Hazrat Daniyal AS in Islam – Questions, Miracles and Detailed Accounts
This second article answers the questions readers ask after the life story of Hazrat Daniyal AS in Islam. This page adds the extra events, miracles, and reports about his body.
Sources: Ibn Kathir, Ibn Abi al-Dunya, Ibn Abi Shaybah, al-Bayhaqi, al-Tha‘labi, and Ibn Taymiyyah.
Details that come only from Isra’iliyyat should be read with care. They are useful when they do not contradict the Quran and Sunnah. They are not at the same rank as revelation.
For the basic life sketch of Hazrat Daniyal AS, read the first article first.
Illustration: the ring of Hazrat Daniyal AS in Islam, with two lions licking him, a sign of Allah’s protection.
Why is Hazrat Daniyal AS compared with Yusuf (A.S.)?
Yusuf (A.S.) and Hazrat Daniyal AS: both rose in pagan courts, kept tawhid, and never gave their sajdah to the king.
Both were taken from their people as youths into a powerful pagan court. Both were given wisdom and high office. Both were tested with food, palace custom, and the demand to honour a king as if he were more than a man. Both kept Tawhid.
Yusuf (A.S.) was sold into Egypt and rose in the house of al-‘Aziz, then in the palace of the king. Hazrat Daniyal AS in Islam was carried to Babylon after the ruin of Bayt al-Maqdis. He rose in the palace of Bukht Nasr and the kings after him.
Neither fought the state with the sword. They served honestly. They interpreted what Allah taught them. They never let the state own their salah or their sajdah.
That is why the story of Hazrat Daniyal AS in Islam is a model for a believer living under non-Muslim rule: loyalty to justice, and refusal of shirk.
Did Hazrat Daniyal AS refuse the king’s food and refuse to bow?
Yes, in the account that entered Muslim storytelling. The young captives were given food from the king’s table. That meat and wine were not prepared according to the law of Musa (A.S.).
Hazrat Daniyal AS in Islam asked for vegetables and water only. After a trial they looked healthier than those who ate the royal food. So they were allowed to keep that diet.
The meaning is simple. He would not eat what Allah had made haram, even when it came from a king.
He opened his window toward Jerusalem and prayed three times a day. When a later king banned prayer to any god except the king, he did not stop. That refusal led to the lions’ pit.
He would not eat what Allah made haram, and he would not give sajdah to a king.
One Islamic narration says everyone had to prostrate to Bukht Nasr. Hazrat Daniyal AS in Islam remained standing. Asked why, he said he had a Lord who gave him knowledge and wisdom. That Lord ordered him not to prostrate to anyone else. If he bowed to a man, he feared that gift would be taken away. In that report, the king allowed him not to bow.
How did dreams become da‘wah for Hazrat Daniyal AS?
The magicians failed. He said the knowledge was from Allah, and the king had to praise his Lord.
The call of Hazrat Daniyal AS in Islam often came through knowledge no magician possessed. Two famous cases are the dream the king forgot, and the words written by a hand on a palace wall.
In both cases the court sorcerers failed first. Only then was he called. He always said the knowledge was from Allah, not from himself.
That forced the king to praise the God of Hazrat Daniyal AS, even if the king did not become a full believer. The pattern is the same as Yusuf before Pharaoh’s dream. Allah’s knowledge exposes the emptiness of idols.
What was the dream of the great statue?
Bukht Nasr saw a terrifying statue and then forgot the details. He demanded that his magicians tell him both the dream and its meaning. They said no man could know another man’s forgotten dream. He ordered the wise men killed, including Hazrat Daniyal AS in Islam and his three companions.
They left the palace and prayed. Allah taught them the dream. The usual description, used by Muslim historians, is this: a head of gold, chest and arms of silver, belly and thighs of bronze, legs of iron, and feet of iron mixed with clay.
A stone, cut without hands, struck the feet. The statue crumbled to dust. The stone became a mountain that filled the earth.
The magicians failed. Allah taught him the forgotten dream: kingdoms fall, and the stone of Allah’s kingdom remains.
In the common account, gold is Bukht Nasr and Babylon. Silver is the next kingdom of the Medes and Persians. Bronze is the next great power, often identified with Greece. Iron is a later harsh kingdom. Iron and clay is a divided, weaker end of that power. The stone is the kingdom Allah would set up, which would last.
