بِسْمِ اللّٰهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْم

اَلَمۡ تَرَ کَیۡفَ فَعَلَ رَبُّکَ بِاَصۡحٰبِ الۡفِیۡلِ ؕ﴿۱﴾ اَلَمۡ یَجۡعَلۡ کَیۡدَہُمۡ فِیۡ تَضۡلِیۡلٍ ۙ﴿۲﴾ وَّ اَرۡسَلَ عَلَیۡہِمۡ طَیۡرًا اَبَابِیۡلَ ۙ﴿۳﴾ تَرۡمِیۡہِمۡ بِحِجَارَۃٍ مِّنۡ سِجِّیۡلٍ ۪ۙ﴿۴﴾ فَجَعَلَہُمۡ کَعَصۡفٍ مَّاۡکُوۡلٍ ٪﴿۵﴾

اللہ کے نام سے جو رحمان و رحیم ہے۔

تم نے دیکھا نہیں کہ تمہارے ربّ نے ہاتھی والوں کے ساتھ کیا کیا؟ کیا اُس نے اُن کی تدبیر کو ا َ کارَت نہیں کر دیا؟ اور اُن پر پرندوں کے جھُنڈ کے جھُنڈ بھیج دیے جو اُن پر پکّی ہوئی مَٹّی کے پتھر پھینک رہے تھے، پھر اُن کا یہ حال کر دیا جیسے جانوروں کا کھایا ہوا بھوسا۔ ؏١

In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful.
Have you not seen what your Lord did with the People of the Elephant? Did He not bring their scheme to nothing? And He sent against them flocks of birds, pelting them with stones of baked clay, then He reduced them to the state of straw eaten up by cattle.

A note on context: this is Surah Al-Fil (Ch. 105), describing Abraha’s failed expedition against the Kaaba. Want me to pull in Mawdudi’s Tafheem commentary on this passage, or is this for a standalone translation piece?

Surah Al-Fil (The Elephant)
Name:
The name is derived from the words Ashab al-Fil (the People of the Elephant) in the very first verse.
Period of Revelation:
This surah is unanimously agreed to be Makkan, and considering its historical background, it appears that it was revealed in the early period of Makkah itself.
Historical Background:
In Najran, the Jewish ruler of Yemen, Dhu Nawas, had persecuted the followers of Christ (peace be upon him). To avenge this, the Christian kingdom of Abyssinia attacked Yemen, ending Himyarite rule, and by 525 CE Abyssinian rule was established over the entire region. This whole campaign was actually carried out through cooperation between the Roman Empire of Constantinople and the Abyssinian government, since the Abyssinians had no notable naval fleet at that time. The fleet was provided by the Romans, and through it Abyssinia landed its army of 70,000 on the coast of Yemen.
To understand what follows, it should be understood from the outset that this was not driven purely by religious zeal — economic and political interests were also at work behind it, and in fact were probably the real motive, with revenge for the blood of the persecuted Christians being little more than a pretext. Ever since the Roman Empire had taken control of Egypt and Syria, it had been trying to wrest from the Arabs the trade route — which the Arabs had controlled for centuries — connecting East Africa, India, Indonesia, and other lands with Roman territories, so that all its profits would go to Rome itself and Arab merchants would be cut out of the middle. For this purpose, in 24 or 25 BCE, Caesar Augustus landed a large army under the Roman general Aelius Gallus on the western coast of Arabia, intending to seize the maritime route running from southern Arabia toward Syria. But the harsh geographic conditions of Arabia caused this expedition to fail. After this, the Romans brought their war fleet into the Red Sea and put an end to the Arabs’ sea trade, leaving only the land route to them. To seize this sea route, the Romans allied with the Christian government of Abyssinia and, by aiding it with their fleet, helped it conquer Yemen.
