While the Holy Scriptures anchor Enoch within a concrete historical, chronological, and covenantal framework, the Quran reduces him to the ambiguous figure of "Idris." The following analysis exposes the irreconcilable differences between the authentic Biblical record and the late Islamic version, highlighting how the latter absorbed regional apocryphal folklore and pagan myths.
n the Torah, Moses provides a succinct but profound account of Enoch's exceptional life, emphasizing his unique, unblemished relationship with God before his sudden bodily assumption.
Genesis 5:24:
Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.
Writing to the early Hebrew Christians, the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews highlights Enoch's faith as the active mechanism that pleased God and spared him from experiencing physical death.
Hebrews 11:5:
By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: ‘He could not be found, because God had taken him away.’ For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God.
In Surah 19, the Quran introduces Idris, applying generic titles of truthfulness and prophethood while vaguely mentioning that he was given an elevated status.
Surah 19:56-57:
And mention in the Book, Idris. Indeed, he was a man of truth and a prophet. And We raised him to a high station.
In Surah 21, Idris is briefly grouped alongside other disparate characters in a formulaic list praising their patient endurance.
Surah 21:85
And [mention] Ishmael and Idris and Dhul-Kifl; all were of the patient.
The change from the Hebrew Chanokh to the Arabic Idris is highly revealing. If the Quran were a pure continuation of the revelation given to Moses, the preservation of the patriarch's name would be expected.
Instead, mainstream philologists note that Idris is a late-antique development. It either derives from the Arabic root meaning "to instruct/study" (reflecting his legendary status as a scribe) or represents an oral corruption of the Greek name Andreas or Esdras found in regional folklore.
The Biblical account anchors Enoch into the lineage of mankind. His age (365 years) and his direct placement before the Great Flood are vital to the unfolding meta-narrative of scripture. The Quran completely strips this away. By omitting his genealogy and historical environment, the text reduces a crucial historical figure to a nameless, timeless entity whose only function is to validate the standard Islamic cycle of repetitive prophethood
The transformation of the biblical Enoch into the Islamic Idris is a classic case of oral tradition absorbing extracanonical folklore and local pagan elements.
During the intertestamental period and early centuries of the Church, a massive body of pseudepigraphal literature arose, such as 1 Enoch, 2 Enoch, and the Book of Jubilees (Orlov, 2007).
These non-canonical texts transformed Enoch from a quiet, righteous patriarch who walked with God into a cosmic scribe, an initiate of astronomical secrets, and a teacher of the arts (Faza, 2021). These written and oral legends circulated widely throughout the pre-Islamic Arabian Peninsula and the Syrian desert.
The most striking link to regional paganism lies in the syncretism of Enoch with Hermes Trismegistus—the legendary Hellenistic-Egyptian pagan figure credited with inventing science, writing, and magic (Affifi, 1951).
The Sabians of Harran:
The Sabians were a distinct pagan group in Mesopotamia who practiced a blend of star worship, Neo-Platonism, and Hermeticism. They highly revered Hermes Trismegistus as their primary prophet (Affifi, 1951).
The Islamic Co-Option:
When the Abbasid Caliph al-Ma'mun confronted the pagans of Harran, demanding they align with an authorized scripture to maintain their protected status, the Sabians strategically identified their pagan prophet Hermes with the Quran's mysterious, context-free prophet Idris.
Absorption into Hadith:
This synthesis explains why early Islamic commentators and historians, such as Al-Tabari and Ibn Ishaq, explicitly state that Idris is Hermes, attributing to him the invention of writing with pens, astronomy, and the stitching of clothes (Faza, 2021).
Ultimately, Muhammad or the early compilers of the Quran heard oral retellings of sectarian Jewish apocrypha mixed with regional Hellenistic-pagan lore regarding Hermes the scribe. Lacking the canonical Hebrew scriptures to verify the account, they mistook a descriptive title for a proper name ("Idris" / "The Instructor") and enshrined a heavily modified, folk-legend version of Enoch into the Islamic text.
The transformation of the historical, righteous Enoch into the highly mythologized Quranic Idris demonstrates that the Quran is not a continuation of divine revelation, but a product of its 7th-century Arabian environment. By stripping away genealogical reality and absorbing syncretic pagan folklore from groups like the Sabians, the Islamic text betrays its late, human origins.
For the Christian scholar, this case study remains a decisive point of critique, proving that Islam's version of history relies on the corrupted oral traditions of late antiquity rather than the preserved truth of God's Word.