Ilyas

إلياس

Ilyas is a Qur’anic messenger named among the righteous and presented in Surat al-Saffat as calling his people away from invoking Baal and back to Allah, their Lord and the Lord of their forefathers. His people rejected him, while the Qur’an preserves favorable remembrance and peace for him and calls him one of God’s believing servants. The Qur’an gives no civil chronology, birthplace, genealogy, named king, drought narrative, earthly death account or explicit link to Al-Yasa. His identification with the Biblical Elijah is historically strong and widely accepted in scholarship, while many detailed stories in later Islamic literature derive from Biblical material, isra’iliyyat and qisas traditions and require qualification.

Names and variants

Ilyas· canonicalIlyas· canonicalإلياس· canonicalIlyās· transliterationIlyās· transliterationElijah· variantÉlie· variantElias· variantإلياسين· variant

Ilyas in the Qur’anic record

Ilyas is a named Qur’anic messenger whose revealed portrait is brief but clear. The strongest evidence centers on his call to worship Allah rather than Baal, his people’s rejection, his righteousness and belief, and the favorable remembrance preserved for him.

Sources: [6] Direct Qur’anic evidence 37:123, [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist overview

Where the Qur’an mentions Ilyas

Ilyas is named in Qur’an 6:85 and in the narrative sequence of 37:123–132. These passages provide the canonical core of his Islamic biography; most detailed life stories come from later exegetical, historical or comparative traditions.

Sources: [2] Direct Qur’anic evidence 6:85, [6] Direct Qur’anic evidence 37:123, [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist overview

Ilyas among the righteous

Qur’an 6:85 names Ilyas together with Zakariyya, Yahya and Isa and says that each was among the righteous. The verse establishes his moral standing without giving a chronology, location or narrative episode.

Sources: [2] Direct Qur’anic evidence 6:85, [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist overview

A messenger by explicit wording

Qur’an 37:123 states directly that Ilyas was among the messengers. His status as a messenger therefore does not depend on Biblical identification, later genealogy or qisas literature.

Sources: [6] Direct Qur’anic evidence 37:123, [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist overview

The meaning of his messenger status

The Qur’anic designation places Ilyas within the line of those sent by God to call people back to true worship. The text does not specify the date of his mission or the political state in which he served.

Sources: [6] Direct Qur’anic evidence 37:123, [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist overview

Righteousness as an established quality

Righteousness is explicit in Qur’an 6:85. Later biographies add many physical, genealogical and miraculous details, but none is needed to establish the Qur’an’s direct praise of Ilyas.

Sources: [2] Direct Qur’anic evidence 6:85, [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist overview

“Will you not be mindful of God?”

Qur’an 37:124 presents Ilyas challenging his people to taqwa, conscious fear and reverence of God. This summons frames the following rejection of Baal worship as a question of worship and accountability.

Sources: [7] Direct Qur’anic evidence 37:124, [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist overview

The Qur’anic reference to Baal

Qur’an 37:125 asks why the people invoke Baal while abandoning the best of creators. Baal is the only named cultic object directly associated with Ilyas in the Qur’an.

Sources: [8] Direct Qur’anic evidence 37:125, [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist overview, [23] TDV BA‘L historical-religious context

Baal and the Best of Creators

The passage contrasts invocation of Baal with devotion to Allah, described as the best of creators. Its central concern is theological rather than antiquarian: created or false objects of worship cannot replace the Creator.

Sources: [8] Direct Qur’anic evidence 37:125, [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist overview

Lord of you and your forefathers

Qur’an 37:126 identifies Allah as the Lord of Ilyas’s audience and of their earliest forefathers. The appeal therefore rejects the idea that inherited custom can justify false worship.

Sources: [9] Direct Qur’anic evidence 37:126, [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist overview

His people rejected him

Qur’an 37:127 states that Ilyas was rejected. The verse does not name the king, queen, city or specific persecutors found in later narratives, so those details should not be read back into the Qur’anic wording.

Sources: [10] Direct Qur’anic evidence 37:127, [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist overview

The exception of God’s chosen servants

After warning of punishment, Qur’an 37:128 excepts God’s chosen servants. Classical interpretation commonly understands this as distinguishing sincere believers from those who rejected the messenger.