Arab historians differ regarding the Abyssinian army that invaded Yemen. Hafiz Ibn Kathir writes that it was led by two commanders, Aryat and Abrahah, while Muhammad ibn Ishaq’s account states that the commander-in-chief was Aryat, with Abrahah serving under him. Both agree, however, that Abrahah and Aryat later fought each other; Aryat was killed in this confrontation, and Abrahah took control of the country, afterward persuading the King of Abyssinia to appoint him as his viceroy over Yemen.
In contrast, Greek and Syriac historians hold that after the conquest of Yemen, when the Abyssinians began killing the resisting Yemeni chiefs one by one, one chief, al-Sumayfa Ashwa (rendered by Greek historians as Esymphaeus), submitted to Abyssinian authority and, pledging to pay tribute, obtained from the King of Abyssinia a charter to govern Yemen. But the Abyssinian army rebelled against him and installed Abrahah as governor in his place. This man had been the slave of a Greek merchant in the Abyssinian port of Adulis, and through his own shrewdness had gained great influence within the Abyssinian army that had conquered Yemen. The forces the King of Abyssinia sent to suppress him either joined him or were defeated by him. Eventually, after the King of Abyssinia’s death, his successor recognized Abrahah as his viceroy over Yemen. (Greek historians render his name as Abramus, and Syriac historians as Abraham; “Abrahah” is likely the Abyssinian pronunciation of this name, since in Arabic it is pronounced Ibrahim.)
This man gradually became the independent king of Yemen, though nominally he acknowledged the suzerainty of the King of Abyssinia and styled himself Mufawwadh al-Malik (Viceroy). The extent of the influence he came to wield can be gauged from the fact that when he completed repairs to the Marib Dam in 543 CE, he held a grand celebration attended by envoys of the Roman Emperor, the King of Persia, the King of Hira, and the King of Ghassan. A detailed account of this is recorded on the inscription Abrahah had placed at the Marib Dam — an inscription that survives to this day and was transcribed by Glaser. (Reference: for further details, see Tafheem ul-Quran, Volume 4, commentary on Surah Saba, footnote 37.)
Having fully consolidated his power in Yemen, Abrahah set about pursuing the very purpose that had been the underlying aim of the Roman Empire and its Abyssinian Christian allies from the start of this whole campaign: namely, to spread Christianity in Arabia on one hand, and on the other to seize control of the trade that passed through Arab hands between the eastern lands and Roman territories. This need had grown all the more pressing because Rome’s power struggle with the Sassanid Empire of Persia had closed off all other Roman trade routes to the eastern lands.
To this end, Abrahah built a magnificent church in Sana’a, the capital of Yemen, referred to by Arab historians as al-Qalis, al-Qulays, or al-Qullays (an Arabized form of the Greek word Ekklesia, from which the Urdu word kalisa — church — is also derived). According to Muhammad ibn Ishaq’s account, once this was completed, Abrahah wrote to the King of Abyssinia saying he would not rest until he had diverted the Arabs’ pilgrimage from the Kaaba to this church. (Having gained political power in Yemen, the Christians made repeated attempts to build a rival Kaaba and establish it as a new center for the Arabs; they had also built a Kaaba in Najran.) Ibn Kathir writes that Abrahah openly proclaimed this intention throughout Yemen and had it announced publicly.
In our view, the purpose of this act was to provoke the Arabs into some action that would give him a pretext to attack Makkah and demolish the Kaaba. Muhammad ibn Ishaq relates that, enraged by this announcement, an Arab somehow managed to enter the church and defile it. Ibn Kathir states that this act was committed by a man from the Quraysh, while Muqatil ibn Sulayman’s account holds that some young men of the Quraysh went and set the church on fire. Whichever of these actually occurred, neither would be at all surprising, since Abrahah’s announcement was certainly highly provocative, and in that age of pre-Islamic ignorance, it would not be hard to understand why an Arab, or a Qurayshi, or a few young Qurayshi men, might be provoked into defiling or burning down the church.
