References :"He was Zur'ah Dhu Nuwas, the last king of the Himyarite. He exercised royal power in Yemen at that time, and he was an adherent of the Judaism. When he became a convert to Judaism, he assumed the name of Yusuf, "said the Elephant. "So, when he heard, in Najran, there were people of grace and honesty, who held fast to the law that 'Isa, son of Mary, peace be upon him, had brought, Dhu Nuwas marched against them with his forces of the Himyarites and the tribes of Yemen. He gathered the people of Najran together, and summoned them to the Jewish faith, offering them the choice between that and being killed. They chose being killed, so he dug out for them the trench (al-ukhdud). He burnt some of them with fire, slew some violently with the sword, and mutilated them savagely until he had killed nearly twenty thousand of them.
Out of them there escaped only one man, called Daws Dhu Tha'laban, on one of his horses, who traveled through the sands until he threw his pursuers off. He reached the Roman Emperor where he flight support against Dhu Nuwas and his soldiers, and told him what they had made The Roman Emperor told him that his country was far. so he would write to the Abyssinian king who was Christian as well and more adjacent to Yemen. Daws went to The Negus, the Abyssinian King, with the Emperor's letter to support Daws to get victory and take revenge.
So, the Negus dispatched 70,000 troops from Abyssinia under the leadership of one of his officers named Aryat, along with another named Abraha. Aryat crossed over the sea and reached the shores of Yemen, accompanied by Daws. Dhu Nuwas came out to meet him with his forces made up from Himyar and the Yemeni tribes under his control. When they engaged, Dhu Nuwas and his men were defeated. When he realized that disaster had befallen himself and his people, Dhu Nuwas turned his horse to the sea and beat it until it entered the water and took him through the shallows and out to the depths of the sea where he perished. Aryat entered Yemen and took control there.
Aryat remained in control over Yemen for some years but eventually Abraha challenged him and the Abyssinian forces split into two sides. Then one of them marched against the other. When the troops drew near and approached each other, Abraha sent a message to Aryat, "You will not wish to cause the Abyssinians to encounter each other in battle to the point that you destroy part of them, so come out against me and fight, and I will come out against you and fight, and whichever of us is able to smite his opponent, the latter's troops will come over and join the victorious." Aryat sent a reply, "You have proposed a just procedure, so come forth." Abraha went forth; he was short, fleshy, and with a stout body, and held fast to the Christian faith. Aryat marched out against him; he was a powerful, tall, and handsome man, and bore a spear in his hand. Behind Abraha, was a hillock that protected his rear, and concealed behind it was one of his slaves called `Atwadah. When the two contestants drew near to each other, Aryat raised his spear and struck Abraha's head with it, aiming at the top of his skull. But the spear-blow fell across Abraha's forehead and split his eyebrow, eye, nose, and lip; for this reason, Abrahah was called al-Ashram. Abrahah's slave boy 'Atwadah sprang upon Aryat from behind Abraha and killed him. Aryat's troops then went over to Abraha, so that all the Abyssinians in Yemen rallied to his side. But later, Atwadah was killed by someone who attacked him.
Everything Abrahah did was without the knowledge of Negus, the king of the Abyssinians. When news of all that reached the latter, he became filled with rage and said, "He has attacked my own commander and killed him without any instruction from me!" He swore an oath that he would not leave Abrahah in power until he had overrun his land and cut off his forelock. When Abraham heard this, he shaved his head and filled a leather sack with the soil of Yemen, and then sent it to Negus with the message. "O King, Aryat was only your slave, and I am your slave too . We disputed about your command; both of us owed you obedience, but I was stronger in directing the affairs of the Abyssinians , firmer and more skillful in statesmanship regarding them . When I heard about the king's oath, I shaved my head completely, and I have dispatched to him a sack of the earth of Yemen in order that the king may put it under his feet and thus fulfill his oath." When this message reached Negus, he showed Abrahah his favor once more and wrote back to him. "I confirm you in your office in the land of Yemen until such time as a further command of mine reaches you."
