The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 3) — Page 679
CH. 18 PT. 15 AL-KAHF 65. He said, 'That is what we have been seeking. ' So they both returned, retracing their footsteps. قَالَ ذَلِكَ مَا كُنَّا نَبِغِ فَارْتَدَا عَلَى أَثَارِهِمَا قَصَصَّان فَوَجَدَا عَبْدًا مِّنْ عِبَادِنَا أَتَيْنَهُ رَحْمَةً Then found they one of Our. 66 servants, upon whom We had bestowed Our Mercy, and whom We had taught knowledge from Ourselves. 2105 fish as their guide it was not possible for them to forget it. 2105. Commentary: Who is this (servant of God) in search of whom Moses, in pursuance of Divine command, had undertaken such a long and difficult journey and who is the central figure and hero of the whole story? He is none other than the Holy Prophet Muhammad his soul having taken an embodied form in Moses' vision. The following arguments conclusively show that he was indeed the (god's servant) mentioned in this story: عبد (a) The Holy Prophet has been called in the Quran at several places (2:24; 8:42; 17:2; 18:2; 25:2; 39:37; 53:11 & 72:20). In fact he is (God's servant) par excellence, because truly speaking the stage of (servant of God) is the highest stage in the spiritual development of man and the Holy Prophet had attained that stage. (b) The words, upon whom We had bestowed Our Mercy, also clearly refer to the Holy Prophet. He has been particularly spoken of as "a mercy to the whole world" (21:108), an epithet applied in the Quran to مِنْ عِنْدِنَا وَعَلَّمْنَهُ مِنْ لَّدُنَّا عِلْمًا none other than the Holy Prophet. (c) The words, whom We had taught knowledge from Ourselves, also refer to the Holy Prophet. At several places in the Quran it is stated that he was vouchsafed divine knowledge in a very large measure (4:114; 6:92; 20:115 & 27:7). (d) The "servant of God" had told Moses that he (Moses) would not keep silent (v. 68 below), and the Holy Prophet is reported to have said, "Would that Moses had kept silent! If he had done so, we would have been vouchsafed more knowledge about the unseen" (Bukhārī, Kitābut-Tafsir). This shows that the "servant of God" of Moses' vision and the Holy Prophet were one and the same 1887 person. As a matter of fact, Moses had seen a manifestation of God "in the fire" when travelling from Midian to Egypt (28:30). Later on, however, he was told that a Prophet would appear from among the brethren of the Israelites in whose mouth God would put His own word (Deut. 18:18-22). The words of the prophecy signified that the Promised Prophet would be the object of a greater manifestation of God than Moses. Moses therefore