and ordered them to testify that Mazdaki had insulted her husband, Ahab. They complied with her request. Under their law at that time, anyone against whom evidence was established for insulting the king was put to death. She had Mazdaki brought before her and said to him, “I have heard that you reviled the king.” Mazdaki denied it, so she summoned the witnesses, and they bore false testimony against him. She then ordered him killed and seized his little garden. Allah became angry with them on account of His righteous servant.
When the king returned from his journey, she informed him of what had happened. He said to her, “What you did was not right, and I do not think we shall prosper after him. He had been our neighbor for a long time; we treated him well as a neighbor and withheld harm from him because of the right he held over us. Yet you have brought his treatment as a neighbor to the worst possible end.”
She said, “I was angered for your sake and ruled according to your law.” He said to her, “Could your forbearance not have accommodated him, so that you preserved the bond of neighborliness with him?” She replied, “What has happened has happened.”
Allah, Exalted is He, then sent Elijah to King Ahab and his people, commanding him to inform them that Allah had become angry for the sake of His devoted servant when they killed him unjustly. He had sworn by Himself that, unless they repented of what they had done and restored the little garden to Mazdaki’s heirs, He would destroy them both—meaning Ahab and his wife—in the midst of that garden, then leave them there as discarded corpses until their bones were stripped bare of flesh. Nor would they enjoy it except for a little while.
Elijah came and informed him of what Allah, Exalted is He, had revealed to him concerning the king, his wife, and the restoration of the little garden. When the king heard this, his anger against Elijah grew intense. He then said to him, “O Elijah, by Allah, I see nothing but falsehood in what you are calling to. And I see that so-and-so and so-and-so”—naming kings among them who had worshipped idols—“were upon the same way as we are: they ate, enjoyed themselves, and ruled as kings. Their adherence to what you claim is false did not diminish any part of their worldly prosperity, and we see no advantage that we have over them.”
The king then intended to torture and kill Elijah. When Elijah sensed the evil and the plot against him (1), he broke with him and fled. He made his way to the high mountain peaks. The king returned to the worship of Baal, while Elijah ascended the most difficult and loftiest mountain and entered a cave within it.
It is said that he remained for seven years as a fugitive, living in fear, taking refuge in mountain passes and caves, eating the plants of the earth and the fruit of trees. They were searching for him and had posted spies to find him, but Allah concealed him. When seven years had passed, Allah permitted him to appear against them and to satisfy his indignation with them. Allah, glorified and exalted is He, afflicted one of Ahab’s sons with illness. This son was the most beloved of his children to him and the one who most resembled him. His sickness worsened until all hope for him was lost.
The king then called upon his idol Baal. They had become devoted to Baal and exalted him so greatly that they appointed four hundred custodians for him. They assigned them to serve him and made them his prophets (2). Satan would enter the hollow of the idol and speak, while the four hundred listened attentively to what Satan said. Satan would inspire them with a law of misguidance, which they spread among the people; the people then acted upon it and called them prophets.
When the king’s son became gravely ill, the king asked them to intercede with Baal and seek healing for his son from him. They called upon him, but he did not answer them, for Allah prevented Satan from entering the idol’s hollow. Yet they persisted earnestly in supplicating him. When this continued for a long time, they said to Ahab, “In the region of Greater Syria there are other gods, so send your prophets to them; perhaps they will intercede”