Selected Course to Understand the Demands of Qur'an
Disclaimer
Whenever you want to pursue the truth and verify anything you hear about Islam, we urge you to please use the only valid and divine source of Islam, Qur'an.
So they both proceeded until, when
they were in the boat, he scuttled it.Moses said: "Have you scuttled it in order to drown those in it?
Truly you have done a grievous thing!"
(18:71)
Commentary:
In other words Moses was in effect
asking “why have you acted in such an evil way?” The fact that he violated the condition
imposed upon him by Khidr (‘alaihi al-Salam) indicates that he judged Khidr’s
conduct to be so reprehensible that he simply could not contain himself from
making the comment of condemnation which he made (with its implied question).
Simple
translation:
He answered: "Did I not tell you
that you will never be able to have patience with me?"
(18:72)
Commentary:
Khidr(‘alaihi al-Salam) had prohibited Musa(‘alaihi
al-Salam) from asking any questions since he was
certain that Musa (‘alaihi al-Salam) would not be able to contain himself and be patient in
respect of matters the understanding of whose reality was beyond his capacity
to grasp. Khidr’s opinion concerning Musa (‘alaihi
al-Salam) was dramatically confirmed in this
event.
Simple
translation:
(Moses) said: “Take me not
to task for my having forgotten (myself), and be not hard on me on
account of what I have done!”
(18:73)
Commentary:
Nabi Musa(‘alaihi al-Salam) responded by pleading with an excuse to the effect that
he forgot about the prohibition imposed upon him.
Simple
translation:
And so the two went on, till, when
they met a young man, he slew him –
Heexclaimed: “Have you slain an innocent human being who has not
taken a life? Indeed, you have done an evil thing.”
(18:74)
Explanatory
translation:
And so the two went on until they met
a young man and he (the
sage) slew him - (whereupon Moses) exclaimed: “Have you slain an
innocent human being (innocent of his having taken) another man's life?
Indeed, you have done an evil thing!”
Commentary:
Nabi Musa’s condemnation of Khidr’s
conduct contained within it the implied question: Why have you acted in this way?
Khidr’s opinion concerning Nabi Musa’s incapacity tocontain
himself and be patient in respect of matters the understanding of whose reality
was beyond his capacity to grasp was again dramatically confirmed in this
second event.
Simple
translation:
He replied: “Did I not tell you that
you will never be able to have patience with me?”
(18:75)
Simple translation:
(Moses) said: “If, after
this, I should ever question you, you can dismiss me from your company: (for
by) now you have reached the limit in respect of receiving excuses from
me.”
(18:76)
Commentary:
Having already pleaded to be excused
because he had forgotten about the prohibition, Nabi Musa(‘alaihi
al-Salam) could not repeat the same excuse.And so he responded by accepting Khidr’sright to dismiss him from his company if any further violations of the
prohibition were to occur.
And lo! Moses said to his servant: “I
shall not give up until I reach the meeting-point of the two oceans, even if I spend
untold years!”
(18:60)
Explanatory
translation:
And lo! (In the course of his travel in quest
of the sage who was more learned than he was) Moses said to his servant: “I
shall not give up until I reach (my destination which is) the
meeting-point of the two oceans, even if I (have to) spend untold years (of
travel in this quest)!”
Commentary:
Allah Most High had chided Moses,
i.e., Musa (‘alaihi al-Salam), for having declared that he was the
most learned of all men, and for thus not having recognized that all knowledge
came from He, Allah, who was the most learned of all.
Indeed this mistake reduced Musa (‘alaihi
al-Salam) to a state of temporary internal
blindness. Allah Most High also informed Musa (‘alaihi
al-Salam) that there
was someone who was more learned than him (since he possessed both external and
internal knowledge). If he wished to meet with that sage (i.e., with Khidr ‘alaihi
al-Salam)) Musa would
have to travel until he reached the meeting-point of two oceans.
Musa promptly set out to meet a man more learned than him,
and he traveled on with the firm resolve to pursue the effort to the
destination no matter how long it might take to reach there. Surah al-Kahf
has here delivered a most powerful message to believers who live in this Last
Age that they, also, ought to have the same resolve to search for those more
learned than them, and for that sage who is the most learned of all contemporary
Muslims.How could they recognize the
most learned of all? Where would they find him? How should they search for him?
The Surah provides the answer when it declares that he would be found at
the meeting-point of two oceans, i.e., the ocean of knowledge externally
derived and the ocean of knowledge internally bestowed by Allah Most High.
Simple
translation:
“But when they reached the
meeting-point of the two (oceans),
they forgot all about their fish, and it made its way into the sea and it
disappeared from sight.”
(18:61)
Commentary:
Allah had also informed Nabi Musa(‘alaihi
al-Salam) that he
would meet that most learned sage at that point in his journey when a fish,
which was to be put in a basket, would miraculously make its way into the sea.
(See Sahih Bukhari) And this is precisely what now occurred while Musa
was asleep. The boy saw what happened with the fish but Satan caused him to
forget about it.
Simple
translation:
Then after the two had walked on for
some distance (Moses)
said to his servant: “Take out our midday meal; our journey has become
unusually tiring and difficult!”
(18:62)
Explanatory
translation:
Then after the two had walked on for
some distance (beyond
the spot where the fish had disappeared, and without Moses knowing that it had
disappeared), (Moses) said to his servant: “Take out our midday meal;
our journey has (now) become unusually tiring and difficult!”
Commentary:
Here is a remarkable spiritual sign
located in the life of the sacred. When the traveler travels towards His Lord
he travels with ease and excitement, while enjoying his journey of life through
the spring of youth, the summer of manhood and womanhood, the autumn when his
beard and her hair begins to get grey, and even the winter of old age - and
this continues so long as the servant of Allah is traveling in the right
direction; whenever he or she travels in the wrong direction, however, the
journey changes from one of ease to become tiresome and no longer exciting and enjoyable.
