to that very spot at the appointed time. Adam’s body therefore remained with them until al-Khiḍr himself undertook the burial, and Allah fulfilled for him what He had promised, so he continues to live for as long as Allah wills. (1)

Ibn Qutaybah states in al-Maʿārif, citing Wahb ibn Munabbih, that al-Khiḍr’s name was Bilyā; it is also said to be Ilyā ibn Milkān ibn Fālig ibn ʿĀbir ibn Shāligh ibn Arfakhshadh ibn Sām ibn Noah, peace be upon him. (2)

Ismāʿīl ibn Abī Uways said: “The name of al-Khiḍr—according to what has reached us, and Allah knows best—is al-Muʿammir ibn Mālik ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Naṣr ibn al-Azd.”

Others have maintained that he is Khiḍrūn ibn ʿAmiyāʾīl ibn al-Yafaz ibn al-ʿĪṣ ibn Isaac son of Abraham the Friend; it is also said that he is Armiya ibn Tabqā. (3) Allah knows best.

A further opinion claims that he was the son of the Pharaoh who ruled Egypt in the time of Moses—an idea exceedingly unusual. Ibn al-Jawzī remarked: “This was transmitted by Muḥammad ibn Ayyūb from Ibn Lahīʿah, and both are weak narrators.”

Another view holds that he was the son of Mālik and the brother of Elijah; this was stated by al-Suddi, as will be mentioned later.

Some say he served as the vanguard commander in the army of Dhū al-Qarnayn.

Others suggest he was the son of one of those who believed in Abraham the Friend and emigrated with him.

Yet another opinion asserts that he was a prophet during the reign of Bishtāsb ibn Luhrāsb. (4)

Ibn Jarīr said: “What is correct is that he lived earlier, in the time of Afrīdūn, (5) and survived until Moses, peace be upon him, encountered him.” (6)

The ḥāfiẓ Ibn ʿAsākir transmitted from Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib that he said: “Al-Khiḍr’s mother was Roman and his father Persian.” (7)

Evidence has also come down indicating that he was from the Children of Israel during the age of Pharaoh. Abū Zurʿah, in Dalāʾil al-Nubuwwah, said: “Safwān ibn Ṣāliḥ al-Dimashqī narrated to us; al-Walīd narrated to us; Saʿīd ibn Bashīr narrated to us, from Qatādah, from Mujāhid, from Ibn ʿAbbās, from Ubayy ibn Kaʿb, from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, that on the night of the Miʿrāj he perceived a pleasant fragrance and asked, ‘O Gabriel, what is this delightful scent?’ He replied, ‘It is the fragrance of the grave of the hair-dresser, her daughter, and her husband.’ ”

He went on: “Its beginning was that al-Khiḍr was one of the nobles of the Children of Israel. He would pass by a monk in his cell, and the monk looked out to him and taught him Islam. When al-Khiḍr came of age, his father married him to a woman; he taught her Islam and bound her by oath not to disclose it to anyone, and he did not approach women. Later he divorced her. His father then married him to another woman, and he taught her Islam as well, on the same condition that she tell no one. Then …”