A story out of modern-day Bahrain
“If anyone argues about Malala’s young age, then the story of Hazrat Khizr in the Quran states that, while travelling with Prophet Moses, Khizr killed a child because, while his parents were pious, the child would have grown up to be a bad man.”
In the Holy Quran in the chapter titled “The Cave” (18:61-83), Hazrat Khizr travelled with Moses and met a boy whom he killed. Moses demanded an explanation but Khizr kept quiet. Later he said:
“The boy, I saw, was destined to become a violent criminal who would break his parents’ heart and take many lives, leaving terrible suffering in his wake all throughout his life. Therefore, while he was still innocent, I chose to send him back to God, as sad as that was, praying that God would grant his parents a worthier son.” Jesus Christ recounts events in the Gospel, too, and the famous one is “The Return of the Prodigal Son”. Muslims have wondered about the place where the Khizr parable had unfolded.
Many people think that Khizr was actually Khwaja Khizr and that the place was Kashmir; and the “two seas” mentioned in the Quran were the lakes of Kashmir. This is also connected with the legend that Moses spent his last days in Kashmir.
The other candidate is Bahrain. The Holy Quran refers to Majma al-Bahrain (meeting of two seas) and Muslims have always believed that Moses had gone to Suez where two seas met (Mediterranean and Red) — coming across the unnamed “wise man” they think is Khizr or Khadr. But modern research says the place was Bahrain.
Plural Bahrain is an archipelago in the Gulf where many Pakistanis go to work. It has a population of approximately 700,000. Bahrain means two seas. This is because the main island where capital Manama is located has springs of fresh water. If you dive into the adjacent sea you will come upon apertures in the seabed where fresh water gushes to this day.
The Old Testament stated that the children of Noah scattered from Sumer or the Tigris-Euphrates delta and came to the islands somewhere in the Mediterranean. That may not be true. Sumerian records talk of the islands and describe them as trading posts to Meluhha, Sumer’s designation of what is now Pakistan.
Bahraini traders were middlemen for Sumer/Mesopotamia. Bahrain has archaeological evidence of that going back to 2500 BC. The Quranic verse 55 (19-22) is supposed to describe Bahrain.
The Quran also refers to salt and sweet waters of the ‘two seas’ and to the production of marjan (pearl or coral) there. Like many other words, marjan is Greek margeron (pearl). When somebody created synthetic butter, he named it margarine because of its pearly texture.
Khizr means green or fertility. Khwaja is added because of the proliferation of mystics or khwajas in Kashmir. Legend has it that Khizr also instructed Alexander the Great.
If you think Bahrain has not paid attention to this evidence, you have a surprise coming. On the island of Failaka, just off the coast of Kuwait, there is a shrine devoted to Al Khizr, which is of considerable antiquity and, if excavated, could yield more evidence of links with the Great Flood legend of Mesopotamia.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 18th, 2012.
COMMENTS (20)
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@Author:
Very informative article. I appreciate that you are now using your talents to educate the readers instead of wasting it on one point agenda of imaginary 'deep state' bashing.
@p r sharma:
"To non Muslims in the present modern values the killing of an innocent child based on the wisdom that in future he will turn up a bad man and harmful to others/society, is not digestible and justifiable."
In the medieval ages, even the worst things in modern value system were practiced as normal and you know it. For example, slavery, concubines, wars for the sake of conquering and resulting deaths of millions. And most of these now unimaginable evil norms prevailed until very recent times. However, since the event was related in Quran - does not matter the event itself occurred before the birth of Islam - you felt the need to show your sense of fairness. Why your senses of fairness go into deep comma when thousands of Muslims and their women and children are massacred in Kashmir, or Gujrat, or Bombay. Why your senses of fairness not challenged by the horrendous practices of slavery that existed until only 150 years ago in USA, the current champion of modern day values. Neither the "non-Muslims" feel pangs of scruples when thousands of children in Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, and Pakistan are killed by aerial bombardment or drone strikes by the very same champions of the modern values.
@civilsociety
'Therefore, the killing of the young child should be understood in the context of revelation and interpreted as such.'
