1. Is there, in referring to them as the “people of the elephant” an allusion to the fact that they were as dumb as the elephant they rode? (Razi)

2. Allah (swt) used the word “kayd” which means guile or a hidden scheme, although Abraha had expressly stated his intention to demolish the Ka`ba, because what he concealed in his heart was jealousy of the Arabs and the esteem that the Holy House enjoyed (Razi).

It has been suggested that destruction of the Arab trade could also have been another hidden objective (Au.).

3. Imam Razi says that this historical incident is very hard upon atheists who are able to somehow explain other kinds of Allah’s punishments, such as the shaking of the earth, pelting of stones upon a people or storms that swept them away, as natural phenomena. But what can they say about an event that took place not more than 40 years before the revelation itself which was recited in the face of those who were physically present at the time of the event, and they did not have a word of objection against it?

4. The term in the original is sijjil which is explained by Ibn `Abbas and others as pebbles of baked clay (Ibn Jarir, Ibn Kathir and others). An additional meaning of the term, add Razi and Zamakhshari, is “a writing” or “record,” as if the reference is to the record of punishments which had the chastisement pre-ordained for the people of the elephant.

The Story of Abraha

The story of the people of the elephant is as follows. Dhu Nuwas, the man who had burnt Christians in fire pits, was the last king of the Himyar tribe in Yemen. When he was condemning the Christians to the pit - they were about 20,000 - one man called Daus escaped and traveling all the way up north and presenting himself to the Roman emperor sought his help against the polytheist Dhu Nuwas. The emperor in turn wrote to Najashi the Christian king of Abyssinia to look into the matter. Najashi sent two of his commanders Aryat and Abraha with a large force to Yemen. They overcame the resistance of Dhu Nuwas who ultimately drowned himself in the sea, and established their own rule. After some time the two commanders quarreled among themselves and decided to settle the matter with a dual. Abraha emerged alive from the encounter and became the sole viceroy. But gradually he usurped power and became the de facto ruler of Yemen. He found that the Arabs venerated the Holy House of Ka`aba and made pilgrimage to it. He thought he would replace it with another in Yemen itself. He built a tall, massive and beautiful cathedral there and began to prevent the people from traveling to Makkah. This angered the Qahtani and `Adnani tribes, one of whom entered the cathedral in secret and defiled it. (According to some it was a Qurayshi who did it). This angered Abraha who vowed that he would travel to Makkah and destroy the Ka`ba.

He started out with a huge army that had elephants in its retinue (according to some accounts only one), and overcoming separate resistances of the Arab tribes enroute arrived at Makkah. He encamped a few kilometers outside the town. One of his raiding parties captured a huge number of camels, two hundred of which belonged to `Abdul Muttalib, the grand-father of Prophet Muhammad. In the meantime Abraha sent word to the Makkans that he had nothing against them and would spare them if they would not interfere in his attempt. The Quraysh found themselves too weak against the 60,000 plus Abraha’s army and decided not to resist. They sent `Abdul Muttalib as their envoy to Abraha. When he presented himself, Abraha was much impressed by his handsome figure and imposing personality. But he was surprised that instead of seeking to save the Ka`ba, and the ancient religion that went with it, `Abdul Muttalib only spoke about the release of his two hundred camels. When he let `Abdul Muttalib know his feelings, he replied that he was the owner of the camels and so was seeking their release. As for the House it had its own owner (meaning God) who would defend it if He thought it fit. So Abraha returned him his camels and the Quraysh emptied the town dispersing in the mountains.

The next day when Abraha tried to enter the town the elephant refused. Whenever they urged it forward towards Makkah, it held its ground. But when its face was turned away from Makkah, it moved. While they were trying to induce the elephant to move forward, flights after flights of birds started arriving from the sea side. They had three pebbles with them: two held in the claws and one in the beak. They dropped them on the Abrahan army. The pebbles came down powerfully piercing their heads. By next day small pox and measles broke out amongst them: first time seen in the Arabian Peninsula. Soon the army was in a medley and scrambling for safety. Many ran helter and skelter and lost their lives in the desert. Abraha himself, whose flesh, beginning with the fingers, had begun to fall apart, withdrew and managed to reach Yemen. But soon he too died (Ibn Jarir, Ibn Kathir and others from Ibn Is-haq).

Mawdudi notes: According to Imam Nawawi the people of the elephant were destroyed in the valley of Muhassir where the pilgrims are forbidden to stay while returning from `Arafat.

Ibn Kathir adds: We have mentioned in sura al-Fath that when the Prophet (saws) reached Hudaybiyyah, (in the sixth year after hijrah), his camel sat down and would not rise despite best efforts. The Prophet then said: “Let her alone, for none has held her but He who had made the elephant of Abraha refuse to move in the direction of the Haram.” This report is in Bukhari. The Sahihayn have another report that says that when the Prophet (saws) entered Makkah triumphant he remarked:

“It was Allah who had prevented the elephant of Abraha from entering the city, and it is He who has subdued it for His Messenger and the believers. Now its consecration is being returned to it and it is as consecrated from now on as it was yesterday. Let those present transmit this message to those absent.”

Pre-Islamic Arab poetry is replete with the theme of Abraha and his army. The following is from Ibn Sa`d, as translated by Alfred Guilaumme:

Withdraw from the vale of Makkah for

From of old its sanctuary has not been violated.

When it was sanctified, Sirius had not been created.

No mighty man has ever attacked it,

Ask the commander of the Abyssinian what he saw.

He who knows what happened will tell the ignorant,

Sixty thousand men returned not home,

Nor did their sick recover after their return.

`Ad and Jurhum were (in Makkah) before them,

God has set it above all creatures.

(Sirius is a star: Au.)

5. `Asf is leaves or stalks of corn, of which the grain has been eaten off by the cattle (John Penrice: A Dictionary and Glossary of the Qur’an).

Concluding Remarks:

“.. the significance of this event is far reaching and the lessons deduced from mentioning it in the Qur’an are numerous. It ... suggests that Allah did not want the polytheists to take the responsibility of protecting His House, in spite of the fact that they held it in deep respect and sought security in being its neighbors... The polytheists did not have the chance to hold protection of the House as a `favor they did to Allah’ or as `an act of honor.’ ... The incident was so well known to the Arabs that they used to consider it a sort of beginning of history. They used to say, ”This incident happened in the Elephant year", and “That event took place two years before the Elephant year”, or, “This dates to ten years after the Elephant year”. It is well known that the Prophet was born in the Elephant year itself. This is perhaps one of the fascinating perfect arrangement of the Divine will” (Sayyid).