In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Peace be upon you.
Today is the seventh episode of the Secrets of the Universe series, and the information I am going to share with you today will not only be extremely interesting but also quite advanced. This is because today, after seven episodes, the series itself has entered an advanced stage.
What You Need to Know Before We Begin
To watch today’s episode, it is essential that you already know three things.
- First, you should be familiar with the story of Dhul-Qarnayn and Gog and Magog. At least the part mentioned in Surah Al-Kahf, about where Dhul-Qarnayn went and what he saw there.
- Second, you should know the story of Prophet Moses and Prophet Khidr, peace be upon them. That story is also in Surah Al-Kahf, and it’s important to know how it began. Because at the very beginning of this story, God has left a very significant clue for us. If we understand it, many new worlds will begin to open up before our eyes.
- And third, the most important points from all the previous episodes should be fresh in your mind. For example, what is water, what is an island, and what is the concept of Dabba (living creatures) in the Holy Quran? I discussed this in detail in the last episode. Also, what do we learn from the Quran about the paths of the sky? And finally, the fish. In which stories of the Quran is the fish mentioned?
So, if you have all these points and the basic knowledge of Surah Al-Kahf in your mind, let’s begin the seventh episode of the Secrets of the Universe series, which, God willing, you will enjoy.
The Pen and The Fish: The First Creations?
In Jami` at-Tirmidhi, there is a hadith, number 3319, where the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, said that God first created the Pen and commanded it to write. And the Pen began to write everything that was to happen forever and ever.
Now, this is a very beautiful and wonderful hadith. Before I take you further, about this hadith, Hazrat Ubadah ibn as-Samit, may God be pleased with him, once told his son, “My son, what was meant to be for you has already been written. It is impossible that you will not get it. And what you did not get, it was impossible that you would ever get it. Everything is written. Everything is Maktub.”
And then Ubadah, may God be pleased with him, said that the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, had said, “Whoever does not believe in what is written, whoever does not believe in destiny, is not from me.” And by the way, these were the last words of Ubadah, may God be pleased with him. He was a great companion, one of the Sabiqun al-Awwalun. And this was the last hadith he narrated, after which his eyes closed forever.
The Pen. First of all, God created the Pen. And there is a whole surah named after the Pen, Surah Al-Qalam. But have you ever noticed how Surah Al-Qalam begins? A surah whose name is after the thing that was created first, the Pen. It begins with one of the disconnected letters, Nun. A single letter, Nun, written simply. A letter, Nun.
But with the same pronunciation, there is also a regular Arabic word, Nun (spelled Nun, Waw, Nun), which means fish. And in this surah, Surah Al-Qalam, further on, completely separate from the disconnected letters, there is a story related to a fish. The fish that swallowed Prophet Jonah, peace be upon him.
What is the reason that Surah Al-Qalam begins with a letter that also represents a fish? Nun. Fish. A creature that is related to water. And God says about water that He has created every Dabba—every moving, walking, running, crawling, and swimming creature—from water. Which means that wherever there is water, there is a chance that there will be moving, walking, running, crawling, and swimming creatures.
Now, the hint of a fish along with the Pen in Surah Al-Qalam, that is, the first created thing, it might very well be possible that the first creation among the Dabbat was also a fish.
Water, Life, and the Paths of the Sky
Okay. Now, where is water found? It is everywhere in this universe. Water, i.e., H2O, is a very simple chemical element made of hydrogen and oxygen. Now, wherever there are hydrogen and oxygen, there can also be water. And both of these gases are spread all over this universe.
Now, there are two things. Science says that water can be present everywhere in the universe. The Quran says that every Dabba is created from water. So, it is very possible that among all the Dabbat spread across the universe, the most abundant and the oldest Dabba is the fish. And wherever the paths of the sky open, the portals full of water open. All these things have been discussed in the previous episodes. There, our first interaction will be with the fish.
That is why the Dabba that came out of a path in the sky for the feast of Prophet Solomon, peace be upon him, was a very big fish. That is why when Prophet Moses had to meet Prophet Khidr, peace be upon them, God made a fish the sign of that place. That is, where this mysterious meeting was to take place, the sign of that place was a fish. That is why when a Maidah (a table with food) was sent down from a path in the sky for Prophet Jesus, peace be upon him, there was a fish on it. And don’t worry, God willing, I will discuss all these things with you in great detail later. Even if the topics about the fish are not completed in today’s episode, God willing, I will definitely complete them in the next episode.
The Journey of Moses: The Fish and the Portal
In the last episode, the story of Solomon and his big fish was discussed. And now you come to the story of Moses and Khidr, peace be upon them. Now, of course, this meeting is not our main topic. Rather, our main topic is the fish and the portal through which Moses, peace be upon him, passed. So today I will not narrate the whole story, but I would like to share some parts of it with you.
