Mercy before knowledge (Lessons from the story of Nabi Musa and Khidr a.s.)

Let us continue with Musa's journey, peace be upon him. He and his boy-servant Yusha' ibn Nun retraced their steps until they found Khidr a.s. where Allah told them he would be found, at the meeting of the two seas.



"And they found a servant from among Our servants to whom we had given mercy from us and had taught him from Us a [certain] knowledge. Moses said to him, "May I follow you on [the condition] that you teach me from what you have been taught of sound judgement?"" Al-kahf verses 65-66

This 'servant' that Allah speaks about is of course none other than the Prophet Khidr a.s. He was called Khidr (Khadr in arabic means green) because when he sat on a barren land, that area around him would turn green with vegetation. This was his mu'jizah (miracle). There are a few hadiths about this and they can be found here.
 
There is a needless controversy  amongst the scholars about whether Khidr is still alive. The strongest and most logical opinion is that he is dead, as there is no authentic hadith about him being alive. The general rule is that all souls must have a taste of death, which means everyone in the past has died unless explicitly mentioned to be alive in the sacred texts, like Prophet Eesa (Jesus) a.s. Many mystical Sufi groups like to attribute any new 'knowledge' they have to their meeting with Khidr in their dreams, or in their travels to the Holy Land. Suffice to say, even if he was still alive, it would make no difference whatsoever to us because the syari'ah that the Prophet SAW brought was complete and nothing new could be added to it after his death. In fact, Rasulullah SAW said that even if the great Prophet Musa was alive now, he would have to follow to syari'ah of Rasulullah SAW.

Anyway, moving on to the main point I wish to discuss here. When Allah introduces Khidr, He says:

"And they found a servant from among Our servants to whom we had given mercy from us and had taught him from Us a [certain] knowledge".

Since the Quran is the Word of Allah, all things about it must be studied and taken into consideration, even the order of the words, for Allah the Most Wise places everything in their proper place. In this verse, He mentions that this servant whom Musa is to meet, has been given mercy and has been taught knowledge. The order of blessings bestowed upon Khidr is Mercy first, then Knowledge. And so the main lesson here for us is that, if we wish to benefit ourselves and those around us with our knowledge, we first must adorn our hearts with mercy, for if there is no mercy, then that knowledge will not be of no use. How often have we met brothers/uncles who are so stern and aggressive when it comes to giving advise, a listener would think we've committed a grave crime like murder requiring severe rebuking and a great outcry! It may have bee a small issue like little kids making some noise in the mosque, but the response would be "IT IS HARAAAAAAAAAAMMMMM TO BRING KIDS TO THE MOSQUE BECAUSE THEY MAKE SO MUCH NOISE!!!" Subhanallah! Whoever to whom this 'advise' is directed will flee for their lives, lest they perish in the fiery breath of these overzealous, merciless people!

I've written a separate post on the importance of being gentle especially when giving da'wah, which ties in very well with the lesson learnt here about having mercy before knowledge. So let us adorn our hearts with mercy and kindness, so others may benefit from our knowledge with ease, insya Allah.