Meaning, it should be revealed and interpreted in a way that it lends a spiritual lustre to 'the act of killing' or at the least to 'the idea of killing'.
Khalid Sahib,
forgive my impertincence, but there seems to be no coherent point to the article.
However, that is not necessarily my principal criticism. It is the treatment of the Quranic ayats which I find questionable, and requiring some explanation - lest people conclude that prophets go around killing young children and playing "GOD".
The reference to Moses' journey is not to a physical one, but refers to a spiritual experience. Some eminent commentators have called it "Isra' e Moosa" and equate it in some ways with Prophet Muhammad's (Peace be upon him) Mairaj experience.
Historical sources do not ever place Moses in Bahrain. He is said to have made only one journey from Midian to Egypt (or the other way around, I forget) after his elevation to Prophethood.
Khizr is never mentioned - the guide of Moses remains nameless in the Quran and appears to be of a higher spiritual status than Moses, who was the chief prophet of Judaism on whom was revealed the Torah, therefore the most important law-bearing prophet of his time. Consequently, it is inconceivable that another person of higher spirtitual status was his contemporary. Aaron (Haroon, his brother, was his contemporary and a prophet but is understood to have been appointed to prophethood principally to help Moses).
While on the same journey, the guide "staves" the boat and Moses protests that this is an evil act. Yet the boat does not flounder. How come? Niether are we told if the plundering king (who was, according to the guide, giving chase to the boat) ever caught up and looted the boat and its occupants. The "staving" of the boat has been interpreted by some divines and scholars as a revelation to Moses that Judaic law will at some point in the future be abrogated, or improved upon, when God completes the process of revealing the final Law - Islam to most of us.
Conclusion: a closer reading of the incidents related in Chapter 18 of the Quran clearly show that the "journey" of Moses is a spiritual and revelatory experience. Therefore, the killing of the young child should be understood in the context of revelation and interpreted as such.
Sincerely
One paragraph talksa about Pakistan, other talks about Jannat, antother talks about animals, rest talks about the animals. There isn't any coeherence in the article!
@ahmedsaeed well said! do not get what the author is trying to get at by linking ttp's justification to that of an alleged islamic incident.
How would Taliban like if one of their children is killed.
baseless
So, Quran does propagate violence.
I lost the point of this article.
The story of Khizar is mystical and cannot be taken literally, it has far greater wisdom than understood by the "alleged" Taliban. Killing an innocent is "Haraam" in Islam, if Khizar really killed a child then he committed a sin. Any verse of Quran cannot contradict another.
And the meeting of two rivers is the true path every Muslim should follow. It means a moderate life. The green path, the way of the Khizar is being moderate. It is not Bahrain or Kashmir. And Allah knows best.
This is the problem with not reading the Quran with both eyes. But Malala's story was pre-planned, every bit of it. Shame on Pakistan Govt and misled Pakistanis who are looking at this incident again with one eye.
Open your eyes sheeple.
i fail to get the point of this article? if you wanted to write about Hazrat Khizr's episode and how it was actually Bahrain where the episode may have happened, then you should have just done that, rather than start the article with what the TTP's spokesman said. What are you trying to get at?
with due respect to all a question arises when parents are pious surely it will have effect on the life of child too at least in the early years of child's life.Presuming Hazrat Khizr a wise man who could see that a particular child will grow up as a bad man an therefore is eligible to be killed. Was there no chances to turn the child a good men by pious teachings and .survive. To non Muslims in the present modern values the killing of an innocent child based on the wisdom that in future he will turn up a bad man and harmful to others/society, is not digestible and justifiable. To me this is a bad precedence, I also request not to moderate my comments.. thanks.
@author: " ... If you think Bahrain has not paid attention to this evidence, you have a surprise coming. ... "
Sailing into uncharted waters. Mullahs would want you to believe that the ARABS had NO civilization before Islam.
Also why do you need to drag Kashmir always into anything related in Pakistan?
Prophet Moses is not truly Islamic is he? Why are they giving his example. This is a yahoodi saazish!