SURAH (105) AL-FEEL (AYA 1 to 5)

Sura (105) AL-FEEL (The Elephant) Aya 1 to 5 verses in1 Section

Revealed at Makka

SECTION 1

The Fellows of the Elephants

How the hosts of the infidel enemy was crushed to death by small stones of baked clay thrown upon them by tiny creatures, the birds.

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ 

أَلَمْ تَرَ كَيْفَ فَعَلَ رَبُّكَ بِأَصْحَابِ الْفِيلِ {105:1}

[Q105:1] Alam tara kaifa fa'ala rabbuka bi ashaabil feel. 
[Q105:1] Have you (O Muhammad (pbuh & hp)) not seen how your Lord dealt with the Owners of the Elephant? [The elephant army which came from Yemen under the command of Abrahah Al-Ashram intending to destroy the Ka'bah at Makkah].

This surah refers to an incident in the history of Makka, AS AN EXAMPLE OF HOW ALLAH (SWT) DEALS WITH THOSE WHO OPPOSE HIS WILL.

Ü  About fifty days (50) before the birth of the Holy Prophet (pbuh & hf), Abraha, the Abyssinia's viceroy of Yemen, Christian by religion, proceeded against Makka, as the head of a large army, with the object of destroying the Ka’bah, because he wanted that there should be no place or structure more glorious than the church he was building at San’aa. He had with him elephants. Therefore he and his army are known as ashab al fil, those who brought elephants.

Ü  At the outskirts of Makka he captured a large number (700) of camels belonging to the chief of Makka, Abd al Muttalib, the grandfather of the Holy Prophet (pbuh & hf). After receiving the information that Abraha was coming to destroy the holy Ka’bah, Abd al Muttalib went to see him and request him to restore his animals to him. Abraha laughed and said: "What? I have come to destroy your place of worship, the House of your ALLAH (SWT) and you instead of pleading to save the Holy House, you speak of your camels.” Abd al Muttalib replied: “Look! The camels belong to me and I, as the owner, have come for them. The Ka’bah belongs to ALLAH (SWT) and it is the concern of the owner of the Ka’bah to save it or to leave it to its fate in your hands.”

Ü  Abraha was stunned at the reply and gave the captured camels to Abd al Muttalib. He returned to the city and asked the people to retire to the neighbouring hills, leaving the Lord of Ka’bah to protect it. When Abraha entered Makka, suddenly a large flock of birds, like swallows came flying from the sea-coast and pelted the invading army with pebbles of baked clay.

Ü  They all died. They were like a dead and useless field from which all the produce is eaten up and only straw with stubble is left. Abraha escaped and went directly to the king in Abyssinia. All the way a bird with a stone in her beak followed him. When the king asked Abraha as to what kind of birds they were, Abraha looked to the sky and the bird at once dropped stone in her beak and killed him on the spot.

THE LESSON TO BE DRAWN IS TWOFOLD. The pagans of Makka were forewarned that [1] as the Holy Prophet (pbuh & hf), was superior to the Ka’bah, [2] ALLAH (SWT), who protects whatever is His own, shall protect him from all their evil schemes. **It is also a warning to men in all ages that "if a man intoxicated with power comes out to defeat ALLAH (SWT)'s holy plan, he cannot prevail against ALLAH (SWT), but his plan will fail and destroy him as well."

The question here to the Holy Prophet (pbuh & hf) signifies that the Holy Prophet (pbuh & hf) would visualize the event by the will of the Lord.

v  This is a clear miracle which proves the sanctity of the Ka’bah and the people who were really attached to it such as Abdal Muttalib and his house who showed his utmost confidence in ALLAH (SWT) and He would Himself take care of the Holy Shrine.

v  There is no room for anyone to discredit the story as Qur’an narrates it because this Surah was revealed to the Holy Prophet (pbuh & hf) and recited by him to his enemies who were the eye-witness of the event and they were watchful to find the slight fault to expose the Holy Prophet (pbuh & hf).

Regarding the relation of the Surah with its subsequent one, refer to our note on Surah 93 (Duhaa) and 94 (‘Inshiraa).

