[3][4] Many Muslim scholars of the classical and medieval periods held that Idris and Hermes Trismegistus were the same person.

[11] Idris' unique status[12] inspired many future traditions and stories surrounding him in Islamic folklore.

According to a hadith narrated by Malik ibn Anas and found in Sahih Muslim, it is said that on Muhammad's Night Journey, he encountered Idris in the fourth of the seven heavens.

'to study')[16] Traditionally, Islam holds the prophet as having functioned an interpretive and mystical role and therefore this meaning garnered a general acceptance.

Several of the classical commentators on the Quran, such as Al-Baizawi, said he was "called Idris from the Arabic dars, meaning "to study", from his knowledge of divine mysteries".

Afterwards, Idris left his hometown of Babylon because a great number of the people committed many sins even after he urged them against it.

They saw the Nile River; Idris stood at its bank and mentioned Allah, the Exalted, by saying: "SubhanAllah" (Arabic: سُبْحَانَ ٱللَّٰه, lit.

[23] Some scholars wrote commentaries on these supposed works,[24] all while Idris was also credited with several inventions, including the art of making garments.

[25] In his commentary on the Qur'anic verses 19:56–57, the commentator Ibn Kathir narrated "During the Night Journey, the Prophet passed by him [i.e. Idris] in the fourth heaven.

In a hadith, Ibn Abbas asked Ka'b what was meant by the part of the verse which says, "And We raised him to a high station".

Ka'b explained: Allah revealed to Idris: 'I would raise for you every day the same amount of the deeds of all Adam's children' – perhaps meaning of his time only.

Nor are we justified in interpreting verse 57 here as meaning the same thing as in Genesis, v. 24 ("God took him"), that he was taken up without passing through the portals of death.

All we are told is he was a man of truth and sincerity, and a prophet, and that he had a high position among his people.With this identification, Idris's father becomes Yarid (يريد), his mother Barkanah, and his wife Aadanah.

"A faceless prophet", writes the Islamicist Pierre Lory, "Hermes possesses no concrete or salient characteristics, differing in this regard from most of the major figures of the Bible and the Quran".

[34][35][36] In addition, historian Patricia Crone proposes that both "Idris" and "Andreas" are derived from the Akkadian epic of Atra-Hasis.