Hazrat Saeed bin Jubair, may God have mercy on him, was a Tabi’i. Who is a Tabi’i? He is the one who has directly received knowledge from the companions of the Prophet, may God be pleased with them. And who was the teacher of Saeed bin Jubair? Abdullah ibn Abbas, may God be pleased with him. That is, the great companion whom Muslims give the title of Hibr al-Ummah, which means the ocean of knowledge of the nation.
Saeed bin Jubair says, and his statement is written in Imam Bayhaqi’s book “Al-Asma wa’s-Sifat,” and a part of it is also written in Bukhari’s hadith number 74. He says that once I was sitting with Ibn Abbas, may God be pleased with him, a man came and said, “Ibn Abbas, people say that the Moses mentioned in Surah Al-Kahf, that is, the Moses who went to meet Khidr, was not the Moses of the Children of Israel, but some other Moses.” Then Ibn Abbas said, “They are lying. That Moses was the Moses of the Children of Israel.”
And it happened that once Moses gave a sermon, a magnificent sermon, a sermon after which every person of the Children of Israel cried. And then a man came to Moses and, crying, asked, “Moses, so much knowledge! O Moses, can anyone have more knowledge than you?” So Moses said, “No.”
And then, after this incident, God revealed to Moses, peace be upon him, “O Moses, at the place where the waters meet, there lives a person who has more knowledge than you.” A person to whom I have given knowledge from myself.
And Moses asked, “O God, then how can I meet him?” How did Moses, peace be upon him, ask and answer this question? Of course, he was Kalimullah, the only person to whom God spoke directly. So God commanded, “Moses, take a fish with you. And wherever that fish gets lost, there you will meet that person.”
After receiving these instructions from God, Moses, peace be upon him, selected a servant for himself. And he selected that servant after much thought because the hadith says that the name of that servant was Yusha ibn Nun. Once again, Nun, fish. And he told him, “Listen, your only job is to tell me immediately when this fish gets lost.”
Then he took a fish with him, a salted, fried fish. And they set out on their journey, on which Moses, peace be upon him, had said, “Now I will keep walking until I reach the place where the waters meet, even if I have to walk for years and years.”
The Miracle at the Meeting of the Waters
Now, from here on, I am assuming that you have read this story in Surah Al-Kahf. Because the purpose of this episode is not to narrate the whole story at the moment, but to keep an eye on the fish of Moses, peace be upon him, to see what it does.
At the place where the fish was lost initially, neither of them knew about it. Moses, peace be upon him, was sleeping, so he did not know. And Yusha ibn Nun, although he was watching this incident happen, he forgot to tell Moses, peace be upon him. And that too, the matter about which Moses, peace be upon him, had told him, “Look, Yusha, your only job is to tell me when the fish gets lost.” Yusha ibn Nun forgot his only assignment. And that too, such a strange assignment that a person can never forget. I mean, if you see a fried fish come to life and swim in the water with your own eyes, is this something that you will forget immediately? Of course not.
Saeed bin Jubair also describes that place, that is, that rock, where that portal was present. It was a rock that gave a feeling of dampness, as if it was wet. And there was a lot of coolness around it. The temperature of that place was slightly different from the rest of the places.
Then Saeed also describes the way the fish came to life, which, besides Saeed ibn Jubair, has been narrated by Ibn Kathir, Tabari, and Sufyan, may God have mercy on them all. That under that rock, there was actually a hidden spring of the water of life, about which no one knew that it existed there. The water of life, that is, a water about which Saeed says that there is no dead thing on which the drops of this water fall and that thing does not come to life.
The fish came to life by the water of life. And now the description from here on is very amazing. When the fish fell into the water—not in the water of life, but in some other water. Was it a river, a sea, or the water from the paths of the sky? No one can say. Because remember that here many waters meet. This place was the meeting place of waters.
Now when the fish fell into the water, one thing is that it came to life, and second, according to Al-Kahf, it made a strange tunnel-like path. What was that path like? According to a hadith of Muslim, the water suddenly stopped. Everything froze there. Whatever was there, stopped there. As if everything had turned to stone. And the words of the hadith of Muslim are that a niche-like path opened up. You understand that at that time, some kind of door opened up for Moses, peace be upon him. A portal opened up. A niche, that is, an opening entering into a place.
Now Moses, peace be upon him, goes back to that place in search of it. He looks around the rock, but he does not see this tunnel, this opening, this path, this portal. But when he climbs on top of the rock, he immediately sees that portal, that path, that opening. Even the fish going forward into it. And then, to open that path further, he puts his staff on it. And what happens? Suddenly, that path opens up further. It becomes bigger than the size of a fish, maybe the size of a person to pass through. The water moved to this side and that side, and from the water, Moses, peace be upon him, first saw pebbles, then dry land, and then a land began to appear. And in that land, he saw a man sleeping, who was basically Prophet Khidr, peace be upon him.
