{"schema":"hoh-person-v1","site":"https://humansofhistory.com","slug":"prophet-dhul-kifl","fullName":"Prophet Dhul-Kifl","honorific":null,"altNames":[],"shortDescription":"Historical figure","birthYear":null,"birthDateLabel":null,"birthPlace":null,"deathYear":null,"deathDateLabel":null,"deathPlace":null,"nationality":null,"occupations":[],"era":null,"wikidataQid":null,"infobox":null,"article":{"version":1,"summary":"Prophet Dhul-Kifl (peace be upon him) is a figure honored in the Quran, where he is named twice among the patient and the righteous. Muslims revere him as a prophet or an exceptionally devout servant of God, though the scripture records almost nothing about his life, era, or homeland. Classical commentators offered several identifications, most often connecting him with the biblical prophet Ezekiel, while others linked him to a righteous judge of the Israelites. His story, sparse as it is, has made him a subject of enduring scholarly discussion and popular devotion, with shrines attributed to him in both Iraq and Turkey.","sections":[{"heading":"Name and Identity","markdown":"Anyone asking who was Prophet Dhul-Kifl (peace be upon him) confronts a puzzle that has occupied Muslim scholars for more than a thousand years. The Quran names him twice, in Surah al-Anbiya (21:85) and Surah Sad (38:48), each time in the company of undisputed prophets, yet it supplies no genealogy, no dates, and no narrative of his mission [1]. His name is in fact a title. **Dhul-Kifl** means roughly \"the possessor of the portion\" or \"the one who took on a pledge,\" from the Arabic root k-f-l, which carries senses of guarantee, responsibility, and a doubled share [2].\n\nBecause the title describes a quality rather than identifying a person, early commentators proposed several candidates. The most widespread view in classical and modern scholarship associates him with **Ezekiel** (Hizqil in Arabic), the Hebrew prophet of the Babylonian exile in the sixth century BCE [3]. Other traditions preserved by exegetes such as al-Tabari suggest he was a righteous man of the Israelites, sometimes named as Bishr, a son of the Prophet Ayyub (Job), or a just successor to the prophet al-Yasa (Elisha) [2].\n\nA smaller number of interpreters have read the name differently. The twentieth century scholar Muhammad Hamidullah noted a speculative modern suggestion connecting Dhul-Kifl with the Buddha, reading the title as \"the man of Kapil,\" a reference to Kapilavastu, though this proposal has never gained mainstream acceptance among exegetes [4]. The honest scholarly position, repeated across the major commentaries, is that his precise identity remains uncertain, and that the Quran deliberately emphasizes his character over his biography [1]."},{"heading":"Mention in the Quran","markdown":"The scriptural record is brief but weighty. In Surah al-Anbiya, Dhul-Kifl is named alongside Ismail (Ishmael) and Idris: \"all were of the patient, and We admitted them into Our mercy; indeed, they were of the righteous\" [1]. In Surah Sad he appears with Ismail and al-Yasa, described as being \"among the excellent\" [1]. These two verses form the entire canonical foundation of any Prophet Dhul-Kifl biography.\n\nThe placement matters. In both passages he stands in lists that otherwise contain figures universally recognized as prophets, which is why the majority of commentators, including Ibn Kathir in his widely read Stories of the Prophets, incline toward counting him among the prophets rather than merely among the saints [2]. A minority view, transmitted from some early authorities, holds that he was a righteous servant and just arbiter who was not formally granted prophethood [2].\n\nWhat the Quran chooses to record are virtues: patience under trial, steadfastness, and membership among the righteous whom God admitted into His mercy [1]. For Muslim readers this restraint is itself instructive. The scripture presents him as a model of endurance without tying that model to a particular kingdom, century, or crisis, allowing believers in any age to see his qualities as attainable."},{"heading":"Accounts in the Exegetical Tradition","markdown":"Classical commentators filled the scriptural silence with reports traced to early authorities. The best known narrative, recorded by al-Tabari and repeated by later exegetes, explains how the title was earned. An aging prophet of the Israelites, often identified as al-Yasa, sought a successor and announced that leadership would pass to whoever pledged three things: to fast every day, to pray through every night, and never to lose his temper when judging between people [2]. A quiet young man accepted the pledge, kept it faithfully, and so became \"the one who took on the guarantee,\" Dhul-Kifl [2].