Muslim Name · Male · Arabic origin
Dhul-Kifl Name Meaning in Islam
The man of double share, the Quranic prophet of patience.
- Meaning
- The man of double share, the Quranic prophet of patience
- Origin
- Arabic
- Gender
- Boy
- Arabic root
- ك-ف-ل
- Urdu
- ذو الکفل
- Pronunciation
- DHUL-KIFL
- Lucky number
- 3
Is Dhul-Kifl an Islamic name? Yes. Dhul-Kifl is an established name in Muslim use, Arabic in origin. Its settled meaning is: The man of double share, the Quranic prophet of patience. Its root appears in the Quran, and the name is in continuous use across the Muslim world. Islamic tradition asks that a name carry a good meaning and claim nothing that belongs to God alone, and this name meets both.
Read the letter-by-letter reading ↓Dhul-Kifl Meaning in Urdu (ذو الكفل)
ذو الكفل. The man of double share, the Quranic prophet of patience.
The name Dhul-Kifl (ذو الكفل) is written in Urdu as ذو الكفل. In the South Asian Muslim tradition, Dhul-Kifl carries the meaning of the man of double share, the Quranic prophet of patience, drawn from the Arabic root ك-ف-ل (to guarantee; a double share).
Is Dhul-Kifl Mentioned in the Quran?
Yes. Dhul-Kifl is named twice in the Quran: 'And Ismail and Idris and Dhul-Kifl: all were of the patient' (21:85), and again at 38:48 among the chosen.
Section 1 · Arabic Root
Where the Name Comes From
ك-ف-ل. From k-f-l, to be a guarantor, to take responsibility for, to guarantee. The kafīl is the one who pledges himself for another. Dhū al-Kifl is the one who carries double, the one who took on twice the responsibility a person would normally carry.
Section 2 · Ilm ul Huroof
Read Letter by Letter
Dhal gives remembrance, Waw connects, Alif anchors origin, Lam holds authority, Kaf brings forth, Fa opens, Lam closes in devotion.
Section 3 · Synthesis
What This Reading Says About You
Dhul-Kifl's letters draw from many elements at once, a full palette, not a single note. This is a name that asks its bearer to hold contradictions gracefully: warmth and steadiness, movement and depth. Running through the reading is Dhul-Jalal, the Lord of Majesty, carried by a person as an ancient, weighty seriousness. A person named Dhul-Kifl lives with more inside them than any one word can hold.
Section 4 · What Families Say
What People Usually Mean by This Name
Dhū al-Kifl (ذو الكفل), the man of double share, the one who took on responsibility, is the name the Quran gives to a prophet praised for his steadfast patience. The Quran mentions him twice: in Sūrat al-Anbiyā' 21:85-86 alongside Ismā'īl and Idrīs as 'all from among the patient,' and in Sūrat Ṣād 38:48 among those 'chosen, the truly good.' Classical commentators including al-Ṭabarī and Ibn Kathīr have offered multiple identifications, some hold him to be the biblical Ezekiel, others Joshua, others a separate righteous figure who promised to perform a daily quota of prayer, fasting, and judgement and fulfilled it, but the consensus is that he was a prophet of God.
Dhū al-Kifl (AS) is named directly twice in the Quran. In Sūrat al-Anbiyā' he is mentioned alongside Ismā'īl and Idrīs: 'And Ismā'īl, Idrīs, and Dhū al-Kifl, all were among the patient. And We admitted them into Our mercy. Indeed, they were of the righteous' (21:85-86). In Sūrat Ṣād he appears with Ismā'īl and al-Yasaʿ: 'And remember Ismā'īl, al-Yasaʿ, and Dhū al-Kifl, all are among the outstanding' (38:48).
Classical Sunni tafsīr (al-Ṭabarī, al-Qurṭubī, Ibn Kathīr) preserves multiple identifications for him, some scholars equate him with Hizqīl (Ezekiel), some with Yūsha' bin Nūn (Joshua), and some hold him as a separate righteous figure who took on a kifl (pledge) of daily worship and fulfilled it. The Quran itself simply praises him without resolving the identification.
Section 5 · Bearers
Who Has Carried This Name
- Dhū al-Kifl (AS)pre-Islamic prophet·attested in the QuranQuranic prophet praised in Sūrat al-Anbiyā' 21:85-86 and Sūrat Ṣād 38:48 as one of the patient and the chosen righteous.
How to Pronounce Dhul-Kifl
Every Arabic letter in this name carries a spiritual quality that Urdu inherited from the Islamic tradition. What does Ilm ul Huroof say about names like Dhul-Kifl? →
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Same name, different doors: each spelling of Dhul-Kifl belongs to a particular community of speakers.
The letters are the same. But which community spelling carries the story you were born into? Browse all names →
The Letters
Reading Dhul-Kifl through Ilm ul Huroof
Every letter in Dhul-Kifl carries a role. Alif opens it outward; the letters between hold the interior; the last letter sets how things land.
This name opens with Kha, the letter of hidden depth. See all names that share this opening →
Kha. Dad. Ra: hidden depth, authority, mercy. The Green Guide: hidden, authoritative, merciful.
"A name is not a label assigned after the fact. It is a structure of principles that begins its work the moment it is given."
In the tradition of Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi
The Portrait
What Dhul-Kifl asks of its bearer
The reading of Dhul-Kifl begins with Kha: an outward self with hidden depth. Beneath the surface, Dad brings an interior governed by necessity. These are the forces that shape the inner life. Dhul-Kifl ends in Ra, the life resolves through motion. The bearer is asked to inhabit each letter consciously, until Al-Dhul-Kifl is not what the name says but what the life shows.
The Reading
Personality & relational pattern
Bearers of this name often run steady and responsible in how they meet the world, the Kāf at the heart of the name points to a person who can be counted on, who takes on what others put down. The closing Lām suggests a person whose endings are bound by devotion rather than convenience. Read this as a mirror, not a verdict.
Want a different reading? Read another →
Names sharing the ا Alif influence
Like Dhul-Kifl, these names carry Alif (ا) as their leading letter influence.
Frequently Asked Questions
About the name Dhul-Kifl
What does the name Dhul-Kifl mean?
Behind the meaning sits each letter, each with a quality of its own. What does Ilm ul Huroof reveal about Dhul-Kifl? → What does Ilm ul Huroof reveal about names like Dhul-Kifl? →
Is Dhul-Kifl mentioned in the Quran?
Quranic vocabulary lies behind a large share of Muslim names, Dhul-Kifl included where its root appears. Browse all Quranic names in our collection →
What does Dhul-Kifl mean in Urdu?
Urdu poets and scholars kept the letter qualities readable; that lineage flows under Dhul-Kifl. How do Arabic letters travel into Urdu names? →
Is Dhul-Kifl a good Islamic name?
See Dhul-Kifl broken down letter by letter above ↑ jump to the letters reading ↑
Is Dhul-Kifl a boy or girl name?
What is the spiritual meaning of Dhul-Kifl in Ilm ul Huroof?
In Ilm ul Huroof, the science of letters that Ibn Arabi worked within, every letter of Dhul-Kifl is a principle, not a phoneme. Read the full introduction to Ilm ul Huroof →
What names go perfectly with Dhul-Kifl as a sibling name?
For sibling names that move with Dhul-Kifl, scan the related-names list above and follow letter family and shared root.
Is Dhul-Kifl a rare or common Muslim name?
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