Khwaja Khijr

As a child, Baba Nanak was sent to both a Hindu pandit and to a Muslim maulvi to study. It is likely that from the latter he received a detailed knowledge of Islam, which is readily apparent in his mystical poetry. Legend also has it that, in the manner of some Sufis, Baba Nanak was also instructed by the mystical Khwaja Khizr (Khadir), Pir Badar, or Raja Kidar, who is considered by many to be a less known prophet referred to in the Qur'an, and earlier as Elias or Eliza in the Bible. As a youth Nanak would have also received a fairly profound knowledge of Islam through his association with his Muslim neighbours.

Lieutenant-Colonel John Malcolm, in, his 1812 book, The Sikhs, relates that some writers assert that Guru Nanak, who had run into a pool*, after having distributed everything in Daulat Khan's grainery, "had an interview with the prophet Elias (Elijah[1]), termed by the Muhammedans, Khizzer [2], from whom he learned all earthly science." [3] In the Panjab he is also known also as the Jinda or living Pir and is said to be protective of those traveling by water. He is often picture in a green robe traveling across water standing on the back of a large fish.

"There is a reason to believe," writes Joseph Cunningham, in his, History of the Sikhs, "that in his youth he made himself familiar with the popular creeds both of Mohammadans and the Hindus and that he gained a general knowledge of the Quran and the Brahmanical Shastras." (Most Sikh scholars dismissed his work as poorly researched.) [4], [5]

According to Rattan Singh Bhangu , author of the Panth Parkash , Daulat Khan Lodi, (Nanak's employer) had no son. After having been told he would have two sons by Nanak's blessings, he was blessed with two sons Dilawar Khan & Ghazi Khan.

After this Daulat Khan became a follower of Guru Nanak, as Bhai Gurdas has stated in his eleventh Var Paurhi thirteen:

Daulat Khan Lodhi bhalla hoa zind pir abanashi

Daulat left his former faith of Khawaja Khizr and became a follower of Guru Nanak.

Note: * Charges that Guru Nanak had mis-appropriated Daulat Khan's inventories were later proved untrue.