An engraving of Ezekiel,
by Gustave Doré (c.
1866), who remains the most commonly identified figure with Dhul-Kifl.
Dhul-Kifl, or Zul-Kifl, (Arabic:
ذو الكفل ; Possessor of a Fold) (ca. 1600?–1400? BCE), is an Islamic prophet who has been identified with various Hebrew Bible prophets, most commonly Ezekiel. It
is believed that he lived for roughly 75 years and that he preached in what is
modern day Iraq.
Dhul-Kifl is believed to have been exalted by God to a high station in life and
is chronicled in the Qur'an as a man of the "Company of the Good.[2] Although
not much is known of Dhul-Kifl from other historical sources, all the writings
from classical commentators, such as Ibn Ishaq and Ibn Kathir, speak of Dhul-Kifl as a
prophetic, saintly man who remained faithful in daily prayer andworship.
Dhul-Kifl in the Qur'an
And (remember) Isma'il, Idris, and Zul-kifl, all (men) of constancy
and patience.
We admitted them to Our mercy: for they were of the righteous ones.
We admitted them to Our mercy: for they were of the righteous ones.
In both cases,
Dhū'l-Kifl is mentioned in the context of a list of Qur'anic
prophets, including many others not mentioned in the ayat quoted above.
Etymology
The name Dhul
Kifl literally means "the one with a kifl",
using a type of name where dhū ("possessor
of") precedes some characteristically associated feature.[6] Such
names were used of other notable figures in the Qur'an, for example Dhū'l-Nūn "the
one with the fish", referring to Jonah, and Dhū'l-Qarnayn "he of the two horns",
referring to Cyrus the Great or Alexander the Great, who was transformed into a saint by peoples of the
Hellenic-era Near East. 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",[7] that
is to say that it is a title for Job, as his family was returned to him according to the Qur'an and
the Book of Job.
Identifications
Ezekiel
Some are of
the opinion that Dhul Kifl could be Ezekiel. When the exile, monarchy, and
state were annihilated, a political and national life was no longer possible.
In the absence of a worldly foundation it became necessary to build a spiritual
one and Ezekiel performed this mission by observing the signs of the time and
deducing his doctrines from them. In conformity with the two parts of his book,
his personality and his preaching are alike twofold, and the title Dhul Kifl
means "the one to double" or "to fold".
Abdullah Yusuf Ali, in his Qur'anic commentary says:
Dhul-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 Niebuhrin
his Reisebeschreibung nach Arabian, Copenhagen, 1778, ii. 264–266,
as quoted in the Encyclopedia
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 Jewscame to it on pilgrimage. If we accept "Dhul 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).[9] 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......".
Al Kifl
(Arabic: بن الكفل; ibn ul-Kifl) is a town in southeastern Iraq on
the Euphrates River, between Najaf and Al Hillah. Variant names for
the shrine within Al Kifl are: 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
transliteration of the HebrewY'hezqel, which was mostly utilized
by Sephardi Jews after
they adopted Arabic. This indicates that the Jews equated Ezekiel and
Dhul-Kifl, and Muslim exegetes followed suit. The Iraqi authorities assert that
in 1316 (715-16 AH) the Ilkhanid Sultan Uljaitu acquired the rights of
guardianship over the tomb from the Jewish community. Consequently, the shrine
was renamed according to the Islamic nomenclature for the same prophet. Sultan
Uljaitu added to the structure by building a mosque and a minaret. As well he
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
Menahim 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.
Others
Although the
identification with Ezekiel is the most commonly held, it is to be noted that
Dhul-Kifl has also been identified variously with Joshua, Obadiah,
and Isaiah.[citation needed]
Mirza Tahir Ahmad, the Fourth Caliph of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, identifies
Dhul-Kifl with the Buddha: Dhul-Kifl in this interpretation meaning
"of Kapeel".
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