\n\nThe same cycle of stories includes a famous test. Satan, determined to break the man's composure, appeared to him as an elderly petitioner who arrived precisely at the hour set aside for his brief midday rest, day after day, complaining of endless grievances. Dhul-Kifl sacrificed his sleep repeatedly rather than turn the visitor away or grow angry, and when the disguised tempter finally slipped from his grasp he understood the trial and held firm [2]. Commentators cite this tale to explain why the Quran singles him out for patience.\n\nModern academic reference works treat these narratives as edifying tradition rather than verifiable history. The Encyclopaedia of Islam and the Encyclopaedia of the Quran both survey the competing identifications, note the philological arguments about the name, and conclude that no identification can be established with certainty [3]. That caution is worth keeping in mind when weighing popular retellings against documented Prophet Dhul-Kifl facts."},{"heading":"The Ezekiel Connection","markdown":"The identification with Ezekiel deserves particular attention because it has shaped both scholarship and geography. Ezekiel was a priest and prophet among the Judeans deported to Babylonia after 597 BCE, and the biblical book bearing his name records visions delivered by the Chebar canal in Mesopotamia [5]. Several classical Muslim authorities, and many modern writers, hold that Dhul-Kifl and Hizqil (Ezekiel) are the same person, partly on the reasoning that Ezekiel \"took on a double portion\" of hardship and responsibility during the exile [3].\n\nGeography reinforced the association. The town of **Al Kifl**, on the Euphrates between Najaf and Hillah in central Iraq, takes its very name from the prophet and contains a shrine that Jews have venerated for many centuries as the tomb of Ezekiel and Muslims honor as the resting place of Dhul-Kifl [6]. Medieval travelers described a flourishing Jewish pilgrimage to the site, and under the Ilkhanid ruler Oljeitu in the early fourteenth century a minaret and Islamic structures were added to the complex, physical evidence of the shared reverence the tomb attracted [6].\n\nEven so, the equation is not universal. Some exegetes kept Hizqil and Dhul-Kifl as separate entries in their lists of Israelite prophets, and the linguistic argument from the name remains suggestive rather than conclusive [3]. The connection is best described as the leading hypothesis rather than a settled fact."},{"heading":"Shrines and Veneration","markdown":"Two sites principally claim the prophet. The Iraqi shrine at Al Kifl is the more famous. Its core is a brick tomb chamber with a distinctive conical, muqarnas style dome, surrounded by structures accumulated over centuries of Jewish and Muslim custodianship [6]. For generations Iraqi Jews made pilgrimage there, especially around the festival seasons, while local Muslims prayed at the same tomb under the name Dhul-Kifl, one of the more striking examples of a shared holy place in the Middle East [6].\n\nA second tomb tradition lives in southeastern Turkey. Near the town of Ergani in Diyarbakir province, a hilltop shrine known as Makam Dagi is venerated as a station or burial place of Dhul-Kifl, and it continues to draw regional visitors [4]. Claims of this kind, where one figure has several attributed tombs in different lands, are common in the sacred geography of the region and reflect devotion more than documented burial history.\n\nVeneration also survives in everyday culture. The name Dhul-Kifl, and derivatives of it, appear among Muslim personal names, and the story of the man who never broke his pledge features regularly in sermons and children's collections of the stories of the prophets [2]. Among Prophet Dhul-Kifl achievements as later generations understood them, this reputation for kept promises ranks first: he became the tradition's shorthand for a person whose word could be trusted absolutely."},{"heading":"Legacy","markdown":"Dhul-Kifl occupies a distinctive place in the Islamic imagination precisely because so little is known about him. The Quran commemorates twenty five prophets by name, and he is among the most briefly treated, yet the two verses that mention him secured his memory across fourteen centuries of commentary, storytelling, and pilgrimage [1]. Where other prophets are remembered for confrontations with kings or the founding of nations, he is remembered for a temperament: patience that outlasted provocation and a pledge that was never broken [2].