Sayyiduna Abu Sa'id Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates this statement of the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him) submitted: O my Lord, teach me something through which I may remember You, with which I may supplicate to You. Allah Almighty said: O Musa, recite this: There is no deity except Allah. Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him) submitted: O my Lord, all Your servants recite this phrase. Allah Almighty said: You recite La ilaha illallah. Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him) submitted: I desire something that is special for me. Allah Almighty said: O Musa, if the inhabitants of the seven heavens and the inhabitants of the seven earths were placed on one side of the scale, and La ilaha illallah was placed on the other side, the side with La ilaha illallah would outweigh."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) narrates: When the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) reached the valley of Azraq, he said: It is as if I am seeing Musa (peace be upon him) descending from the height and supplicating to his Lord with the Talbiyah. Then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) passed by a mountain pass and asked: Which pass is this? He was told: This is such-and-such pass. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: It is as if I am seeing Musa (peace be upon him) throwing pebbles at the Jamrah while riding a red camel. The bridle of that camel is made of palm fiber, and Musa (peace be upon him) is wearing a woolen cloak.

Hazrat Saeed bin Jubair narrates: I said to Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them): Nauf Bakkali says: Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him) is not the same Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him) who met Sayyiduna Khidr (peace be upon him); (the Sayyiduna Musa who met Sayyiduna Khidr) was another Musa. So Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them) said: The enemy of Allah has lied. Sayyiduna Ubayy bin Ka’b narrated this hadith to us: The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: Once Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him) was standing among the Children of Israel delivering a sermon. He was asked: Who is the most knowledgeable person? Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him) replied: I am. So Allah Almighty reproached him for not attributing this knowledge to Allah. Allah Almighty said: At the junction of the two seas, there is a servant of Mine who is more knowledgeable than you. Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him) said: O my Lord, how can I meet him? Allah Almighty said: Take a fish and put it in a vessel. The place where you lose the fish, that servant will be there.

The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him) took a fish and put it in a vessel. He entrusted the vessel to his companion. Both of them set out until they reached a rock. There, Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him) fell asleep. The fish moved in the vessel, came out of it, and went into the river. Allah Almighty stopped the flow of water for it, and it became like an arch. Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him) and his young companion were amazed. Both of them continued on their way. The next day, Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him) felt tired, so he said: Bring our food. We have become tired from this journey. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: They did not feel tired until they had passed the place about which Allah Almighty had commanded them. His companion said to him: Did you see? When we took refuge at the rock, I forgot the fish, and Satan made me forget to mention it. Upon this, Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him) said: That is what we were seeking. Then both of them retraced their steps, following their footprints, until they reached that rock. There, a man was lying covered with a sheet. Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him) greeted him with salam. The man said: Where does salam come from in this place? Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him) said: I am Musa. He asked: Musa from the Children of Israel? Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him) replied: Yes. He said: O Musa! I have a knowledge from Allah which Allah has given me, and you do not know it, and you have a knowledge from Allah which Allah has given you, and I do not know it. Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him) said: I want to stay with you so that you may teach me something of the guidance you have been taught. The man said: You will not be able to have patience with me, and how can you have patience with something you do not know? Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him) said: If Allah wills, you will find me patient, and I will not disobey you in any matter. Sayyiduna Khidr (peace be upon him) said: If you want to follow me, then do not ask me about anything until I myself mention it to you.

The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: Then both of them set out along the riverbank. A boat passed by, and the people recognized Sayyiduna Khidr (peace be upon him) and took them on board without any payment. Shortly after, Sayyiduna Khidr (peace be upon him) broke a plank of the boat. Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him) said to him: What have you done? They took you on board without any payment, and you broke their boat’s plank so that the boat people would drown? You have done a wrong thing. Sayyiduna Khidr (peace be upon him) said: Did I not say that you would not be able to have patience with me? Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him) said: Do not call me to account for what I forgot, and do not make my affair difficult for me. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: This was the first (violation) from Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him), which was due to forgetfulness. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: Meanwhile, a bird came and sat on the edge of the boat. It dipped its beak into the water. Sayyiduna Khidr (peace be upon him) said to Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him): My knowledge and your knowledge, compared to the knowledge of Allah Almighty, is not even as much as the water this bird has reduced from the sea with its beak.

