This alongside all the other articles on the stories of the prophets has been taken from Ṣaḥīḥ Qiṣaṣ al Anbiyāʾ (Authentic Stories of the Prophets) by Salim ibn ʿId al Hilali who revised Ibn Kathir’s (Qiṣas al Anbiyāʾ) Stories of the Prophets by removing weak, fabricated, repeated reports and unreliable Isra’ili reports, he only kept the Quran verses, sound hadiths and reports from the Salaf.

Summary

The mission of Prophet Ilyas عليه السلام

Prophet Ilyas عليه السلام was a messenger sent after Musa and Harun عليهما السلام, to a people in Baalbek near Damascus who worshipped an idol called Baal. He called them to fear Allah, to stop worshipping Baal, and to worship Allah alone, the Lord of them and their first forefathers. They denied him, opposed him and even tried to kill him, while a group of sincere servants of Allah believed and were saved.

Reports about Ilyas and al Khidr عليهما السلام

Stories that Ilyas and al Khidr عليهما السلام meet every year in Ramadan at Bayt al Maqdis, perform Hajj together, drink once from Zamzam for the whole year, and meet at Arafat are declared unauthentic.

The sound position is that al Khidr has died and that Ilyas عليهما السلام has also died. An Israili report says Ilyas عليه السلام was taken up on a beast like fire, given feathers, became like an angel who does not enjoy eating and drinking, and handed affairs to al Yasa ibn Akhtub, but this is judged very unlikely to be authentic and is not relied upon.

Fabricated meetings of Ilyas عليه السلام with the Prophet ﷺ

A long narration from Anas ibn Malik رضي الله عنه describes Ilyas عليه السلام as a man more than three hundred cubits tall, meeting the Prophet ﷺ on a journey, sending salam, sitting with him, and eating from a table sent down from the sky, then rising in the clouds. Al Bayhaqi ruled it extremely weak, and its inclusion by al Hakim in his Mustadrak is corrected here, because it is fabricated.

It contradicts the authentic hadith that Adam عليه السلام was sixty cubits tall and that people have kept decreasing in size, makes the Prophet ﷺ go to Ilyas instead of Ilyas coming to him, and clashes with other claims that he eats once a year, or does not eat, or only drinks from Zamzam yearly.

Another version linked to the expedition of Tabuk, with Anas and Hudhayfah meeting Ilyas, him eating once every forty days from food of the Garden, and mentioning his recent meeting with al Khidr, is also judged fabricated and unacceptable in Sharia. Reports of worshippers meeting Ilyas are likewise rejected because of weak or unknown narrators.

Meanings of the Qur’an verses about Ilyas عليه السلام

The words of Allah about Ilyas عليه السلام show that his people who denied him will be brought to punishment, most apparently in this life and the next, except the sincere servants of Allah who believed. Allah left for him a good mention among later generations, so he is only mentioned with good.

The phrase “Peace be upon Ilyasin” is explained as “Peace be upon Ilyas”, since Arabs sometimes add a nun to names, and another recitation is “Peace be upon Al Yasin”, understood as the family of Muhammad. A further reading says “Peace be upon Idrasin”, and there is a report from Ibn Masud رضي الله عنه, supported by adh Dhahhak ibn Muzahim, Qatadah and Muhammad ibn Ishaq, that “Ilyas is Idris”. The author concludes that the correct view is that Ilyas and Idris عليهما السلام are two different prophets, and Allah knows best.

Full Article

The Story of Ilyas عليه السلام

As for Ilyas عليه السلام, Allah the Exalted said, after the story of Musa and Harun عليهما السلام in Surat as Saffat:

وَإِنَّ إِلْيَاسَ لَمِنَ الْمُرْسَلِينَ ۝ إِذْ قَالَ لِقَوْمِهِ أَلَا تَتَّقُونَ ۝ أَتَدْعُونَ بَعْلًا وَتَذَرُونَ أَحْسَنَ الْخَالِقِينَ ۝ اللَّهَ رَبَّكُمْ وَرَبَّ آبَائِكُمُ الْأَوَّلِينَ ۝ فَكَذَّبُوهُ فَإِنَّهُمْ لَمُحْضَرُونَ ۝ إِلَّا عِبَادَ اللَّهِ الْمُخْلَصِينَ ۝ وَتَرَكْنَا عَلَيْهِ فِي الْآخِرِينَ ۝ سَلَامٌ عَلَى إِلْ يَاسِينَ ۝ إِنَّا كَذَلِكَ نَجْزِي الْمُحْسِنِينَ ۝ إِنَّهُ مِنْ عِبَادِنَا الْمُؤْمِنِينَ

