any friend of Allah has a path to Him other than following Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, both inwardly and outwardly, and that consequently he need not emulate him in both respects, is a disbeliever.

Invoking the Story of Moses and al-Khidr and its Refutation from Two Angles

Whoever tries to justify that claim by citing the story of Moses with al-Khidr is mistaken on two counts:

First: Moses was not sent to al-Khidr, nor was al-Khidr required to follow him; Moses had been commissioned only to the Children of Israel. By contrast, Muhammad—peace and blessings be upon him—was sent with a message that is universal for both kinds of beings, jinn and humans. Had anyone greater than al-Khidr, such as Abraham, Moses, or Jesus, been alive when he was sent, they would have been obliged to follow him. How much more, then, does this apply to al-Khidr, whether he was a prophet or a saint!

For this reason al-Khidr said to Moses: “I possess a knowledge from God that He has taught me and of which you are unaware, and you possess a knowledge from God that He has taught you and of which I am unaware.” No member of either species to whom Muhammad’s message has reached may say such a thing.

Second: What al-Khidr did was not contrary to the law of Moses, peace be upon him; Moses was simply unaware of the factors that made