{"collection":"Islam","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/isl/pro/grp03.htm","path":"isl/pro/grp03.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/isl/pro/grp03.htm","text":"They said a lot about the conditions of Elijah and his stories and in summary\nit is that Joshua ben Nun had made a living for the Israelites in the lands\nof Canaan after Moses and he divided the lands between them, so a tribe\nof them went to Baalbek and spread in its land and it is the tribe that\nElijah came from, so God sent him to them, and they had an unjust king\nwhich made his people worship an idol called Ba`al (Baal) and this is mentioned\nin God's saying: And lo! Elias was of those sent (to warn), When he said\nunto his folk: Will ye not ward off (evil) ? Will ye cry unto Baal and\nforsake the Best of creators, Allah, your Lord and Lord of your forefathers\n? But they denied him, so they surely will be haled forth (to the doom)..etc(Al-S\u00e2f\u00e2t:123-127),\nand they say that the king had unchaste wife that he would make her in\nhis place whenever he is away and she judges among the people, and he had\na faithful and a believer writer that helped three hundred believers to\nescape from her wrath, and there were no one on earth that were unchaste\nas she was, and she got married to seven kings from the Israelites until\nshe gave birth for ninety children, and the king had a faithful neighbour\nand one of the belivers and she killed him and tookover his fortune and\nher husband was not satisfied for this as it is mentioned, and so then\nGod sent Elijah to them to call them back to worship God but they disbelieved\nin him and banished him out but he got back to them and called them again\nand warning them against the wrath of God and telling them about the favours\nof God but all of that increased their tyranny so he promised himself that\nthe king and his wife will be doomed if they did not repent and he told\nthem about it, so then their wrath increased towards him and wanted to\ntorture and kill him but he escaped away from them into some mountains\nand he stayed there for seven years eating from the herbs of the earth.\nThen the king chose fifty men and advised them to trick Elijah and\nto tell him that they believed in him and in his Lord so that he would\nfeel safe towards them and then they can bring him to his court to kill\nhim, so they went to the mountain where Elijah was and they cried: O prophet\nof God, show us yourself for we believed in you, so he (Elijah) loved to\nhave their faith and he said then: O Lord, if they were true then allow\nme to go down for them and if they were not then fire them and burn them,\nand as he finished his words a fire from the sky fell upon them and burned\nthem, and the tidings reached the king and he got more mad, so then he\nsent the faithful writer with some people to him (Elijah) and he advised\nthem to show the faith of the king and his wife and all his people, and\nthat the king forbade the people to worship the idols and ordered them\nto mention the God of the Israelites, so then when the writer reached the\nmountain and called for him he recognized his voice and he got down to\nhim and the faithful writer then said to him: that tyrant sent me to you,\nand he told him everything happened in the king's court and he warned him\nagainst their tricks and told him that they have no goal but to kill him.\nAnd God inspired to him that everything comes from them is a trick\nto get you, and when the faithful writer came back to the king, and the\nlatter was sad because of the death of his dear son, he (the king) asked\nabout Elijah, so he (the writer) said: I have no knowledge about it, and\nbecause of the sadness of the king for his son he did not investinage about\nit more than that. Then Elijah did pray to God to take revenge from the\nwrong-doers and to hold the rains for seven years and God answered his\npray for this and their land became dry and the adversities came hard upon\nthem and death spread so fast among them and they knew that it was because\nof the pray of Elijah. Then they gathered around him and said to him: we\nare under your command, so God ordered him to answer them so he went down\nto them and with him was his pupil Elisha, so they met him and asked him\nfor the rain and they shall believe in him and in his words and obey his\nLord if rain fell again, so when he made sure of their faith he prayed\nfor God and He rained them and made the earth plant for them, so Elijah\nleft them and they were faithful, but then the devil tookover them and\nmade them astray so they neglected His favours and rebelled against His\nwill so God then made an enemy for them to fight against them and win against\nthem and killed them and also their king and his wife. It is mentioned\nthat Elijah was ordered by God to give his advices and will to Elisha and\nso he did and he advised him with what God commanded and ordered him with\nwhat God commanded and warned him against what God forbade and God planted\nthe feathers for Elijah and made him wear the garments of light and raised\nhim to heavens.