Quranic Sciences

56. " And mention Idris in the Book; verily he was a truthful one, a prophet."

57. " And We raised him to a lofty station."

Commentary

In the first holy verse of the abovementioned couple of verses, the holy Prophet (p.b.u.h.) is addressed, saying:

" And mention Idris in the Book; verily he was a truthful one, a prophet."

The Qur'anic term /siddiq/ is used in the sense of 'a very truthful person who verifies the revelations of Allah and who is submitted to the truth'.

Then, in the second verse, Allah, referring to Idris' high rank, says:

" And We raised him to a lofty station."

The purpose of the Qur'anic phrase: 'a lofty station' is either a high spiritual rank, or the process of ascent to the heavens, because Allah took four prophets to the heavens: Idris, Jesus, Khidr, and Elias (Elija). (The Commentary of Atyab-ul-Bayan)

However, the Qur'anic arrangement of the words 'a truthful one, a prophet' in the verse, where the term 'a truthful one' has been preceeded to 'a prophet', denotes that 'truthfulness' is a sign of 'prophethood'.

The Feature of Idris (a.s.)

Hadrat Idris (a.s.) is one of the ancestors of Hadrat Noah (a.s.). He was named Idris, in Arabic, for the reason that he had been very busy with study, 58 or for the sake that he had been the first person who wrote with pen. 59 His holy appellation, Idris, has been mentioned in the Qur'an twice, and he has been glorified by the qualities of: /siddiq/ (truthful), /sabir/ (patient), and /nabiyy/ (prophet).

An Islamic tradition indicates that the house of 'Idris was in Sahlah Mosque, around Najaf in Iraq. 60

The first person who knew astronomy and arithmetic was Idris, 61 and he was the first one who taught tailoring to men. 62

Idris lived for 365 years, and then he was taken to heavens. He is alive now, and will appear at the time of the reappearance of Hadrat Mahdi (a.s.). 63

By the way, upon the descent of Jesus (a.s.) to the earth at the time of the reappearance of Hadrat Mahdi (a.s.) and Messiah's keeping up prayer behind Hadrat Mahdi, there are recorded many traditions in the books of traditions by written the Sunnite and the Shi'ite, including:

Yanabi'-ul-Mawaddah, p. 422, Tathkirat-ul-Khawas, p.377, Sahib-i-Muslim, vol. 1, p. 63, published in Egypt, 1348Ah, the book:

Miftah-i-Kunuz-us-Sunnah, by Bukhari, Muslim; Nis?'i; Ahmad; Ibn-i-Majeh; Abi-Dawood; Altiyalisi; and the book: Al-Mahdi 'Inda-Ahlis-Sunnah; and Mutakhab-ul-Athar Fi-Imam-uth-Thani-'Ashar.

Notes:

58. Al-Mizan, the Commentary

59. The commentary of Nem?nah, vol.13, p.102

60. Al-Mizan, the Commentary

61. Atyab-ul-Bayan, the Commentary

62. the Commentaryof Nem?nah, vol. 13, p.103

63. Atyab-ul-Bayan, the Commentary

Adopted from the book : "The Light of the Holy Qur'an; Interpretation of Surah Maryam" by : "Sayyid Kamal Faghih Imani and a Group of Muslim Scholars"