323 – ʿAbd Allah narrated to us; he said: ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Munīb, the freedman of Quraysh, related to us; he said: Abū Ṣāliḥ ʿAbd Allah ibn Ṣāliḥ told us; he said: Yaḥyā ibn Ayyūb transmitted from Khālid ibn Yazīd, who reported that Kaʿb al-Aḥbār said:

“Al-Khidr ibn ʿAmila once embarked with a group of his companions until he reached the ⦗206⦘ Sea of Sarkand—which is the Chinese Sea. He said to his companions, ‘Point out the way for me.’ They did so for days and nights, after which he resurfaced. They asked him, ‘O Khidr, what did you see? Truly Allah has honoured you and safeguarded your life in the depths of this sea.’

He replied, ‘An angel confronted me and said, “O sinful child of Adam, where are you going and whence have you come?” I said, “I wanted to know how deep this sea is.” He answered, “How could you, when a man plunged into it in the time of the Prophet David—peace be upon him—and to this hour, three hundred years later, he has not yet reached even a third of its bottom?”

I then asked, “Tell me about the ebb and flow—that is, the rising and falling of the water.” The angel said, “The whale breathes: the water moves toward its nostrils—this is the ebb; then it expels it from its nostrils—this is the flow.”

I asked, “From where have you come?” He replied, “I have just come from the whale. Allah sent me to punish it because the fish of the sea complained to Allah about how much it devours from them.”

I asked, “Upon what is the earth fixed?” He said, “The seven earths rest upon a rock; the rock is upon the palm of an angel; the angel is upon the wing of a whale in the water; the water is upon the wind; the wind is in the air—an infertile wind that does not fertilise—and its horns are suspended from the Throne.””