Surah Al Kahf - Ayah No 63

Assalam o Alaikum. Shab-e-Juma Mubarak. Time to connect with Al Kahf, The Cave of Hope. How Al Kahf/ Al Quran is the only Hope? Look around, we are being bombarded with useless information. It creates a false sense of being well informed. In fact, unnecessary torrents of info divert our attention from major/ real issues. How to ensure that this false cloud of info doesn't deceive us? But first let's refresh major issues: who we are? Where we came from? What is our relation with our surroundings (other creatures)? Where are we headed? Only Al Quran has the right answers. Just like a librarian may not have read all  the books in a library apart from library managemen, likewise, carrying information labs in our palms (smart mobiles) look like travelling on autobahn of info it doesn't mean we spend all our energies acquiring true knowledge on this highway. Because information is not knowledge. Rather, too much useless information obscures true knowledge. We are right in the middle of this Fitn and lucky are we that current story of Musa & Khizar AS is about human incapacity to have all true knowledge.

Let's discuss today's Ayah No 63. Keep the background in mind. Musa AS was asked about the most knowledgeable person under the sky and Him being the only man whom Allah swt privileged with tete-a-tete, spontaneously replied that it must be Him (Musa AS). Allah swt had to check Him and through Him us that very little knowledge had been given to the creation on need to know basis. Secondly, there is always more knowledgeable person than you/us. Musa AS was commanded to take a journey (most probably South of Sinai or Egypt) to meet a person(Khizar AS) more knowledgeable than Him. And sign of arrival of meeting point would be when that fried fish would become alive and took to the water. In previous Ayah 62, they had crossed the point where two waters met and the fish had taken its "course" into the water. Word "course" is purposefully kept in double commas (to be discussed later). In last stopover by the rock, Musa AS's aide forgot about the fish. He was certain that Satan made him forget that.This remark should be a source of relief/comfort for us that if we set out in the way of Allah swt and inadvertently forget anything about it, be certain that devil had been able to play his trick on us. Point to take home is that in such situations, we mustn't be hard on ourselves or others because oversight of this scale is the work of Devil. Final part of the Ayah refers to the fish taking its "course into the sea amazingly". The same word عجبا was also used in the same Surah,  Ayah No 9 while referring to the story of The People of The Cave and Epitaph, Allah swt declares it a 'wonder sign' wherein laws of physics were suspended for three centuries' sleep of those young men. Likewise, the fried fish taking its 'wonder course' into the sea is something to ponder about. Yet again, the known laws of physics were suspended and the course it took was more of a portal than usual path to the sea. Quite intriguing and kniw that we are only 4 Ayahs in to this amazing story. We shall discuss the relation of portals with stories of Al Kahf somewhere day.

Only Allah knows the whole Truth.