Some Evidence that Khiḍr Was Not an Angel

In addition to what was previously mentioned about Khiḍr not being an angel or taking human form(322), there is further evidence of this in the verses under discussion:

The first evidence is the expression “asking for food” (istiṭʿām): “They asked its people for food,” because angels do not get hungry, do not eat food, and the concept of an angel asking for food is meaningless. The second evidence is the statement “He [Moses] said: ‘If you had wished, you could have taken payment for it,’” which Moses said to Khiḍr, suggesting it would have been good to take payment for rebuilding the wall. This expression also indicates that Khiḍr was human and moved about normally, rebuilding the collapsing wall through manual labor. Therefore, there is no evidence that Khiḍr was an angel or took human form. According to the explicit statement of the Qur’an, he was a servant from among God’s chosen servants, blessed with divine mercy and divine knowledge: “Then they found one of Our servants upon whom We had bestowed mercy from Us and had taught him knowledge from Our presence”.(323)