The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: They passed by some boys who were playing. Sayyiduna Khidr (peace be upon him) killed one of the boys with his hand. Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him) said to him: You have killed a pure soul without (the soul of) another. You have done a reprehensible thing. Sayyiduna Khidr (peace be upon him) said: Did I not say to you that you would not be able to have patience with me? Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him) said: If I ask you about anything after this, then do not keep me with you. You have received an excuse from me.

The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: Both of them came to a town and asked its people for food, but they refused to host them. They found a wall in the town that was about to collapse. Sayyiduna Khidr (peace be upon him) supported it with his hand and set it straight. Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him) said to him: We asked these people for food, and they refused to feed us. We asked them for hospitality, and they refused to host us, yet you repaired their wall. If you wished, you could have taken payment from them for it. Sayyiduna Khidr (peace be upon him) said: This is the parting between me and you. I will inform you of the reality of those things over which you could not have patience. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: We wished that Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him) had been patient so that more details of their story would have been revealed to us.

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them) used to recite:“As for the boy, he was a disbeliever and his parents were believers.”And he used to recite:“And ahead of them was a king who seized every good boat by force.”

Sayyiduna Ubayy bin Ka'b (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "The boy whom Sayyiduna Khidr (peace be upon him) killed was born a natural disbeliever."

Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "The name of Sayyiduna Khidr (peace be upon him) is Khidr because if he sits on any white barren land, greenery starts flourishing beneath him."

Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "The Angel of Death was sent to Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him) so that he could seize his soul. Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him) struck him and gouged out his eye. The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) said: He went to his Lord and said, 'You have sent me to a servant who does not want to die.' The Lord said: Go back to him and say, 'If you wish, place your hand on the back of an ox; for every hair that comes under your hand, you will be granted one year of life.' So Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him) asked the angel: 'Then what will happen?' He said: 'Then death will come.' So Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him) said: 'O my Lord, then (let me die) now.' The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him) requested Allah Almighty to bring him as close to the Holy Land as the distance a stone is thrown. The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) said: If I were there, I would show you the grave of Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him), which is beneath the red sandhill on the side of Mount Tur. This narration is also transmitted with another chain.

(Imam Ibn Hibban, may Allah have mercy on him, says:) Indeed, Allah Almighty sent the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) as a teacher to His creation and granted him the position of clarifying (His commands). So the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) conveyed the message of Allah's messengership and explained the concise words of His verses and interpreted them, which his companions learned from him, or some among them learned. This narration is also among those narrations whose meaning can be understood by the one who is not deprived of the ability to reach the truth, and that is: Allah Almighty sent the Angel of Death to Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him) to manifest a trial and to reveal the news, and He commanded him to say to him that he should respond to the call of his Lord. So this was a command for the sake of knowing the news and as a trial. It was not a command that Allah Almighty intended to enforce, just as Allah Almighty commanded His Khalil (friend) to slaughter his son; so this was for the sake of knowing the news and as a trial, it was not a command that Allah Almighty intended to maintain. So when Sayyiduna Ibrahim (peace be upon him) firmly intended to slaughter his son, Allah Almighty provided a great ransom in his place. Similarly, Allah Almighty (on various occasions) sent angels to His messengers in such forms that the messengers could not recognize them, just as some angels came to serve Allah's messenger Sayyiduna Ibrahim (peace be upon him), but Sayyiduna Ibrahim (peace be upon him) could not recognize them until he felt fear from them. Similarly, Sayyiduna Jibreel (peace be upon him) came to the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). He asked the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) about faith and Islam, but the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) recognized him only when he had left. So when the Angel of Death came to Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him), he was in a different form than the one Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him) was familiar with. Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him) was of a quick temperament. He saw a person in his house whom he did not recognize, so he extended his hand and struck him. As a result of the slap, the eye of the Angel of Death was gouged out, which was according to the form he had taken when he came. This does not refer to the form in which Allah Almighty created him.

