The Holy Qur’an is the final and perfect message of Allah (swt) revealed to Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). The book of Allah (swt) is preserved in its original form since more than 1400 years. Every verse and every chapter of the Qur’an has stood the test of time and this is our firm belief that it will be valid till the end of times. Allah (swt) has mentioned many stories in the Qur’an, among which are the stories of people who no longer exist, the stories of ideologies that have disappeared, the stories of kings whose names have been long forgotten in the pages of history. What is the purpose of these stories? Allah (swt) mentioned them with the sole purpose of educating us and giving the clear message of glad tidings to the believers and warnings to the disbelievers. These stories of the past have been mentioned to prepare us for the future. The story of ‘the People of the Elephant’ is one such story for which Allah (swt) dedicated a whole chapter in the Qur’an (Surah Al-Feel, Chapter 105). We will approach this story through a slightly different perspective. For the purpose of understanding, we have divided the story into five parts. Each part is given a suitable heading as we believe that it is the same chronological order followed by the enemies of Islam in all times.

1. Seize of Power

Long time ago there ruled over Yemen a king, Dhu Nawas from the tribe of Hameer who was mushrik (associated partners with Allah). He was very intolerant and used to torture and kill Christians of the time (who believed in monotheism). Among the many ways of torturing the Christians, he once ordered a very large trench to be dug and filled it with fire and burned as many as 20,000 Christians alive, including women and children. Two people from them managed to escape and went to Roman emperor Caesar (of Shaam) and narrated the whole ordeal to him. Caesar wrote to the king of Abyssinia and asked him to help the Christians of Yemen since he was also Christian and his kingdom was close to Yemen. Accepting his request, the king of Abyssinia sent a large army under the leadership of two commanders- Arbaat and Abraha to Yemen to confront Dhu Nawas. The army of Dhu Nawas was defeated and he fled for his life but was drowned on the way. Afterwards, a rift broke out between Arbaat and Abraha for acquiring the leadership of Yemen in which Abraha became victorious and was subsequently appointed as the governor of Yemen by the king of Abyssinia.

2.Enmity of Islam

When Abraha Al-Ashram took over the administrative control of Yemen, he saw people going to Makkah for Hajj. Due to the sanctity of Ka’aba, the barren desert of Makkah was a religious and cultural centre of the whole Arab. The Hajj season was also considered as the time of flourishing business as people from different tribes would gather in Makkah where they exchanged goods and made business deals. Abraha wanted to diminish this status of Makkah and project his capital city of San'aa as the centre of pilgrimage and trade. The easiest way of achieving this desire for him was to make the city of San'aa the religious capital of Arab world. So, he built a very magnificent place of worship in Yemen to counter the importance of Ka’aba in Makkah. This step was not accepted by the local Arabs and it angered the tribes of Adnan, Qahtan and Quraish. During one dark night, someone from these tribes sneaked in and desecrated the place of worship built by Abraha. Some narrations hold that some travellers had lit a fire near the place of worship built by Abraha and the fire spread to it destroying a major part of it. When Abraha came to know about this and the fact that the person behind it was from the Quraish, he was furious and vowed to avenge it by destroying Ka’aba. He started the preparations for the offensive and sought permission from the king of Abyssinia. The king of Abyssinia gave his consent and sent his special elephant named Mahmud and eight other elephants to Abraha for the task.

3.Confrontation

As the news spread that Abraha was planning to destroy Ka’aba, the local tribes of Yemen tried to stop him. The people of Yemen confronted him but were defeated and their leader Dhu Nafar was arrested. When the army of Abraha reached the tribe of Khasam, they also tried to stop the army of Abraha but they were also defeated and their leader Nufail bin Habib was also arrested. The undefeated army of Abraha was advancing towards Makkah without facing any significant resistance. When they reached Taif, the people of Taif were already subdued by their enemy and decided to forfeit. They offered a treaty to Abraha according to which they would not fight him if he does not interfere with their place of worship, the one they had built in the name of their idol Laat. Moreover, they would also send one of their leaders Abu Rigal accompanying Abraha. Marching forward, the army of Abraha reached a place Magmis near Makkah where they found the camels of Quraish grazing. Abraha ordered his army to catch all the camels and sent one of his messengers Hanata Hamiri to Makkah to make an announcement that Abraha had not come for war but only to destroy the Ka’aba. Furthermore, if the people of Makkah would not resist him he would not harm them. In Makkah, all the people told Hanata Hamiri that their elder and respected leader is Abdul Muttalib, the grandfather of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). Hanata Hamiri met Abdul Mutalib and conveyed the message of Abraha but the latter asked him to give him his two hundred camels back which had been captured by the army of Abraha. Hanata Hamiri told him to accompany him to Abraha and talk to him. Abraha was very much impressed by the personality of Abdul Mutalib but was dejected by the fact that Abdul Muttalib demanded his camels back and did not plead to spare the Ka’aba. When Abraha asked Abdul Muttalib regarding his botherless attitude towards Ka’ba, he replied that he was the owner of camels as far as the Ka’ba was concerned, its owner is someone else (Allah) and He will take care of it. Few narrations hold that other leaders of Quraish also accompanied Abdul Muttalib to Abraha and offered him one third of their harvest if he changes his mind of destroying the holy Ka’aba but Abraha refused. The camels of Abdul Mutalib were returned and he went back to Makkah. he held the door of Ka’aba and prayed to Almighty to safeguard His house as they were not capable of defending it and then ordered all the people of Makkah to move out to the mountains.