After Negus had restored Abraha to favor and had appointed him viceroy over the Abyssinian troops and the land of Yemen, he latter built a church at San'a', called al-Qullyas. He made a marvelous building, whose like had never been seen before, using gold and remarkable dyestuffs and stains. He wrote to Roman Emperor, telling him that he intended to build a church at San`a' whose traces and whose fame would last forever and asked for the emperor's aid in this. The Roman Emperor accordingly sent back to him skilled artisans, mosaic cubes, and marble. When the building was completed, Abrahah wrote to Negus, " O king, I have constructed for you a church whose like has never been built for any monarch before you. I shall not give up until I have diverted the Arab pilgrims to it."
Abraha sought to humiliate the people of Yemen by building this ugly church, humbling them in a variety of ways. He invariably amputated the hand of any labourer who arrived for work after dawn. He began to transfer to it, from the Balqis palace, marble, stone, and splendid furnishings. In it, he erected crosses of gold and silver and pulpits made of ivory and ebony. Al-Qullays was built very tall indeed and its spaciousness was amazing. When eventually Abrahah died and the Abyssinians dispersed, spirits would inflict evil on anyone daring to take any of its building materials or furnishings. This was because the building was undertaken in the name of two idols, Ku'ayb and his wife. The height of each of these was 60 cubits. Consequently the Yemenis left the church alone. It remained just as it had been up till the time of al-Saffah, the first of the 'Abbasid caliphs. He sent there a group of men of determination, judgement, and knowledge who demolished it stone by stone; and today its remains are completely effaced.
When Abrahah' s letter to the Negus, one of the men charged with intercalating the calendar (al-nasa'ah) flew into a rage. He was one of the Banu Fuqaym, part of the larger tribal group of the Banu Malik. He set out until he came to the cathedral church and then defecated in it, and then departed and reached his own land. Abrahah was informed about the incident and demanded, "Who perpetrated this deed?" They told him, "A man from that House at Mecca, to which the Arabs make pilgrimage, did it, because he had heard your words 'I shall divert the Arab pilgrims to the new cathedral).' He became enraged, came here, and defecated in it, aiming to show that it was not worthy of that purpose." Abrahah himself became full of ire and swore that he would march against the House and demolish it. He wrote to the Negus informing him of that and asking the Negus to send him his elephant Mahmud-this being an elephant unparalleled in the whole earth for its size, stout body, and strength.
The Negus accordingly dispatched it to him. Once the elephant had arrived, Abrahah set out with his army, accompanied by the king of Himyar and Nufayl bin Habib al-Khath'ami. He ordered his Abyssinian troops to equip themselves and make ready, and then he set forth with his elephant."
Myna interrupted, "O my brother elephant, some say that, in spite of their size, elephants are scared of cats. Some army commanders brought cats into the pitch of battle when fighting the Indians, and so the elephants ran away," he said with a laugh. However, none of the birds joined in laughing. Myna looked around, sat down, then silent. Elephant said, "Nay, but do you know? It was said, according to al-Tabari, that the first person to tame an elephant was Ifridun bin Athfiyan. It was also he who first saddled horses. The first person to domesticate and ride a horse, though, was Fathamurath, who was the third of the world's kings. It was also said that Ishmael, son of Abraham, upon both of whom be peace, was the first to ride a horse, and it is likely that he was the first Arab to ride. But Allah knows best.
The Arabs were highly anxious and alarmed when they heard of this and considered it their duty to do battle with him, when they learned he wanted to destroy the Ka'ba, Allah's sacred edifice. A member of the Yemeni nobility named Dhu Nafr summoned his people and those Arabs who would support him to do battle with Abraha and prevent his destruction of the Ka'ba. Some did respond and they engaged in battle. Dhu Nafr and his supporters were vanquished and he himself was taken prisoner and brought before Abraha. When about to be killed, Dhu Nafr suggested to Abraha that he might well be more useful to him alive than dead. So Abraha kept him prisoner, in chains. Abraha continued ahead to meet further adversaries and in the area of Khath'am came up against Nufayl bin Habib al-Khath'ami with his two allied tribes of Shahran and Nahis, along with other Arab supporting tribes. They did battle, Abraha won, and took Nufayl prisoner. When Abraha was about to execute him, Nufayl pleaded for his life and offered to be his guide in the Arab territory, guaranteeing that the tribes under him would be obedient to Abraha. So Abraha released him and went on ahead, with Nnfayl acting as guide.
