The Art of Attaining Knowledge | Mufti Abdul Wahab Waheed

The Three Parts of the Journey

There are three parts in this journey. Each part of this journey is unique. The first part —

They start walking. Is Yusha with them? No. فَانطَلَقَا — who's there now? The student knows when to separate. It's like, I'm sitting with my teacher and now my teacher tells me to come. My student knows that now, that's for them. This is what's happened. فَانطَلَقَا — because whose journey is this? Musa's or Yusha's? And Musa is being taught lessons in this journey, and Allah is showing that the teacher cannot be embarrassed in front of the student. Because Musa is being taught.

The First Trial: The Ship

They start their journey.

Until they mounted upon a ship — خَرَقَهَا — he ripped a plank from the ship. And Musa is Musa. He says, "Hey, if you just say that I won't ask you any questions."

The Importance of Asking Questions

And this is where Hassan al-Basri says that it is a part and parcel of a student's mentality that he will ask questions — or she will ask questions. It's okay. Even though Musa said "I won't ask you," he still asked. We can't not ask. A shy student can never learn. An arrogant student can never learn.

Hassan al-Basri says:

Good questions are half of knowledge.

Musa said:

So Razi says Musa could have just said "did you rip it?" and left it at that. But Musa adds this extra dimension. He says, "Did you rip it so you can drown these people?" He didn't need to say that. He could have just said, "Why did you rip it for?" You know when someone does something and you want to be somewhat confrontational, you actually give them the reason. "Did you do that because you don't like me?" — you could have just said "why did you do it?" So Musa is like, "Did you do it so you can drown these people?"

إِمْرًا — a matter. إِمْرًا means a strange matter. The حَرَكَة changes, the meaning changes. So لَقَدْ جِئْتَ شَيْئًا إِمْرًا means: you have done something very strange.

Khidr doesn't give him the answer. He just reminds him about his initial condition:

"Did I not inform you that you will not be able to stay with me and be patient enough?"

Alusi says there is so much discussion on this passage. Alusi says what happened to Musa's student happened to Musa. That's what happened. Whatever your teacher does, you end up also having some of those qualities.

"Do not blame me for that which I have forgotten, and do not cover me in a matter with difficulty." Meaning: don't be too stern on me. Just let me go. عُسْرًا means difficulty. يُسْر is ease. عُسْر is difficulty.

فَانطَلَقَا — they continued. Khidr didn't have a long conversation. He said okay, and they continued. The example of our Prophets and the Sahabas is that when someone would make a mistake, if they were to forgive him, they wouldn't keep reminding them of it. It's done. It's gone and dusted. They continued their journey.

The Second Trial: The Young Boy

Until they met a youngster. غُلَامًا means someone under the age of 12. Some say under the age of 7. A youngster. فَقَتَلَهُ — and he killed him. This is probably one of the more difficult ones to understand.

He said, "Did you kill someone without the right of him being killed?" Meaning, نَفْسًا بِغَيْرِ نَفْسٍ — he didn't kill anyone else. So a soul, a life — you killed him just like that. And in Tafsir it says Khidr was pretty straightforward. They say this kid was playing with other kids, and he came up to him, took him to the side, and killed him. And Musa is watching. "This guy is my teacher? How did you kill this kid?"

نُكْرًا is one step above إِمْرًا. You did something which was despicable. نُكْرًا — إِنكَار. إِنكَار in Arabic — even in Urdu — means to deny something. مُنكَر — like I deny this. You did something so despicable. What's going on?

The Wisdom Behind the Taking of a Life

The discussion about the actual situation — why Khidr took this child's life — brings us to a very important concept. We believe in the idea of Qadr. But we also believe in the idea that Qadr can be changed to a certain extent, and we will learn about this in Aqidah classes.

It has been said that this child was to grow older, and whatever Allah does, He does it for the betterment of that family, that individual, and that community. So if this child was to grow older, he would have left Islam. This is why the Prophet ﷺ and other Mufassirun and Muhaddithun speak about this in their discussions — that if a child passes away before the age of puberty, what happens to them?

One opinion is that they go straight to Jannah. The other opinion is they go to a place called A'raf, where they are in between. The other opinion is that they become servants in Jannah — still in Jannah, but they don't enter Jannah in the full sense because they were not yet at the age of being questioned. They are not مَسؤول yet.

In this discussion, Allah is showing — and this is why, as difficult as it may be to understand — this story is the best story for a person who has experienced trauma or the loss of a loved one at a young age. It explains to you that there is always a wisdom in someone dying early. Khidr took the life of this child early, and the reason for it was that if he were to grow older, he would have become disobedient, and what happens to parents when a child trails off? It affects them in so many ways. Some of them lose faith in Islam. "How can it be that I pray Salah my entire life and my daughter and my son don't go to the masjid — my daughter and my son have become atheists?" Even the parents can lose trust in Islam.

So it was said that when this child was to grow older, it was written that he would have A) left Islam, and B) been a cause of his parents leaving Islam. So Allah took his life early. This was already written for him. The how is not important. The idea that his life was taken early was already written. How is not important — it doesn't make a difference, because Allah had already written it for him.

A Personal Reflection on Loss

For example, my brother left at the age of 22. We could easily console ourselves by saying: what if he was to grow older and he would not have been as great? And I can tell you for a fact that he left at a time where every single person that was around him had the most love for him. If he left a few years earlier, there were differences. We don't know if he were to leave a few years later whether he was still to be the obedient son that he was to my mother. We don't know. What if he grew older and maybe he decided that he was going to do his own thing — that he's not going to take care of my mother anymore, that he's not going to listen to his brothers anymore? It could have happened.

So Allah took his life at a point where every single person that was around him was the happiest with him. And this is what this refers to — that the timing is always right.