Some later Muslim books go further. In one version, Hazrat Daniyal AS in Islam says the stone is the messenger Allah will send with the Book at the end of time. The order of the metals is not the same in every retelling. The idea is the same: successive kingdoms, then a divine mission that lasts.
Did Hazrat Daniyal AS foretell Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him)?
Ibn Taymiyyah wrote in al-Jawab al-Sahih that Hazrat Daniyal AS in Islam mentioned Muhammad (peace be upon him) by name. He reported words to this effect: arrows would leave bows and be stained with blood at his command.
Ibn Taymiyyah called this a clear statement. He also said the text described both the Messiah and Muhammad, and gave a picture of the last Prophet and his Ummah. He added that Muslims read that text when they conquered Iraq, as Abu al-‘Aliyah and others mentioned.
Ibn Taymiyyah treated this as earlier scripture pointing to the last Prophet — not a Quranic verse and not a Hadith.
When Abu Musa’s men found the body at Tustar, a scripture lay beside it. They sent it to Umar. Ka‘b translated it. Abu al-‘Aliyah said it contained history, speech, and what was still to come. Ibn Taymiyyah connected that find with the prophecy of the last Prophet.
This is not a Quranic verse. It is not a Hadith of the Prophet (peace be upon him). It is a report from earlier scripture as later Muslim scholars understood it. Those who accept Isra’iliyyat that do not contradict Islam use it as supporting evidence. Those who are stricter mention it only as a historical claim.
What miracles are told about Hazrat Daniyal AS?
Three clusters of miracles appear in the Muslim accounts of Hazrat Daniyal AS in Islam.
The first is the lions of his infancy. Astrologers told a king that a child born that night would ruin his rule. The king ordered newborn boys killed. The child was thrown to a lion and a lioness. They licked him and did not harm him. His mother took him home. He later carved that scene on his ring so he would not forget.
The second is the lions of his manhood. Ibn Kathir quotes that two lions were thrown into a pit, then Hazrat Daniyal AS in Islam was thrown in. They did not attack him.
When he became hungry, Allah revealed to Armiya (Jeremiah) in Sham to prepare food. Armiya said he was in Jerusalem while the servant of Allah was in Babylon. Allah said He would send one to carry him. Something carried Armiya to the edge of the pit.
Hazrat Daniyal AS asked who it was. “I am Armiya.” “What brought you?” “Your Lord sent me.” “So my Lord has remembered me?” “Yes.” Then he praised Allah, Who never forgets those who appeal to Him, Who rewards patience with safety, and Who is the hope when skill fails.
Lions in infancy, lions in manhood, and fire: the Muslim accounts say Allah kept him safe, and did not forget him.
The third is fire. The well-known furnace story is mainly about the three companions. They refused to bow to a golden image. They were thrown into a furnace heated many times hotter than usual. They walked out unharmed. A fourth figure appeared with them. Some later tellings also say Hazrat Daniyal AS in Islam himself was once placed in fire and was not burned.
What was the writing on the wall?
A later king, Belshazzar in the famous story, drank from the vessels of Bayt al-Maqdis and praised idols. A hand wrote on the wall. The magicians could not read it.
The queen told him to call Hazrat Daniyal AS in Islam. He reminded the king how Bukht Nasr was humbled when he became proud. Then he read Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin: the kingdom was numbered, weighed, found light, and given to the Medes and Persians. That night it fell.
Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin: the days were numbered, the deeds were light, and the kingdom fell that night.
He first reminded the king how Allah had humbled Bukht Nasr when he became proud. That king was driven among the beasts until he admitted that the Most High rules. Then Hazrat Daniyal AS in Islam said this new king had not learned that lesson.
He read the words Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin. Meaning: Allah has numbered the days of your kingdom and finished it. You have been weighed and found light. Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians. That same night the kingdom fell.
Al-Tha‘labi gives a shorter Islamic wording. Allah weighed and found the deeds slight. He promised destruction and carried it out that day. He had gathered a great dominion and would scatter it that day. This is how Hazrat Daniyal AS in Islam explained the writing on the wall.
What did Hazrat Daniyal AS do under the Persians?
Muslim tradition says Hazrat Daniyal AS in Islam lived into the reign of Cyrus and taught him the oneness of Allah. He preached in Babylon that people should return to God.
Hazrat Daniyal AS with face covered by white Noor teaches tawhid before a Persian king, while Bani Israel travel toward Sham and he remains in the east.
In one report a Persian king freed Bani Israel and made him their leader toward Sham. In another, the governor refused to let him leave and made him head judge.