The following verses of Abdal Muttalib---the grandfather of the Holy Prophet (pbuh & hf) and Ali --- give out his Unitarian faith:

1.        Ya Rabbi la arjoo lahum Siwaka -------------- Lord! I hope not against them save Thee

2.        Ya Rabbi Famna’ minhomu himaka --------- Lord! Withdraw thou therefore thy protection for them

3.        Inna Addoowal Bait man Aadaaka ---------- Verily He who is the enemy of this House, is Thine enemy 

4.        Innahum lam yaqhuro Quwaka -------------- Verily they have not defeated Thy forces.

The event besides being a miraculous heavenly act, is also a clear indicative

µ  To show as to who the ancestor of the Holy Prophet (pbuh & hf), particularly Abdal Muttalib was,

µ  What was the degree of his faith and conviction about ALLAH (SWT), and

µ  His advising the people to get out of the town, was nothing but his knowledge of what was to happen to the invaders, and to save his people from the coming calamity.

THOSE WHO SPEAK NONSENSE ABOUT THE HOLY PERSONALITY OF ABU TALIB THE FATHER OF ALI, TO NOTE.

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(105:1) Have you not seen *1 how your Lord dealt with the people of the elephants? *2

*1 Though the address apparently is directed to the Holy Prophet (upon whom be peace), its real addressees are not only the Quraish but all the people of Arabia, who were well aware of the event. At many places in the Qur'an the words alam tara (have you not seen?) have been used, and they are meant not to address the Holy Prophet but the people in general. (For example, see Ibrahim: 19, AI-Hajj: 18, 65, An-Nur: 43, Luqman: 29, 31, Fatir: 27, Az-Zumar: 21). Thee, the word 'seeing' has been used here to signify that in and around Makkah and in the vast country of Arabia, from Makkah to Yaman, there were many such people still living, who had witnessed with their own eyes the event of the destruction of the people of the elephant, for it had occurred only about forty to forty-five years earlier, and the people of Arabia had continually heard it described by the eye-witnesses themselves so that they had become so certain of it as though they had seen it with their own eyes.
*2 Here, Allah has not given any detail as to who were the people of the elephant, wherefrom they had come and what was the object of their march, for aII these things were well known among the people. 

أَلَمْ يَجْعَلْ كَيْدَهُمْ فِي تَضْلِيلٍ {105:2}

[Q105:2] Alam yaj'al kai dahum fee tad leel
[Q105:2] Did He not make their plot go astray?

This refers to the great confusion that the action of the tiny birds created in the army of Abraha. Those who received the shots from the birds immediately fell dead and the survivors began taking to their heels, confused in a great chaos created among them. Thus the plan of Abraha was totally frustrated and ended in the perdition of his own forces. THIS WAS ALLAH (SWT)’S DOING.

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(105:2) Did He not bring their plan *3 to naught? *4

*3 The word kayd is used for a secret plan meant to harm somebody. The question is, what was secret in this case? Sixty thousand troops together with several elephants had openly come from Yaman to Makkah, and they had kept no secret that they had come to destroy the Ka`bah. Therefore, there was nothing secret about this plan. However, what was secret was the motive of the Abyssinians. They by destroying the Ka`bah, crushing down the Quraish and intimidating the Arabians, wanted to take control of the trade route that led from south Arabia to Syria and Egypt. This motive they kept hidden, and instead proclaimed their intent that they wanted to destroy the Ka`bah, the principal House of Arab worship, in retaliation for the pollution of their cathedral by the Arabs.
*4 Literally, fi tadlil means: "led their plan astray", but idiomatically leading a plan astray means bringing it to nought and rendering it fruitless. At one place in the Qur'an, it has been said: "But the disbelievers' plot (kayd) ended' in vain." (AI-Mu'min: 25). At another: "And that Allah does not lead to success the plan (kayd) of deceivers." (Yusuf: 52). The Arabians described Imra' ul-Qais by the epithet of "al-malik ad-dalil " (the king who lost and wasted), for he had lost the kingdom left by his father.

وَأَرْسَلَ عَلَيْهِمْ طَيْرًا أَبَابِيلَ {105:3}

[Q105:3] Wa arsala 'alaihim tairan abaabeel, 
[Q105:3] And sent against them birds, in flocks,

ALLAH (SWT) sent upon the army, a huge host of some tiny birds with small stones in their beaks.

