Righteous Figures Named in the Quran

Maryam bint Imran (peace be upon her), the mother of the prophet Isa, is the only woman named by her own name in the Quran — and an entire surah, Surah Maryam (19), is named after her. Dedicated to Allah's worship before she was even born (3:35-37), she received the angels' announcement that Allah had chosen her:

Allah also holds her up — together with Asiya — as an example for all believers, men and women alike, praising her as one "who guarded her chastity... and believed in the words of her Lord and His scriptures, and was of the devoutly obedient" (66:11-12). Was she a prophetess? A few scholars held so, since angels addressed her directly; the majority answer with the Quran's own description: "his mother was a siddiqah" — a supremely truthful woman (5:75) — the rank just below prophethood. Both positions are found among the people of knowledge; what is agreed is her purity, her devotion, and her rank among all women.

Luqman was granted hikmah — wisdom — by Allah (31:12), and a surah carries his name. The majority of scholars held he was a righteous wise man, not a prophet. The Quran preserves his counsel to his son, and it begins where all guidance begins — with tawhid:

The Prophet ﷺ himself cited this very ayah, as 'Abdullah narrated: "When the following Verse was revealed: 'It is those who believe and confuse not their belief with wrong (worshipping others besides Allah.)' (6:83), the companions of Allah's Messenger ﷺ asked, 'Who is amongst us who had not done injustice (wrong)?' Allah revealed: 'No doubt, joining others in worship with Allah is a great injustice (wrong) indeed'" (Sahih al-Bukhari 32; Sahih Muslim — site reader no. 234, Kitab al-Iman). The zulm meant there is shirk. Luqman's counsel then continues through 31:16-19: Allah's complete knowledge of the smallest deed, establishing the prayer, enjoining right and forbidding wrong, patience, and humility in bearing and voice — a whole curriculum of raising children in five ayat. On what shirk is and why it is the greatest injustice, see Shirk, Jahiliyyah & Khurafat.

In Surah al-Kahf the Quran answers a question put to the Prophet ﷺ about a righteous ruler whom Allah established in the earth:

The Quran follows him on three journeys (18:83-98): to the far west, where he was given power over a people and chose justice — punishing only the wrongdoer and promising good to the believer; to the far east; and finally to a people threatened by Yajuj and Majuj (Gog and Magog), for whom he built the great barrier of iron and molten copper — then attributed it all to Allah: "This is a mercy from my Lord; but when the promise of my Lord comes, He will make it level" (18:98). The Prophet ﷺ confirmed the barrier is real, warning: "Woe to the Arabs from an evil that has drawn near. Today a gap has been opened in the barrier of Yajuj and Majuj like this" — and he made a circle with his fingers (Sahih al-Bukhari 3346). The emergence of Yajuj and Majuj is among the major Signs of the Hour.

Where the Quran stops, we stop. The revelation does not name Dhul-Qarnayn's era, his homeland, or his identity — and no authentic hadith supplies them. Later attempts to identify him with this or that historical king are conjecture, not revelation. The Quran tells us exactly what benefits us: he was given power and used it with justice, humility, and gratitude to Allah. The safe path — the path of the salaf — is to affirm what the texts say and not to speculate beyond them.

Ashab al-Kahf were young men who held to the worship of Allah alone when their people worshipped others, fled with their faith to a cave, and were put to sleep by Allah for some three hundred years as a sign of His power and of the resurrection (18:9-26):

Then comes something remarkable. People argued over how many the youths were — three, five, seven? The Quran refuses to settle the count, and instead teaches the believers how to handle a matter of the unseen that the revelation has left unstated:

"Do not ask about them from anyone" — meaning the People of the Book, whose unverifiable reports could add nothing to what Allah had already revealed. That single instruction is the Quran's own charter against isra'iliyyat, and it is the editorial rule of this entire page. What matters about the youths is not their number but their stand: "Indeed, they were young men who believed in their Lord."

Their surah also carries an authentic virtue:

The well-known report on reciting al-Kahf on Friday, that it gives the reciter a light between the two Fridays, is narrated from Abu Sa'id al-Khudri by al-Hakim and al-Bayhaqi and graded sahih by al-Albani (Sahih al-Jami' 6470). Those collections are not held in the site repository, so its wording cannot be checked here. See Friday — Jumu'ah for the day's other sunnahs.

The Quran tells of "a servant from among Our servants to whom We had given mercy from Us and had taught him from Us a knowledge" (18:65), whom Musa (peace be upon him) journeyed to at the junction of the two seas. The Quran does not name him — his name, and the story's full context, come from the Prophet ﷺ himself, in a long sahih narration:

The Prophet ﷺ also explained his name: "Al-Khadir was named so because he sat over a barren white land, it turned green with plantation after (his sitting over it)" (Sahih al-Bukhari 3402). Was al-Khidr a prophet? Many scholars held that he was, since he acted by direct command from Allah — "I did it not of my own accord" — while others held he was a righteous servant given knowledge from Allah; both views are known, and the texts are the limit of what we can say. As for the popular claim that al-Khidr remains alive to this day, it has no support in the authentic evidence; the Prophet ﷺ said near the end of his life: "Nobody present on the surface of the earth tonight will be living after the completion of one hundred years from this night" (Sahih al-Bukhari 116; Sahih Muslim 2537) — and verifying scholars, among them Ibn Kathir, concluded accordingly.

The lesson the story itself teaches is the same one running through this whole page: "over every possessor of knowledge is one [more] knowing" (12:76) — human knowledge is partial, Allah's is complete, and behind what looks incomprehensible in His decree there is wisdom. See Qadar — Divine Decree and Seeking Knowledge.