Dhu al-Kifl (Arabic: ذُو الْكِفْلḏū l-kifl, lit. "Possessor of the Portion"), also spelled Dhu l-Kifl, Dhul-Kifl, Zu al-Kifl, or Zu l-Kifl, is an Islamic prophet. Although his identity is unknown, his identity has been theorised and identified as various Hebrew Bible prophets and other figures, most commonly Ezekiel.[1][2][3][4] Dhu al-Kifl is believed to have been exalted by Allah to a high station in life and is chronicled in the Quran 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 as Ibn Ishaq and Ibn Kathir, speak of Dhu al-Kifl as a prophetic, saintly man who remained faithful in daily prayer and worship.[6]
A tomb in the Ergani province of Diyarbakir, 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 called Makam Dağı.[7][8]
Etymology
The name Dhu al-Kifl literally means "the possessor of kifl ", using a type of name where ذُو dhū ("possessor of") precedes some characteristically associated feature.[9] Such names were used of other notable figures in the Quran, for example Dhu al-Qarnayn (Arabic: ذُو ٱلْقَرْنَيْن, lit. 'He of the Two Horns/He of the Two Times'), and Dhu al-Nūn (Arabic: ذُو ٱلْنُّون, lit. 'the One with the Fish'), referring to Yunus. Kifl is an archaic Arabic word meaning "double" or "duplicate", from a root 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 for Job, as his family was returned to him according to the Quran and the Book of Job.[11]
In the Quran
Dhu al-Kifl has been mentioned twice in the Quran, 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.
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 ayat quoted above.
Identifications
Ezekiel
Some are of the opinion that Dhu al-Kifl could be Ezekiel. When the exile, monarchy, and state were annihilated, a political and national life was no longer possible. In conformity with the two parts of his book, his personality and his preaching are alike twofold, and the title Dhu al-Kifl means "the one to double" or "to fold".
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 by Karsten Niebuhr in his Reisebeschreibung nach Arabien, 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 Kifl, 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 "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).[12] 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......".[13]
Al Kifl is a town in southeastern Iraq on the Euphrates between Najaf and al-Hillah. 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 is the Arabic version of the Hebrew name for Ezekiel, which was mostly utilized by Sephardi Jews in Arabic. 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), the Il 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.[15]
^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."
^ abDr. Mustafa Khattab, The Clear Quran, 38:48 Footnote: "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)
Note: Muslims believe that there were many prophets sent by God to mankind. The Islamic prophets above are only the ones mentioned by name in the Quran.
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