But it is also not at all unlikely that Abrahah himself secretly had one of his own men commit such an act, so as to obtain a pretext for marching on Makkah — thereby destroying the Quraysh and intimidating all the Arabs, achieving both his objectives at once. In any case, whichever scenario is true, when news reached Abrahah that the devotees of the Kaaba had insulted his church in this way, he swore that he would not rest until he had demolished the Kaaba.
He then set out toward Makkah in 570 or 571 CE with 60,000 troops and 13 elephants (some accounts say 9 elephants). Along the way, a Yemeni chief named Dhu Nafr first gathered a force of Arabs to resist him, but was defeated and captured. Then, in the territory of Khath’am, an Arab chief named Nufayl ibn Habib al-Khath’ami brought his tribe to confront him, but he too was defeated and captured, and to save his life agreed to serve as a guide for Abrahah’s army.
As they approached Ta’if, the Banu Thaqif realized they could not withstand so great a force, and feared that Abrahah might also destroy the temple of their deity, Lat. So their chief, Mas’ud, led a delegation to meet Abrahah and told him: “Our temple is not the shrine you have come to destroy — that is in Makkah. So spare our temple, and we will provide you guides to show you the way to Makkah.” Abrahah agreed, and the Banu Thaqif sent a man named Abu Righal along with him. When they were within three leagues of Makkah, at a place called al-Mughammas, Abu Righal died, and for generations afterward the Arabs would throw stones at his grave. They also taunted the Banu Thaqif for years for having helped those who attacked the House of Allah in order to save the temple of Lat.
According to Muhammad ibn Ishaq’s account, from al-Mughammas, Abrahah sent his advance guard forward, and it seized much livestock from the people of Tihamah and the Quraysh, including two hundred camels belonging to Abd al-Muttalib, grandfather of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). Abrahah then sent an envoy to Makkah, conveying to its people the message: “I have not come to fight you, but to demolish this House (the Kaaba). If you do not resist, I will not harm you or your property.” He also instructed his envoy to bring their chief to him if they wished to negotiate.
The greatest chief of Makkah at that time was Abd al-Muttalib. The envoy met him and delivered Abrahah’s message. Abd al-Muttalib replied: “We have no power to fight Abrahah. This is the House of Allah; if He wills, He will protect His own House.” The envoy said: “Come with me to Abrahah.” Abd al-Muttalib agreed and went with him. He was so dignified and impressive in appearance that Abrahah was deeply struck on seeing him, and stepped down from his throne to sit beside him. Abrahah then asked what he wanted. Abd al-Muttalib said: “That the camels which have been seized from me be returned to me.” Abrahah said: “I was very impressed by you when I first saw you, but this request of yours has lowered you in my esteem — you ask about your camels, yet say nothing about this House, which is the center of reverence for you and your ancestral faith.” Abd al-Muttalib replied: “I am only the owner of my camels, and it is only about them that I am petitioning you. As for this House, it has a Lord, who will protect it Himself.” Abrahah said: “He will not be able to protect it from me.” Abd al-Muttalib said: “That is between you and Him.” Having said this, he rose and left Abrahah, who then returned his camels to him.
A narration from Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) differs from this account and makes no mention of any request regarding camels. According to the reports transmitted from him by Abd ibn Humayd, Ibn al-Mundhir, Ibn Marduyah, al-Hakim, Abu Nu’aym, and al-Bayhaqi, when Abrahah reached a place called al-Sifah (located near the boundary of the sacred precinct, between the mountains of Arafat and Ta’if), Abd al-Muttalib went to him personally and said: “What need did you have to come all the way here? Had you wanted anything, you could have sent word, and we would have brought it to you ourselves.” Abrahah said: “I have heard that this House is a sanctuary of peace; I have come to end that peace.” Abd al-Muttalib said: “This is the House of Allah; until now He has not allowed anyone to overpower it.” Abrahah replied: “We will not turn back without demolishing it.” Abd al-Muttalib said: “Take whatever you wish from us, and go back.” But Abrahah refused, and leaving Abd al-Muttalib behind, ordered his army to advance.
