English translation
(1). 3149. Sa'eed bin Jubair said: "I said to Ibn 'Abbās: 'Nawf Al-Bikālī claims that Mūsā, of Banū Isrā'īl is not the Mūsā that was the companion of Al-Khiḏr. He said: 'The enemy of Allāh has lied. I heard Ubayy bin Ka'b saying: "I heard the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ saying: 'Mūsā stood to deliver a Khutbah to the children of Isrā'īl. He was asked: "Who is the most knowledgeable among the people?" He said: "I am the most knowledgeable." So Allāh admonished him, since he did not refer the knowledge back to Him. Allāh revealed to him: "A slave, among My slaves at the junction of the two seas, is more knowledgeable than you." So Mūsā said: "O Lord! How can I meet him?" He said to him: "Carry a fish in a basket, wherever you loose the fish, then he is there." So he set off, and his boy set off with him – and he was Yūsha' bin Nūn. Mūsā put a fish in a basket, he and the boy set off walking, until when they reached a rock, Mūsā and his boy fell asleep. The fish was flopping around in the basket, until it escaped from the basket, falling into the sea.' He said: 'Allāh held back the flow of water until it was like a tunnel, and the fish could glide. Mūsā and his boy were amazed. They set off the remainder of the day and the night, and Mūsā's companion forgot to inform him (of the escape of the fish). When Mūsā arose in the morning, he said to his boy: Bring us our morning meal; truly we have suffered much fatigue in this, our journey.'[1] He said: 'He had not gotten tired until he passed the place which Allāh had ordered him to go. He said: Do you remember when we betook ourselves to the rock? I indeed forgot the fish, none but Shaitān made me forget to remember it. It took its course into the sea in a strange way.[1] Mūsā said: That is what we have been seeking. So they went back, retracing their tracks.[2] He said: 'So they began retracing their tracks.'" Sufyān (one of the narrators) said: "People claim that there is a spring of life at that rock, no dying person has its water poured over him, but he becomes alive, and the fish came in contact with some of it, so when the water dropped on it he became alive." "He (the Prophet ﷺ) said: 'They retraced their tracks until they arrived at the rock to see a man covered with a garment. Mūsā greeted him, and he replied: Is there such greeting in your land? He said: I am Mūsā. He said: Mūsā of the children of Isrā'īl? He said: Yes. He said: O Mūsā! Indeed you have some knowledge from Allāh, which Allāh taught you, which I have not been taught, and I have some knowledge from Allāh, which Allāh taught me, which you have not been taught.' So Mūsā said: May I follow you so that you may teach me something of the knowledge which you have been taught?[3] He said: Verily, you will not be able to have patience with me! And how can you have patience about a thing which you know not? He said: If Allāh wills, you will find me patient, and I will not disobey you at all.[1] Al-Khaḍīr said to him: Then if you follow me, ask me not about anything until I myself mention it to you.[2] Mūsā said: Yes. So Mūsā and Al-Khaḍīr set off walking along the shore of the sea. A boat was passing by them, and they spoke to them (the crew) asking them to let them get on board. They recognized Al-Khaḍīr so they let the two of them ride without charge. Al-Khaḍīr took one of the planks (in the boat) and removed it, so Mūsā said to him: These people gave us a ride free of charge, yet you sabotaged their boat so that its people will drown. Indeed you have done a dreadful thing.[3] He said: Did I not tell you that you would not be able to have patience with me?[4] He said: Call me not to account for what I forgot, and be not hard upon me for my affair.[5] Then they exited the boat, and while they were walking upon the shore, they saw a boy playing with two other boys. So Al-Khaḍīr took him by his head, pulling it off with his hands, and he killed him. So Mūsā said to him: Have you killed an innocent person who killed no one! Verily you have done a horrendous thing.[1] He said: Did I not tell you that you would not be able to have patience with me?[2] – he (the narrator) said: – “This was more severe than the first one” – He said: If I ask you about anything after this, keep me not in your company, you have received an excuse from me. So they both proceeded until they came to the inhabitants of a town. They asked them for food but they refused to entertain them. There they found a wall on the verge of falling down.[3] He (the narrator) said: – meaning leaning over – ‘So Al-Khaḍīr took his hand like this, so he set it up straight[4] so Mūsā said to him: We arrived at these people, they did not treat us as guests nor feed us. If you had wished, surely you could have taken wages for it! He said: “This is the parting between you and I. I will tell you the interpretation of (those) things over which you were not able to be patient.”’[5] The Messenger of Allāh ﷺ said: ‘May Allāh have mercy upon Mūsā! We wish that he would have had patience, so the we could have had more knowledge about that two of them.’ He said: “So the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ said: ‘The first time Mūsā had forgotten.' He said: 'And a sparrow came, until it perched on the edge of the boat, and pecked at the sea. So Al-Khaḍīr said to him: My knowledge and your knowledge do not diminish anything from the knowledge of Allāh, but like what this sparrow diminishes of the sea.'" Sa'eed bin Jubair said: "And he would" – meaning Ibn 'Abbās – "recite: 'And there was before them a king who would take every useful boat by force.'[1] And he would recite: 'As for the boy, he was a disbeliever.'"[2] (Ṣaḥīḥ) [Abū 'Eisā said:] This Hadīth is Hasan Ṣaḥīḥ. [Abū Iṣḥāq Al-Hamdānī has reported it from Sa'eed bin Jubair, from Ibn 'Abbās, from Ubayy bin Ka'b from the Prophet ﷺ.] Az-Zuhrī reported it from 'Ubaidullāh bin 'Abdullāh bin 'Utbah, from Ibn 'Abbās, from Ubayy bin Ka'b from the Prophet ﷺ. Abū Muzāḥim As-Samarqandi said: " 'Alī bin Al-Maḍīnī said: 'I performed Hajj, and I had no (additional) concern but to hear Sufyān mentioning this Hadīth with an expression that he was informed of it, until I heard him saying: "'Amr bin Dīnār narrated to us." And I had heard this from Sufyān before that, and he did not mention it with an expression indicating that he was informed of it.'"