Named twice in the Quran, in two short passages — truthful, patient, and raised to a high place. A short story, and a good lesson in saying “we are not told.”
Published 2026-09-07 · 4 min read · By the Maktab Quran Team
Idris is named in only two short passages of the Quran. He is described as truthful, a prophet, patient, and raised by Allah to a high station. That is nearly everything we are told, and the honest thing to teach a child is exactly that much.
Key takeaways
Only two passages name him:19:56-57 and 21:85. Together they are three verses.
He is called truthful (siddiq), a prophet, and among the patient.
“And We raised him to a high station” (19:57). The Quran does not explain what that means.
⚠️ Almost everything else commonly told about Idris — writing, tailoring, astronomy — is not from the Quran or authentic hadith.
Use this story to teach a child that “we don’t know” is a real answer.
What the Quran says
In Surah Maryam, after the accounts of Zakariya, Yahya, Maryam, ’Isa, Ibrahim and Musa, comes this: And mention in the Book, Idris. Indeed, he was a man of truth and a prophet. And We raised him to a high station (19:56-57).
In Surah al-Anbiya he appears in a short list: And Isma’il and Idris and Dhul-Kifl — all were of the patient (21:85), followed by the note that Allah admitted them into His mercy because they were of the righteous.
That is the whole of it. Three verses, two descriptions, one statement about being raised.
Why such a short story is worth telling
A child asked to sit through twenty-four prophet stories will meet several like this one, and how you handle the first sets the pattern. The temptation is to fill the gap, because a story with nothing in it feels like a failure.
It is not. What Idris gives a child is the experience of being told, plainly, that we know a little and not a lot — and that the little we know came from a source worth trusting precisely because it did not pad itself out.
There is something else in the two descriptions. He is called siddiq, a person of truth, and he is placed among the patient. Neither of those is an achievement a child can see from the outside. They are both about what a person is like when nothing is happening. That is a genuinely useful thing to point at.
Where the story is in the Quran
Read the passage itself with your child rather than only the retelling. Four verses of the actual Quran are worth more than a page of summary, and a child who has heard the story then meets it in the words it was revealed in.
Where
What is in it
19:56-57
Truthful, a prophet, and raised to a high station. Two verses, and the fuller of the two mentions.
21:85
Named with Isma’il and Dhul-Kifl among the patient, and among those admitted into Allah’s mercy.
The one idea to leave a child with
We know a little about Idris and we say so. Being truthful and being patient were enough for the Quran to name him twice, and neither of those is the kind of thing anybody else can see you doing.
What age is this story for?
Any age from about five, and it takes two minutes. It works best told straight after a long story — the contrast is the point. Older children, from about nine, can be shown the two verses in the mushaf directly and asked what they notice is missing; that is a better lesson in how to read than any amount of explanation.
Why you have heard much more than this
Idris attracts a great deal of extra material. He is commonly said to have been the first to write with a pen, the first to sew clothes, a master of astronomy, and to have been taken up alive. Some accounts identify him with figures from other traditions.
None of that is in the Quran, and it does not come through authentic hadith. It comes from israiliyyat — narrations that entered Muslim writing from earlier communities — and from later commentary that recorded those narrations without endorsing them.
That does not automatically make it false. It means it is not something to teach a child as though Allah said it. The distinction between “the Quran says” and “people have said” is one of the most useful habits you can hand on, and this is the easiest story to build it with, because here the Quranic material is short enough to read out in full.
Free printable: all 25 prophets, with references
One sheet with every prophet named in the Quran, what each is known for and exactly where the account appears — for the fridge or a weekend-school folder.
Let your child read this in the Arabic it was revealed in
One-to-one Quran classes for children with qualified teachers who teach the meaning alongside the letters. Female teachers available as standard. First class free.
Only that he was truthful, a prophet, patient, and raised to a high station. It appears in 19:56-57 and 21:85 — three verses in total.
Is Idris the same as Enoch?
Many commentators have identified him with Enoch, but the Quran does not make that identification and it is not established through authentic hadith. It is a scholarly opinion, not a fact to teach as certain.
Did Prophet Idris invent writing?
The Quran does not say so, and it is not in authentic hadith. It comes from israiliyyat — narrations from earlier communities — so it should not be taught to a child as part of the Quranic account.
What does “raised to a high station” mean?
The Quran does not explain it (19:57). Commentators have offered several readings, including a high rank with Allah. Saying that we are not told is the accurate answer.
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