Surah 21. Al-Anbiya, Ayah 85

See surah {19}, note [41].

Lit., "and him of the pledge". The expression dhu 'l-kifl is derived from the verb kafala - and especially the form takaffala - which signifies "he became responsible [for something or someone]" or pledged himself [to do something]". Although the classical commentators consider dhu 'l kifl to be the peithet or the proper name of a particular prophet - whom they variously, more or less at randm, identify with Elijah or Joshua or Zachariah or Ezekiel - I fail to see any reason whatever for such attempts at "identification", the more so since we have not a single authentic hadith which would mention, or even distantly allude to, a prophet by this name. I am, therefore, of the opinion that we have here (as in the identical expression in 38:48 ) a generic term applying to every one of the prophets, inasmuch as each of them pledged himself unreservedly to God and accepted the responsibility for delivering His message to man.

 Scholars are in disagreement as to whether Ⱬul-Kifl was a prophet or just a righteous man. Those who maintain that he was a prophet identify him with various Biblical prophets such as Ezekiel, Isaiah, and Obadiah.

Isma'il is mentioned specially, apart from the line which descended through Isaac (xxi. 72), as he was the founder of a separate and greater Ummat. His sufferings began in infancy (see n. 160 to ii. 158); but his steady constancy and submission to the will of Allah were specially shown when he earned the title of "Sacrifice to Allah" (see n. 2506 to xix. 54). That was the particular quality of his constancy and patience.

For Idris see n. 2508 to xix. 56. He was in a high station in life, but that did not spoil him. He was sincere and true, and that was the particular quality of his constancy and patience.

Zul-kifl would literally mean "possessor of, or giving, a double requital or portion"; or else, "one who used a cloak of double thickness," that being one of the meanings of Kifl. The Commentators differ in opinion as to who is meant, why the title is applied to him, and the point of his being grouped with Isma'il and Idris for constancy and patience. I think the best suggestion is that afforded by Karsten Niebuhr in his Reisebeschreibung nach Arabian, Copenhagen, 1778, ii. 264-266, as quoted in the Encyclopaedia of Islam under "Dhul-Kifl". He visited Meshad 'All in 'Iraq, and also the little town called Kefil, midway between Najaf and Hilla (Babylon). Kefil, he says, is the Arabic form of Ezekiel. The shrine of Ezekiel was there, and the Jews came to it on pilgrimage. If we accept "Zul-kifl" to be not an epithet, but an Arabicised form of "Ezekiel", it fits the context. Ezekiel was a prophet in Israel who was carried away to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar after his second attack on Jerusalem (about B.C. 599). His Book is included in the English Bible (Old Testament). He was chained and bound, and put into prison, and for a time he was dumb (Ezekiel, iii. 25-26). He bore all with patience and constancy, and continued to reprove boldly the evils in Israel. In a burning passage he denounces false leaders in words which are eternally true: "Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flocks? Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed: but ye feed not the flock. The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken ...... etc. (Ezekiel, xxxiv. 2-4). Zul-kifl is again mentioned in xxxviii. 48 along with Isma'il and Elisha.