Elijah · Ilyas

Elijah in Islam

Elijah is Ilyas in Arabic, written إِلْيَاس. The two names belong to the same person, and the two traditions tell his story differently enough to be worth reading side by side.

English: Elijah
Arabic: إِلْيَاس
Read as: Ilyas
Status: Prophet in Islam
Where the English comes from: Hebrew Eliyahu, my God is the Lord.
What the Arabic carries: Ilyas, the Quranic form of the same name.
Full name page: Ilyas on AsrNaam

Is Elijah the same as Ilyas? Yes. Elijah is the English form and Ilyas the Arabic form of one name. The Quran gives him one scene and one question: will you call on Baal and leave the best of creators?

Ilyas in the Quran

Ilyas appears briefly and sharply. Surah As-Saffat gives him standing in front of his people asking whether they will call on Baal and leave the best of creators, and then, without further narrative, pronounces peace upon him. He is named again in Surah Al-Anam among the righteous.

The Quran does not give the contest on Carmel or the chariot of fire that the Books of Kings give, and Islamic commentary has kept its accounts of him modest for that reason. What survives is the question he asked, which is the whole of his argument.

A separate figure, al-Khidr, is sometimes conflated with him in later folklore. The Quran keeps them apart, and careful writing does too.

Using the name

The full entry for Ilyas carries the Arabic spelling, the Urdu, the pronunciation, the lucky number and the letter-by-letter Ilm ul Huroof reading, along with every romanisation the name is written in.

Open the full Ilyas page →

Questions about Elijah and Ilyas

Is Elijah the same name as Ilyas?

Elijah is the English form and Ilyas is the Arabic form of the same name. They refer to the same figure.

Is Ilyas the same as Elijah?

Yes. Ilyas is the Arabic form of the Hebrew Eliyahu, named among the messengers in the Quran.

Is Ilyas the same as al-Khidr?

No. Later folklore sometimes merges them, but the Quran and mainstream commentary treat them as different figures.

Can a Muslim family use the name Ilyas?

Yes. Ilyas is used as a given name across the Muslim world. AsrNaam carries its full page with the Arabic spelling, the pronunciation, the lucky number and the letter-by-letter Ilm ul Huroof reading.

Other names the two traditions share

Every one of these is one figure under two names.

Jesus and Isa Moses and Musa Mary and Maryam Abraham and Ibrahim Joseph and Yusuf David and Dawud Solomon and Sulayman Noah and Nuh John and Yahya Jacob and Yaqub Jonah and Yunus Job and Ayyub Aaron and Harun Isaac and Ishaq

Or start from the full list of Biblical names in Islam.