whatever was available. He did for them what I used to do, intending thereby to honor me, so that the man would think I was the one who had done it.
Some people asked me, “Why could it not have been an angel?” I replied, “No. An angel does not lie, yet this being said, ‘I am Ibn Taymiyya,’ knowing that he was lying.”
Many people have seen someone who said, “I am al-Khidr,” when he was actually a jinn. Some people then came to reject these accounts in denial of al-Khidr’s death, while those who knew the accounts to be true became certain that al-Khidr was alive. Both groups are mistaken. Those who saw someone saying, “I am al-Khidr,” are numerous and truthful, and the accounts have been transmitted through numerous independent channels. Yet they were mistaken in thinking that he was al-Khidr; he was merely a jinn.
Similar things therefore happen to Jews and Christians. Someone claiming to be al-Khidr often comes to them in their churches. Likewise, someone claiming to be al-Khidr comes to the Jews in their synagogues. There are more true accounts of this than can be included here. They show that those who saw someone and thought he was al-Khidr were telling the truth, but were mistaken in thinking he was al-Khidr: he was merely a jinn.
He may also claim to be the Messiah, Moses, Muhammad, Abū Bakr, Umar, or such-and-such a shaykh. All of this has happened. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:
“Whoever sees me in a dream has truly seen me