THE VOICE WITHIN

Musa one day set out on a journey to find Khidr, another servant of Allah. It was because Allah had told Musa He had given Khidr a certain knowledge, and Musa too wanted to be enlightened.

When he found Khidr, Musa asked: “May I follow you so that I can learn something of the wisdom you have been taught?”

Khidr replied: “You will surely not be able to bear with me! For how can you patiently bear with something you cannot encompass in your knowledge?”

“You shall find me, if Allah wills, patient. I shall not disobey you in anything.”

“Well, if you follow me, do not ask me about anything until I myself mention it to you.”

Khidr and Musa then took a boat to sail across the river. As they got off on the other side, Khidr turned and broke a hole in the side of the boat. Perplexed, Musa exclaimed: “What an awful thing to do! Won’t people taking that boat drown because of that hole?”

Khidr remained inscrutable. “Did I not warn that you will not be able to bear with me?”, he reminded.

Musa apologized and they went on. Soon they met a youth on the road, and with horror Musa saw Khidr suddenly strike him dead. “Why did you slay this innocent youth? What wrong had he done to deserve this?”, asked Musa in agony.

Khidr shot back: “Did I not tell you beforehand that you cannot bear with me?”

Musa apologized again, asking for one last chance. They then resumed their journey.

Finally they came upon a town and asked for food and shelter, but were refused. Continuing their way, they came upon a wall on the edge of the town. The wall was on the verge of collapse, but Khidr fixed it. Musa said: “If you wish, you can demand payment from the townspeople for this work.”

And Khidr replied: “It is time for us to part ways here. So I shall explain the true meaning of my actions. First, the boat which belonged to a man poor but honest and good of heart. I damaged it because just beyond lay the dominion of a king who was seizing every boat by force and making the boatmen his slaves.

“As for the youth, his parents were people of faith, but we saw that he would oppress them later by his transgressions and disbelief. So we willed that their Lord should grant them another son to take his place, a son dutiful and loving. As for the wall, it belonged to two orphan boys in the city, and under it lay a treasure. Their father was a righteous man and the Lord intended that they should come of age and then discover their treasure. So I repaired the wall.

“Such is the mercy of the Lord. Who can divine His ways? I did not commit any of these acts of my own bidding. You now know the true meanings of what happened, and about which you could not keep your patience,” concluded Khidr as he took his leave.

— the harbinger