Prophet Elisha (Elyasa)

One of the prophets named in two verses of the Qur'an. As the source notes, apart from his mention in these two verses and the genealogy given in Islamic sources, no information about him exists.

There are differing views on the origin and pronunciation of his name. Some exegetes held that the word was originally Yasa' or Laysa', the initial “al-” being the definite article. The common pronunciation is al-Yasa', though some read the name as al-Laysa' (al-Qurtubi).

In Surat al-An'am (6/86) it is said: “And Ishmael, al-Yasa', Jonah and Lot — each We favoured above the worlds”; and in Surat Sad (38/48): “And remember Ishmael, al-Yasa' and Dhu al-Kifl — all were of the best.” In Islamic sources his genealogy is given as al-Yasa' b. Akhtub b. al-'Ajuz (al-Tabari, al-Tha'labi).

According to the source, this prophet must be the prophet named Elisha in the Old Testament. The name Elisha, meaning “God is my salvation” in Hebrew, passed into Greek as Elisaios and into Latin as Elisaeus.

According to the Old Testament, al-Yasa' was the son of Shaphat, who lived in the Kingdom of Israel in the VIII century BC, and was chosen by God's command as successor by the prophet Elijah (Ilyas). Elijah found him ploughing with twelve yoke of oxen and cast his mantle upon him, signifying that he had been chosen as a prophet. Elisha left his ploughing, slaughtered a yoke of the oxen for a farewell meal, and served Elijah, never leaving his side.

According to the same narrative, when Elijah was to be taken up to heaven, Elisha refused to stop following him; together they reached Bethel, Jericho and the river Jordan, where Elijah struck the water with his mantle, parted it and they crossed over. When Elijah asked whether he had any wish, Elisha said: “Let a double portion of your spirit be mine”; then a chariot of fire and horses of fire came and took Elijah up to heaven. Seeing this, Elisha parted the waters again with his mantle, crossed the river and returned to Jericho (II Kings 2/1-18).

The source relates, according to the Old Testament, that Elisha, who began his prophetic mission in Jericho, performed various miracles: casting salt into the spring of the city's water, unfit for irrigation, and making it usable; the filling with water of the ditches dug in the valley for the people left without water in the desert of Edom; multiplying the little olive oil of a poor woman whose husband had died and who could not pay her debt, until it filled the vessels borrowed from the neighbours; praying for an old woman who had no child, the woman's bearing a child, and that child's return to life after he died; removing the poison from a poisoned meal at Gilgal and feeding many people with a little food; the healing of a leper; and the rising to the surface of an axe head that had fallen into the river. According to the same narrative, the famine that began with the Aramean army's siege of Samaria ended through his intervention; and a man who had been killed and thrown into his grave came back to life on touching his bones.

According to the Old Testament, Elisha fell ill and died in the time of Joash, king of Israel (II Kings 13/14, 20). The source does not state where he died or where he was buried.