Elijah in Islam
In the Koran, Elijah (usually called Ilyas or Idris) is at first mentioned briefly, together with Zechariah, John and Jesus: “and all these We exalted above Our creatures.” A more detailed account of him is given in a later sura (chapter): “We also sent forth Elias, who said to his people: ‘Have you no fear of Allah? Would you invoke Baal and forsake the Most Gracious Creator? Allah is your Lord and the Lord of your forefathers.’ But they denied him, and thus incurred Our punishment, except Allah’s true servants. We bestowed on him the praise of later generations: ‘Peace on Elias!’ Thus We reward the righteous. He was one of Our believing servants.”
The traditional commentators on the Koran, especially al-Tabari and al-Thalibi, relate to these verses several versions of the biblical Elijah stories, some with elaborations and additions, some inexactly and incompletely, but in essentials keeping to the original biblical source. They conclude with Elijah’s ascent and mention also his transfiguration, emphasised in Jewish Aggadic literature, into a partly divine, partly human being who is capable of appearing on earth.
Sura 18 includes a legend in which there appears a favoured wise servant of God who is not called Elijah in the text but is identified with him in the whole Islamic tradition. The Koran account says:
Moses said to his servant: “I will journey on until I reach the land where the two seas meet, though I may march for ages.” But when they at last came to the land where the two seas met, they forgot their fish, which made its way into the water, swimming at will.
And when they had journeyed farther on, Moses said to his servant: “Bring us some food; we are worn out with travelling.” “Know,” replied the other, “that I forgot the fish when we were resting on the rock. Thanks to Satan, I forgot to mention this. The fish made its way into the sea in a miraculous fashion.” “This is what we have been seeking,” said Moses.
They went back the way they came and found one of Our servants to whom We had vouchsafed Our mercy and whom We had endowed with knowledge of Our own. Moses said to him: “May I follow you so that you may guide me by that which you have been taught?” “You will not bear with me,” replied the other. “For how can you bear with that which is beyond your knowledge?” Moses said: “If Allah wills, you shall find me patient: I shall not in anything disobey you.” He said: “If you are bent on following me, you must ask no question about anything till I myself speak to you concerning it.”
The next verses relate that this servant [of Mohammed] commits on the journey with Moses several extremely cruel and seemingly pointless acts, so that Moses cannot refrain from asking reproachful questions about them. The guide thereupon explains to him the true content of the events he has just seen, and says, before leaving him: “That is the meaning of what you could not bear to watch with patience.”
The unnamed servant of Mohammed in this Koran story is regarded as al-Khadir (“the Verdant One”) by the earliest canonists Buchari and Sigistani (c. 850), Tabari and Kastellani (c. 900) as well as by all later commentators on the Koran. His family tree is traced back to Noah or Cain, and he is almost unanimously identified with the biblical Elijah. He is the great sage and prophet favoured by God, and as such plays a prominent part in the entire literature of Islam—in the theologically-philosophically orientated as well as in the mystic, legendary and folk writings.
The commentators relate, as antecedent to Moses’ encounter with al-Khadir, that Moses once answered “No” to the question put to him by his people, whether there existed on earth any man wiser than he. Thereupon God had made known to him that he was surpassed in wisdom by God’s devout servant al-Khadir, who dwelt “at the junction of the waters.” He should look for him there and take with him a dried fish as food for the journey and to show him the way. Wherever the fish was revived by contact with water and swam away, there would be the source of life by which he would find al-Khadir.
Further, the commentators relate that after the fish swam away the water was blocked in this place by a rock, and an island was formed there, where al-Khadir sits on a white hide, representing allegorically the bare surface of the earth on which, through contact with his body—according to another version, through his prayer—vegetation sprouts and everything becomes green. Here is the source of life and whoever drinks from it acquires eternal life. Here Moses’ encounter with al-Khadir took place.
The site of the meeting of the two seas is usually defined geographically by the commentators as the junction of the eastern and western seas, the Straits of Suez; and is by some also interpreted allegorically as Moses’ encounter with al-Khadir, the “two seas of wisdom.” Moses represents the theological, and al-Khadir the esoterically orientated, mystic wisdom.
While the commentators of the Koran essentially enlarge and elaborate the Moses/al-Khadir legend of sura 18, regarding al-Khadir as the prophet and sage, he is described and venerated as Weli (saint) and mystagogue by the Sufi, the Islamic mystics (Ibn al-Arabi, c. 600, al-Damari, c. 800, Ibn Hagar, c. 850 [years AH], and others)—some regard him as an angel in human shape.
The story of al-Khadir’s childhood is described in Sufi literature in the manner of the typical heroic myth: the child of a royal couple, he is born in a cave, suckled by a ewe and later found and raised by a shepherd. It then so happens that as a young man he becomes private secretary at the court of the king, his father. In view of the outstanding abilities of the young man, the king finds out his true origins and appoints his son co-regent. But al-Khadir runs away and wanders about the world until he finds the source of life.
The drinking from the source of life as well as the reviving of the fish signifies in Islamic mysticism the spiritual awakening of the new Adam from the old:
“The members and parts of the human body are in fear and trembling, until the heart is awakened to the real life through the mystic pronunciation of and appeal to the divine name; from the heart there then flows into all parts of the body the sense of security and peace.” Al-Khadir drinks from the source of life and thus acquires eternal life until the end of days. He sits on a throne consisting of light, between the upper and the lower seas. According to some Islamic mystics, he also appears on earth at the time of the apocalypse, is killed by the Antichrist but revived by God.
Generally, al-Khadir is identified by the mystics with the Elijah-figure of Jewish tradition and, like him, is not limited in time and place. Just as he was alive at the time of Moses—according to some authors even at the time of Abraham and subsequently at that of Isaiah—he was also alive at the time of Mohammed; he was present at his funeral and comforted the people over his death.
It is recorded that he appeared as Elijah himself to Mohammed on one of his campaigns, as a tall old man with a shining face and wearing glowing white robes. Sharing a meal at a table giving off a green light, bearing an abundance of vegetables, the two prophets had talked to each other. Finally, Elijah had returned to heaven on the wings of angels or on a cloud. The caliphs Omar and Ali had also met al-Khadir, and been taught particularly efficacious prayers by him.
In the same spirit, al-Khadir continues to be represented in Islamic literature as Allah’s ambassador. It is his task to initiate and to spread the worship of the true God. Al-Khadir usually dwells, concealed from profane gaze, in holy places, especially in the mosques of Mecca,
Medina, Jerusalem and Syria. He does allow himself to be found by pious men striving towards God, listens to their questions and gives them religious instruction. Although he generally appears in the guise of an old man, occasionally he seems to be mature, or a young man. He frequently appears to mystics in visions. The esoteric masterpiece Saravis (c. 1500) is said to have been directly inspired by him. ~Aharon Wiener, The Prophet Elijah in the Development of Judaism, Pages 152–155
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