Surah 105. Al-Fil

ART THOU NOT aware of how thy Sustainer dealt with the Army of the Elephant?¹

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "the companions (ashab) of the elephant" - see introductory note.

Have you not considered how your Rabb dealt with the Army of the Elephant (reference is made to Abraha, a Christian king of Yaman, who attacked Makkah with the army of elephants in the year of the Prophet Muhammad's birth)?

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Have you not seen 'O Prophet' how your Lord dealt with the Army of the Elephant?

  - Mustafa Khattab

Hast thou not seen how thy Lord dealt with the owners of the Elephant?

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Seest thou not how thy Lord dealt with the Companions of the Elephant? ^{6270 6271}

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Seest thou not?-i.e. with thy mental vision. The incident happened in the very year of the holy Prophet's birth, barely two months before it.

These were the troops of Abraha the Abyssinian, who invaded Makkah with a large army, in which were some elephants. See Introduction to this Sura.

Did He not utterly confound their artful planning?

  - Mohammad Asad

Did He not make their treacherous plan a flop?

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Did He not frustrate their scheme?

  - Mustafa Khattab

Did He not bring their stratagem to naught,

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Did He not make their treacherous plan go astray?

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Thus, He let loose upon them great swarms of flying creatures

  - Mohammad Asad

And send against them flocks of birds,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

For He sent against them flocks of birds,

  - Mustafa Khattab

And send against them swarms of flying creatures,

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And He sent against them flights of Birds ⁶²⁷²

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The miracle consisted in the birds coming in large flights and flinging stones at the army which destroyed the whole of Abraha's army.

which smote them with stone-hard blows of chastisement pre-ordained,²

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "with stones of sijjil". As explained in note [114] on 11:82 , this latter term is synonymous with sijill, which signifies "a writing" and, tropically, "something that has been decreed [by God]": hence, the phrase hijarah min sijjil is a metaphor for "stone-hard blows of chastisement pre-ordained", i.e., in God's decree (Zamakhshari and Razi, with analogous comments on the same expression in 11:82 ). As already mentioned in the introductory note, the particular chastisement to which the above verse alludes seems to have been a sudden epidemic of extreme virulence: according to Waqidi and Muhammad ibn Ishaq - the latter as quoted by Ibn Hisham and Ibn Kathir - "this was the first time that spotted fever (hasbah) and smallpox (judari) appeared in the land of the Arabs". It is interesting to note that the word hasbah - which, according to some authorities, signifies also typhus - primarily means "pelting [or smiting"] with stones" (Qamus). - As regards the noun ta'ir (of which tayr is the plural), we ought to remember that it denotes any "flying creature", whether bird or insect (Taj al-'Arus). Neither the Qur'an nor any authentic Tradition offers us any evidence as to the nature of the "flying creatures" mentioned in the above verse; and since, on the other hand, all the "descriptions" indulged in by the commentators are purely imaginary, they need not be seriously considered. If the hypothesis of an epidemic is correct, the "flying creatures" - whether birds or insects - may well have been the carriers of the infection. One thing, however, is clear: whatever the nature of the doom that overtook the invading force, it was certainly miraculous in the true sense of this word - namely, in the sudden, totally unexpected rescue which it brought to the distressed people of Mecca.

which pelted them with stones of baked clay,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

that pelted them with stones of baked clay,

  - Mustafa Khattab

Which pelted them with stones of baked clay

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Striking them with stones of baked clay. ⁶²⁷³

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Sijjil: see n. 1579 to xi. 82. The word also occurs at xv. 74. Stones of baked clay, or hard as baked clay, are part of the miracle in the story.

and caused them to become like a field of grain that has been eaten down to stubble -³

  - Mohammad Asad

This passage is evidently continued in the next surah, which, according to some authorities, is part of the present one (see introductory note to surah {106}).

thus rendered them like the chewed-up chaff.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

leaving them like chewed up straw.¹

  - Mustafa Khattab

 Or worm-eaten leaves.

And made them like green crops devoured (by cattle)?

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Then did He make them like an empty field of stalks and straw (of which the corn) has been eaten up. ^{6274 6275}

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

A field, from which all the corn has been eaten up and only straw with stalks or stubble is left, is a field dead and useless. And such was the army of Abraha,-dead and useless. Another possible rendering would be: "like eaten straw and stubble found in the dung of animals". The meaning would be the same, but much more emphatic.

The lesson to be drawn is twofold. For the Pagan Quraish of Makkah it was: Allah will protect His own; if you persecute the holy Prophet, he is greater than the mere building of the Ka'ba: will not Allah protect him? For men in all ages it is: 'a man intoxicated with power can prepare armies and material resources against Allah's holy Plan; but such a man's plan will be his own undoing; he cannot prevail against Allah'.