Al-Yasaʿ (Elisha) — اليسع

Al-Yasaʿ appears in Sūrah al-Anʿām within a long list of prophets that Allah guided and chose, a list that includes Nūḥ, Ibrāhīm, Dāwūd, Sulaymān, and Ayyūb among others. He is mentioned again in Sūrah Ṣād, paired with Ismāʿīl and Dhū al-Kifl, and described together with them as being among the best. Both mentions are brief by design; the Qur'an is not obliged to narrate every prophet's story, and some are honoured simply by inclusion in the roll of the righteous.

What this tells the reader is modest but real: prophethood was not confined to the few whose stories are told at length. There were many messengers sent to many peoples, and al-Yasaʿ stands as a reminder that Allah's guidance reached communities and generations whose details have not been preserved for us, yet whose prophets are affirmed by name and honoured by rank.

In Sūrah Ṣād, al-Yasaʿ is set beside Ismāʿīl and Dhū al-Kifl with a single collective description: each of them was among the best. The verse offers no incident, no people addressed, no miracle recounted — only the verdict of excellence pronounced by Allah Himself. Commentators such as al-Ṭabarī and Ibn Kathīr note that later reports connect al-Yasaʿ to the lineage and era of the prophets of the Children of Israel, sometimes said to be a successor to Ilyās (Elijah) in calling his people, but they are careful to flag such details as coming from narrations of uncertain strength rather than from the Qur'an or established Sunnah.

This honesty about the limits of what is known is itself instructive. Islam does not require inventing stories to fill silence; it is enough to affirm what Allah has affirmed — that al-Yasaʿ was a true prophet, guided, chosen, and named among the best — and to leave what has not been confirmed to remain unconfirmed.