from the heavens bearing bread, fish, and celery (1). The two of them ate, gave me some to eat, and then performed the ʿAṣr prayer (2); after that he bade him farewell, and I saw him ascend through the clouds toward the sky.

Al-Bayhaqī has relieved us of the need to comment further, for he said: “This ḥadīth is extremely weak. What is astonishing is that al-Ḥākim Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Naysābūrī included it in his Mustadrak on the Two Ṣaḥīḥs (3); this is precisely the kind of report for which the Mustadrak itself must be called into question, for it is fabricated and contradicts the authentic ḥadīths on several counts.”

Its very content is unsound as well, for it is established in the Two Ṣaḥīḥs that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “Allah created Adam sixty cubits tall … and mankind has been shrinking in stature ever since” (4).

The report also alleges that Ilyās did not come to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him; rather, the Prophet went to him. This cannot be correct, for it would have been more fitting for him to hasten to stand before the Seal of the Prophets.

It further claims that he eats only once a year, whereas we previously quoted Wahb to the effect that Allah removed from him the desire for food and drink, and others have asserted that he drinks a single draught from Zamzam each year that suffices him until the same time the following year. These accounts contradict one another, and all of them are false; none is sound.

Ibn ʿAsākir produced this ḥadīth through another chain and acknowledged its weakness—yet it is surprising that he still discussed it—for he cited it via Ḥasan ibn ʿArafah, from Hānīʾ ibn al-Ḥasan, from Baqiyyah, from al-Awzāʿī, from Makhūl, from Wāthilah ibn al-Asqaʿ, and he narrated a lengthy version to the same effect (5).

That version states that the incident occurred during the expedition to Tabūk and that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, sent Anas ibn Mālik and Ḥudhayfah ibn al-Yamān to him. They said: “He was two or three cubits taller than we were, and he excused his failure to come lest the camels take fright.”

It also reports that when the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, met him they ate food from Paradise, and Ilyās said: “I have one meal every forty days.” On the table were bread, pomegranates, grapes, bananas, fresh dates, and greens—everything except leeks.

The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, then asked him about al-Khiḍr, and he replied: “I saw him last year, and he said to me, ‘You will meet the Prophet before I do, so convey my greetings to him’” (6).

This would imply—if Ilyās and al-Khiḍr truly existed and this ḥadīth were authentic—that they did not meet the Prophet until the ninth year after the Hijrah, which is legally untenable; this report is likewise fabricated.

Ibn ʿAsākir has also cited several isnāds concerning worshippers who supposedly met Ilyās (7), yet none of them is worthy of consideration: either the chain is weak, or the person to whom it is attributed is unknown.

One of the best among them is what Abū Bakr ibn Abī al-Dunyā related: Bishr ibn Muʿādh narrated to us, Ḥammād ibn Wāqid narrated to us, from Thābit, who said: “We were with Muṣʿab ibn al-Zubayr in the countryside of Kūfah, and I entered an orchard to pray there….”