As for Ilyās ﵇, Allah the Exalted says—immediately after the story of Moses and Aaron—in Sūrat al-Ṣāffāt:

“Indeed, Ilyās was certainly one of the Messengers [123] when he said to his people, ‘Will you not fear Allah? [124] Do you call upon Baʿl and abandon the Best of Creators, [125] Allah, your Lord and the Lord of your earliest forefathers?’ [126] But they rejected him, so they will surely be arraigned, [127] except for Allah’s devoted servants. [128] And We left for him a good remembrance among later generations: [129] ‘Peace be upon the family of Ilyās.’ [130] Thus do We reward those who excel. [131] He was indeed one of Our believing servants.” [37:123-132]

The genealogists state that he is Ilyās son of Tashbīn. It is also said that he was the son of Yāsīn son of Fanḥāṣ son of al-‘Ayzār son of Aaron, and another view is that he was Ilyās son of al-‘Āzar son of al-‘Ayzār son of Aaron son of ‘Imrān.

They report that he was sent to the people of Baalbek, west of Damascus. He called them to Allah, Exalted is He, and urged them to abandon an idol they worshipped which they called “Baal” (1). Some say Baal was the name of a woman (2), but the first opinion is sounder. Hence his words: “Will you not fear Allah? Do you call upon Baʿl and abandon the Best of Creators—Allah, your Lord and the Lord of your first forefathers?” [37:124-126]. They denied him, opposed him, and sought to kill him. It is said that he fled from them and went into hiding.

Abū Ya‘qūb al-Adhra‘ī, quoting Yazīd ibn ‘Abd al-Ṣamad from Hishām ibn ‘Ammār, said: I heard someone relate from Ka‘b al-Aḥbār that Ilyās hid from the king of his people in the cave that lies beneath the Blood (3) for ten years, until Allah destroyed that king and installed another in his place. Ilyās then came to him, invited him to Islam, and he accepted it; a great number of his people also entered Islam, all save ten thousand. He ordered that those be put to death, and they were killed to the last man (4).

Ibn Abī al-Dunyā said: “Abū Muḥammad al-Qāsim ibn Hāshim related to me; ‘Umar ibn Sa‘īd al-Dimashqī narrated to us; Sa‘īd ibn ‘Abd al-‘Azīz narrated to us from one of the elders of Damascus: Ilyās ﵇ remained, fleeing from his people, in a mountain cave for twenty nights—or, he said, forty nights—while ravens brought him his provision” (5).

Muḥammad ibn Sa‘d, the scribe of al-Wāqidī, said: “Hishām ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Sāʾib al-Kalbī informed us, on the authority of his father, that the first prophet to be sent was Idrīs, then Nūḥ, then Abraham, then Ismā‘īl and Isaac, then Jacob, then Joseph, then Lot, then …”