\nIt is mentioned that Elijah threw his garment from the air upon Elisha\nand God made him a prophet upon the Israelites and inspired to him and\nmade him victorious, so he was among the Israelites a holy person that\nguides them to the truth. People differed about Elijah, some said he is\nAl-Khidhr (PUH), and some said he is Edris (Enoch), and others said he\nis one of the Israelites that God sent him to them as a prophet and he\nis a descendant of Aaron ben Amram and the cousin of Elisha, so he is Elias\n(Elijah) ben Y\u00e2seen ben Nit-h\u00e2s\u00e2 (Phinehas) ben Eli`ezer\n(Eleazar) ben Aaron ben Amram [seems the name Y\u00e2seen had been sandwiched\nfor I did not find any trace of a complete ancestry for Elijah in Torah].\nAs for Elisha, he is Alyasa` (Elisha) ben Akhtub (Shaphat) [supposedly\nAkhtub is the same as Shaphat, the name mentioned in Torah as the father\nof Elisha], and he is the cousin of Elijah as he is famous for mostly,\nand Elijah made him a viceroy over the Israelites when God raised him and\nhe (Elisha) is the pupil of Elijah as it is mentioned in the books of biographies,\nand God prophesized him after him (Elijah) and inspired to him. In a speech\nfor Al-Ridh\u00e2 (PUH) that was to disaprove against the prelate of the\nchristians about Elisha when he said: Elisha did as Jesus did, he walked\non water surface and resurrected the dead people by the permission of God\nand cured the dimsighted and the leper by the permission of God, but his\nnation did not take him as a god instead of the Lord, as it is mentioned\nin Safinat Al-Bih\u00e2r by Al-Muhaddi\u00fe Al-Qummi. As it is reported\nby Ibn `Abb\u00e2s and Muhammad ben Is-h\u00e2q and others, they said:\nGod sent Elijah after Ezekiel after many great events among the Israelites,\nand Joshua ben Nun had invaded the lands of Canaan and the Israelites ruled\nover and he had divided the lands among them, and so one tribe went to\nBaalbek and it is the tribe of ELijah and God sent him as a prophet to\nhis people. Then he (Elijah) went to the wilderness and made Elisha a viceroy\nover the Israelites, and God then raised him up and cut off his lust for\nfood and drink [meaning he does not get hungry nor thursty] and He made\nfeathers as his garments so he turned to be a human angel from earth and\nheavens. What is understood from the speeches of the Household (PUT) is\nthat Elijah did not die and still living as Al-Khidhr.\nThey say that ELijah is the man of lands (deserts) and Al-Khidhr is\nthe man of islands and they both gather together in the day of `Arafah\n[in the season of pilgrimage in the 12th month in islamic calendar] of\nevery year in `Araf\u00e2t [a mountain name in Mecca], and it is mentioned\nthat Elijah had several meetings with the Imams from the Household of Muhammad\n(PUT) in Saf\u00e2 [Saf\u00e2 and Marw\u00e2, two hills or mountains\nthat people cross between them seven times at pilgrimage time to reflect\nhow Hagar crossed them before looking for water for her son Ishmael (PUH)].\nThere are long narrations and lot of them, and one of them is that Elijah\nasked Al-S\u00e2diq (PUH) lot of questions from the wisdom of the apparent\nand the disapparent of things, and the Imam (Al-S\u00e2diq PUH) was answering\nevery question, and when his questions became so much, the Imam (PUH) laughed\nor smiled for the quantity of questions, and the Imam kept on explaining\nhis answers for the questions, and then ELijah said: I did not ask about\nsomething and I have no knowledge about it, but I liked this talk to be\nremembered and known for your followers and to make them strong. He asked\nhim about the secrets of Imamism and prophecy, and about the Imam being\ninspired by God and taught by the prophet and so on. It is reporterd by\nAnas ben M\u00e2lik: the prophet (PUH) heard a voice from the top of a\nmountain that was saying: O Lord make me of the forgiven nation, so the\nprophet went to the direction of the voice and he found there an old man\nthat was three hundred cubits tall, and when he saw the prophet (PUH) he\nhugged him and said: I eat every year for once and this is the time for\nit, and then a table came down from heaven and they ate together, and hewas\nElijah (PUH). It is mentioned that a group of people went to Al-S\u00e2diq\n(PUH) and found him speaking a language other than Arabic and crying as\nwell, so when they heard him they wondered about what they saw and heard,\nso they asked him about it and he (PUH) said: yes, I remembered ELijah\nand he was one of the best worshippers among the Israelites so I said as\nhe used to say in his prostration, then he said it in Syriac and by God\nwe did not see any prelate nor a priest that can speak it better than him,\nand then he interpreted what he said in Arabic, so he said: he (Elijah)\nused to say in his prostration: would You punish me with Your hell and\nmy feelings were thursty for You? Would you punish me and I put my face\ninto the sand for You? Would You punish me and I avoided sins for You?\nWould You punish me and I was awake all my nights for You? ..etc, and God\nthen inspired to him (Elijah): raise your head up for I will not punish\nyou for I fullfil the promises that I give. We pointed out that the narrations\nabout Elijah are a lot, so let us have enough with this much and it is\nenough to know him and to take the sermons.","title":"The Prophets, Their Lives and Their Stories: Elias, Elish...","type":"page"}