Is al-Khidr a prophet?
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The questioner : Is the report that he is a prophet? Is the report that he is a prophet?
The Shaykh : It is correct that he is not a believer, but he is a servant to whom Allah the Exalted granted knowledge, so that it became clear that Musa’s claim that he was the most knowledgeable person on earth was not as he said.
The questioner : I am the one who distinguishes myself. Leave the doubt in His saying, “We gave him knowledge, then we disciplined him, those who knew.” Also, by His saying to Musa regarding the yellow one who descended into the sea, “My knowledge and your knowledge are like this compared to the knowledge of Allah.” And the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), “May Allah have mercy on my brother Musa; if he had traveled with us, we would have been overwhelmed by the matter of his affair, or by the matter of his affair,” meaning that he had the knowledge of the Shaykh and was inspired.
The Shaykh : Doubt. There is no doubt that he had knowledge, but all this knowledge is not the knowledge of prophethood. He had no people, and it was not said that he was a prophet, and he was not mentioned among the prophets in the Qur’an. Prophethood requires the establishment of a matter without doubt, because it is a matter of creed. A possible matter comes, and then we say to him, he is a prophet.
The questioner : Is it argued by seeing the prophets or by a Muslim revelation? Meaning, is it not argued by seeing the prophets or by revelation?
The Shaykh : There is no harm in us seeing that it is not in us. Yes, we return this to divine inspiration. Perhaps Allah gives a person who follows the Messenger knowledge from Him, which is in the category of karamah (a miracle granted to a righteous person). This is 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him); it was revealed to him regarding a pillar while he was in Iraq. And Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him); it was revealed to him about what was in the belly of his wife. One may be given hadiths as a karamah.
The Shaykh : It is correct that he is not a believer, but he is a servant to whom Allah the Exalted granted knowledge, so that it became clear that Musa’s claim that he was the most knowledgeable person on earth was not as he said.
The questioner : I am the one who distinguishes myself. Leave the doubt in His saying, “We gave him knowledge, then we disciplined him, those who knew.” Also, by His saying to Musa regarding the yellow one who descended into the sea, “My knowledge and your knowledge are like this compared to the knowledge of Allah.” And the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), “May Allah have mercy on my brother Musa; if he had traveled with us, we would have been overwhelmed by the matter of his affair, or by the matter of his affair,” meaning that he had the knowledge of the Shaykh and was inspired.
The Shaykh : Doubt. There is no doubt that he had knowledge, but all this knowledge is not the knowledge of prophethood. He had no people, and it was not said that he was a prophet, and he was not mentioned among the prophets in the Qur’an. Prophethood requires the establishment of a matter without doubt, because it is a matter of creed. A possible matter comes, and then we say to him, he is a prophet.
The questioner : Is it argued by seeing the prophets or by a Muslim revelation? Meaning, is it not argued by seeing the prophets or by revelation?
The Shaykh : There is no harm in us seeing that it is not in us. Yes, we return this to divine inspiration. Perhaps Allah gives a person who follows the Messenger knowledge from Him, which is in the category of karamah (a miracle granted to a righteous person). This is 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him); it was revealed to him regarding a pillar while he was in Iraq. And Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him); it was revealed to him about what was in the belly of his wife. One may be given hadiths as a karamah.
Source
قناة «فضيلة الشيخ محمد بن صالح العثيمين»، 4396 - 4600 هل الخضر نبي؟ ابن عثيمين — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.