:salamext:
Praise be to Allaah.
Al-Shanqeeti said:
The stories of al-Khidr told by the righteous are innumerable. They claim that he and Ilyaas perform Hajj each year and they narrated du’aa’s from them, and these stories are well known and widespread, but the basis of what they say is very weak, because most of them are stories narrated from some of those whom they think are righteous, or dreams and ahaadeeth that are attributed to Anas or others, but all of them are da’eef (weak) and cannot be used to prove anything.
What seems to me to be more likely, based on the evidence concerning this matter, is that al-Khidr is not alive, rather he died. This is for a number of reasons:
1 – The apparent meaning of the aayah (interpretation of the meaning)
“And We granted not to any human being immortality before you (O Muhammad); then if you die, would they live forever?”
[al-Anbiya’ 21:34]
2 – The Prophet SAWS (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “O Allaah, if you allow this group of Muslims to be destroyed, You will not be worshipped on earth.” (Narrated by Muslim)
3 – The Prophet SAWS (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said that one hundred years after the night on which he was speaking, none of the people who were on the face of the earth then would still be alive. If al-Khidr had been alive at that point he would not have remained after the hundred years mentioned. Muslim ibn al-Hajjaaj said that ‘Abd-Allaah ibn ‘Abd-Allaah ibn ‘Umar said: “The Messenger of Allaah SAWS (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) led us in praying ‘Isha’ one night towards the end of his life, then he stood up and said: ‘Do you see this night of yours? One hundred years from now not one of those who are on the face of the earth now will remain.” Ibn ‘Umar said: “The people did not understand these words of the Messenger of Allaah SAWS (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), and they said that this meant that the Day of Resurrection would come after one hundred years. The Prophet SAWS (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said, ‘not one of those who are on the face of the earth now will remain’ meaning that that generation would pass away.”
4 – If al-Khidr had lived until the time of the Prophet SAWS (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), he would have followed him, supported him and fought alongside him, because he was sent to the two races of jinn and mankind.
Adwaa’ al-Bayaan, 4/178-183
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But ‘Eesa ascended into heaven body and soul, and the same is said of Idrees.
But with regard to Ibraaheem, Moosa and others, they are buried on earth.
The Messiah (may the blessings and peace of Allaah be upon him and all the other Prophets) will inevitably descend to earth, to the white minaret in the east of Damascus; he will kill the Dajjaal (“Antichrist”), break the cross and kill the pigs, as is proven in the saheeh ahaadeeth. Hence he is in the second heaven even though he is superior to Yoosuf, Idrees and Haroon, because he will descend to the earth before the Day of Resurrection, unlike the other Prophets. And Adam is in the lowest heaven because the souls of his descendents who are blessed (i.e., destined for Paradise) will be shown to him. As for the souls of the doomed (i.e., those who are destined for Hell) the gates of heaven will not be opened for them and they will not enter Paradise until the camel passes through the eye of the needle. So if they will be shown to him, he has to be near them. There is no contradiction in the fact that they (may be blessings and peace of Allaah be upon them) prayed behind the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) then he met some of them after he was taken up into the heavens, because the souls are like the angels, they may ascend and descend in an instant; they are not like bodies.
Adapted from Majmoo’ al-Fataawa by Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allaah have mercy on him), 4/328-329.
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