“And indeed Ilyas was one of the messengers. When he said to his people, Will you not be mindful of Allah? Do you call upon Baal and leave the best of creators, Allah, your Lord and the Lord of your first forefathers? But they denied him, so they will certainly be brought forward.

Except the sincere servants of Allah. And We left for him among later people. Peace be upon Ilyasin. That is how We reward those who do good. He was indeed one of Our believing servants.” (as Saffat 37:123–132)

The scholars of genealogy said that he is Ilyas at Tashbi. They said that he was sent to the people of Baalbek in the west of Damascus, and he called them to Allah the Mighty and Majestic and to leave the worship of an idol they had, which they used to call Baal. For this reason he said to them:

أَلَا تَتَّقُونَ أَتَدْعُونَ بَعْلًا وَتَذَرُونَ أَحْسَنَ الْخَالِقِينَ ۝ اللَّهَ رَبُّكُمْ وَرَبُّ آبَائِكُمُ الْأَوَّلِينَ

“Will you not be mindful of Allah? Do you call upon Baal and leave the best of creators, Allah, your Lord and the Lord of your first forefathers?” (as Saffat 37:124–126)

So they denied him, opposed him, and wanted to kill him.

It has been mentioned that Ilyas and al Khidr meet every year in the month of Ramadan at Bayt al Maqdis, that they perform the Hajj every year, that they drink from Zamzam one drink which suffices them until the same time in the following year, and that they meet at Arafat every year.

Yet nothing of that is authentic. That for which the proof stands is that al Khidr has died and that Ilyas عليهما السلام likewise has died.

As for what Wahb ibn Munabbih and others mentioned, that when he called upon his Lord the Mighty and Majestic to take him up to Himself after they had denied him and hurt him, there came to him a beast whose colour was the colour of fire, so he mounted it, and Allah granted him feathers, and granted the beast light, and cut off from him the pleasure of eating and drinking, and he became an angel like a human being, heavenly and earthly, and he entrusted after him to al Yasa ibn Akhtub, then about this there is room for examination.

It is from the Israili narrations which are neither affirmed nor denied, but what appears is that its authenticity is far fetched, and Allah knows best.

As for the hadith which al Hafiz Abu Bakr al Bayhaqi narrated, from Anas ibn Malik, who said:

“We were with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ on a journey, and we camped at a certain place. Then there was a man in the valley saying, O Allah, make me among the Ummah of Muhammad who are shown mercy, who are forgiven, who are given reward.

He said: So I looked down over the valley, and there was a man whose height was more than three hundred cubits. He said to me, Who are you? I said, Anas ibn Malik, servant of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. He said, Where is he? I said, He is there, he hears your words.

He said, Go to him and convey my salam to him, and say to him, Your brother Ilyas conveys his salam to you. He said: So I went to the Prophet ﷺ and informed him, and he came until he met him, and he embraced him and greeted him with salam.

Then the two of them sat and spoke with one another, and he said to him, O Messenger of Allah, I only eat in the year one day, and this is the day when I break my fast, so I and you should eat.

He said: Then a table was sent down to them from the sky, upon it was bread, a fish and celery, so they both ate and fed me. Then we prayed Asr, then he took leave of him, and I saw him passing in the clouds towards the sky.”

Al Bayhaqi has already spared us the trouble of it, for he said, “This hadith is extremely weak.”

What is amazing is that al Hakim Abu Abdullah an Naysaburi included it in his Mustadrak upon the two Sahih collections, and this is something by which one corrects the Mustadrak, for it is a fabricated hadith, in opposition to the authentic reports in many ways, and its meaning is not sound as well.

