Daniel (

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

: دانيال, ''Dānyāl'') is usually considered by Muslims in general to have been a

prophet In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the s ...

and according to

Shia Muslim Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, most ...

hadith Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approva ...

he was a prophet. Although he is not mentioned in the

Qur'an The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , s ...

, nor in hadith of Sunni Islam, Sunni Muslim reports of him are taken from '' Isra'iliyyat'', which bear his name and which refer to his time spent in the den of the lions. There are debates, however, that go on about Daniel's time of preaching and while in reports of Shia Islam from the

Shia Imams In Shia Islam, the Imamah ( ar, إمامة) is a doctrine which asserts that certain individuals from the lineage of the Islamic prophet Muhammad are to be accepted as leaders and guides of the ummah after the death of Muhammad. Imamah further ...

he is considered as a prophet, some Muslims from other branches of Islam believe that he was not a prophet but a saintly man. Some Muslim records suggest that a book regarding apocalyptic revelations was found in a coffin, which is supposed to have contained the remains of Daniel, which was brought to light at the time of the Muslim conquest of

Tustar Shushtar ( fa, شوشتر; also Romanized as Shūshtar and Shūstar and Shooshtar) is a city and capital of Shushtar County, Khuzestan Province, Iran. Shushtar is an ancient fortress city, approximately from Ahvaz, the centre of the province ...

, and buried again at the request of

Umar ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb ( ar, عمر بن الخطاب, also spelled Omar, ) was the second Rashidun caliph, ruling from August 634 until his assassination in 644. He succeeded Abu Bakr () as the second caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate ...

Background

Muslim

tradition A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays or ...

has retained some records of the two figures named Daniel in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' Ezekiel and the second being the visionary who lived at the time of the captivity in Babylon, whose life was chronicled in the

Book of Daniel The Book of Daniel is a 2nd-century BC biblical apocalypse with a 6th century BC setting. Ostensibly "an account of the activities and visions of Daniel, a noble Jew exiled at Babylon", it combines a prophecy of history with an eschatology ...

, canonized in the current

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' Muslim

legend A legend is a genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived, both by teller and listeners, to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human values, and possess ...

has shaped the figure in a similar way to that of the

Idris, as he is considered to have been a revealer of future mysteries, coupled with one who excelled in scientific matters. However, other scholars reject the differentiating and treat both Daniel the Elder and Daniel as one and the same. Also Ibn Tayymiyyah in his book Al Jawaab as Saheeh writes a lot about Daniel writing and foretelling

Muhammad Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the mo ...

Daniel in Muslim literature

Muslim

recounts that it was Daniel who preached in Babylon, exhorting the people to return to

God In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...

. He lived during the reign of Cyrus, and taught this prince the unity of God and the true religion of Islam. Key events from Daniel's life which are recounted in

exegesis Exegesis ( ; from the Greek , from , "to lead out") is a critical explanation or interpretation of a text. The term is traditionally applied to the interpretation of Biblical works. In modern usage, exegesis can involve critical interpretation ...

are the presence of Daniel and his companions in the court of Nebuchadnezzar; Nebuchadnezzar's dreams; the friction between Daniel and his detractors and his miraculous delivery from the den of the lions; and Belshazzar's feast and the deciphering of the mysterious writing. Other events from the

, such as Susanna and the Elders, play no part in tradition. One legend that is not found in

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

but appears in Muslim writings is that of

Jeremiah Jeremiah, Modern: , Tiberian: ; el, Ἰερεμίας, Ieremíās; meaning " Yah shall raise" (c. 650 – c. 570 BC), also called Jeremias or the "weeping prophet", was one of the major prophets of the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewi ...

meeting Daniel. A similar event involving

Habakkuk Habakkuk, who was active around 612 BC, was a prophet whose oracles and prayer are recorded in the Book of Habakkuk, the eighth of the collected twelve minor prophets in the Hebrew Bible. He is revered by Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Almost a ...

and Daniel, however, is to be found in ''

Lives of the Prophets The ''Lives of the Prophets'' is an ancient apocryphal account of the lives of the prophets of the Old Testament. It is not regarded as scripture by any Jewish or Christian denomination. The work may have been known by the author of some of the P ...

''.''A-Z of Prophets in Islam and Judaism'', Wheeler, ''Habbakuk'' Ibn Abi Al-Dunya narrated the following, based on a chain of citations: Danyal also appears in ''The Thousand and One Nights''. On Night 394, in the tale of ‘The Pious Jewish Woman’ he appears as a 12-year-old boy who mediates in the case of a woman falsely accused of adultery. The book refers to him as a prophet.

In Shia Islam

Once one of the close companions of the 6th Shia Imam

Ja'far al-Sadiq Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī al-Ṣādiq ( ar, جعفر بن محمد الصادق; 702 – 765 CE), commonly known as Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq (), was an 8th-century Shia Muslim scholar, jurist, and theologian.. He was the founder of th ...

known as Jabir al-Ju'fi reported: A shrine known as

Tomb of Daniel The Tomb of Daniel ( Persian: آرامگاه دانیال نبی) is the traditional burial place of the biblical figure Daniel. Various locations have been named for the site, but the tomb in Susa, in Iran, is the most widely accepted site, it b ...

in Susa,

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

, is considered by Shia Muslims to be his sacred resting place and is visited by pilgrims. Daniel Barry Kent

Bibliography

* Emil G. Hirsch and M. Seligsohn (1906)
Daniel
'' Jewish Encyclopedia''; citing: **Tabari, ''Chronigue'' (French transl. by Zotenberg), i. 44, 496, 503, 571, ii. 283; **Mas'udi, ''Les Prairies d'Or'' (ed. B. de Meynard), ii. 128; **

Barthélemy d'Herbelot Barthélemy d'Herbelot de Molainville (14 December 16258 December 1695) was a French Orientalist. Bibliography Born in Paris, he was educated at the University of Paris, and devoted himself to the study of oriental languages, going to Italy to pe ...

, ''Bibliothèque Orientale'', s.v. *'Balkhi, ''al-Badwa wa'l-Tarikh'', ii, 156 f./144; 165/150 sq.; iii, 114 f./ 118 f. and c.f. index *Thalabi, Ara'is al-Madjalis'', 198 - 202

References

{{Muslim saints Muslim saints Hebrew Bible people in Islam Islam

Background

Daniel in Muslim literature

In Shia Islam

See also

Bibliography

References