Selected Exegesis

After Moses’s companion reported to him about the fish falling into the sea near the rock, Moses told him that this was the place they had been seeking. The story of losing the fish, or its coming back to life and falling into the water at the meeting of the two seas (majmaʿ al-baḥrayn), was a sign from God, and Moses was instructed to meet Khiḍr there. Therefore, upon hearing the story of the fish, they followed their footsteps back along the same path they had come, returning to the place where the fish had fallen into the water. There, at their meeting place, they found one of God’s special servants—a servant whom God had blessed with His special mercy, namely the blessing of prophethood or divine authority (wilāya), and had granted him direct divine knowledge (ʿilm ladunnī) and immediate, pure understanding.

Divine knowledge (ʿilm ladunnī) is knowledge where the learner is a direct student of God Almighty. Such knowledge is absolute truth and cannot contain error—falsehood has no way into it, and it is free from the risk of mistake or forgetfulness.