Sources: [11] Direct Qur’anic evidence 37:128, [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist overview

A favorable remembrance among later generations

Qur’an 37:129 says that God left for Ilyas a remembrance among later generations. This establishes an enduring honorable legacy without specifying the later stories that different communities would attach to him.

Sources: [12] Direct Qur’anic evidence 37:129, [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist overview

“Peace upon Ilyasin”

Qur’an 37:130 preserves a formula of peace using the form Ilyasin. The textual form has generated grammatical and exegetical discussion, but the passage clearly functions as honor within the closing praise of Ilyas.

Sources: [13] Direct Qur’anic evidence 37:130, [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist overview

A pattern of reward for those who do good

Qur’an 37:131 explains that this is how God rewards those who do good. Ilyas’s story is therefore presented not only as biography but as a moral example within a recurring Qur’anic pattern.

Sources: [14] Direct Qur’anic evidence 37:131, [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist overview

One of God’s believing servants

Qur’an 37:132 calls Ilyas one of God’s believing servants. Belief is thus part of the explicit revealed portrait alongside messengerhood and righteousness.

Sources: [15] Direct Qur’anic evidence 37:132, [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist overview

The form Ilyasin

The form Ilyasin in Qur’an 37:130 has been explained in several ways, including as a variant or expanded form referring to Ilyas. The verse should be preserved as transmitted without forcing one later grammatical explanation into the status of revelation itself.

Sources: [4] Classical tafsir on Qur’an 37:123–132, [13] Direct Qur’anic evidence 37:130, [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist overview

Variant discussions around Ilyasin

Classical tafsir records variant readings and explanations around Ilyasin, including reports that connect the form with other names. These reports belong to the history of recitation and exegesis and do not erase the Qur’an’s separate naming of Ilyas elsewhere.

Sources: [4] Classical tafsir on Qur’an 37:123–132, [13] Direct Qur’anic evidence 37:130, [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist overview

The name Ilyas

The Qur’an uses Ilyas as the prophet’s name. Comparative linguistic scholarship relates the Arabic form to the Hebrew Eliyahu through forms such as Greek Elias, which helps explain the long-standing identification with Biblical Elijah.

Sources: [6] Direct Qur’anic evidence 37:123, [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist overview, [22] Encyclopaedia of Islam overview

Etymology of the name

Specialist works generally treat Ilyas as a non-Arabic proper name related to Eliyah or Eliyahu. The proposed Hebrew meaning is part of comparative philology, not an etymology supplied by the Qur’an.

Sources: [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist overview, [22] Encyclopaedia of Islam overview

Ilyas and Biblical Elijah

The identification of Qur’anic Ilyas with Biblical Elijah is historically strong: the names correspond closely and both figures are associated with opposition to Baal worship. It remains a comparative identification rather than an explicit statement that the Qur’an itself makes.

Sources: [20] Comparative Elijah cycle, 1 Kings 17–19, [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist overview, [22] Encyclopaedia of Islam overview

What the Elijah identification does not prove

Accepting Ilyas as the Qur’anic counterpart of Elijah does not automatically make every detail of 1–2 Kings part of Islamic revelation. Biblical material can illuminate reception and historical comparison while remaining distinct from the canonical Islamic evidence.

Sources: [20] Comparative Elijah cycle, 1 Kings 17–19, [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist overview, [22] Encyclopaedia of Islam overview

No Qur’anic civil chronology

The Qur’an provides no birth year, death year, reign dates or absolute historical date for Ilyas. Dates derived from Biblical kings depend on the comparative Elijah identification and should not be stored as established Islamic life dates.

Sources: [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist overview, [22] Encyclopaedia of Islam overview

Birth and death remain undated

Neither a civil birth date nor a civil death date is established in the Qur’an or a sound Ilyas-specific canonical hadith. Later accounts of ascent or continuing life do not justify inventing a death year.

Sources: [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist overview, [22] Encyclopaedia of Islam overview

No Qur’anic birthplace or city

The Qur’an does not name Ilyas’s birthplace, death place, kingdom or city. Locations such as the northern kingdom of Israel, Mount Carmel or Baalbek arise from comparative or later traditions and require explicit qualification.

