ELIAS (ILYAS)
Elias (Ilyas) was descendant from the progeny of Aaron and was a great prophet of God amongst Bani Israel. The king of Bani Israel had reverted to materialism and was married to a heathen woman. Bani Israel followed their king and carved out several stone idols for worship including the calf that was a popular god amongst the Philistines. Anyone who stood up for the monotheistic faith of Moses was slain ruthlessly. This was the time when many prophets of God were martyred because they taught the truth and wanted people to return to God’s religion.
The king and his queen had their neighbour killed because he was a man of pious conduct and of monotheistic faith. They annexed his fertile fruit groves to their own. Elias rebuked them for their ill conduct. He told them that if they did not repent on what they had done against an innocent family and return the groves to the orphan of the slain owner, God will send his punishment upon them and they will be similarly slain in the same fruit garden. The king told Elias 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. Elias asked the king why he did not pray to his best idol for the recovery of his son. The king was so annoyed with the harsh words of Elias 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. Elias prayed to God for His help. The palace guards fell down dead and Elias was spared.
God sent his punishment to the people in the form of a drought. Elias 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 God 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 Elias to lynch him in public. They blamed him for his magic to be the cause of their misery. They conspired to kill him.
Elias appointed Al-Yasa’ his successor and vanished in the protection of God. A monarch from a neighbouring kingdom came and conquered the land. The king and his queen met their ill fate as predicted by Elias and were slain in the same grove where they had killed its innocent owner. Their bodies were lying rotting in the sun and ravens and vultures ate their flesh.
References: The Qur’an: Sura Sa’ffat.
Aal-e-Qutub Aal-e-Syed Abdullah Shah Ghazi 