Dhu al-Kifl
Dhu al-Kifl / Dhu l-Kifl Zu al-Kifl / Zu l-Kifl | |
|---|---|
| ذُو الْكِفْل | |
| Other names | Hazqiyal(حزقيال)(disputed) Obadiah(عوبديا)(disputed) |
| Predecessor | Irmiyyah |
| Successor | Zechariah |
 Part ofa seriesonIslam Islamic prophets |
|---|
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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 Bibleprophets and other figures, most commonlyEzekiel.[1][2][3][4]Dhu al-Kifl is believed to have been exalted byAllahto a high station in life and is chronicled in theQur'anas 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 IshaqandIbn 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 theErganiprovince 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]
Etymology
[edit]The nameDhu al-Kiflliterally 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]
In the Qur'an
[edit]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.
Identifications
[edit]Ezekiel
[edit]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 Genizaand 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 Alisays:
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 Niebuhrin hisReisebeschreibung nach Arabien,Copenhagen, 1778, ii. 264–266, as quoted in theEncyclopaedia of Islamunder Dhul-Kifl. He visitedMeshad'All in 'Iraq, and also the little town calledKifl,midway betweenNajafandHilla(Babylon). Kefil, he says, is the Arabic form of Ezekiel. The shrine of Ezekiel was there, and theJewscame 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 theEuphratesbetweenNajafandHillah.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 khanÖljaitüacquired 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]
Others
[edit]Dhu al-Kifl has also been identified variously withJoshua,Obadiah,[17]Isaiah,[18][17]and evenGautama Buddha.[2][3][19][20]
See also
[edit]- Biblical and Qur'anic narratives
- List of legends in the Qur'an
- Prophets and messengers in Islam
- Qisas al-Anbiya
- Al Kifl
References
[edit]- ^Encyclopedia of Islam,G. Vajda,Dhu al-Kifl
- ^ab"The Prophets".Islam.Retrieved2020-12-19.
- ^ab"Buda'nın Peygamber Efendimizi bin yıl önceden müjdelediği doğru mudur? » Sorularla İslamiyet".Sorularla İslamiyet(in Turkish). 2015-01-26.Retrieved2020-12-19.
- ^"Buda Peygamber mi?".Ebubekir Sifil(in Turkish). 2006-01-30.Retrieved2020-12-19.
- ^Quran38:48
- ^Stories of The Prophets,page 299
- ^İnanç ve kültür mirasının gözdesi: Hazreti Zülkifl Makamı (Turkish)ilkha.Posted 17 November 2018.
- ^İNANÇ VE KÜLTÜR MİRASININ GÖZDESİ: HAZRETİ ZÜLKİFL MAKAMI (Turkish)GuneydoguGuncel.Posted 18 November 2018.
- ^Encyclopedia of Islam,Dhu'l-Kifl
- ^John Walker takes this viewpoint inWho is Dhul-Kifl?, inMW,xvi, 399–401
- ^Job xlii: 10
- ^Talmuda de-Eretz Israel: archaeology and the rabbis in late antique Palestine.Boston: Walter de Gruyter. 2014. p. iv.ISBN978-1-61451-287-5.
- ^SeeBook of Ezekiel
- ^Ezekiel 34:2–4:"Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy and say to them, even to the [spiritual] shepherds, Thus says the Lord God: Woe to the [spiritual] shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the sheep?
You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you kill the fatlings, but you do not feed the sheep.
The diseased and weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the hurt and crippled you have not bandaged, those gone astray you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought to find, but with force and hardhearted harshness you have ruled them. " - ^Abdullah Yusuf Ali,The Holy Qur'an: Text, Translation and Commentary,Note.2743
- ^"Qabr Dhu'l Kifl".Archived fromthe originalon 2012-07-28.Retrieved2013-08-18.
- ^abDr.Mustafa Khattab,The Clear Quran,38:48Footnote: "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."
- ^Yuksel, Edip; al-Shaiban, Layth Saleh; Schulte-Nafeh, Martha (2007).Quran: A Reformist Translation.United States of America: Brainbow Press.ISBN978-0-9796715-0-0.
Recall Ishmael, Elisha, and Isaiah; all are among the best. (38:48)
- ^YUSUF, IMTIYAZ (2009)."Dialogue Between Islam and Buddhism through the Concepts Ummatan Wasaṭan (The Middle Nation) and Majjhima-Patipada (The Middle Way)".Islamic Studies.48(3): 367–394.ISSN0578-8072.JSTOR20839172.
- ^"Buda Peygamber mi?".Ebubekir Sifil(in Turkish). 2006-01-30.Retrieved2020-12-19.
Further reading
[edit]- Thalabi,Ara'isal-Madjalis,Cairo edition 1371, 155
- J. Horovitz,Koranische Untersuchungen,113
- Harawi,K. al-isharat ila ma'rifat al-Ziyarat,ed. J. Sourdel-Thomine, 76
- Guide des lieux de Pelerinage,tans. J. Sourdel-Thomine, 76, Damascus 1957, 174
External links
[edit]- Ezekiel (Hizqeel)(edited fromThe Stories of the Prophets byIbn Kathir)
- Dhu'l Kifl Shrine