This is one of the meanings of that very important verse of the Qur’an in
which Allah Most High declares that mankind possesses the innate capacity to
see and to recognize their own state:
“Nay, man will be evidence against
himself.”
(Qur’an,
al-Qiyamah, 75:14)
Simple
translation:
(Thereupon the servant) responded:
“Would you believe it? When we betook ourselves to that rock for a rest, behold,
I forgot about the fish - and none but Satan made me thus forget it! - and it
took its way into the sea in a strange and miraculous way!”
(18:63)
Commentary:
And so it was there at that rock that
they could have met Khidr(‘alaihi al-Salam). When they traveled beyond the rock the
journey was now on the wrong path, - hence the tiredness that overcame Nabi
Musa(‘alaihi al-Salam). Surahal-Kahf has here delivered a very
grave warning that should arrest the attention of even those who have already
made considerable progress on the road to their Lord-God. It is this, that
Satan can cause even the best of them to forget, and hence the necessity for
all believers to constantly recite the Duahs (supplications) which are
located in the last two Surahs of the Qur’an.
Simple
translation:
(Moses) exclaimed: “(But)
that was (the place) which we were seeking!” And the two turned back,
retracing their footsteps,”
(18:64)
Commentary:
As soon as a believer realizes that he
is traveling on the wrong path he should follow this example of Nabi Musa (‘alaihi
al-Salam) and turn
around to retrace his steps in order to recover the right path.
Simple
translation:
“and found one of Our servants, on
whom We had bestowed grace from Ourselves and unto whom We had imparted
knowledge from Ourselves.”
(18:65)
Explanatory
translation:
“and found one of Our servants, on
whom We had bestowed grace from Ourselves and unto whom We had imparted
knowledge from Ourselves (i.e.,
with which We divinely inspired him and which was consequently acquired
internally and intuitively and not through the normal empirical and rational
process through which human beings normally acquire knowledge).”
Commentary:
This mystery-man, who is more learned
than Nabi Musa(‘alaihi al-Salam), and whom Allah recognized as the
most learned of men, was identified by Nabi Muhammad (sallalahu
‘alaihi wa sallam) as
Khidr(‘alaihi al-Salam). And he is the model of the true
scholar of Islam and guide to the believers in the age of Dajjal, for
while Dajjal sees with only one eye, Khidr (‘alaihi
al-Salam) sees with
two eyes – the ‘external’ as well as the ‘internal’.*
(*It was the good fortune of
this writer to have been blessed to be the student of precisely such a scholar
of Islam in the person of Maulana Dr. Muhammad Fadlur Rahman Ansari. His
monumental two-volume work entitled ‘The Qur’anic Foundations and Structure
of Muslim Society’ is the product of precisely that harmonious integration
of those two oceans of knowledge – the external and the internal.)
Simple
translation:
Moses said unto him: “May I accompany
you so that you may teach me something of that (higher truth with it’s) consciousness
of what is right which you were taught?”
(18:66)
Commentary:
In making this request Nabi Musa(‘alaihi
al-Salam) actually
set the example that all of mankind who live in the age of Dajjal (i.e.,
the present age) should follow. Those who read this book and its explanation
concerning ‘internal’ and ‘external’ knowledge, must now search for such a
learned sage who sees with the ‘internal’ eye and whose knowledge therefore
displays affinity to that internal intuitive spiritual insight of Khidr (‘alaihi
al-Salam). When they
find him they must attach themselves to him and bear with patience until they
are able to understand what he teaches. But the reader must be warned that such
a scholar of Islam is hardly likely to be the product of today’s traditional Dar
al-‘Ulum (i.e., Islamic seminary).
Simple
translation:
(Khidr) answered: “Behold, you will
never be able to have patience with me –”
(18:67)
Simple
translation:
“for how can you show patience in
respect of that which you can never comprehend.”
(18:68)
Commentary:
This response of Khidr(‘alaihi
al-Salam) is of the
greatest importance. The sage who has been blessed by Allah with a capacity for
internal insight and vision must constantly remember that the rest of mankind
are going to be impatient with him since the knowledge which he possesses is
beyond their mundane powers of comprehension.The believer, on the other hand, who encounters such a sage, must
exercise patience in matters that are beyond his comprehension.
Understanding of such knowledge
eventually comes with internal spiritual awakening and with the light with
which Allah Most High consequently blesses His servant.
Simple
translation:
(Moses) replied: “Youwill find me patient, if Allah so wills; and
I shall not disobey you in any way!”
(18:69)
Commentary:
Nabi Musa(‘alaihi al-Salam) humbled himself and readily assured Khidr that he
would show patience. He was careful to add “if Allah so wills” when he
committed himself. The trade-mark of the essentially godless age of Dajjal
is that such sacred and pious expressions as Insha Allah (i.e., “if God so
wills” or Please God”) which form part of the normal conversation of
believers, disappears. Believers in the modern age should follow Musa’s
example.
Simple
translation:
(The sage) said “Well, then, if you
wish to accompany me (you will have to comply with this condition that)
you are not to question me on any matter unless and until I myself give you an
explanation thereof.”
(18:70)
Commentary:
Part of the discipline which must be
established if spiritual knowledge is to be transferred and grasped, is the
humility and patience with which to wait until the teacher himself decides that
a student should be taken to a higher plane of understanding. For someone like Nabi
Musa (‘alaihi al-Salam)
who had just recently claimed that he was the most learned of all men, such a
condition constituted a formidable test of humility and faith.
