Ilyas

Ilyas AS (عَلَيْهِ السَّلَام) is named twice in the Qur'an as a messenger. The longer passage is in Surah As-Saffat, where Allah preserves the substance of his call.

And indeed, Ilyas was from among the messengers. When he said to his people, "Will you not fear Allah? Do you call upon Ba'l and leave the best of creators, Allah, your Lord and the Lord of your first forefathers?" (Qur'an 37:123-126)

Four verses. The shape of his whole prophethood is there. He was a messenger. His people were worshipping a thing they called Ba'l. He called them back to Allahu Rabbukum wa Rabbu aba-ikumul-awwaleen. Allah, your Lord and the Lord of your first forefathers.

Ba'l was the name of an idol worshipped by parts of the Bani Israil in the northern kingdom, in the area of Baalbek in what is now Lebanon. Some classical commentators connect the name of the town to the idol of his people. The town is older than the idol. The reform of Ilyas AS was older than the town's current name.

The mercy in the address

Read the address again. He did not start with curses. He started with the relationship.

Allah, your Lord and the Lord of your first forefathers.

He reminded them that the God they were leaving was not a stranger they had to be introduced to. He was the God of their grandfathers and the grandfathers of their grandfathers. He was already their Lord. They had simply walked away from Him.

This is one of the gentlest patterns in prophethood. The dawah is never here is a new God. It is always return to the God you came from. Tawhid is the homecoming, not the migration. This homecoming opens onto the mercy that introduces Allah by name.

The mercy is in the word fathers. Allah did not abandon their lineage. He preserved their first forefathers in the verse so they would remember they had pure ancestry to return to. Their grandfathers had been on tawhid. The Ba'l-worship was the deviation. The original was the truth.

The justice counterweight

Ilyas AS was not soft on Ba'l. He named it. He pointed at it. He used the word Ba'l in the verse so there would be no confusion about which idol he meant. He asked them, do you call upon Ba'l and leave the best of creators, putting the contrast right in front of them.

They denied him, so indeed they will be brought to account, except the chosen servants of Allah. (Qur'an 37:127-128)

Most of his people denied him. Some did not. The mukhlasin, the chosen servants of Allah, accepted his call. Allah preserved that. Even when a community as a whole turns away from the truth, Allah names the ones who held the line. They are not lost in the count.

This is justice and mercy in the same verse. Justice for those who denied. Mercy for those who stayed loyal.

Salam upon Il Yasin

Then Allah does something unusual in this passage. He preserves a salutation for Ilyas AS, the way He preserved salutations for Nuh AS (عَلَيْهِ السَّلَام) and Ibrahim AS (عَلَيْهِ السَّلَام) earlier in the same surah.

And We left for him a favourable mention among later generations. Peace upon Il Yasin. Indeed, We thus reward the doers of good. Indeed, he was of Our believing servants. (Qur'an 37:129-132)

Salamun ala Il Yasin. Peace upon Il Yasin. Most classical readings take Il Yasin as another form of the name Ilyas. Allah left a permanent salutation upon him in revelation. Every Muslim who recites Surah As-Saffat sends salam upon him. He has been receiving that salam for fourteen hundred years from people he never met, in tongues he never spoke.

This is the reward of the reformer. He may have stood almost alone in his time. He stands surrounded by salaams in the time that came after.

What this teaches the reader

Three small things.

One. The dawah is a return, not an arrival. When you speak to someone about Allah, you are not introducing them to someone new. You are pointing them back to the Lord their forefathers already knew. The verse trains the heart for this.

Two. Be specific about the idol. Ilyas AS named Ba'l. He did not speak in vague terms about false gods. He pointed. Today's idols also have names. Status. Wealth. The phone. Whatever has taken the place of Allah in the daily attention of a person. Name it kindly and clearly.

Three. The believing few are not lost in Allah's count. Except the chosen servants of Allah. If you are the only practising person in your workplace or your family, Allah has named your category in revelation. He sees the small group inside the larger one.