carries the outward law (shari’a). Al-Khidr is the Asas — the founding pillar who carries the inner (batin) interpretation. Every Natiq has an Asas as his inner counterpart. Musa’s Asas in the Ismaili schema is Harun (Aaron) — yet in this narrative, al-Khidr appears as the bearer of a knowledge that even Musa’s prophethood does not encompass. The encounter establishes that there exists a level of authorized divine knowledge that transcends prophetic law-giving.

The three acts as levels of batin: Each of al-Khidr’s acts operates at a different level of the zahir-batin distinction:

The boat: the apparent harm that protects (zahir: damage; batin: protection)
The boy: the apparent transgression of the zahir that serves a higher batin (short-term harm for long-term spiritual good)
The wall: the service that appears unrewarded (zahir: no immediate gain; batin: the treasure preserved for the righteous)

The Da’i as al-Khidr: In the Bohra context, the Da’i al-Mutlaq carries knowledge from the Imam that his actions sometimes appear inexplicable to those outside the circle of walayah. The Da’i’s authority, like al-Khidr’s, is grounded in a divine commission that transcends the ordinary community’s capacity to evaluate.

al-Khidr — The Hidden Teacher of Esoteric Knowledge

The Quranic Narrative

Who is al-Khidr?

The Ismaili Ta’wil of al-Khidr

More in Ta'wil & Theology