The prophet Elijah, featured in Jewish, Christian and Islamic holy texts, ended his life in which unusual way?

The prophet Elijah lived in the 9th century BCE in northern Israel, during the reigns of two kings, Ahab and Ahaziah, who were weak rulers who allowed or encouraged worships of Baal rather than Yahweh, the god of the Hebrews. Elijah spoke and acted boldly in defence of a pure, monotheistic faith in Yahweh and him alone.

The story of his prophetic career in recorded in the Bible includes working various miracles, one of was "calling down fire from heaven" on some enemies sent to arrest him. However his own exit happened - according to the record in 2 Kings, chapter 2 - when he was walking with his friend and successor, Elisha: "behold, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven."

He became a centrally important figure in the Jewish and Christian faiths - and is recorded alongside Moses in the New Testament account of the Transfiguration of Christ - and is an important prophet in the Islamic faith.