Prophet Idris عليه السلام Authentic Story

This alongside all the other articles on the stories of the prophets has been taken from Ṣaḥīḥ Qiṣaṣ al Anbiyāʾ (Authentic Stories of the Prophets) by Salim ibn ʿId al Hilali who revised Ibn Kathir’s (Qiṣas al Anbiyāʾ) Stories of the Prophets by removing weak, fabricated, repeated reports and unreliable Isra’ili reports, he only kept the Quran verses, sound hadiths and reports from the Salaf.

Allah said:

وَاذْكُرْ فِي الْكِتَابِ إِدْرِيسَ إِنَّهُ كَانَ صِدِّيقًا نَّبِيًّا ۝
وَرَفَعْنَاهُ مَكَانًا عَلِيًّا ۝

“Remember in the Book Idris. He was a man of truth, a prophet. And We raised him to a high place.” (Maryam 56 and 57)

So Idris عليه السلام has been praised, and he has been described with prophethood and with siddiqiyyah, great truthfulness.

A group of people have said that he is the one referred to in the hadith of Muawiyah ibn al Hakam al Sulami, when he asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ about drawing lines in the sand. The Prophet ﷺ said: “There was a prophet who used to draw with it, so whoever matches his drawing, then that is how it is.” (Muslim 537)

Many of the scholars of tafsir and legal rulings claim that he was the first to speak about this, and they call him Hermes the greatest of the Hermes. They attribute many false things to him, just as they have lied about others from among the prophets, the scholars, the wise men, and the awliya.

As for His saying the Exalted: “And We raised him to a high place,” this is as has been confirmed in the two Sahihs in the hadith of al Isra, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ passed by him while he was in the fourth heaven.

Regarding His saying the Exalted: “And We raised him to a high place,” Mujahid said: “Idris was raised and did not die, just as Isa was raised.” (Recorded by al Tabari in Jami al Bayan (16/72) with a sound chain.) (Recorded by al Thawri in his Tafsir (575), Ibn Abi Shaybah in al Musannaf (11/550/11933), and al Tabari in Jami al Bayan (16/73) with a sound chain.)

If what he intended was that he has not yet died until now, then there is some consideration in this, and the hadith that is agreed upon, that he is in the fourth heaven, is stronger, and this is what Mujahid and others held.(Muslim 537)

Al Bukhari said: It is mentioned from Ibn Masud and Ibn Abbas that Ilyas is Idris. (Fath (6/373). Ibn Hajar said: As for the statement of Ibn Masud, Abd ibn Humayd and Ibn Abi Hatim connected it with a good chain from him. He said: Ilyas is Idris, and Yaqub is Israel. As for the statement of Ibn Abbas, Jubayr connected it in his Tafsir from al Dahhak from him, and its chain is weak.)

They used as supporting evidence what has come in the hadith of al Zuhri from Anas about al Isra, that when he passed by him عليه السلام he said to him: “Welcome to the righteous brother and the righteous prophet.” He did not say, as Adam and Ibrahim said: “Welcome to the righteous prophet and the righteous son.”

They said: For if he had been in his direct line of ancestry, he would have said to him as they said.

This does not necessarily prove that, because it may be that the narrator did not preserve the wording precisely, or it may be that he عليه السلام said it in a manner of lowering himself and showing humility, and he did not present himself in the position of a father for him, as Adam, the father of mankind, did, and Ibrahim, who is the close friend of the Most Merciful and the greatest of the messengers of firm resolve after Muhammad ﷺ. May Allah send prayers upon them all.