Selected Exegesis

Moses pledged to Khiḍr that by God’s will he would be among the patient ones and would not disobey his command. He made his patience and non-opposition conditional upon divine will, because he knew that enduring actions that outwardly appear contrary to religious law is not easy. By making his patience and non-disobedience conditional upon divine will, he effectively absolved himself of responsibility and, through this statement, placed himself within the realm of divine unity (tawḥīd).

After Moses’s pledge, Khiḍr told him that if he wished to accompany him and follow him, he must not question anything he witnessed during their companionship that he found incomprehensible, and must refrain from premature interrogative questions, until Khiḍr himself revealed the secret of his actions.

Khiḍr’s actions were reminders (tadhkira), not guidance about something Moses did not know, because similar or more significant events had occurred in Moses’s life before, although they differed in outward appearance.