The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 2) — Page 452
CH. 6 AL-AN'ĀM PT. 7 وَاسْمُعِيْلَ وَالْيَسَعَ وَيُونُسَ وَلُوطًا And We also guided Ishmael. 87 وَكُلًّا فَضَّلْنَا عَلَى الْعَلَمِينَ and Elisha and Jonah and Lot; and each one did We exalt above the people. 830 2:48; 3:34-35; 45:17. a country on the eastern bank of the Jordan. According to the Bible, he was carried to heaven (II Kings 2). We read in Malachi: "Behold, I will send you Elijah, the Prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord" (4:5). This prophecy, as interpreted by Jesus (Matt. 11:14), was fulfilled in the person of John the Baptist, who was his forerunner and who came "in the spirit and power of Elijah. " Similarly, the prophecy about the second advent of Jesus himself has been fulfilled in the person of Ahmad of Qadian, the Promised Messiah, who came in the spirit and power of Jesus. Commentary: See 6:85 above. 830. Important Words: Elisha was اليسع the son of Shaphat, the disciple and successor of Elijah. He was a native of Abelmeholah, a village in Galilee. He was taken from the plough and anointed by Elijah to be his successor. Directed by God, Elijah found him in the field and threw his mantle over him. Many miracles are attributed to Elisha. But neither the sanctity of his life nor the miracles he wrought had the effect of reforming the nation at large. At length, worn out by his public and private labour, he breathed his last at the age of ninety in 838 B. C. 892 (Jonah), son of Amittai, was born in Gath-hepher, in the tribe of Zebulun. He lived either before or during the reign of Jeroboam II or in the reign of Jehoahaz about 850 B. C. He was an Israelite Prophet with a mission to the people of Nineveh. Jonah prophesied the destruction of his people within 40 days. But they repented and turned to God with humble supplication, whereupon they were saved. This, however, upset Jonah who, being ashamed to face his people, ran away and, while crossing a sea, was thrown into the water and swallowed by a fish (Jonah, 1:17). Jonah remained in the belly of the fish for three days and was then disgorged by it and saved. It is to this incident that Jesus referred when he said that no miracle would be shown to his people except that of Jonah (Matt. 16:4), meaning that he would be put on the cross but would be taken down alive and would then be placed in the womb of the earth for three days after which he would escape therefrom, just as Jonah had escaped from the belly of the fish. Commentary: (lit. See 6:85 above. The verse speaks of Lot as being "exalted above the people. " Now if the word the people) be taken to signify "all the peoples," it would be evidently