A Different Realm, A Different Reality
Notice, before crossing this portal, Moses, peace be upon him, also felt tired at this place, and he fell asleep. At this same place, Yusha ibn Nun also forgot such a big thing—that a fried fish came to life and went into the water. And after crossing this portal, Khidr, peace be upon him, also, when he appeared to Moses, peace be upon him, he appeared sleeping. And from here on, the incidents that Moses, peace be upon him, is going to see, you know that Moses, peace be upon him, will say there too, “Khidr, forgive me, I forgot. Do not hold me accountable for my forgetfulness.”
Doesn’t it feel to you that this place, where this path is opening, where this portal is opening, upon reaching there, a person’s physiology and psychology are heavily affected? And a proof that this place is a completely different realm is that Khidr says to Moses, peace be upon him, about this place, “Moses, this place is beyond your sphere of understanding. Here you will not be able to have patience.”
Okay. Now, after reaching this land, which we do not know which land it was—was it in some other dimension of this same world, or was it on a completely different planet? Nobody can really say. We just know that Moses, peace be upon him, crossed that opening, that portal, and came to that land, where he saw Khidr sleeping, wrapped in a special kind of cloth.
Anyway, when these two meet, Moses, peace be upon him, greets Khidr, peace be upon him. And Khidr is surprised and asks, “Where did the salam come from in this land?” Which is another indication that this land was perhaps an alien land even for Khidr, peace be upon him.
Who is Khidr (Peace Be Upon Him)?
Okay. Now, who was Khidr, peace be upon him? Once again, this video is not about Khidr, peace be upon him. Otherwise, I would have told you in detail about him. But for now, let me just say that Imam al-Aqili, in his book “Al-Kamil,” narrates from Ka’b, may God have mercy on him, that Khidr is the one who lives between the upper and lower waters.
- The Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, said that wherever Khidr sits, greenery grows there.
- Imam as-Sadi, may God have mercy on him, says that wherever Khidr walks, grass grows near his feet.
- Imam ad-Daraqutni, may God have mercy on him, in his book “Kitab al-Afrad,” and Hafiz Ibn Asakir in his book, “Tarikh Dimashq,” it is written that for Khidr, time does not exist. He will live until God wills.
And later, in the time of the Dajjal, he will appear once again. And he will come and refute the Dajjal. You know that famous hadith that a man from the believers will oppose the Dajjal. And the Dajjal will summon him and then cut him into two pieces. And then he will say to his companions, “If I bring him back to life, then…” And he will actually bring that man back to life. But then that man will shout and say, “Now I am sure that you are the Dajjal about whom the Messenger of God, Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, had informed.” And on this, the Dajjal will once again try to kill him, but this time he will not be able to kill him.
The Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, says that this member of my Ummah, in terms of ranks, will be the closest to me. And Imam ad-Daraqutni, plus many other great Muslim scholars, say that that person will be Hazrat Khidr, peace be upon him, who is basically free from the captivity of time.
The Grand Unifying Theory: The Fish as a Symbol
The fish is a sign, a symbol, of the doors and paths of other worlds and the portals that open in them. Portals are of different types. They serve different functions. There are also those through which angels travel. Obviously, you will not find living creatures in those portals because those paths are the passages for the travel of angels.
But those portals that take us to other worlds, those worlds where other living creatures live, other creatures and other Dabbat live, there we will first find fish and Dabbat of the nature or type of fish.
- The creature that came for the feast of Solomon, peace be upon him, also came out of a portal. And creatures from inhabited worlds came, and that was a fish.
- The animal that was sent through a path in the sky for the food of Jabir ibn Abdullah and his team, in whose eye socket they sat and hid, that animal was also a fish.
- Similarly, Moses, peace be upon him, too, the other dimension, the other world in which he had to go, a creature lived there, people lived there, they sailed boats, there were kings there, there were slaves in that world, there were inhabited villages in that world. That is why the sign of the path opening in that world was also designated as a fish.
The fish, which is a sign of creation, whose name comes with the Pen in Surah Al-Qalam, with the first creation. So the fish is a sign of the paths that open into the world of creatures.
And now, now I am going to tell you a very wonderful story from the stories of the Quran, which is clearly about portals. Which has no other explanation, no other interpretation, besides portals. And on which I have not heard anyone else talk about until now. Perhaps for you, this will be a completely new story.
But that story, God willing, in the next episode. Because the real pleasure of hearing it will only come when I share every single detail of it with you.
Thank you and God bless you.
