A Discussion of the Narrations

The Story of the Fish Coming to Life

From the Prophet (s.a.w.)… who said to his successor Joshua son of Nūn: “Indeed God—the Mighty and Majestic—has commanded me to follow a man at the meeting point of the two seas and learn from him.” So Joshua took a salted fish as provision and they set out. When they reached that place, they found a man lying on his back but did not recognize him. Moses’s successor took out the fish, washed it with water, and placed it on the rock. They continued on and forgot about the fish. That water was the water of life, so the fish came to life and entered the water. Moses and Joshua continued on until they became weary…(61)

From Abū Jaʿfar and Abū ʿAbdallāh (a.s.) who said: When it came to the matter of Moses who was given a basket (zanbīl) containing a salted fish, he was told: “This will guide you to your companion at the spring at the meeting of the two seas. Nothing dead touches it without coming to life—it is called the Life [spring].” They proceeded until they reached the rock. The youth went to wash the fish in the spring, and the fish stirred in his hand until it scratched him and escaped from him, and the youth forgot about it. When they passed the appointed time that Moses had set, he said to his youth, “Bring us our morning meal…”(62)

From ʿAlī [in a long hadith in which he responds to some Jews who asked him questions]: “As for the first spring that gushed forth on the face of the earth, the Jews claim it is the spring under the rock of Jerusalem, but they lie. Rather, it is the spring of life where Moses’s companion forgot the salted fish, and when the water of the spring touched it, it came to life and swam away, so Moses and his companion followed it and met Khiḍr.”(63)

It is narrated that God sent water from a spring of Paradise, and when that water touched that fish, it came to life and leaped into the sea and went on its way.(64)

Note: The transmitted narratives above are not free from weakness in their chains of transmission and differences in content, therefore deriving a reasonable and well-supported conclusion from them is not easy.

Proving the existence of the water of life (māʾ al-ḥayāt) through a disconnected narration is very difficult. Moreover, the original story of the water of life that prevents death is nothing but a myth; meaning that while the possibility of reviving the dead through miracles is accepted, as Abraham and Jesus would revive the dead by God’s permission, and this occurs sometimes on land and sometimes at sea and has no connection to the water of life; however, the idea of a being becoming immune to death is not correct.