What the Quran Says
Surah Maryam (19:56-57): “And mention in the Book, Idris. Indeed, he was a man of truth (siddiq) and a prophet. And We raised him to a high station.”
Surah al-Anbiya’ (21:85-86): “And [mention] Ismail and Idris and Dhul-Kifl; all were of the patient. And We admitted them into Our mercy. Indeed, they were of the righteous.”
These are the only Quranic references. His identification with Enoch of Genesis (who “walked with God and was not, for God took him” — Genesis 5:24) is an inference from early Islamic tradition, not from the Quran itself.
The ‘Raised to a High Station’: Classical Interpretations
Literalist: Idris was physically raised — taken alive to a higher region of the cosmos (the fourth heaven in some hadith reports, without dying first). This parallels the Enoch narrative in which he does not die but is taken by God.
Spiritual: The “high station” refers to his spiritual rank — the elevation of the maqam (spiritual station) he achieved through his truthfulness and prophetic formation, not a physical ascent.
Ismaili ta’wil: The “raised to a high station” encodes the doctrine that the wali (guardian) who fully actualizes the prophetic deposit is elevated to a station that transcends ordinary human limitation — a cosmological dignity that corresponds to his function in the hierarchy of divine knowledge.
His Tradition: Writing and Craft
Islamic tradition attributes to Idris:
- First human to use a pen and commit knowledge to writing
- First to sew and wear sewn garments (rather than unsewn cloth)
- Knowledge of astronomy and mathematics — hence his identification with Hermes Trismegistus in Sufi cosmological literature
These attributions situate Idris at the origin of human civilization’s knowledge-transmitting capacity — the first archivist of divine gifts to humanity.
See also: Prophets In Islam, Seerah Nuh Prophet, Fadl Al Ilm, Maqamat Al Sulook, Quran Sciences, Tafsir Overview