4. The Resistance

Next day, Abraha started preparing for the final assault and ordered the elephant Mahmud to march forward. The plan was to destroy the Ka’aba. The prisoner Nufail bin Habib from the tribe of Khasam went forward and held the ear of elephant Mahmud and told him not to march forward as they had reached the Allah’s city of peace and to return back safely from where they had come. Upon hearing this, the elephant Mahmud sat down then and there. The mahouts tried everything but the elephant didn’t move. When they changed his direction, he stood up and started walking but when directed towards Makkah, he sat down again. The elephant Mahmud had made his mind. He was not going to march towards Ka’aba at any cost.

5. Help of Allah and destruction of falsehood

As Abraha and his men were busy with Mahmud trying to persuade him to march towards Makkah a flock of birds was seen coming from the river side. This kind of birds were never seen before, they were slightly smaller than pigeons and were having red claws. Each one of them was holding three pebbles, two in its claws and one in its beak. They spread over the army of Abraha and dropped the pebbles over them. The small pebbles destroyed the whole army killing Abraha’s men and creating ruckus. Abraha was also injured in this attack but he didn’t die there as Allah (swt) wanted him to taste a painful death and set an example for generations to come. He was seriously injured and was brought back to Yemen where he died a painful and disgraceful death. 

The elephant Mahmud along with two elephant trainers were left in Makkah. Both of them had turned blind and disabled, and used to roam in the streets of Makkah begging for their livelihood. The wife of Prophet (pbuh), Aisha and her sister Asma (may Allah be pleased with them) narrated that they saw those two disabled and blind men from the army of Abraha.     

Allah (swt) has beautifully summarised this story in chapter 105 of the Holy Qur’an.

Drawing parallels- Lesson to learn

Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) laid the foundation of the sovereign state of Madina and slowly the just state expanded its borders and became the superpower of the world. Despite being the superpower of the world Islam preached peace, love and brotherhood. With the fall of Ottoman empire, the centre of power and authority started shifting towards the west. The west, in a very planned way started strengthening the non-existent state of Israel and this led to the drift of power in the middle east. The jews were a prosecuted community in the world (mainly Germany and Poland) and Palestinians welcomed them with open arms as a friendly gesture and gave them shelter. As soon as the zionist Israel regained consciousness instead of being thankful to the hospitable people of Palestine, the jews of Israel started fighting against them, conspiring and illegally occupying their land, the Holy land of Muslims. The illegal state of Israel backed by its western allies strengthened itself and continued occupying and colonising the Muslim lands with the aim of establishing greater Israel. Every now and then, the zionist Israel escalates tensions in the region putting lives and properties of native Palestinians at stake. Suffering since decades, the Palestinians have been marginalized in their own land, now limited to Gaza strip which is the largest open-air prison in the world, facing scarcity of food, electricity and medical supply. Their food, water, medications and fuel supply are controlled by the apartheid regime which leaves no stone unturned to torture them and make them suffer just because they demand independence from illegal occupation and the right to self-identity. Some people set forth for an armed resistance to defend their land, their rights and their people but the zionist army equipped with the latest arms and ammunition which were either gifted by the west or stolen from the Muslim countries defeated them and continued its atrocities on the people of the Holy land. After the brutality with which the Arab states were crushed in the ‘six-day war’, they have lost the courage to stand up for the helpless Palestinians. Now is the time for us to show resistance to this cruelty and illegal occupation. If we do not stand up for the Deen of Allah (swt) to protect the Holy land, Masjid Al-Aqsa and our Muslim brethren we can never succeed as an Ummah. We have to take every possible step to counter this anti-Islamic wave and fulfil our responsibility as Muslims. Here are few simplified steps that we can take from our respective places to show resistance to this apartheid zionist regime and all anti-Islamic forces. Firstly, we have to strengthen our belief as Muslims and renew our connection with Allah (swt). For this, we have to seek knowledge, know our history and the history of world religions. Today we get carried away by the rationalist ideologies and start defending various global events and labelling our fellow Muslim brethren as orthodox or intolerant. We have to be unapologetic Muslims and rise above the inferiority complex which we are subjected to by the islamophobic media. Secondly, we have to organise circles of knowledge among ourselves in our schools, colleges, institutions, masjids, markets, cafes, picnic spots and playgrounds. Reading and pondering on the book of Allah (swt), Seerah of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and being up to date with the global politics will make us think about the bigger purpose in life. And thirdly, we have to boycott all anti-islamic and Islamophobic institutions, states and organisations. We should boycott their products, their media, their ideology and their worldly initiatives. At the same time, we should make dua for the Ummah and especially our oppressed brothers in Palestine. A complete boycott at all levels is the need of hour and the best we can do at present to show our allegiance to Islam. If one elephant can resist an army determined in its falsehood just imagine what a human can be capable of doing provided he rises above his basic cravings and desires. If we are true to our cause and stand hand in hand for this passive resistance, the help of Allah (swt) will surely come and we will see the brothers of Abraha meeting the same fate as him, in sha Allah. This was just one analogy, just look around and recognise the ashab-e-feel around yourself. There are many, some open while some hidden. Do your part to fulfil your responsibility, follow the above mentioned three steps and fulfil your responsibility towards the deen of Allah (swt) and his beloved Prophet (pbuh). May Allah strengthen our imaan, keep us steadfast and guide us towards the best service to His deen! Aameen                                    

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