Sources: [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist overview, [22] Encyclopaedia of Islam overview

The attribution to the Children of Israel

Islamic literature commonly places Ilyas among prophets of the Children of Israel, consistent with his identification with Elijah and later genealogical traditions. The Qur’anic verses about Ilyas do not explicitly use the phrase Children of Israel for his audience.

Sources: [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist overview, [22] Encyclopaedia of Islam overview

Baal in ancient Near Eastern religion

Baal was a title and divine name used in several ancient Near Eastern religious settings, especially Canaanite traditions. This background helps explain the Qur’anic reference in 37:125, but the verse itself does not provide a full history of the cult.

Sources: [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist overview, [23] TDV BA‘L historical-religious context

Was Ilyas sent to Baalbek?

Some later Muslim reports connect Ilyas with Baalbek and sometimes link the city’s name to Baal. The Qur’an never names Baalbek, so this geographical association should remain reported rather than established.

Sources: [1] Classical historical reports on Ilyas, [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist overview, [23] TDV BA‘L historical-religious context

Elijah in the northern kingdom

The Biblical Elijah cycle places Elijah in the northern kingdom of Israel during the monarchy. This is important comparative context for Ilyas, but it depends on identifying the two figures and belongs to Biblical, not Qur’anic, chronology.

Sources: [20] Comparative Elijah cycle, 1 Kings 17–19, [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist overview

Ahab and Jezebel in later Ilyas narratives

Ahab and Jezebel are central to the Biblical Elijah cycle and enter many later Muslim retellings of Ilyas. Neither ruler is named in the Qur’anic account of Ilyas.

Sources: [20] Comparative Elijah cycle, 1 Kings 17–19, [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist overview

The drought narrative

The Hebrew Bible connects Elijah with a prolonged drought and the return of rain. Related stories appear in later Islamic literature, but Qur’an 37:123–132 does not mention a drought, so the episode is comparative or transmitted tradition rather than Qur’anic fact.

Sources: [20] Comparative Elijah cycle, 1 Kings 17–19, [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist overview

The contest associated with Mount Carmel

The famous contest between Elijah and prophets of Baal belongs to 1 Kings. It explains why later readers strongly connected Qur’anic Ilyas with Elijah, yet the Qur’an condenses the confrontation to a direct denunciation of invoking Baal.

Sources: [20] Comparative Elijah cycle, 1 Kings 17–19, [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist overview

The journey to Horeb

Elijah’s flight and encounter at Horeb are Biblical narrative elements. They have value for comparative study but are not narrated in the Qur’an and should not be presented as established episodes of Ilyas’s Islamic biography.

Sources: [20] Comparative Elijah cycle, 1 Kings 17–19, [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist overview

Elijah and Elisha in the Bible

In 1 Kings, Elijah calls Elisha, who later follows and succeeds him. This relationship strongly influenced Muslim traditions connecting Ilyas with Al-Yasa, but the Qur’an names the two prophets separately without narrating such a succession.

Sources: [17] Comparative Elijah cycle, 2 Kings 1–2, [20] Comparative Elijah cycle, 1 Kings 17–19, [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist overview

The fiery chariot and ascent

2 Kings narrates Elijah being taken up in a whirlwind with imagery of a chariot and horses of fire. Later Islamic qisas literature transmitted related motifs, but the Qur’an contains no ascent narrative for Ilyas.

Sources: [17] Comparative Elijah cycle, 2 Kings 1–2, [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist overview

Using Biblical material carefully

Biblical accounts can explain the development of Muslim narratives and the identification of Ilyas with Elijah. They should be cited as comparative evidence, not silently converted into Qur’anic or sound-hadith facts.

Sources: [17] Comparative Elijah cycle, 2 Kings 1–2, [20] Comparative Elijah cycle, 1 Kings 17–19, [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist overview

Baal in classical tafsir

Classical commentators discuss what Baal referred to, often drawing on older Near Eastern and scriptural lore. Their explanations are historically valuable, while the canonical minimum remains the Qur’an’s own statement that Ilyas opposed its invocation.

Sources: [4] Classical tafsir on Qur’an 37:123–132, [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist overview

Ilyasin in classical tafsir

Al-Tabari and later commentators preserve several explanations for the wording Ilyasin. The diversity of these explanations is itself evidence that the precise linguistic analysis was interpretive rather than a single uncontested biographical fact.

