To the Junction of the Two Seas

Allah (swt) told Mūsā that he would meet al-Khaḍir in this specific place. So Mūsā took his servant with him. And who was the servant of Mūsā? Yūshaʿ ibn Nūn — Yūshaʿ ibn Nūn. We are going to talk about Yūshaʿ ibn Nūn later. Yūshaʿ ibn Nūn was the servant of Mūsā, and because he was close to Mūsā and learning from Mūsā, Allah (swt) appointed him to be the nabī of Banū Isrāʾīl when Mūsā passed away. Because he was close to Mūsā, and he was learning from Mūsā — that is how we learn: by being close to the learned. So this servant of Mūsā learned wisdom and knowledge from Mūsā, and then Allah (swt) appointed him to be the nabī after Mūsā and Hārūn passed away.

So Mūsā went with his servant — and it is mentioned in the Qur'an: wa idh qāla Mūsā li-fatāhu — he and his servant began this amazing and wonderful journey. Allah (swt) says:

And remember when Mūsā said to his boy-servant: I will not give up travelling until I reach the junction of the two seas, or until I spend years and years in travelling. So the place where you will meet him is the junction between the two seas. Some of the scholars say that these two seas are the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea — so you will meet him at the junction between these two seas.

Wallāh, Mūsā was so determined to go and learn. He said: I will reach the junction of the seas even if it takes me years of travelling. Allāhu akbar — Mūsā already has so much knowledge; he is already receiving the waḥy from Allah. But because he knew that there was a man who had some other knowledge that he did not have, he was willing to make all of this journey to go and learn.

This is how ṭālib al-ʿilm should be. The student of knowledge needs to sacrifice; you need to sacrifice to learn. Mūsā, even though he was knowledgeable, did not say: what I have is enough. He travelled all the way, and he said: I would even travel for years, if I need to, to go and learn. So we need to sacrifice if we want to learn. We need to sacrifice time, and effort, and money, to learn.