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He was sent to the people of Bal back to the west of Damascus. He called them to worship Allah, the Majestic, the Glorious, and he stressed upon them that they should give up their idol worship whom they had named Ba'l. His people did not listen to him. They not only refused to believe in him but also opposed him tooth and nail so he had to flee from them. He returned only after their king died and another had taken over. He presented his religion to the new king too. A large number of his subjects became believers but the king had them all killed. Makhul has reported from Ka'ab that four of the Prophets are alive. Two of them are living on earth, Sayyidina Ilyas, 'alayhis-salam, and Al-Khidr, 'alayhis-salam, and two who live in the heavens, Idris, 'alayhis-salam and 'Isa, 'alayhis-salam. There are quite a number of Israelite stories about him but they are all inauthentic and far-fetched, some of them we do not reject or accept though on the face of it they are untenable. We have argued already that Al-Khidr, 'alayhis-salam, is not alive and the same thing may be said of Sayyidina Ilyas, 'alayhis-salam. As for the words "salamun 'ala ilyasin", the Arabs pronounce the nun in names very often. Thus "Isma'il" is "Isma'in", "Isra'il" is "Isra'in" and "Ilyas" is "Ilyasin". Ibn Mas'ud has said that Ilyas was also the name of Idris, 'alayhis-salam. Ad-Dihak and others also hold this opinion. But the correct opinion is what we have already said.
