Apart from legends, the water of life is indirectly touched upon in the Quran when the story of Hz. Moses and Khidr is told (see al-Kahf 18/60-82). If we were to summarize what is told in the verses, we see the following picture: One day, the prophet of the Children of Israel, Hz. Moses, sets out with his young friend to meet the person he was ordered to meet. The meeting place is “the place where two seas meet” (mecmau’l-bahreyn). In order to recognize this place, Hz. Moses will use the fish he had taken with him as provisions. Because the fish coming to life and jumping into the sea is a sign that determines the meeting place. However, Hz. Moses’ young friend forgot to inform him that the fish had come to life and jumped into the sea next to the rock they stopped by on the seashore. When they stopped for food on the way, he told him about the situation. Thereupon, Hz. Moses returned to that place and saw that the person he was really looking for was there. It has been reported in some hadiths, primarily in Bukhari and Muslim, as well as in Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi and al-Mustadrak, that this servant, who was granted "mercy" and "secret knowledge" by Allah, was called Khidr. There is no explanation in the Quran or in hadith sources other than Bukhari about how the salted fish that Hz. Moses and his companion took as provisions came back to life. It is seen that this reason is explained only in a different narration found in Bukhari. According to this hadith, “There was a spring (ayn) at the bottom of the rock where they were going to meet Khidr, which was called ‘the source of life’ (aynu’l-hayât, âb-ı hayât). There was nothing that that water touched that did not revive. It was from this water that the fish jumped.” (Bukhari, “Tafsir”, 18/4). This must be the first place where the concept of âb-ı hayât is encountered in the literature of Islamic theology. However, by mentioning this hadith after other narrations, without giving the chain of attribution and in a dubious narration style, Bukhari wanted to show that he did not trust the narration in question. However, this hadith proves that the mythological concept of âb-ı hayât, which has a very important place in the issue of Khidr, was very well known in the Arab society of that period.

Since there is no information in the Quran about the revival of fish, the narration in Bukhari has gained importance, and since there is no explanation in other hadiths, the explanation that the fish came to life with the water splashing from the water of life has gained first place in almost all sources. One reason for this is probably that the beliefs about the water of life have spread widely among the people. In fact, this concept has found a place in all classical sources that mention Khidr and has been gradually enriched with many folklore materials.