THE PROPHETS OF ISLAM                                                                                                                       Al-Huda Foundation 

B                                                   F                                                 C

 

PROPH ET ILY AS 

Ilyas 'was a descendant from the progeny of Harun and was a great prophet of Allah amongst Banu Insrail. 

The king of Bani Israil had reverted to materialism.  He was married to a heathen woman. Banu Israil followed their king and carved out several stone idols for worship including the calf that was a popular god amongst the Phillistines. Any one who stood up for the monotheistic faith of Musa was slain ruthlessly.  This was the time when many prophets of Allah were martyred because they taught the truth and wanted people to return to the religion of Allah. 

The king and his queen had their neighbor killed because he was a man of pious conduct and of monotheistic faith; and annexed his fertile fruit groves to their own. Ilyas rebuked them for their ill conduct.  He told them that if they did not repent on what they had wrought against an innocent family, return the groves to the orphan of the slain owner, Allah will send his punishment upon them, and they will be similarly slain in the same fruit garden. The king told Ilyas that he should refrain from confrontation with him or else he will have him arrested and tortured for his harsh words against his king.

It so happened that the young son of the king became ill. Ilyas asked the king why did he not pray to his best idol for the recovery of his son. The king was so annoyed with the harsh words of Ilyas that he sent his palace guards to

ILYAS

Ilyas 'was a descendant from the progeny of Harun and was a great prophet of Allah amongst Banu Insrail. 

The king of Bani Israil had reverted to materialism.  He was married to a heathen woman.  Banu Israil followed their king and carved out several stone idols for worship including the calf that was a popular god amongst the Phillistines. Any one who stood up for the monotheistic faith of Musa was slain ruthlessly. This was the time when many prophets of Allah were martyred because they taught the truth and wanted people to return to the religion of Allah. 

The king and his queen had their neighbor killed because he was a man of pious conduct and of monotheistic faith; and annexed his fertile fruit groves to their own. Ilyas rebuked them for their ill conduct.  He told them that if they did not repent on what they had wrought against an innocent family, return the groves to the orphan of the slain owner, Allah will send his punishment upon them, and they will be similarly slain in the same fruit garden.  The king told Ilyas that he should refrain from confrontation with him or else he will have him arrested and tortured for his harsh words against his king. 

It so happened that the young son of the king became ill. Ilyas asked the king why did he not pray to his best idol for the recovery of his son. The king was so annoyed with the harsh words of Ilyas that he sent his palace guards to arrest him and bring him into his presence so that he could be tortured and killed in his presence. Ilyas prayed to Allah for His help. The palace guards fell down dead, and Ilyas was spared. 

Allah sent his punishment for the people in the form of a drought.  Ilyas challenged them to go and sing and dance to please their false gods and see if they would send some rain for them. Clearly all the elements are subservient to Allah and no amount of material power can match His Will.  They did all that was known to them but nothing happened. 

When hearts harden with hate and defiance, no amount of logic or reason makes any sense. They all swooped on Ilyas to lynch him in public. They blamed him for his magic to be the cause of their misery. They conspired to kill him. 

Ilyas appointed Al-Yasa' his successor and vanished in the protection of Allah. A monarch from a neighboring kingdom came and conquered the land.  The king and his queen met their ill fate as predicted by Ilyas, and were slain in the same grove where they had killed its innocent owner.  Their bodies lay rotting in the sun, and ravens and vultures ate their flesh. 

References: al Qur'an: Sura Saffat.