Tarikh (al-Tabari) 247
The story of Ilyās (peace be upon him)
إِلْيَاسَ، عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ لَمَّا تُوُفِّيَ حِزْقِيلُ كَثُرَتِ الْأَحْدَاثُ فِي بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ، وَتَرَكُوا عَهْدَ اللَّهِ وَعَبَدُوا الْأَوْثَانَ، فَبَعَثَ اللَّهُ إِلَيْهِمْ إِلْيَاسَ بْنَ يَاسِينَ بْنِ فَنْحَاصَ بْنِ الْعِزَازِ بْنِ هَارُونَ بْنِ عِمْرَانَ نَبِيًّا، وَكَانَ الْأَنْبِيَاءُ فِي بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ بَعْدَ مُوسَى بْنِ عِمْرَانَ يُبْعَثُونَ بِتَجْدِيدِ مَا نَسُوا مِنَ التَّوْرَاةِ. وَقَدْ بَعَثَ اللَّهُ بَيْنَ مُوسَى وَعِيسَى أَلْفَ نَبِيٍّ مِنْ بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ سِوَى مَنْ أَرْسَلَ مِنْ غَيْرِهِمْ، وَلَمْ يَكُنْ بَيْنَهُمْ فَتْرَةٌ. وَكَانَ إِلْيَاسُ مَعَ مَلِكٍ مِنْ مُلُوكِهِمْ يُقَالُ لَهُ أَخَابُ، وَكَانَ يَسْمَعُ مِنْهُ وَيُصَدِّقُهُ، وَكَانَ إِلْيَاسُ يُقِيمُ لَهُ أَمْرَهُ وَكَانَ بَنُو إِسْرَائِيلَ قَدِ اتَّخَذُوا صَنَمًا يَعْبُدُونَهُ يُقَالُ لَهُ بَعْلُ وكَانَ إِرْسَالُهُ إِلَى أَهْلِ بَعْلَبَكَّ، غَرْبِيَّ دِمَشْقَ، فَدَعَاهُمْ إِلَى عِبَادَةِ اللَّهِ، عَزَّ وَجَلَّ، وَأَنْ يَتْرُكُوا عِبَادَةَ صنمهم وَقِيلَ: كَانَتِ امْرَأَةً اسْمُهَا بَعْلُ. وَالْأَوَّلُ أَصَحُّ. وَلِهَذَا قَالَ لَهُمْ: أَلَا تَتَّقُونَ أَتَدْعُونَ بَعْلًا وَتَذَرُونَ أَحْسَنَ الْخَالِقِينَ اللَّهَ رَبَّكُمْ وَرَبَّ آبَائِكُمُ الْأَوَّلِينَ فَكَذَّبُوهُ وَخَالَفُوهُ، وَأَرَادُوا قَتْلَهُ، فَيُقَالُ: إِنَّهُ هَرَبَ مِنْهُمْ، وَاخْتَفَى عَنْهُمْ. وعَنْ كَعْبِ الْأَحْبَارِ، أَنَّهُ قَالَ: إِنَّ إِلْيَاسَ اخْتَبَأَ مَنْ مَلِكِ قَوْمِهِ، فِي الْغَارِ الَّذِي تَحْتَ الدَّمِ، عَشْرَ سِنِينَ، حَتَّى أَهْلَكَ اللَّهُ الْمَلِكَ، وَوَلَّى غَيْرَهُ، فَأَتَاهُ إِلْيَاسُ، فَعَرَضَ عَلَيْهِ الْإِسْلَامَ، فَأَسْلَمَ، وَأَسْلَمَ مِنْ قَوْمِهِ خَلْقٌ عَظِيمٌ، غَيْرَ عَشَرَةِ آلَافٍ مِنْهُمْ، فَأَمَرَ بِهِمْ فَقُتِلُوا عَنْ آخِرِهِمْ. وعن حَدَّثَنَا سَعِيدُ بْنُ عَبْدِ الْعَزِيزِ، عَنْ بَعْضِ مَشْيَخَةِ دِمَشْقَ، قَالَ: أَقَامَ إِلْيَاسُ، عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ، هَارِبًا مِنْ قَوْمِهِ، فِي كَهْفِ جَبَلٍ، عِشْرِينَ لَيْلَةً، أَوْ قَالَ: أَرْبَعِينَ لَيْلَةً، تَأْتِيهِ الْغِرْبَانُ بِرِزْقِهِ. وَكَانَ مُلُوكُ بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ مُتَفَرِّقَةً كُلُّ مَلِكٍ قَدْ تَغَلَّبَ عَلَى نَاحِيَةٍ يَأْكُلُهَا، فَقَالَ ذَلِكَ الْمَلِكُ الَّذِي كَانَ إِلْيَاسُ مَعَهُ: وَاللَّهِ مَا أَرَى الَّذِي تَدْعُو إِلَيْهِ بَاطِلًا لِأَنِّي أَرَى فُلَانًا وَفُلَانًا - يَعُدُّ مُلُوكَ بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ - قَدْ عَبَدُوا الْأَوْثَانَ فَلَمْ يَضُرَّهُمْ ذَلِكَ شَيْئًا، يَأْكُلُونَ، وَيَشْرَبُونَ، وَيَتَمَتَّعُونَ مَا يَنْقُصُ ذَلِكَ مِنْ دُنْيَاهُمْ وَمَا نَرَى لَنَا عَلَيْهِمْ مِنْ فَضْلٍ. فَفَارَقَهُ إِلْيَاسُ وَهُوَ يَسْتَرْجِعُ، فَعَبَدَ ذَلِكَ الْمَلِكُ الْأَوْثَانَ أَيْضًا، وَكَانَ لِلْمَلِكِ جَارٌ صَالِحٌ مُؤْمِنٌ يَكْتُمُ إِيمَانَهُ، وَلَهُ بُسْتَانٌ إِلَى جَانِبِ دَارِ الْمَلِكِ وَالْمَلِكُ يُحْسِنُ جِوَارَهُ، وَلِلْمَلِكِ زَوْجَةٌ عَظِيمَةُ الشَّرِّ وَالْكُفْرِ، فَقَالَتْ لَهُ لِيَأْخُذَ بُسْتَانَ الرَّجُلِ، فَلَمْ يَفْعَلْ، فَكَانَتْ تَخْلُفُ زَوْجَهَا إِذَا سَارَ عَنْ بَلَدِهِ وَتَظْهَرُ لِلنَّاسِ، فَغَابَ مَرَّةً فَوَضَعَتِ امْرَأَتُهُ عَلَى صَاحِبِ الْبُسْتَانِ مَنْ شَهِدَ عَلَيْهِ أَنَّهُ سَبَّ الْمَلِكَ، فَقَتَلَتْهُ وَأَخَذَتْ بُسْتَانَهُ، فَلَمَّا عَادَ الْمَلِكُ غَضِبَ مِنْ ذَلِكَ وَاسْتَعْظَمَهُ وَأَنْكَرَهُ فَقَالَتْ: فَاتَ أَمْرُهُ. فَأَوْحَى اللَّهُ إِلَى إِلْيَاسَ يَأْمُرُهُ أَنْ يَقُولَ لِلْمَلِكِ وَامْرَأَتِهِ أَنْ يَرُدَّا الْبُسْتَانَ عَلَى وَرَثَةِ صَاحِبِهِ، فَإِنْ لَمْ يَفْعَلَا غَضِبَ عَلَيْهِمْا، وَأَهْلَكَهُمَا فِي الْبُسْتَانِ وَلَمْ يَتَمَتَّعَا بِهِ إِلَّا قَلِيلًا. فَأَخْبَرَهُمَا إِلْيَاسُ بِذَلِكَ فَلَمْ يُرَاجِعَا الْحَقَّ. فَلَمَّا رَأَى إِلْيَاسُ أَنَّ بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ قَدْ أَبَوْا إِلَّا الْكُفْرَ وَالظُّلْمَ دَعَا عَلَيْهِمْ، فَأَمْسَكَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُمُ الْمَطَرَ ثَلَاثَ سِنِينَ، فَهَلَكَتِ الْمَاشِيَةُ، وَالطُّيُورُ، وَالْهَوَامُّ، وَالشَّجَرُ، وَجَهِدَ النَّاسُ جَهْدًا شَدِيدًا، وَاسْتَخْفَى إِلْيَاسُ خَوْفًا مِنْ بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ، فَكَانَ يَأْتِيهِ رِزْقُهُ، ثُمَّ إِنَّهُ أَوَى لَيْلَةً إِلَى امْرَأَةٍ مِنْ بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ لَهَا ابْنٌ يُقَالُ لَهُ الْيَسَعُ بْنُ أَخُطُوبَ بِهِ ضُرٌّ شَدِيدٌ، فَدَعَا لَهُ فَعُوفِيَ مِنَ الضُّرِّ الَّذِي كَانَ بِهِ وَاتَّبَعَ إِلْيَاسَ، وَكَانَ مَعَهُ وَصَحِبَهُ وَصَدَّقَهُ، وَكَانَ إِلْيَاسُ قَدْ كَبِرَ، فَأَوْحَى اللَّهُ إِلَيْهِ: إِنَّكَ قَدْ أَهْلَكْتَ كَثِيرًا مِنَ الْخَلْقِ مِنَ الْبَهَائِمِ، وَالدَّوَابِّ، وَالطَّيْرِ وَغَيْرِهَا، وَلَمْ يَعْصِ سِوَى بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ. فَقَالَ إِلْيَاسُ: أَيْ رَبِّي، دَعْنِي أَكُنْ أَنَا الَّذِي أَدْعُو لَهُمْ وَأَبْتَهِجُ بِالْفَرَجِ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَرْجِعُونَ. فَجَاءَ إِلْيَاسُ إِلَيْهِمْ، وَقَالَ لَهُمْ: إِنَّكُمْ قَدْ هَلَكْتُمْ وَهَلَكَتِ الدَّوَابُّ بِخَطَايَاكُمْ، فَإِنْ أَحْبَبْتُمْ أَنْ تَعْلَمُوا أَنَّ اللَّهَ سَاخِطٌ عَلَيْكَمْ بِفِعْلِكُمْ، وَأَنَّ الَّذِي أَدْعُوكُمْ إِلَيْهِ هُوَ الْحَقُّ فَاخْرُجُوا بِأَصْنَامِكُمْ وَادْعُوهَا ; فَإِنِ اسْتَجَابَتْ لَكُمْ فَذَلِكَ الْحَقُّ كَمَا تَقُولُونَ، وَإِنْ هِيَ لَمْ تَفْعَلْ عَلِمْتُمْ أَنَّكُمْ عَلَى بَاطِلٍ فَنَزَعْتُمْ وَدَعَوْتُ اللَّهَ فَفَرَّجَ عَنْكُمْ. قَالُوا: أَنْصَفْتَ. فَخَرَجُوا بِأَصْنَامِهِمْ فَدَعَوْهَا فَلَمْ تَسْتَجِبْ لَهُمْ، وَلَمْ يُفَرَّجْ عَنْهُمْ. فَقَالُوا لِإِلْيَاسَ: إِنَّا قَدْ هَلَكْنَا فَادْعُ اللَّهَ لَنَا. فَدَعَا لَهُمْ بِالْفَرَجِ وَأَنْ يُسْقَوْا، فَخَرَجَتْ سَحَابَةٌ مِثْلُ التُّرْسِ، وَعَظُمَتْ وَهُمْ يَنْظُرُونَ، ثُمَّ أَرْسَلَ اللَّهُ مِنْهَا الْمَطَرَ، فَحَيِيَتْ بِلَادُهُمْ، وَفَرَّجَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُمْ مَا كَانُوا فِيهِ مِنَ الْبَلَاءِ، فَلَمْ يَنْزِعُوا وَلَمْ يُرَاجِعُوا الْحَقَّ، فَلَمَّا رَأَى ذَلِكَ إِلْيَاسُ سَأَلَ اللَّهَ أَنْ يَقْبِضَهُ فَيُرِيحَهُ مِنْهُمْ، فَكَسَاهُ اللَّهُ الرِّيشَ وَأَلْبَسَهُ النُّورَ، وَقَطَعَ عَنْهُ لَذَّةَ الْمَطْعَمِ وَالْمَشْرَبِ، فَصَارَ مَلَكِيًّا إِنْسِيًّا سَمَاوِيًّا أَرْضِيًّا، وَسَلَّطَ اللَّهُ عَلَى الْمَلِكِ وَقَوْمِهِ عَدُوًّا فَظَفِرَ بِهِمْ، وَقَتَلَ الْمَلِكَ وَزَوْجَتَهُ بِذَلِكَ الْبُسْتَانِ وَأَلْقَاهُمَا فِيهِ حَتَّى بَلِيَتْ لُحُومُهُمَا. وَسُمِّيَتِ الْأَرْضُ الَّتِي كَانُوا فِيهَا بَعْلَبَكَّ بِاسْمِ الصَّنَمِ الَّذِي اسْمُهُ الْبَعْلُ.
