Al-Anbiyaa (The Prophets)

85. “And (remember) Ishmael and Idris, and Zul-kifl; all were of the patient.”

86. “And We admitted them into Our Mercy; verily they were of the righteous.”

Following to the instructive biography of Job (as) and his patience against the storm of calamities, these current verses refer to the rank of the patience of three other persons from among the divine prophets, where the Qur’an says:

“And (remember) Ishmael and Idris, and Zul-kifl; all were of the patient.”

Every one of them patiently persevered before the enemies and laborious difficulties they had throughout their lifetime, and never kneed for those events, so that each of them was an example of steadfastness and perseverance.

Then the Holy Qur’an points to the greatest favour of Allah which came to them as a result of their patience and perseverance.

It states:

“And We admitted them into Our Mercy; verily they were of the righteous.”

It is interesting that the Holy Qur’an does not say Allah bestowed His mercy upon them, but it says He admitted them into His Mercy. As if they had dived into the Mercy of Allah with their whole body and soul in the same manner that they had dived into the ocean of difficulties aforetime.

As was explained before, ’Idris, the great prophet of Allah, according to many commentators, had been the ancestor of Noah. Enoch is the name which used in the Turah while in Arabic it is ’Idris, and some considered that it is derived from the Arabic word /dars/ because he was the first person who wrote by pen.

Besides having the rank of prophecy, Enoch (as) knew astronomy and arithmetic as well as configuration of elements, and it is said that he was the first one who taught tailoring to human beings.¹

It is known among the commentators that Zul-kifl has been one of the Divine prophets, though some believe that he was one of the righteous men² .

The apparent meaning of the verses of the Qur’an, in which he is mentioned in the row of the great prophets, indicate that he is one of the prophets, too, and it also seems that he had been one of the prophets of the Children of Israel.³

In Tafsir-i-Majma‘-ul-Bayan, it is narrated from ‘Abdul-‘Azim Hasani who narrates from Imam Jawad (the ninth Imam) (as) that Allah has appointed one hundred and twenty four thousand prophets for guiding humankind among whom one hundred and thirteen are messengers and Zul-Kifl was one of those messengers.

The opinions are divided concerning the reason of naming Zul-Kifl by this appellation in regard that the Arabic word Kifl, (upon the rhythm of /fikr/), has been used in the meaning of both ‘share’ and ‘surety’.

Some have said that since Allah had given him a great portion of rewards and mercy for the abundant good deeds and worships that he used to do he has been named as Zul-Kifl (meaning the possessor of much interest).

Some others have said since he had pledged to get up for worship by nights and to be fast on days, and never he was angry at the time of judgment, and he fulfilled his promise until the end, he was called Zul-Kifl.

Some also believe that ‘Zul-Kifl’ is the nickname of Elijah, Similar to ‘Israel’, which was the nickname of Jacob, and ‘Massiah’ as the nickname of Jesus, and Zannun the nickname of Yunus.⁴

By the way, Hadrat ‘Isma’il, for the command of Allah saying that he must be killed by his father, was patient, and Hadrat Enoch also invited people to the religion of truth for 365 years but no one believed in him.⁵