Sources: [4] Classical tafsir on Qur’an 37:123–132, [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist overview

Later genealogies

Classical histories transmit genealogies for Ilyas that connect him to priestly or Aaronic lines. These chains are not supplied by the Qur’an and often reflect harmonization with Biblical genealogy.

Sources: [1] Classical historical reports on Ilyas, [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist overview, [24] Ibn Kathir’s historical treatment and qualification of reports

The reported descent from Harun

Some Islamic reports make Ilyas a descendant of Harun through generations including Eleazar and Phinehas-like figures. This is a reported genealogy, not an established Qur’anic relationship.

Sources: [1] Classical historical reports on Ilyas, [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist overview, [24] Ibn Kathir’s historical treatment and qualification of reports

Was his father named Yasin?

Forms such as Ilyas ibn Yasin appear in later literature. Qur’an 37:130’s Ilyasin wording cannot by itself establish that Yasin was his father, and the Qur’an gives no paternal name for Ilyas.

Sources: [1] Classical historical reports on Ilyas, [4] Classical tafsir on Qur’an 37:123–132, [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist overview

Al-Yasa as successor

Later Islamic narratives commonly present Al-Yasa as Ilyas’s disciple or successor, paralleling Elijah and Elisha. The connection is plausible within that reception history but is not explicitly narrated in the Qur’an.

Sources: [1] Classical historical reports on Ilyas, [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist overview, [24] Ibn Kathir’s historical treatment and qualification of reports

Expansion in qisas al-anbiya

Qisas literature greatly expands Ilyas’s short Qur’anic notice with kings, journeys, miracles, conversations and dramatic confrontations. Such material is part of Muslim literary heritage but must be separated from the canonical core.

Sources: [1] Classical historical reports on Ilyas, [18] Qisas al-anbiya reception, [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist overview, [24] Ibn Kathir’s historical treatment and qualification of reports

The story of years in mountains and caves

Some later reports say Ilyas hid for years in mountains or caves because of royal hostility. This motif is not found in the Qur’an and should remain a reported narrative detail.

Sources: [1] Classical historical reports on Ilyas, [18] Qisas al-anbiya reception, [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist overview, [24] Ibn Kathir’s historical treatment and qualification of reports

The story of withheld rain

Later Muslim accounts describe Ilyas being granted control over rainfall for a period, producing drought and then rain. The story parallels Biblical Elijah traditions and is not stated in the Qur’an.

Sources: [1] Classical historical reports on Ilyas, [18] Qisas al-anbiya reception, [20] Comparative Elijah cycle, 1 Kings 17–19, [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist overview, [24] Ibn Kathir’s historical treatment and qualification of reports

The horse of fire story

Some qisas accounts describe a fiery horse carrying Ilyas upward while Al-Yasa watches. This is a later narrative parallel to 2 Kings and should not be treated as an established Islamic canonical event.

Sources: [17] Comparative Elijah cycle, 2 Kings 1–2, [18] Qisas al-anbiya reception, [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist overview, [24] Ibn Kathir’s historical treatment and qualification of reports

Is Ilyas still alive?

The Qur’an and sound Ilyas-specific hadith do not state that Ilyas remains bodily alive on earth. Later reports of his continuing life are disputed, and broader Qur’anic and hadith evidence was used by scholars to reject claims of ordinary human immortality.

Sources: [5] General Qur’anic statement on human mortality, 21:34, [16] General canonical hadith used in classical debate on continuing human life, [17] Comparative Elijah cycle, 2 Kings 1–2, [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist overview, [24] Ibn Kathir’s historical treatment and qualification of reports

Ilyas and Khidr

Later Islamic and folk traditions frequently pair Ilyas with Khidr, sometimes assigning them different domains of travel or annual meetings. The Qur’an does not make this association, and classical scholars disagreed over reports of their continued life.

Sources: [18] Qisas al-anbiya reception, [19] Study of Khidr-Ilyas reception and folklore, [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist overview

Hızır-Ilyas folklore

In parts of the Turkish and Balkan cultural world, Khidr and Ilyas became linked in seasonal folklore such as Hıdırellez. This is an important reception history but not evidence for the historical biography of the Qur’anic messenger.