For it has already preceded in the two Sahih collections that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Allah created Adam with his height sixty cubits in the sky,” until he said, “People have not ceased to decrease in size until now.”

In this report it says that Ilyas did not come to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, rather it was the Messenger of Allah ﷺ who went to him, and this is not correct, for he would have been more deserving of making the effort to come into the presence of the Seal of the prophets.

In it also is that he eats once in the year, and it has already been mentioned from Wahb that Allah removed from him the pleasure of eating and drinking.

In what has been mentioned from some of them it is said that he drinks from Zamzam every year one drink which suffices him until the same time in the following year. These are conflicting things, and all of them are false; none of it is sound.

Ibn Asakir has transmitted this hadith by another route and acknowledged its weakness. (Fabricated, recorded by Abu ash Shaykh in al Azama 1012, al Hakim 617/2, al Bayhaqi in Dalail an Nubuwwa 421/5, Ibn Asakir 212/9, and Ibn al Jawzi in al Mawduat 199/1 with a fabricated isnad, and Ibn al Jawzi, adh Dhahabi and as Suyuti judged it to be fabricated.)

This is something strange from him. How could he speak about it in that way? For he brought it from Wailah ibn al Asqa, then he mentioned something similar to this at length.

In it is that this happened during the expedition of Tabuk, and that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ sent Anas ibn Malik and Hudhayfah ibn al Yaman to him.

They both said, “We found him taller in body than we were by two or three cubits,” and he excused himself from being able to enter the camp of the Muslims, so that the camels would not be frightened.

In it is that when the Messenger of Allah ﷺ met him, they both ate from the food of the Garden, and he said, “For me there is one meal in every forty days, and on the table there was bread made from grapes, and bananas and fresh dates, and very little besides leeks.”

In it is that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ asked him about al Khidr, so he said, “My last meeting with him was in the previous year, and he said to me, You will meet him, so convey my salam to him.”

This shows that al Khidr and Ilyas, supposing that they both existed and that this hadith was authentic, did not meet the Prophet ﷺ until the ninth year after the Hijrah, and this is not acceptable according to the Sharia. This is also fabricated.

Ibn Asakir has mentioned chains about worshippers who are said to have met Ilyas, and none of them bring joy, either because of the weakness of their isnad, or because of the unknown state of the one to whom the report is attributed. (In Tarikh Dimashq 212/9–214, and Uqbah said, This is a rejected hadith and it is not strong.)

As for His saying the Exalted:

فَكَذَّبُوهُ فَإِنَّهُمْ لَمُحْضَرُونَ

“But they denied him, so they will certainly be brought forward,” (as Saffat 37:127)

that is, they will be brought to the punishment, either in this life and the Next, or in the Next only. The first is more apparent, according to what the commentators and historians have mentioned.

And His saying:

إِلَّا عِبَادَ اللَّهِ الْمُخْلَصِينَ

“Except the sincere servants of Allah,” (as Saffat 37:128)

that is, except those who believed among them.

And His saying:

وَتَرَكْنَا عَلَيْهِ فِي الْآخِرِينَ

“And We left for him among later people,” (as Saffat 37:129)

that is, We left after him a good mention for him among all the creation, so he is not mentioned except with good. For this reason He said:

سَلَامٌ عَلَى إِلْ يَاسِينَ

“Peace be upon Ilyasin,” (as Saffat 37:130)

that is, peace be upon Ilyas. The Arabs add the letter nun to many names and replace it with other letters, just as they say Ismail and Ismain, Israil and Israin, Ilyas and Ilyasin. It has also been recited:

سَلَامٌ عَلَى آلِ يَاسِينَ

“Peace be upon Al Yasin,”

that is, upon the family of Muhammad.

And Ibn Masud and others recited:

سَلَامٌ عَلَى إِدْرَاسِينَ

“Peace be upon Idrasin.”

It has been transmitted from him through the way of Abu Ishaq, from Ubaydah ibn Rabiah, from Ibn Masud, that he said, “Ilyas is Idris.” To this view went adh Dhahhak ibn Muzahim, and it was related by Qatadah and Muhammad ibn Ishaq. What is correct is that he is other than him, as has already preceded, and Allah the Exalted knows best what is correct.