\n\nFor historians of religion, his case illustrates how scriptural traditions absorb and reinterpret older figures. If he is Ezekiel, then a prophet of the Babylonian exile entered Arabic scripture under a new title and gathered a fresh body of stories around him [3]. If he was instead a righteous judge of the Israelites otherwise lost to history, then the Quranic verses preserved the memory of a man no other source records. Either way, the shrine at Al Kifl became a rare meeting point of Jewish and Muslim devotion, studied today by scholars of shared sacred space [6].\n\nWithin Muslim ethical teaching his legacy is practical. Preachers cite him when urging restraint of anger, reliability in contracts, and perseverance in worship, the three commitments of the famous pledge [2]. A figure with no confirmed dates, homeland, or lineage thus continues to shape conduct in the present, which is perhaps the most durable achievement any ancient name can claim."}],"faqs":[{"answer":"Dhul-Kifl (peace be upon him) is a figure named twice in the Quran among the patient and righteous, regarded by most Muslim scholars as a prophet. His name is a title meaning roughly \"possessor of the portion\" or \"the one who took on a pledge,\" and his exact historical identity is uncertain.","question":"Who was Prophet Dhul-Kifl?"},{"answer":"No birth date or lifespan is recorded in the Quran or in reliable historical sources. If the common identification with the prophet Ezekiel is correct, he would have lived in the sixth century BCE among the Judean exiles in Babylonia, but this remains a scholarly hypothesis.","question":"When was Prophet Dhul-Kifl born?"},{"answer":"He is famous for patience and for keeping an extraordinary pledge. Exegetical tradition relates that he promised to fast daily, pray nightly, and judge between people without ever losing his temper, and that he kept this vow even when tested by Satan in disguise.","question":"What is Prophet Dhul-Kifl famous for?"},{"answer":"Many classical and modern scholars identify Dhul-Kifl with Ezekiel (Hizqil), the Hebrew prophet of the Babylonian exile, and the shrine town of Al Kifl in Iraq is venerated by both Muslims and Jews. Other authorities kept the two figures separate, so the identification is a leading view rather than a certainty.","question":"Is Dhul-Kifl the same as Ezekiel?"},{"answer":"The best known attributed tomb is in the town of Al Kifl in central Iraq, a shrine also venerated for centuries as the tomb of Ezekiel. A second traditional site exists at Makam Dagi near Ergani in southeastern Turkey; neither attribution can be historically confirmed.","question":"Where is Prophet Dhul-Kifl buried?"},{"answer":"He is mentioned twice, in Surah al-Anbiya (21:85) and Surah Sad (38:48). Both passages list him alongside recognized prophets and praise him as patient, righteous, and among the excellent.","question":"How many times is Dhul-Kifl mentioned in the Quran?"}]},"references":[{"marker":1,"title":"The Qur'an, Surah al-Anbiya 21:85-86 and Surah Sad 38:48 (M.A.S. Abdel Haleem translation)","author":"M.A.S. Abdel Haleem (translator)","publisher":"Oxford University Press","url":null,"publicationDate":"2004","type":"PRIMARY"},{"marker":2,"title":"Stories of the Prophets (Qisas al-Anbiya)","author":"Ibn Kathir","publisher":"Darussalam Publishers","url":null,"publicationDate":"2003 edition","type":"BOOK"},{"marker":3,"title":"Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition, article \"Dhu'l-Kifl\"","author":"G. Vajda","publisher":"Brill","url":null,"publicationDate":"1965","type":"OTHER"},{"marker":4,"title":"Encyclopaedia of the Qur'an, entries on prophets and messengers","author":"Jane Dammen McAuliffe (general editor)","publisher":"Brill","url":null,"publicationDate":"2001-2006","type":"OTHER"},{"marker":5,"title":"Ezekiel: Hebrew prophet","author":null,"publisher":"Encyclopaedia Britannica","url":"https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ezekiel-Hebrew-prophet","publicationDate":null,"type":"WEBSITE"},{"marker":6,"title":"The Shrines of the 'Alids in Medieval Syria and Iraq: Sunnis, Shi'is and the Architecture of Coexistence","author":"Stephennie Mulder","publisher":"Edinburgh University Press","url":null,"publicationDate":"2014","type":"BOOK"},{"marker":7,"title":"A History of the Jews of Babylonia","author":"Jacob Neusner","publisher":"Brill","url":null,"publicationDate":"1965-1970","type":"BOOK"}],"image":null,"archivedAt":"2026-09-09T22:42:32.539Z"}