Idrīs

Idrīs, in Islam, prophet mentioned in the Qurʾān (Islamic sacred scriptures) as an immortal figure. According to tradition, Idrīs appeared sometime between the prophets Adam and Noah and transmitted divine revelation through several books. He did not die but was taken bodily to paradise to spend eternity with God. Popular legend also credits him with the invention of writing, sewing, and several forms of divination. He is regarded as the patron saint of craftsmen and Muslim knights.

Little is said about Idrīs in the Qurʾān. Later Islamic tradition often identifies him with Enoch, a biblical patriarch who is also said to have been taken physically to paradise. Connections have also been made to Elijah or al-Khiḍr, another vague Qurʾānic figure whom later tradition elaborated as immortal. On linguistic grounds scholars outside the Islamic tradition have variously identified him as the biblical Ezra, the Christian Apostle Andrew, and Andreas, the cook for Alexander the Great in Alexander romance literature. Muslim folk traditions have also woven Hermes Trismegistos, a legendary figure in Hermetism, into the popular personage of Idrīs.