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(105:3) And He sent against them swarms of birds *5

*5 Ababil means many separate and scattered groups whether of men or other creatures, which come from different sides successively. 'Ikrimah and Qatadah say that these swarms of birds had come from the Red Sea side. Sa`id bin Jubair and 'Ikrimah say that such birds had neither been seen before nor ever after; these were neither birds of Najd, nor of Hijaz, nor of Timamah (the land between Hijaz and the Red Sea). lbn 'Abbas says that their beaks were like those of birds and claws like the dog's paw. 'Ikrimah has stated that their heads were like the heads of the birds of prey, and almost all the reporters are agreed that each bird carried a stone in its beak and two stones in its claws. Sotne people of Makkah had these stones preserved with them for a long time. Thus, Abu Nu`aim has related a statement of Naufal bin Abi Mu`awiyah, saying that he bad seen the stones wich had been thrown on the people of the elephant; they equalled a small pea seed in size and were dark red in colour. According to Ibn `Abbas's tradition that Abu Nu`aim has related, they were equal to a pine kernel, and according to Ibn Marduyah, equal to a goat's dropping. Obviously, all the stones might not be equal but differing in size to some extent.

تَرْمِيهِمْ بِحِجَارَةٍ مِنْ سِجِّيلٍ {105:4}

[Q105:4] Tar meehim bi hi jaaratim min sij jeel,
[Q105:4] Striking them with stones of Sijjil.

The birds dropped the stones which they had brought in their beaks upon the soldiers. ‘Sijjeel’ a stone of baked clay. See verses 11:82 and 15:74.

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(105:4) which smote them with stones of baked clay, *6

*6 Litrerally, bi hijarat-im-min sijjil means "stones of sijjil type." Ibn `Abbas says that sijjil is the Arabic version of the Persian sang and gil, and it implies the stones made from clay and become hard when baked. The Qur'an also confirms the same. In Surah Hud: 82 and Al-Hijr: 74, it has been said that stones of baked clay (sijjin were rained on the people of Lot, and about the same stones in Adh-Dhariyat: 33, it has been said that they were the stones made from clay (hijarat-im min tin).
Maulana Hamid-ad-Din Farahi, who in the present age has done valuable work on the research and determination of the meaning and content of the Qur'an regards the people of Makkah and other Arabians as the subject of tarmihim in this verse, who are the addressees of alam tara. About the birds he says that they were not casting stones but had come to eat the dead bodies of the people of the elephant. A resume of the arguments he has given for this interpretation is that it is not credible that `Abdul Muttalib should have gone before,Abrahah and demanded his camels instead of pleading for the Ka`bah, and this also is not credible that the people of Quraish and the other Arabs who had come for Hajj, did not resist the invaders and leaving the Ka`bah at their mercy had gone off to the mountains. Therefore, what actually happened was that the Arabs pelted the army of Abrahah with stones, and Allah by sending a stormy wind charged with stones, destroyed it completely; thee the birds were sent to eat the dead bodies of the soldiers. But, as we have already explained in the Introduction, the tradition does not only say that `Abdul Muttalib had gone to demand his camels but it says that he did not demand the camels at all but tried to dissuade Abrahah from attacking the Ka`bah. We have already explained that according to all reliable traditions, Abrahah's army had come in Muharram when the pilgrims had gone back and also it was beyond the power of Quraish and other Arab tribes living in the surrounding areas to resist and fight an army 60,000 strong. They had hardly been able to muster a force ten to twelve thousand strong on the occasion of the Battle of the Trench (Ahzab) with t he help of the Arab pagans and Jewish tribes then how could they have mustered courage to encounter an army, 60,000 strong? However, even if all these arguments are rejected and the sequence of the verses of Surah Al-Fil only is kept in view, this interpretation is seen to go against it. If it were so that the stones were cast by the Arabs and the people of the elephant were rendered as chaff, and then the birds came to eat their dead bodies, the order would be this: "You were pelting them with stones of baked clay, then Allah rendered them as chaff eaten up, and then Allah sent upon them swarms of birds. " but here we see that first Allah has made mention of sending swarms of birds; this is immediately followed by tarmihim bi-hijarat-im min-sijjil (which were pelting them with stones of baked clay); and then at the end it is said that Allah made them as straw eaten up. 

فَجَعَلَهُمْ كَعَصْفٍ مَأْكُولٍ {105:5}

[Q105:5] Faja 'alahum ka'asfim m'akool. 
[Q105:5] And made them like an empty field of stalks (of which the corn has been eaten up by cattle).

 ‘Asfin Makoul’, i.e., straw eaten up, i.e., rendered lifeless, useless and loathsome---like the refuse of an eaten food.

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(105:5) and made them like straw eaten up (by cattle). *7

*7 The word asfas used in the original has already occurred in verse 12 of Surah Ar-Rahman above: dhul-'asf war-raihan: "and corn with husk as well as grain". This shows that asf means the outer covering of seeds, which the farmer throws away after the grain has been separated from it. Then the animals eat it, and some of it falls down in the chewing and some is trampled under the hoofs.

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