(34–35) “We have not granted immortality to any human being before you. If you die, will they then live forever? * Every soul shall taste death. We test you with evil and good as a trial, and to Us you will be returned.”

Since the Messenger’s enemies would say (1), “Wait for the calamity of death to overtake him,” Allah Most High said: “This is a well-traveled road and a well-worn path. We granted no human being before you, O Muhammad, immortality in this world. Thus, if you die, you are merely following the path of those like you—messengers, prophets, the righteous, and others.”

“If you die, will they then live forever?” That is: If you die, will they remain forever after you? If so, let them rejoice in immortality—if it exists! But that is not the case. Rather, “Everyone upon it shall perish.” Hence He says, “Every soul shall taste death.” This encompasses the souls of all created beings. It is a cup that must inevitably be drunk, however long a servant may live and however many years he may be granted.

Allah Most High brought His servants into existence in this world, gave them commands and prohibitions, and tested them with good and evil—with wealth and poverty, honor and humiliation, life and death—as a trial from Him, so that He might test which of them is best in deed, who succumbs when trials arise, and who is saved. “And to Us you will be returned,” whereupon We shall recompense you according to your deeds: good for good and evil for evil. “Your Lord is never unjust to His servants.”

This verse demonstrates the invalidity of the claim that al-Khidr remains alive and is immortal in this world. It is a claim unsupported by any evidence and contrary to the revealed proofs.