Setting aside the discrepancy between these two accounts without preferring one over the other, in either case it is entirely clear that Makkah and the surrounding tribes did not have the strength to fight such a vast army and defend the Kaaba by force. It is therefore quite understandable that the Quraysh made no attempt at armed resistance — after all, at the Battle of the Trench (al-Ahzab), even with the combined forces of polytheist and Jewish tribes, the Quraysh could muster at most ten to twelve thousand men; how could they have confronted an army of 60,000?
Muhammad ibn Ishaq relates that upon returning from Abrahah’s camp, Abd al-Muttalib told the Quraysh to take their families and retreat into the mountains, to avoid being massacred. He then went, along with a few chiefs of the Quraysh, to the sacred precinct, and taking hold of the door-ring of the Kaaba, prayed to Allah Almighty to protect His House and its custodians. At that time, 360 idols stood within the Kaaba — yet in this critical hour, the people forgot all of them and stretched out their hands in supplication to Allah alone. In the prayers recorded in history from this occasion, no name other than the One God is found at all.
Ibn Hisham, in his Sirah, records these verses of Abd al-Muttalib:
“O Lord! A man defends his own household; so defend Your own House.
Let not their cross and their schemes ever prevail over Your design.
If You mean to leave them and our tribe to their fate, then do as You will.”
Al-Suhayli, in Rawd al-Anf, also records this related verse:
“Against the followers of the cross and its worshippers, today aid Your own people.”
Ibn Jarir also records these verses, recited by Abd al-Muttalib as he prayed on this occasion:
“O my Lord, I place my hope in none but You against them.
O my Lord, defend Your sanctuary from them — the enemy of this House is Your enemy.
Prevent them from destroying our settlement.”
Having prayed thus, Abd al-Muttalib and his companions also withdrew into the mountains. The next day, Abrahah advanced to enter Makkah, but his lead elephant, Mahmud, suddenly sat down. It was struck repeatedly, prodded with hooks, even wounded — yet it would not move. Whenever it was turned south, north, or east, it would run; but the moment it was turned toward Makkah, it would immediately sit down and refuse to go any further.
At that moment, flocks upon flocks of birds appeared, carrying pebbles in their beaks and claws, and rained these stones down upon the army. Wherever a stone struck, the victim’s body began to rot. Muhammad ibn Ishaq and Ikrimah relate that this was smallpox, and that smallpox was seen in Arabia for the first time that very year. Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) relates that wherever a pebble struck a person, severe itching set in, and upon scratching, the skin would split and the flesh would begin to fall away. Another narration from Ibn Abbas states that flesh and blood began flowing like water, and the bones became exposed.
The same happened to Abrahah himself — his body fell apart piece by piece, and wherever a piece fell away, pus and blood flowed from it. In the chaos, the army began fleeing toward Yemen. They sought out Nufayl ibn Habib al-Khath’ami, whom they had taken from his land to serve as their guide, and asked him to show them the way back. He flatly refused, reciting:
“Where is there to flee, when God is in pursuit, and the mutilated one (Abrahah) is defeated, not victorious?”
In this rout, people fell and died at every step along the way. Ata ibn Yasar relates that not all of them perished at once — some died right there, while others kept falling as they fled along the road. Abrahah himself died upon reaching the land of Khath’am.
Allah Almighty did not stop at inflicting this punishment alone — within three or four years, He ended Abyssinian rule over Yemen forever. History shows that after the Incident of the Elephant, Abyssinian power in Yemen collapsed entirely; Yemeni chiefs rose in revolt one after another. Eventually, a Yemeni chief named Sayf ibn Dhi Yazan sought military aid from the King of Persia, and a mere thousand Persian troops, arriving with six ships, proved sufficient to bring an end to Abyssinian rule. This occurred in 575 CE.
