Al-Feel was taken from the first verse of this Soorah to be used as its name.

The preceding Soorahs had pointed out the fallacy of the disbelievers view of success and indicated how the preoccupation with accumulating wealth corrupts one’s personality and makes a person forget the Hereafter. For the Quraish of Makkah, the existence of the Holy Ka‘bah in Makkah was the major contributor to their wealth and influence. Arabs revered the Holy Ka‘bah as the house of God constructed by Ibraaheem (Abraham) and Ismaa‘eel (Ishmael) ‘ alayhimussalaam . Pilgrimage to the Holy Ka‘bah was their biggest annual event. They respected the Quraish for being the caretakers of the Holy Ka‘bah and the administrators for the pilgrimage. It was due to this respect that the Quraish were free to travel throughout Arabia when they wanted without any fear of attack from any tribe. This allowed them to send trading caravans and conduct trade throughout the year. The pilgrimage also afforded them excellent business opportunity. This Soorah and the next Soorah (Al-Quraish) jointly remind the Makkans that the Holy Ka‘bah -- their major sources of wealth, influence and security -- is a house that was built exclusively for the worship of and devotion to Allaah, the one true God. That is exactly what the Prophet Ŝall Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam is calling them to and that is what the Makkans should be doing.

For that purpose, Soorah Al-Feel mentions an extraordinary event that had taken place just about forty some years before its revelation and many Makkans living at the time of this revelation themselves witnessed it. As the incident was well known, there was no need to mention the details; thus, the Soorah briefly reminds people only of Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta‘aala’s role in that episode.

The story starts with the Abyssinian Christians becoming the rulers of Yemen in 525 CE. The Abyssinians were aided by the Romans who wanted to use the installed governor to wrest control from Arabs over trade routes used for trade with East Africa , India etc. A person named Abraham (Syriac pronunciation) or Abrahah (Abyssinian pronunciation) was able to come into power and become the Abyssinian king’s viceroy in Yemen . In addition to taking control of the trade, he also wanted to convert people to Christianity. He observed that the Yemeni Arabs, like all other Arabs, had very strong sentiments of devotion and reverence to the Holy Ka‘bah. They even undertook arduous journeys for its pilgrimage with passion. With the intention of diverting Arab devotion, he had a very splendid church of unprecedented magnificence built in San’aa, the Yemeni capital, and sent out announcements requiring all Arabs to come to that church for pilgrimage instead of going to the Holy Ka‘bah. When people resented his announcement rather than complying with it, he vowed to demolish the Holy Ka‘bah. In order to do that he needed to create a reason to attack. It was alleged that an Arab had desecrated the church by relieving himself in it. This issue was propagated extensively to rouse the Christian sentiments and to seek the support of the Abyssinian king. Thus, the war was justified and “sold” in the similar way as it is done today. Preparations were made and, in 570 or 571 CE [1] , he set out with a 60,000 strong army that included a unit of 9 (or 13) elephants.

At the outset, a Yemeni chief named Dzu Nafar gathered an army of Arabs to fight him and force him to abandon his demolition plan; but he was defeated by the massive army of Abrahah and was taken prisoner. Then, in the territory of Khath ‘am, another Arab chief named Nufail ibn Ĥabeeb Al- Khath‘ami confronted Abrahah’s army with the help of some neighbouring tribes. He was also defeated and captured. To save his life, he agreed to act as a guide to show Abrahah’s army the way towards Makkah. When the army reached Ŧaaif territory, the leaders of Banoo Thaqeef met Abrahah and made a deal with him that they would provide him a guide to show him the way to Makkah and, in return, he would spare their temple of Laat . A person named Aboo Righaal from their tribe acted as the guide, but he died when the army reached Al-Mughammas. Because of their cooperation with Abrahah, Banoo Thaqeef lost the respect among Arabs and the Arabs used to throw stones at the grave of Aboo Righaal for the same reason.

From Al-Mughammas, Abrahah sent a forward party who plundered Quraish and neighbouring tribes’ livestock. He also sent an emissary to the Makkans with the message that if they let him demolish the Holy Ka‘bah without resistance, his army would not bother the residents. The chief of Makkans, ‘Abdul Muŧŧalib, the grandfather of the Prophet Ŝall Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, went to talk to Abrahah. There are different versions reported about what transpired in the meeting, but one message was clearly conveyed: If Abrahah insisted on demolishing the Holy Ka‘bah, He would be fighting with Allaah to Whom the House belongs.

