Former Prophets

Ilyas at Baalbek

The prophet sent against the worship of Ba'l (Q 37:123-130)

Time of Ilyas (peace be upon him)

Imagined 360° reconstruction of Ilyas at Baalbek

Educational historical reconstruction

Where

Baalbek (Ba'labakk), the Beqaa valley, in greater Syria

34.0069, 36.2039 · View on OpenStreetMap

Background

In Surat al-Saffat the Qur'an names Ilyas (Elijah, peace be upon him) among the messengers. He said to his people: will you not fear Allah, do you call upon Ba'l and forsake the best of creators, Allah your Lord and the Lord of your forefathers of old (Q 37:123-126). They denied him, so they will be brought forth for the reckoning, except the sincere servants of Allah; and Allah left for him his remembrance among later generations: peace be upon Ilyas (Q 37:127-130). The Qur'an names the idol Ba'l, and the Sunni tradition (Ibn Kathir in his Tafsir, his Qisas al-Anbiya' and al-Bidaya wa al-Nihaya, and al-Tabari) identifies Ilyas as an Israelite prophet sent to the people of Ba'labakk (Baalbek) in the Beqaa, the city whose name itself preserves the name of Ba'l, the Canaanite lord-deity. He is traditionally placed after Sulayman (peace be upon him), in the age of the Israelite kingdoms, and is linked with his successor al-Yasa' (Elisha), who is also named in the Qur'an. Baalbek, which the Greeks and Romans called Heliopolis, was an ancient sanctuary; the colossal temples whose columns and megalithic platform still stand are of the later Roman period, raised centuries after Ilyas, but they rise on the long-sacred site that the Qur'anic worship of Ba'l recalls. This scene depicts the place itself: the high Beqaa valley between the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon ranges, with the towering columns and the vast stone platform of Baalbek. No figure of Ilyas is shown. It must be kept in view that the visible ruins postdate the prophet by many centuries; they are the enduring marker of the site, not a depiction of it in his own time.

What you see

A high inland valley between two long mountain ranges, with snow-touched peaks behind it; the broad fertile floor of the Beqaa, and on a raised terrace a great ancient sanctuary-city.

Colossal stone columns and a vast temple platform built of dressed megalithic blocks, among the largest worked stones of the ancient world; these are the towering ruins of Baalbek, the city the Greeks and Romans called Heliopolis.

This is the place the tradition ties to Ilyas (Elijah, peace be upon him), sent to a people who worshipped the idol Ba'l: will you not fear Allah, do you call upon Ba'l and forsake the best of creators (Q 37:124-125).

The call to the worship of the one God against idolatry: Allah, your Lord and the Lord of your forefathers of old (Q 37:126). They denied him, yet Allah left his remembrance among later generations: peace be upon Ilyas (Q 37:130).

No figure is shown; the towering columns and the great platform stand for the ancient cult-centre of Ba'l whose very name the city of Ba'labakk preserves.

The narrative is Q 37:123-132 (Surat al-Saffat). The standing temples are of the later Roman period, centuries after Ilyas, and mark the long-sacred site rather than its appearance in his time.

Primary sources

The Qur'an, Surat al-Saffat (37:123-132): Ilyas among the messengers, his rebuke of the worship of Ba'l, the call to the one God, and the peace left upon him. The primary source.

Ibn Kathir, Qisas al-Anbiya', Tafsir, and al-Bidaya wa al-Nihaya (14th c.): Standard Sunni identification of Ilyas with the people of Baalbek and his place among the Israelite prophets, with al-Yasa' as his successor.

al-Tabari, Tarikh al-Rusul wa-al-Muluk and Jami' al-Bayan: Standard Sunni history and tafsir for Ilyas and the worship of Ba'l.

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