Sources: [19] Study of Khidr-Ilyas reception and folklore, [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist overview

Shrines and claimed locations

Different regions have attached Ilyas or Elijah traditions to shrines and sacred places. None can be treated as a securely established burial or residence of Ilyas merely because a local tradition bears his name.

Sources: [19] Study of Khidr-Ilyas reception and folklore, [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist overview, [22] Encyclopaedia of Islam overview

Was Ilyas the same person as Idris?

Some exegetical reports preserve readings or opinions that identify Ilyas with Idris. The dominant Islamic presentation treats them as distinct prophets, and the Qur’an names them separately in different passages.

Sources: [4] Classical tafsir on Qur’an 37:123–132, [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist overview

How isra’iliyyat should be handled

Much of the detailed Ilyas material outside the Qur’an reflects Biblical lore or isra’iliyyat transmitted through tafsir, history and qisas. Such reports can be recorded with attribution and certainty labels without being upgraded into established revelation.

Sources: [18] Qisas al-anbiya reception, [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist overview, [24] Ibn Kathir’s historical treatment and qualification of reports

The limited role of canonical hadith

Unlike some prophets, Ilyas does not have a large body of sound canonical hadith supplying a detailed life narrative. This makes the distinction between Qur’anic evidence and later storytelling especially important.

Sources: [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist overview, [22] Encyclopaedia of Islam overview

Tawhid at the center of his mission

The most secure theme of Ilyas’s Qur’anic mission is tawhid: rejecting the invocation of Baal and affirming Allah as Lord and Creator. This theological core is stronger than any disputed reconstruction of his dates, dynasty or geography.

Sources: [8] Direct Qur’anic evidence 37:125, [9] Direct Qur’anic evidence 37:126, [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist overview

What can be stated with confidence

Ilyas was a messenger, was among the righteous, called his people to fear God, rejected invocation of Baal, affirmed Allah as Lord, was rejected by his people, and is praised as a believing servant with an honored later remembrance. These points rest directly on the Qur’an.

Sources: [2] Direct Qur’anic evidence 6:85, [6] Direct Qur’anic evidence 37:123, [7] Direct Qur’anic evidence 37:124, [8] Direct Qur’anic evidence 37:125, [9] Direct Qur’anic evidence 37:126, [10] Direct Qur’anic evidence 37:127, [12] Direct Qur’anic evidence 37:129, [13] Direct Qur’anic evidence 37:130, [15] Direct Qur’anic evidence 37:132, [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist overview

What remains outside the established core

Exact BCE dates, birthplace, named parents, Aaronic genealogy, Baalbek, Ahab and Jezebel, a drought, years in caves, a fiery ascent, bodily immortality and a formal succession by Al-Yasa are not established by the Qur’anic text. They belong to comparative, exegetical or later narrative layers and should retain those labels.

Sources: [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist overview, [22] Encyclopaedia of Islam overview

Source-sensitive points

established

Qur’an 37:123 explicitly states that Ilyas was among the messengers. His messenger status is established independently of later Biblical or genealogical identifications.

Sources: [6] Direct Qur’anic evidence 37:123, [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist biography and source overview

established

Qur’an 6:85 explicitly places Ilyas among the righteous. This quality is part of his revealed portrait and does not depend on later narrative expansion.

Sources: [2] Direct Qur’anic evidence 6:85, [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist biography and source overview

established

Qur’an 37:124 records Ilyas calling his people to taqwa. The summons to fear and remain conscious of God is an established element of his Qur’anic mission.

Sources: [7] Direct Qur’anic evidence 37:124, [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist biography and source overview

established

Qur’an 37:125 explicitly presents Ilyas opposing the invocation of Baal. Baal worship is therefore part of the canonical core, unlike many later details about particular kings, temples or cities.

Sources: [8] Direct Qur’anic evidence 37:125, [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist biography and source overview

established

Qur’an 37:125–126 contrasts Baal with Allah, the best of creators and the Lord of Ilyas’s audience and their forefathers. This affirmation of divine lordship is established by the text itself.

