2.4.3.4 - The First Encounter with Khader

Thanks to Shaykh Abu Abbas Al-Ureybi, Ibn al-Arabi met with Khader for the first time after a minor disagreement between him and his shaykh, which cause al-Khader, peace be upon him, to intervene and request from him to go back and reconcile with his shaykh.

Al-Khader, literally means the Green (Man), is a name ascribed to a figure in the Quran as a righteous servant of God possessing great wisdom and mystic knowledge, though he is not mentioned by name in the Quran. However, many Islamic scholars identify him as the figure described in Surat al-Kahf [Quran, 18:65”“82] as a servant of God who has been given “knowledge” and who is accompanied and questioned by the prophet Moses about the many seemingly unjust or inappropriate actions that at the end he explains the circumstances unknown to Moses that made each of the actions appropriate.

Shaykh Muhyiddin says that the full name of al-Khader is Ilya Ibn Malakan Ibn Faleg Ibn Gaber Ibn Shalikh Ibn Arfakhshad Ibn Sam Ibn Noah, peace be upon him, and that he was in an army sent by the leader to find water, so he accidentally found the “water of life” and he drank from it, and that’s why he remained living. However, after he told his companions and they ran to the spot to drink, they could not find the water; so that was only for him as a reward by God for his quest for the benefit of others [Futuhat: III.337].

Shaykh Muhyiddin mentioned the story of his first meeting with the Khader in chapter 25 of the Meccan Revelations, which he devoted to talk about him. This happened in Seville in a place called the Arch of Haniyeh, and as we mentioned above, that was after some dispute between him and his shaykh about an issue which he was certain about, so he could not accept the opinion of his shaykh and he left him angry. Then, as he was walking out into the market place, an unknown man met him and he appeared to be loving and pitiful, and he saluted him and said without any introduction: O Muhammad, go back and settle it with your Shaykh Abu al-Abbas according to what he said to you. So Shaykh Muhyiddin went back to tell his shaykh, but he was surprised when Abu al-Abbas said: Does this need the Khader to tell you to accept my words for everything I mention to you that you do not accept! Ibn al-Arabi then apologized from his shaykh and asked him: “Was this man al-Khader?” The shaykh affirmed.

However, Shaykh Muhyiddin explained that indeed he was right on the issue they were arguing about, but the intervention of al-Khader, peace be upon him, came to stress to him that one should not disagree with the shaykh on minor issues that do not contradict the Law [Futuhat: I.186, III.337]