This event (of the elephant) took place near a place called Muhassir, close to the valley of Mukhassab, between Muzdalifah and Mina. According to a narration in Sahih Muslim and Abu Dawud — transmitted by Imam Ja’far al-Sadiq from his father Imam Muhammad al-Baqir, who related it from Jabir ibn Abdullah — regarding the account of the Farewell Pilgrimage of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), it is stated that when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) proceeded from Muzdalifah toward Mina, he quickened his pace through the valley of Muhassir. Imam Nawawi, commenting on this, writes that the incident of the People of the Elephant occurred at this very spot, and therefore it is the established practice (sunnah) to pass through it quickly. In the Muwatta, Imam Malik relates that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said that all of Muzdalifah is a place for stopping, except for the valley of Muhassir, where one should not stop.
In the verses of Nufayl ibn Habib recorded by Ibn Ishaq, he gives an eyewitness account of the event:
“O Rudaynah, would that you had seen — though you could never have seen — what we witnessed near the valley of Mukhassab.
I thanked Allah when I saw the birds, and feared that stones might fall upon us too.
Each of these men was searching for Nufayl, as though I owed the Abyssinians some debt.”
This was so momentous an event that it became famous throughout Arabia, and many poets composed verses about it. What stands out clearly in these poems is that everyone attributed it entirely to the miraculous power of Allah Almighty — nowhere, even by hint or suggestion, is it claimed that the idols worshipped in the Kaaba had any role in it.
For example, Abdullah ibn al-Zib’ari said: “There were sixty thousand who could not return to their own land, nor did their sick one (Abrahah) survive after their return. Before them were the Aad and the Jurhum, and Allah watches over His servants and sustains [His House]. Rise and worship your Lord, and touch the corners of the House of Allah between the hills of Makkah and Mina. When the help of the Lord of the Throne reached you, the armies of that king turned these people back in a state where some lay in the dust and others lay stoned.”
Moreover, there is a report from Umm Hani and Zubayr ibn al-Awwam that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “The Quraysh worshipped none but Allah alone, without partner, for ten years” (some versions say seven years). Umm Hani’s narration is recorded by Imam Bukhari in his Tarikh, and by al-Tabarani, al-Hakim, Ibn Marduyah, and al-Bayhaqi in their books of hadith. Zubayr’s account is narrated by al-Tabarani, Ibn Marduyah, and Ibn Asakir, and is further corroborated by a mursal narration of Sa’id ibn al-Musayyab, recorded by al-Khatib al-Baghdadi in his Tarikh.
The year in which this event occurred came to be known as Aam al-Fil (“the Year of the Elephant”), and it was in this same year that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was born. Scholars of hadith and historians are nearly unanimous that the Incident of the People of the Elephant took place in the month of Muharram, and that the Prophet’s blessed birth occurred in Rabi al-Awwal. Most hold that his birth took place fifty days after the Incident of the Elephant.
Theme and Purpose:
Bearing in mind the historical details recorded above, when one reflects on Surah Al-Fil, it becomes readily understandable why the surah confines itself, with such brevity, merely to mentioning Allah’s punishment upon the People of the Elephant. The event was not particularly old — every child in Makkah knew of it, and the Arabs in general were well aware of it. All the Arabs acknowledged that it was Allah Almighty, not any goddess or god, who had protected the Kaaba from Abrahah’s assault. It was to Allah alone that the chiefs of Quraysh had prayed for help, and for several years afterward the Quraysh remained so affected by this event that they worshipped none but Allah.
For this reason, there was no need in Surah Al-Fil to recount these details — a mere reminder of the event sufficed, so that the Quraysh especially, and the Arabs in general, might reflect within their hearts on what exactly Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) was calling them to — nothing other than this: that all other objects of worship be abandoned, and Allah alone, without partner, be worshipped. They should also consider that if they resorted to force to suppress this call to truth, they would fall under the wrath of the very God who had utterly destroyed the People of the Elephant.