In the narration transmitted from Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both), there is clarification from our Prophet. The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Jibreel led me in prayer twice by the House of Allah." Then the entire narration follows, at the end of which are these words: "This is your time and the time of the Prophets before you." So in this narration, there is a clear statement that in some legal rulings, our Shariah has the same ruling as the Shariah of the previous nations. So when the ruling of our Shariah is that if a person gouges out the eye of someone who enters his house without permission, there will be no sin upon the one who does so. There are many narrations on this subject, which we have dictated in other places in our books. So it will also be permissible that in this matter, the ruling of this Shariah and the Shariah of Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him) is the same: that if a person gouges out the eye of someone who enters his house without permission, there will be no sin upon him. So Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him) did this act. It was permissible for him, and there was no blame upon him for doing so. When the Angel of Death returned to his Lord and informed Him of the situation that had occurred from Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him), Allah Almighty again commanded him to go a second time to obtain information and as a trial, as we have mentioned before, because Allah Almighty said to him: Tell him, if you wish, place your hand on the back of an ox, and for every hair that comes under your hand, you will be granted one year of life. When Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him) learned that this was the Angel of Death and that he had come with a message from Allah Almighty, Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him) mentally prepared himself for death. He did not ask for more time. He said: Then now is fine. If Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him) had recognized him the first time as the Angel of Death, he would have adopted the same approach as he did the second time, when he was certain about it and had acquired knowledge about it.

This is contrary to the stance of the person who says that the scholars of hadith only carry bundles of wood, that they herd goats at night, that they collect things from which they derive no benefit, and that they narrate things for which they will not be rewarded, and that they hold views which Islam declares to be false. This is the person who, due to ignorance of the meanings of hadith and abandoning reflection on the narrations, holds such views, and this person holds this opinion based on his weak judgment and inverted analogy.

Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) said: The Angel of Death came to Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him) to seize his soul. He said to him: Accept the call of your Lord. So Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him) struck the Angel of Death on the eye and gouged out his eye. The Angel of Death returned to his Lord and said: O my Lord, You have sent me to a servant who does not want to die; he has gouged out my eye. Allah Almighty restored his eye and said: Go back to him and say: Do you want life? If you want life, then place your hand on the back of an ox; for every hair that comes under your hand, you will be granted one year of life. (When this was conveyed to Sayyiduna Musa, peace be upon him) he asked: Then what will happen? The angel said: Then death will come. So Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him) said: (Then I will die now.) Then Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him) prayed: O my Lord, bring me so close to the Holy Land that I am at the distance of a stone’s throw from it. The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) said: If I were there, I would show you his grave by the side of the road near the red sand hill.

(Imam Ibn Hibban, may Allah have mercy on him, says:) The words of the narration“Accept the call of your Lord”may mislead someone who is not skilled in the science of hadith (and he may think) that the interpretation we have given of this narration is not correct. That is why the Angel of Death said: Accept the call of your Lord. This is a clear statement that Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him) recognized the Angel of Death, although this is not the case, because when Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him) stretched out his hand and struck him, at that time the angel said to him: Accept the call of your Lord. Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him) thought that he was seeking refuge with these words. Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him) did not realize that he had come with a message from Allah Almighty, so his saying:“Accept the call of your Lord”indicates the purpose of trial and the beginning of conveying information that was intended through it.

Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates this statement of the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): "Recitation was made easy for Sayyiduna Dawud (peace be upon him). He would order for his animal to be saddled, and before the saddle was placed on it, he would finish reciting the Zabur."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Amr (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) said to me, "I have come to know that you observe voluntary fasts every day and spend the whole night in voluntary prayers. If you continue like this, your eyes will sink in and your body will become weak. Whoever observes voluntary fasts every day has in fact not fasted. Fasting three days every month is equivalent to fasting the whole month. Sayyiduna Dawud (peace be upon him) used to fast one day and not fast the next day, and when he faced the enemy, he would not flee."

Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "Sayyiduna Dawud (peace be upon him) used to eat from what he earned with his own hand."