The Quraish, Kinana, Hudzail and some other tribes had gathered to confront Abrahah’s army. When ‘Abdul Muŧŧalib returned from his meeting with Abrahah, they jointly concluded that with only a few thousand fighters they could muster, it was futile to confront Abrahah’s 60,000 strong army and elephant unit. Thus, they decided to take their family up the mountains surrounding the city. As for the Holy Ka‘bah, ‘Abdul Muŧŧalib took some other chiefs to the Holy Ka‘bah, and holding the ring of the handle of its door, they prayed to Allaah with utmost devotion and humility. They forgot about all the 360 idols that they had erected in the Holy Ka‘bah, and prayed to Allaah alone. The extempore poetry ‘Abdul Muŧŧalib used for his supplication is reported to contain the following stanzas:

O Allaah a person protects his belongings, please protect your belongings

Let their cross and their power never ever overcome your Might

If you want to stay out of the matter between them and our Qiblah, do as You like

Suhaili has added the following:

Please help us, your people, against people of the cross and its worshippers

Ibn Jareer has also reported the following:

O Lord I do not have any hope from anyone except you, O Lord protect Your sanctuary

The enemy of the House is Your enemy, stop them from destroying Your town

After these supplications, they also went up the mountains. However, some researchers such as Hameeduddin Faraahi and his student Amin Ahsan Islahi contend that they (the Makkan men) did not abandon the fight completely, rather they took positions in the mountains to throw stones at the incoming army.

The next day Abrahah’s army advanced to enter into Makkah. When they reached Muĥassir near the Muĥaŝŝab valley, their advance was stopped. There are different events mentioned by different researchers and historians. Taking all those reports together, the picture that emerges is as follows:

First of all, their lead elephant stopped and sat down. They prodded him hard, but he would not move. If they signalled him to turn back, he would go running, but if they wanted him to advance towards Makkah, he would not step forward [2] .

The Arabs who had taken positions on the mountains started throwing stones at them. At the same time, a very strong wind started blowing pelting the army with sand and stone pellets. While this was happening, flock after flock of birds appeared in the sky. Each bird was holding a pebble in its beak and in each of its claws. The birds dropped those pebbles over the army. Whoever was hit with a pebble would start feeling an intense itch, his flesh would begin to break up, rot and fall down in the form of rotten pieces. This aerial bombardment of bio-chemical material rendered their bodies like chewed up straw and husk. Abrahah was also hit. He ran away but died on the way.

The running army requested Nufail to guide them on their way out of that area back to Yemen , but he refused. He composed his observations in the following stanzas:

Whence can you flee when God is seeking you and the nose-clipped (Abrahah) is conquered, not conqueror.

O Rudainah, I wish you would see, but you will not be able to, what we saw near Muĥaŝŝab.

I praised and thanked Allaah, when I saw the birds and I was afraid lest a pebble falls upon us.

And everyone was looking for Nufail as if I owed Abyssinians any debt.

Abdullah ibn Azziba‘raa said in his poem:

There were sixty thousand who could not go back to their country, nor did their sick man (Abrahah) survive on his return.

There used to be ‘Aad and Jurhum before them, and there is Allaah, above people, Who is maintaining it.

Aboo Qais ibn Aslat’s poem said:

Stand up and worship your Lord and touch the corners of this House among the hills of Makkah and Mina.

When the help from the Lord of the Throne came it repelled the armies of the king between dust storm and stone throwing wind.

And in another stanza, he said:

Then the stone throwing wind was sent upon them and it folded them as straws are folded.

One of the Ŝaifi ibn ‘Aamir’s stanza said:

As soon as they crossed the Nu‘maan area, God’s armies between the dust-storm and the stone-throwing wind repelled them.

After this incident, the first ever cases of smallpox and measles were encountered in Makkah.

The Arabs clearly knew the fact that the destruction of the invading army was the work of Allaah. No one ever attributed it to any idol or any god other than Allaah.

Because of this incident, the year was remembered as the year of the elephant. The incident happened in Muĥarram (the first month of the year) and a few weeks later, the Prophet Ŝall Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam was born in the third month of the same year.

Foot notes

[1] Historians differ on the year and the number of elephants.

[2] The Prophet Ŝall Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam confirmed this incident when he commented on his she-camel’s behaviour at Al-Ĥudabiyyah. When his she-camel, Al-Qaswa, sat down instead of continuing the journey, the Prophet Ŝall Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, “She has been prevented by the same Will that prevented the elephant from entering Makkah.” (Saheeh Al-Bukhari Volume 3, Book 50, Number 891)