The shaykh—may Allah have mercy on him—was asked:
“Was al-Khidr, peace be upon him, a prophet or a friend of Allah? Is he still alive? If he is alive, what do you say about the saying attributed to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace:
‘If he were alive, he would have visited me.’
Is this hadith authentic or not?”
He replied:
As for his prophethood, after the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was sent, neither he nor any other person received revelation. As for the period before the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was sent, there is disagreement over whether al-Khidr was a prophet (*).
Those who say that he was a prophet do not say that he was stripped of prophethood. Rather, they say that, like Elijah, he is a prophet, but that he has received no revelation during these times. The withholding of revelation from him for a particular period does not negate his actual prophethood, just as revelation might be interrupted for the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, during his prophetic mission.
Most scholars hold that he was not a prophet, although much of the prophethood among those before us closely resembles the divinely bestowed gifts and perfection found within this community. Nevertheless, every one of the prophets is superior to every
(*) Shaykh Nāsir ibn Hamad al-Fahd said (pp. 35–37):
The compiler—may Allah have mercy on him—expressed doubt about this fatwa (the compiler meant here is Abd al-Rahmān ibn al-Qāsim), commenting at its beginning: “This is how I found this treatise.” It appears that it is not by the shaykh, since it contradicts his statements elsewhere that al-Khidr has died:
1 - One such statement appears one page before this fatwa. When asked whether al-Khidr and Elijah were alive, he replied: “Neither is among the living, nor have they been granted prolonged lifespans.”
2 - Another is his statement in al-Fatāwā, 1:249: “Al-Khidr who accompanied Moses has died, as explained elsewhere.”
3 - Another is his statement in al-Minhāj, 4:93: “All the scholars who have critically examined the matter hold that he has died.”
4 - Another is his statement in al-Fatāwā, 27:100–101: “The correct view, held by scholars who have critically examined the matter, is that he is dead and did not live to see the advent of Islam. Had he been alive in the time of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace, he would have been obliged to believe in him and strive alongside him, as Allah required of him and others. He would have been in Mecca and Medina. It would have been more fitting for him to join the Companions in striving alongside them and supporting them in the religion than to visit some unbelievers to patch their ship. Nor would he have concealed himself from the best community brought forth for humankind…” He went on to say: “If al-Khidr remains perpetually alive, how is it that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace, never mentioned this or informed his community of it, nor did his rightly guided caliphs?!”
5 - Another is what Ibn Abd al-Hādī, may Allah have mercy on him, mentioned in al-Uqūd al-Durriyya while discussing the shaykh’s writings (p. 70): “A response concerning al-Khidr: whether he has died or is alive. He adopted the view that he has died.”