However, it mentions that a small number of devoted servants of God among them followed Elijah and believed in and worshiped Allah.
The Quran states, "They denied him (Elijah), and will surely be brought to punishment, Except the sincere and devoted Servants of Allah (among them).
Abdullah Yusuf Ali says, "The third group consists not of men of action, but Preachers of Truth, who led solitary lives.
"[22] Although most Muslim scholars believed that Elijah preached in Israel, some early commentators on the Quran stated that Ilyas was sent to Baalbek, in Lebanon.
[25] Then, due to the Dua of Ilias a heavy rain came and the land was satiated; however, after a while, people forgot their covenant with Allah and returned to idol worshipping.
When Ilias saw this, he asked God for his own death; but, Allah sent him a chariot of fire and he ascended to the skies and chose Alyasa who was his pupil as his vicegerent.
[27] Muslim literature and tradition recounts that Ilyas preached to the Kingdom of Israel, ruled over by Ahab and later his son Ahaziah.
[28] Ilyas is believed to have preached with zeal to Ahab and his wife Jezebel, who according to Muslim tradition was partly responsible for the worship of false idols in this area.
Muslims believe that it was because the majority of people refused to listen to Elijah that Elisha had to continue preaching the message of Allah to Israel after him.
[31] Ilyas appears also in the Hamzanama numerous times, where he is spoken of as being the brother of Khidr as well as one who drank from the Fountain of Youth.
[32] Further, It is narrated in Kitab al-Kafi that Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq was reciting the prostration of Ilyas in the Syrian language and began to weep.
He then translated the supplication in Arabic to a group of visiting scholars:"O Lord, will I find that you punish me although you know of my thirst in the heat of midday?