: Narrated to us Hisham bin Ja’far from Hammad from Abdullah Ibne Sulaiman that he said:
“I read in some books of Allah, the Mighty and Sublime that Dhulqarnain was a righteous man. Allah appointed him as a proof on His servants and did not appoint his as a prophet. Allah gave him power in the earth and things worked out in his favor. He described to him the spring of life and said that one who drinks from this, never dies till he hears the blowing of the horn. Thus he set out in search of this spring till he reached to the area in which it was located. There were 360 springs in that place.
Khizr was in the vanguard of his army and he was the Dhulqarnain’s favorite. Dhulqarnain gave to Khizr and other men a salted dry fish each and instructed them to wash it in different springs and stressed that each of them should wash in only one spring. Each of them headed for different springs.
When Khizr placed the fish in his spring, it became alive and swam away. When Khizr noticed this he realized that he has come to the spring of life. So he washed his clothes in the same spring, bathed and also drank the water. All the people returned with fish but Khizr did not have any.
On being asked Khizr narrated the whole story. Dhulqarnain asked: Did you drink that water? He replied: Yes. Dhulqarnain said: The spring was destined for you. Congratulations for you. You will remain in the world concealed from the eyes of the people till the blowing of the horn.”