Translation
✧ Ilyās ﷺ When Ḥizqīl died, events multiplied among the Children of Israel, and they abandoned the covenant of God and worshipped idols. So God sent to them Ilyās b. Yāsīn b. Fanḥāṣ b. al-ʿIzāz b. Hārūn b. ʿImrān as a prophet. The prophets among the Children of Israel after Mūsā b. ʿImrān were sent to renew what they had forgotten of the Torah. God sent between Mūsā and ʿĪsā a thousand prophets from the Children of Israel, apart from those sent from others, and there was no interval between them. Ilyās was with one of their kings called Akhāb, and he would listen to him and believe him, and Ilyās would set his affairs aright for him. The Children of Israel had taken an idol which they worshipped called Baʿl, and his sending was to the people of Baʿlabakk, west of Damascus. He called them to the worship of God, mighty and majestic, and to abandon the worship of their idol. It is said: she was a woman named Baʿl. The first is more correct. For this reason he said to them: Will you not fear? Do you call upon Baʿl and abandon the best of creators, God your Lord and the Lord of your forefathers of old? They denied him and opposed him and wanted to kill him. It is said that he fled from them and hid from them. From Kaʿb al-Aḥbār, that he said: Ilyās hid from the king of his people in the cave beneath the blood for ten years, until God destroyed the king and appointed another. Ilyās came to him and presented Islam to him, and he became Muslim, and a great multitude of his people became Muslim, except ten thousand of them, so he ordered them and they were killed to the last. And from: Saʿīd b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz narrated to us, from some of the elders of Damascus, he said: Ilyās ﷺ stayed fleeing from his people in a cave of a mountain for twenty nights, or he said: forty nights, with ravens bringing him his provision. The kings of the Children of Israel were scattered, each king having seized a region and consuming it. That king with whom Ilyās was said: By God, I do not see what you call to as false, for I see so-and-so and so-and-so—enumerating the kings of the Children of Israel—they worshipped idols and that did not harm them at all; they eat, drink, and enjoy, and that does not diminish their worldly life, and we see no superiority over them. So Ilyās parted from him, saying 'we belong to God', and that king also worshipped idols. The king had a righteous believing neighbor who concealed his faith, with a garden beside the king's house, and the king treated him well as a neighbor. The king had a wife of great evil and unbelief, and she said to him to take the man's garden, but he did not do so. She would succeed her husband when he departed from his city and appear before the people. Once he was absent, his wife set against the owner of the garden those who testified that he had reviled the king, so she killed him and took his garden. When the king returned, he was angry at that, deemed it grave, and denounced it, but she said: The matter is over. So God revealed to Ilyās commanding him to tell the king and his wife to return the garden to the heirs of its owner, and if they did not, He would be angry with them and destroy them in the garden, and they would enjoy it only a little. Ilyās informed them of that, but they did not return to the truth. When Ilyās saw that the Children of Israel refused anything but unbelief and wrongdoing, he supplicated against them, and God withheld rain from them for three years. The livestock, birds, vermin, and trees perished, and the people suffered severe hardship. Ilyās hid in fear of the Children of Israel, and his provision would come to him. Then one night he sought refuge with a woman of the Children of Israel who had a son called al-Yasaʿ b. Akhṭūb with severe affliction. He supplicated for him, and he was healed of the affliction that he had, and he followed Ilyās and was with him, accompanied him, and believed him. Ilyās had grown old, and God revealed to him: You have destroyed much of creation among beasts, animals, birds, and others, and none disobeyed except the Children of Israel. Ilyās said: O my Lord, let me be the one who supplicates for them and rejoices at relief, perhaps they will return. Ilyās came to them and said to them: You have perished, and the animals have perished because of your sins. If you wish to know that God is wrathful with you for your deeds, and that what I call you to is the truth, then bring out your idols and call upon them. If they answer you, then that is the truth as you say, and if they do not, you will know that you are upon falsehood, so you will desist, and I will call upon God and He will relieve you. They said: You have been fair. So they went out with their idols and called upon them, but they did not answer them, and no relief came to them. They said to Ilyās: We have perished, so call upon God for us. He supplicated for relief for them and that they be given water, and a cloud like a shield came out, and it grew while they watched. Then God sent rain from it, and their lands revived, and God relieved them of the affliction they were in. But they did not desist and did not return to the truth. When Ilyās saw that, he asked God to take him and give him rest from them. So God clothed him with feathers and dressed him in light, and cut off from him the pleasure of food and drink, and he became angelic and human, heavenly and earthly. God set an enemy over the king and his people, and he overcame them, and killed the king and his wife in that garden and cast them into it until their flesh decayed. The land in which they were was named Baʿlabakk after the idol whose name was al-Baʿl.
Grades by grader
No grade is recorded for this wording.