Reaching Ta'if, Abraha was met by Mas'ud bin Mu'anib bin Malik bin Ka'b bin 'Amr bin Sa'd bin 'Awf bin Thaqif along with the warriors of Thaqif. They addressed Abraha, saying, 'O king, we are your slaves, fully obedient to you; we have no dispute with you and this temple of ours is not the one you want.' By this they meant the temple devoted to the goddess al-Lat. The temple of al-Lat was one they had there in al-Ta'if that they venerated almost as was the Ka'ba. 'What you want is the building in Mecca; we will send guides to take you there.' So Abraha passed them by unmolested."
So Thaqif sent with Abraha Abu Righal as guide to Mecca. They travelled as far as al-Mughammis where they made a stop. He sent on ahead to Mecca one of his Abyssinian men named al-Aswad bin Maqsud with some cavalry. He brought to him the possessions of the people of Tihama, from Quraysh and others; this included 200 camels belonging to 'Abd al-Muttalib bin Hashirn who was at that time the leader and elder of Quraysh. As a result, Quraysh, Kinana, and Hudhayl, and all those venerating the Ka'ba decided to do battle with Abraha but abandoned this idea when they learned they had insufficient power to match him. Abraha then sent Hunata the Himyarite to Mecca with the following order, "Find the leader and the most noble of these people. Then tell him that the king says, 'I have not come to war upon you, but only to destroy the Ka'ba. If you do not engage in warfare to prevent our access to it, then I shall have no need for your blood.' If he does not want war, bring him to me with you."
When Hunata entered Mecca, he asked after the leader of Quraysh. He was directed to 'Abd al-Muttalib bin Hasyim and so, passed on Abraha's message to him. 'Abd al-Muttalib replied, "By Allah, we do not want war with him and have not the power for it; this house is Allah's sacred house and that of His true follower Abraham, upon whom be peace." He was saying in effect, "If Allah does protect it from Abraha, then it is because it is His holy sanctuary and His house. If he abandons it to him, then, by Allah, there's no way for us to defend it." Hunata then told 'Abd al-Muttalib that he must accompany him to Abraha in accord with his orders.
So 'Abd al-Muttalib set off along with some of his sons. Arriving at Abraha's encampment, he asked to see Dhu Nafr, who was a friend of his. When he met Dhu Nafr, still in confinement, he asked him whether he had any solution to their predicament. Dhu Nafr replied, "How can a man have a solution when he is a king's prisoner and is expecting to be killed at any time? I have no advice to give you, except to say that Unays, the elephant keeper, is a friend of mine. I will send him a message strongly commending you and ask him to seek permission for you to address the king. Speak to him as you see fit, and Unays will intercede on your behalf as well as he can." Abd al-Muttalib agreed and Dhu Nafr sent Unays the following message, "'Abd al-Muttalib is lord of Quraysh and custodian of the zamzam well of Mecca; he feeds both men in the plains and wild animals on the mountains. The king seized 200 of his camels. So seek permission for him to see the king and intercede for him as best you can." Unays responded that he would. Unays then spoke to Abraha, saying, "O king, here at your door seeking audience is the lord of Quraysh and keeper of the zamzam well of Mecca; he feeds both men in the plains and the wild beasts in the mountains. Allow him in to see you to discuss a matter with you." Abraha let him in.
Abd al-Muttalib was the most dignified, handsome, and impressive of men. When Abraha saw him, he wanted to honour him by not making him sit below himself. But he did not want the Abyssinians to see him sitting next to himself on the throne. So Abraha descended, sat down on a carpet, and had 'Abd al-Muttalib take his place beside him. He then told his interpreter to ask why he had come and he did so. 'Abd al-Muttalib replied, "What I want is for the king to return the 200 camels he took from me as compensation." Hearing this, the king told his translator to reply as follows, "You impressed me when I saw you, but you displeased me when you spoke. You want to talk to me about 200 camels I took from you in compensation, but not about the building which is your religion and your ancestors' religion that I have come to destroy?"
Abd al-Muttalib replied, "I am the owner of the camels; the House has a lord of its own who will defend it." Abrahah said, "He won't be able to defend it against me!" But `Abd al-Muttalib retorted, "That's your own affair; just give me back my camels!" Abd al-Muttalib was not a coward, as Abrahah said. But he knows, which area belongs to him and where the territory belongs to Allah. And he realized, whoever violates the boundaries of Allah's property, will deal with Him.