Sources: [8] Direct Qur’anic evidence 37:125, [9] Direct Qur’anic evidence 37:126, [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist biography and source overview

established

Qur’an 37:127 states that Ilyas’s people rejected him. The rejection is established, while the identities of rulers and persecutors supplied by later narratives are not stated by the Qur’an.

Sources: [10] Direct Qur’anic evidence 37:127, [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist biography and source overview

established

Qur’an 37:128 excepts God’s chosen servants from the condemned group after Ilyas’s rejection. The wording is established, while its precise scope is a matter of exegesis.

Sources: [11] Direct Qur’anic evidence 37:128, [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist biography and source overview

established

Qur’an 37:129 states that God left Ilyas a favorable remembrance among later generations. His enduring honorable remembrance is therefore explicit in revelation.

Sources: [12] Direct Qur’anic evidence 37:129, [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist biography and source overview

established

Qur’an 37:130 contains the formula “Peace upon Ilyasin.” The transmitted wording is established even though classical scholars offered different explanations of the form Ilyasin.

Sources: [13] Direct Qur’anic evidence 37:130, [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist biography and source overview

established

Qur’an 37:132 explicitly calls Ilyas one of God’s believing servants. His belief is therefore part of the strongest source layer.

Sources: [15] Direct Qur’anic evidence 37:132, [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist biography and source overview

reported

Classical interpretation commonly understands Ilyasin in Qur’an 37:130 as referring to Ilyas, while preserving variant readings and grammatical explanations. The identification is well reported but its linguistic mechanism is interpretive.

Sources: [4] Classical tafsir discussion of Ilyasin, [13] Direct Qur’anic evidence 37:130, [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist biography and source overview

probable

The identification of Qur’anic Ilyas with Biblical Elijah is probable on comparative historical grounds because of the close name correspondence and their shared opposition to Baal worship. The Qur’an does not explicitly state the equation.

Sources: [20] Comparative Elijah narrative in 1 Kings 17–19, [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist biography and source overview, [22] Encyclopaedia of Islam comparative and historical overview

uncertain

No exact BCE chronology for Ilyas is established by the Qur’an or sound Ilyas-specific hadith. Dates reconstructed from the Biblical monarchy depend on identifying Ilyas with Elijah and should remain comparative rather than canonical life dates.

Sources: [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist biography and source overview, [22] Encyclopaedia of Islam comparative and historical overview

reported

Later Islamic scholarship commonly places Ilyas among prophets of the Children of Israel, especially through the Elijah identification. The Qur’anic passages about Ilyas do not explicitly label his audience Bani Israil, so the affiliation remains reported rather than direct wording.

Sources: [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist biography and source overview, [22] Encyclopaedia of Islam comparative and historical overview

reported

Classical genealogical reports make Ilyas a descendant of Harun through a priestly line. The Qur’an supplies no genealogy for Ilyas, so this descent is a reported harmonizing tradition rather than an established personal relationship.

Sources: [1] Classical historical genealogy and narrative reports, [3] Classical historical genealogy and narrative reports, [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist biography and source overview, [24] Ibn Kathir’s treatment of transmitted reports

reported

Some later Muslim sources associate Ilyas’s mission with Baalbek. The Qur’an names Baal but no city, so Baalbek is a reported geographical tradition and not an established Qur’anic location.

reported

Ahab and Jezebel belong to the Biblical Elijah cycle and entered later retellings of Ilyas. Neither is named in the Qur’an, so their role in Ilyas’s Islamic biography is reported through comparative and later narrative sources.

Sources: [1] Classical historical genealogy and narrative reports, [3] Classical historical genealogy and narrative reports, [20] Comparative Elijah narrative in 1 Kings 17–19, [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist biography and source overview

reported

The drought and return of rain are central to the Biblical Elijah story and are repeated in later Muslim narratives of Ilyas. Qur’an 37:123–132 does not mention a drought, so the episode remains reported rather than established.

disputed

Claims that Ilyas remains bodily alive on earth are disputed and are not established by the Qur’an or sound Ilyas-specific hadith. Major scholars used broader scriptural evidence to reject ordinary continuing human life across the centuries.

