The Dome of Al-Khidir
In one corner of the temple mount in Jerusalem lies a small obscure dome that is a memorial to a mystical character that appears nowhere in the Bible but in the Quran plays an interesting part in the life of Moses. In Surah 18:65-78 this Khidir is a prophet that Moses followed for a time and supposedly learned something from the sinking of a ship and the killing of a young boy by Khidir. Various legends have grown out of this. Some have to do with water and boats, and others stem from the related Arabic word for green (khadra). This has nothing to do with Islamic law but gives us a clue as to some of the stories Muhammad must have borrowed from early legends of his day. Islam is quite a mixed bag of fantasy.