Another version says the new authority told the governor of Babylon to treat the Israelites kindly and let them rebuild Bayt al-Maqdis. Hazrat Daniyal AS and his three companions asked leave to go. The governor refused to release him. He said that if there were a thousand prophets like him, he would not let one leave. He made him head judge and ordered the Temple treasures returned.
So the last stage of Hazrat Daniyal AS in Islam is not prison. It is service under Persian rule, while his people were allowed to go home. That is why his grave is linked with Susa in Iran.
How did they find the body of Hazrat Daniyal AS?
At Tustar they found a coffin, a book, and a body the earth had not consumed. Umar said he was one of the prophets.
Around 17 to 21 AH, Abu Musa took Tustar and Susa. In the treasury they found a coffin. Locals used it to seek rain. They said this was Hazrat Daniyal AS in Islam.
The local people already knew the coffin. In drought they used to take it into the open. Rain would come. They also sought victory through it. Asked who he was, they said this was the body of Hazrat Daniyal AS in Islam.
Abu al-‘Aliyah said they found a bed with a dead man and, at his head, a scripture. They took the book to Umar. Umar called Ka‘b to render it into Arabic. Abu al-‘Aliyah said he was the first Arab to read it, as he read the Quran. In it were history, affairs, speech, and what was still to come.
The body had not decayed. Anas (R.A.) said the nose was a cubit long. Another report says a span. Nothing had changed except a few hairs at the back of the neck or of the beard. People thought he had been dead three hundred years. They said the earth does not consume the flesh of the prophets.
Umar wrote that this man was one of the prophets. Fire does not consume the prophets. The earth does not consume the prophets.
With the body they found the scripture, a ring of two lions licking a man, money of about ten thousand dirhams or sixty sealed jars, and some linen. The ring was later worn by Abu Musa’s son Abu Burdah. People used to borrow from the money. If they did not return it, they fell ill. Umar ordered the money into the treasury and the writings to Madinah.
Abu Musa is said to have stayed with the body of Hazrat Daniyal AS in Islam, embraced it, kissed it, and then written to the Caliph about Hazrat Daniyal AS in Islam.
What did they do with the body of Hazrat Daniyal AS?
Umar ordered the grave concealed so it would not become a relic. Later generations still built a shrine at Shush.
Umar ordered Abu Musa and one companion to bury him in a place that no one else would know. The coffin was not to remain a public relic and a cause of fitnah. Other reports add washing with water and lote-leaf, a shroud, and funeral prayer.
The sources describe more than one method. All have the same aim. The version most often quoted is that they dug thirteen graves by day, buried him in one at night, and levelled all thirteen. Anas said he went with Abu Musa and they buried him.
Several historians say a river was dammed. A grave was dug in the riverbed. The coffin was placed there. Then the water was returned.
A later story says four captives did the digging and were then killed so the secret would die with them. That last detail is harsher and less widely relied on.
Despite Umar’s order, a shrine later grew at Shush, with its well-known conical tower. Other cities, including Samarkand by a Timurid legend, also claim him.
Later a shrine grew at Shush. These are two layers. The Companions hid the body of Hazrat Daniyal AS in Islam. Later people built a mausoleum at the site linked with him.
What should a reader take from the story of Hazrat Daniyal AS?
First, Tawhid in a foreign court is possible. The greatness of Hazrat Daniyal AS in Islam is not that he escaped Babylon. It is that Babylon did not become his lord.
Second, knowledge is a form of da‘wah when it is attributed to Allah. That is how Hazrat Daniyal AS in Islam taught kings without leaving Tawhid.
Third, miracles in these reports are protections after patience. They are not tricks to win a throne. The lions and the fire around Hazrat Daniyal AS in Islam came after he had already refused haram food and false sajdah.
Fourth, love of the prophets must not become a cult of their graves. Hazrat Umar honoured the body of Hazrat Daniyal AS in Islam and hid the place in the same breath.
Fifth, much of the fine detail is historical report, not Quran. A Muslim may benefit from the story of Hazrat Daniyal AS in Islam, quote the lessons, and still say “Allah knows best” about names, dates, and the wording of old books. That humility is part of following the scholars who preserved these accounts.
May Allah make us people who refuse haram food when it is served on gold, who pray when prayer is banned, who speak when a king asks for a dream, and who bury honour in secret rather than raise it as an idol. Peace be upon Hazrat Daniyal AS in Islam, upon all the prophets, and upon Muhammad, the last of them.