Sources: [5] Qur’an 21:34 gives a general denial of human immortality before Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, [16] Sahih al-Bukhari 116, general century-limit report used in the immortality debate, [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist biography and source overview, [24] Ibn Kathir’s treatment of transmitted reports

reported

Later Islamic narratives often present Al-Yasa as Ilyas’s disciple or successor, paralleling Elijah and Elisha. The Qur’an names both prophets but does not narrate a teacher-successor relationship, so the connection remains reported.

Sources: [1] Classical historical genealogy and narrative reports, [3] Classical historical genealogy and narrative reports, [17] Comparative Elijah-Elisha succession in 2 Kings 1–2, [20] Comparative Elijah narrative in 1 Kings 17–19, [21] TDV İLYÂS specialist biography and source overview, [24] Ibn Kathir’s treatment of transmitted reports

Contributions

Witness to tawhid against Baal worship

Qur’an 37:125–126 preserves Ilyas’s rejection of invoking Baal and his affirmation of Allah as Creator and Lord. His clearest contribution to Islamic memory is therefore an uncompromising witness to tawhid grounded directly in revelation.

religious · established

A prophetic call to taqwa

Qur’an 37:124 opens Ilyas’s address with a call to taqwa. His legacy contributes a concise prophetic model in which reform begins by restoring conscious reverence and accountability before God.

religious · established

Steadfast belief under rejection

Qur’an 37:127 records that Ilyas was rejected, while 37:132 still identifies him as one of God’s believing servants. Together the verses preserve a model of fidelity to belief even when a prophetic call is refused.

religious · established

A model of righteous prophetic continuity

Qur’an 6:85 places Ilyas among the righteous alongside other prophets, while 37:123 explicitly calls him a messenger. His remembrance contributes to the Qur’anic vision of a continuous prophetic tradition centered on righteousness and divine mission.

religious · established

An enduring honorable remembrance

Qur’an 37:129–131 states that God preserved favorable remembrance for Ilyas, pronounces peace upon Ilyasin and connects this honor with the reward of those who do good. His legacy therefore includes a revealed pattern of lasting honor for faithful service.

religious · established

Sources

[1]
Tārīkh al-rusul wa-l-mulūk
Muḥammad ibn Jarīr al-Ṭabarī · Classical historical source
[2]
Qur’an 6:85
Islam Academy Qur’an Corpus
[3]
Tārīkh al-rusul wa-l-mulūk
al-Ṭabarī · Classical history
[4]
Jāmiʿ al-bayān ʿan taʾwīl āy al-Qurʾān
al-Ṭabarī · Classical tafsir
[5]
Qur’an 21:34
Islam Academy Qur’an Corpus
[6]
Qur’an 37:123
Islam Academy Qur’an Corpus
[7]
Qur’an 37:124
Islam Academy Qur’an Corpus
[8]
Qur’an 37:125
Islam Academy Qur’an Corpus
[9]
Qur’an 37:126
Islam Academy Qur’an Corpus
[10]
Qur’an 37:127
Islam Academy Qur’an Corpus
[11]
Qur’an 37:128
Islam Academy Qur’an Corpus
[12]
Qur’an 37:129
Islam Academy Qur’an Corpus
[13]
Qur’an 37:130
Islam Academy Qur’an Corpus
[14]
Qur’an 37:131
Islam Academy Qur’an Corpus
[15]
Qur’an 37:132
Islam Academy Qur’an Corpus
[16]
Sahih al-Bukhari 116
Islam Academy Hadith Corpus
[17]
2 Kings 1–2
Hebrew Bible · Comparative scriptural source
[18]
ʿArāʾis al-majālis fī qiṣaṣ al-anbiyāʾ
al-Thaʿlabī · Classical qisas al-anbiya
[19]
İslâm-Türk İnançlarında Hızır yahut Hızır-İlyas Kültü
Ahmet Yaşar Ocak · Türk Kültürünü Araştırma Enstitüsü · 1985
[20]
1 Kings 17–19
Hebrew Bible · Comparative scriptural source
[21]
İLYÂS
Ömer Faruk Harman · TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi · 2000
[22]
Ilyās
A. J. Wensinck; G. Vajda · Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition · 1971
[23]
BA‘L
İsmail Taşpınar · TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi · 1991
[24]
Al-Bidāya wa-l-nihāya
Ibn Kathīr · Classical historical source

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