An Inquiry into Whether Khidr Is Alive

Question

The respected Hazrat Mawlana Ahmad Sa‘id said in his first lecture, [later] published as a book: [ar]لذت سے نہیں خالی جانوں کا کھپا جانا[/ar] [ar]کب خضر و مسیحا نے مرنے کا مزا جانا[/ar] “The wasting away of lives is not devoid of relish, — When did Khidr and the Messiah ever taste the pleasure of dying?” (Mir) [ar]مزے جو موت کے عاشق بیان کبھی کرتے[/ar] [ar]مسیح و خضر بھی مرنے کی آرزو کرتے[/ar] “If the lovers of death ever described its pleasures, — Even the Messiah and Khidr would long to die” (Zauq)

Answer

The learned hadith scholars, as a rule, do not hold Hazrat Khidr ﵇ to be alive; the great Sufis, however, hold him to be alive. Hafiz Ibn Hajar al-‘Asqalani discusses his circumstances at length in “Fath al-Bari, Sharh Sahih al-Bukhari”.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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