When Abd al-Muttalib went in to see Abraha, he was accompanied by Ya'mur bin Nafatha bin 'Adi bin al-Dil bin Bakr bin 'Abd Manat bin Kinana, leader of Banu Bakr tribe, and Khuwaylid bin Wa'ila, leader of Hudhayl. These men offered Abraha one-third of the produce of Tihama if he would withdraw and not destroy the building. But Abraha refused their offer. And Allah alone knows whether or not that happened. At any rate, Abrahah had meanwhile restored to 'Abd al-Muttalib the camels he had seized.
Abd al-Muttalib went back to Quraysh and told them the news. He ordered them to go forth from Mecca and seek refuge on the mountain tops and in the defiles , fearing violent behavior from the Abyssinian army. `Abd al-Muttalib then arose and took hold of the door-ring, that of the door of the Ka'bah, and a group of Quraysh stood with him praying to Allah and imploring His help against Abrahah and his troops. `Abd al-Muttalib recited at the time when he took hold of the door-ring of the Ka'bah,
O Rabb, I don't hope for any one but you against them!Then he further recited:
O Rabb, defend your sacred area from them!
Indeed, the enemy of the House is the one who is attacking You!
Repel them lest they lay waste Your settlements!
O Allah, a servant of You defends his dwelling, so protect Your dwelling places and their peopleThen `Abd al-Muttalib let go of the ring of the door, the door of the Ka'bah, and set off with his companions of Quraysh to the mountain tops and sought refuge there, in expectation of what Abrahah was going to do in Mecca when he entered it.
Let not their cross and their cunning craft prevail over Your cunning craft on the morrow!
But if You do that, then it may be something which seems most appropriate for You and an affair which appears best to You.
And if You do that, well, it is an affair which will complete Your divine plan of action.
When some person comes to You seeking peace, we hope that
You will act toward us in a like manner.
Then they turned back, having gained nothing but humiliation;
perdition was coming upon them there.
I never heard of the most reprobate of men who desired glory and who then violated the sanctity of Your sacred enclosure
They brought into action the assembled host of their land and the elephant, in order to capture and enslave members of your families
They attacked your sacred area with their cunning, out of sheer savagery, and paid no heed to Your exaltedness.
Next morning, Abrahah prepared to enter Mecca, got ready his elephant whose name was Mahmud, and drew up his army. Abrahah was determined upon destroying the House and then returning to Yemen. When they drove the elephant forward, Nufayl bin Habib al-Khath'ami came up and stood by its flank. He then got hold of its ear and said, "Kneel, O Mahmud, and go then straight back whence you came, for you are in Allah's sacred territory!" Then he let go its ear; the elephant knelt down, while Nufayl bin Habib made off at top speed and clambered up the mountain. The soldiers beat the elephant to make it get up, but it refused. They beat its head with a battle axe to make it get up, but it still refused. They stuck hooks into its soft underbelly and scarified it to make it rise, and yet again it refused. But then they turned it round to face back to Yemen, it got up and trotted off. They pointed it in the direction of Syria, and it behaved exactly the same. They pointed it in the direction of the East, and it again did likewise, but when they made it face Mecca, it knelt down.
Allah now sent down on them a flock of birds that follow one another hither and thither in groups, like swallows, each bird bearing three stones like chick peas and lentils, one stone in its beak and two in its claws. The birds flew in from the sea successively. Everyone whom the birds hit with the stones, perished, although not all of them were in fact hit. And everyone who was hit suffered either a severe wound or else that spot erupted into blisters and pustules. That was the first time in that year, measles and smallpox were seen in the land of the Arabs, as also the first tme for bitter shrubs like rue, colocynth, and gigantic swallow-wort to be seen. Thus the stones snuffed them out completely, and Allah sent a torrential flow of water, which swept them all away and hurled them into the sea.
They retreated in haste along the road they had come, asking Nufayl bin Habib to guide them along the way to Yemen.When Nufayl bin Habib saw what Allah had sent down on them as punishment, he said,
Where can a man flee, when Allah is pursuing? Al-Ashram is the conquered one, not the conqueror!As they retreated, the Abyssinian troops were continually falling by the wayside and perishing at every halting place. Abrahah was smitten in his body; they carried him with them, with his fingers dropping off one by one. As each finger dropped off, there followed a purulent sore in its place, which exuded pus and blood, until they brought him to $an'a', with him looking like a newly born chick, plucked and emaciated. They allege that, as he died, his heart burst out from his breast.
