Dhu al-Kifl / Dhu l-Kifl Zu al-Kifl / Zu l-Kifl | |
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| ذُو الْكِفْل | |
| Other names | Hazqiyal (حزقيال)(disputed) Obadiah (عوبديا)(disputed) |
| Predecessor | Irmiyyah |
| Successor | Zechariah |
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Dhu al-Kifl (Arabic:ذُو الْكِفْل,romanized: ḏū l-kifl,lit. 'Possessor of the Portion'), also spelledDhu l-Kifl,Dhul-Kifl,Zu al-Kifl,Zul Kifl, orZu l-Kifl, is anIslamic prophet. Although his identity is unknown, his identity has been theorised and identified as variousHebrew Bible prophets and other figures, most commonlyEzekiel.[1][2][3][4] Dhu al-Kifl is believed to have been exalted byAllah to a high station in life and is chronicled in theQur'an as a man of the "Company of the Good".[5] Although not much is known of Dhu al-Kifl from other historical sources, all the writings from classical commentators, such asIbn Ishaq andIbn Kathir, speak of Dhu al-Kifl as a prophetic, saintly man who remained faithful in dailyprayer (Arabic:صلاة,romanized: salah) andworship (Arabic:عبادة,romanized: 'ibādah).[6]
A tomb in theErgani province ofDiyarbakir, Turkey is believed by some to be the resting place of Prophet Dhu al-Kifl. It is located 5 km from the city centre on a hill calledMakam Dağı.[7][8]
The nameDhu al-Kifl literally means "the possessor ofkifl ", using a type of name where ذُوdhū ("possessor of") precedes some characteristically associated feature.[9] Such names were used of other notable figures in the Quran, for exampleDhu al-Qarnayn (Arabic:ذُو ٱلْقَرْنَيْن,lit. 'He of the Two Horns/He of the Two Times'), andDhu al-Nūn (Arabic:ذُو ٱلْنُّون,lit. 'the One with the Fish'), referring toYunus.Kifl (Arabic:كِفْل) is an archaic Arabic word meaning "double" or "duplicate", from the rootka-fa-la (ك-ف-ل) meaning "to double" or "to fold"; it was also used for a fold of cloth. The name is generally understood to mean "one of a double portion." Some scholars have suggested that the name means "the man with the double recompense" or rather "the man who received recompense twice over",[10] that is to say that it is a title forJob, as his family was returned to him according to the Qur'an and theBook of Job.[11]
Dhu al-Kifl has been mentioned twice in the Qur'an, in the following verses:
And ˹remember˺Ishmael,Enoch, and Ⱬul-Kifl. They were all steadfast.
We admitted them into Our mercy, for they were truly of the righteous.
Also remember Ishmael,Elisha, and Ⱬul-Kifl. All are among the best.
In both cases, Dhu al-Kifl is mentioned in the context of a list of Qur'anic prophets, including many others not mentioned in the ayatayn quoted above.
Some identify Dhu al-Kifl isEzekiel. When the exile, monarchy, and state were annihilated, political and national life was no longer possible. In conformity with the two parts of his book, his personality and his preaching are alike, and the title Dhu al-Kifl means "the one to double" or "to fold."
In a story repeated in a fragment from theCairo Geniza and a work by the 12th century Jewish scholarMoses ben Jacob of Coucy, the tomb of Ezekiel is at al-Kifl and was visited by Jews.[12]
In his Qur'anic commentary,Abdullah Yusuf Ali says:
Dhu al-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. I think the best suggestion is that afforded byKarsten Niebuhr in hisReisebeschreibung nach Arabien, Copenhagen, 1778, ii. 264–266, as quoted in theEncyclopaedia of Islam under Dhul-Kifl. He visitedMeshad 'All in 'Iraq, and also the little town calledKifl, midway betweenNajaf andHilla (Babylon). Kefil, he says, is the Arabic form of Ezekiel. The shrine of Ezekiel was there, and theJews came to it onpilgrimage.If we accept "Dhu al-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).[13] He was chained and bound, and put into prison, and for a time he was dumb. 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......".[14]
Al-Kifl is a town in southeastern Iraq on theEuphrates betweenNajaf andHillah. Variant names for the shrine within al-Kifl are the Dhu'l Kifl Shrine, Marqad Dhu'l Kifl, Qubbat Dhu'l Kifl, Qabr al-Nabi Dhu al-Kifl, Dhu al-Kifl Shrine, Zul Kifl Shrine, Qabr Hazqiyal, Hazqiyal Shrine.Hazqiyal (Arabic:حزقيال) is the Arabic version of the Hebrew name for Ezekiel, which was mostly utilized by Arabic-speakingSephardic Jews. This indicates that the Jews equated Ezekiel and Dhu al-Kifl, and Muslim exegetes followed suit.
The Iraqi authorities assert that in 1316 (715–16 AH), theIl khanÖljaitü acquired the rights of guardianship over the tomb of Dhu al-Kifl from the Jewish community. Consequently, the shrine was renamed according to the Islamic nomenclature for the same prophet. Öljaitü added to the structure by building a mosque and a minaret and restored the shrine, implementing some alterations made clear by comparing its present state with pre-Ilkhanid travelers' descriptions.
The site remained a Muslim pilgrimage place until the beginning of the nineteenth century, when Menahem ibn Danyal, a wealthy Jew, successfully converted it back to a Jewish site and restored it. The minaret remained as the only witness to its tenure as an Islamic site. Although the mosque and minaret were built in the 14th century, the antiquity of the shrine and grave cannot be determined.[16]
Dhu al-Kifl has also been identified variously withJoshua,Obadiah,[17]Isaiah,[18][17] and evenGautama Buddha.[2][3][19][20]
Recall Ishmael, Elisha, and Isaiah; all are among the best. (38:48)
