Tanwîr al-Miqbâs min Tafsîr Ibn ‘Abbâs
Allah then mentioned the story of Moses with Khidr. It so happened that it came to Moses's mind that there is no servant on the face of the earth who is more knowledgeable than him. And so Allah said to Moses: "I have a servant on earth who is more obedient to Me and more knowledgeable than you, and this servant is Khidr". Moses said: "O Lord! Guide me to him". He said: "Take with you salted fish and walk along the sea shores until you find a rock in which there is the fountain of life. Sprinkle some of the water on the fish until it comes back to life. There you will meet Khidr". Allah said: (And when Moses said unto his servant) his servant was Shajardah Joshua ben Nun, an Israelite nobleman. He was his servant in the sense that he kept his company and served him: (I will not give up until I reach the point where the two rivers meet) where sea water meets with river water, i.e. where the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean Sea meet, (though I march on for ages) or I will continue going on for years.
Tafsir Ibn 'Abbas, trans. Mokrane Guezzou
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