O, Rudaynah, may greetings be upon you ! When we went forth this morning, our eyes rejoiced at you!
A seeker after fire from among you came to us yesterday evening, but he was unable to get anything from us.
If you had been able to see, O Rudaynah-but you were not able to see it-what we saw in the vicinity of al-Muhassab
You would have exonerated me and praised my good judgment, and not have grieved over what has passed and gone between us.
I praised Allah when I saw with my own eyes the birds, but feared that the stones might be rained upon us.
All the people are asking for Nufayl, as though I owed the Abyssinians a debt.
As for Mahmud, the Negus's elephant, it lay down and would not venture into the Sacred Enclosure and was thus preserved in safety; but regarding the other elephants, there were thirteen elephants, they ventured into the Sacred Enclosure and it suffered a hail of stones.
Some say that the events of the elephant occurred on the first day of Muharram. Some say that sixty thousand men did not return to their land, even their sick did not live after their homecoming. 'Abd al-Muttalib went down from Mount Hira' and two of the Abyssinians came up to him, kissed his hand and said, "You were more knowledgeable than us." After Allah hurled back the Abyssinians from Mecca, the Arabs treated Quraysh with great honor."
Then the Elephant said, "O my brothers and sisters, this story, is a wonderful sign for the illustrious birth of our beloved Prophet (ﷺ). This is so because the history of this world has shown us that every time and auspicious event is to take place in this world or when an important revelation is to occur, then some important natural signs in the celestial spheres are shown, which if man sees them takes them as warnings.
This incident took place a couple of days before the birth of the Prophet (ﷺ). It was such a time when practically every part of the world was deprived of the worship of Allah. At that time claimants to Allah’s true religion were present everywhere but the true teachings had become missing. The true features of Deen had become interpolated and changed so that very little of its origins were left. Shirk and Kufr were present everywhere. At one place there was idol-worship, at another there was worship of the heavenly bodies and somewhere else there was fire worship. At some place there was the aim of worship, then somewhere else there was the worship of the elements as the main aim of religion. Some places saw the doctrine of trinity where prohet 'Isa, alayhissalam, was worshipped as the Son of God. At another place people called Uzair the son of God. The whole world either rejected Allah or worshipped idols, the heavenly bodies or the elements of nature or animals. At that time apart from Allah’s worship all other things were being worshipped.
At such a time Allah’s decision was that one should come who was to be the bringer of Guidance and right for all the people of the world to show them the right path and to remove them from the worship of things to the worship of the Creator and to join man with his True Master. His coming was to break the chains of ignorance. He is the fruit of the du'a of prophet Ibraheem, alayhissalam and the promise of prophet 'Isa, alayhissalam. It has now become necessary that the Ka'ba which is the symbol of the worship of Allah in His Oneness and which was originally errected by prophet Ibraheem nd Ismaeel should now be honoured and respected with its due respect. Now the trust which had up to now been entrusted to Bani Israel and wherein they had committed treachery, is being taken out of their hands and is being handed to their cousins, the off-spring of Ishmael, alayhissalam. This is being done because these children of Israel had forgotten the covenant of their elders.
The Ka'ba is called the Baitullah— Allah's House. This does not mean that Allah lives in a House or that He is in need of a house, naudhubillah. The matter is that for the peoples of the various areas of the world, and for His true worshippers, He has made the Ka'ba as their Qiblah towards which they should pray. And seeing that He is free of any specific direction while man is at all times in need of direction it was necessary that such a direction be establish for mankind to bring about unity and uniformity of their worship. But, it is not permissible for any Muslim to honour the Ka'ba because it is worthy of worship in itself. The Ka'ba is in fact being honoured because it is one of the special sign of Allah and is the centrifugal point of Tawheed. And Allah knows best."
"Have you not considered, [O Muhammad], how your Lord dealt with the companions of the elephant? Did He not make their plan into misguidance? And He sent against them birds in flocks, striking them with stones of hard clay, and He made them like eaten straw." - [QS.105:1-5]
- Ibn Kathir, The Life of the Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ), Volume I, Garnet Publishing
- The History of Al-Tabari, The Sasanids, the Byzantines, the Lakhmids, and Yemen, Volume V, translated by C.E. Bosworth, SUNY Pres.
- Maulana Hifzur Rahman Soeharwy, Qasasul Ambiyaa, Idara Impex
