Surat
Al-Fīl (The Elephant) - سورة الفيل
[In the Name of ALLAH, the ENTIRELY
MERCIFUL, the ESPECIALLY MERCIFUL]
105:1
أَلَمْ تَرَ
كَيْفَ فَعَلَ رَبُّكَ بِأَصْحَابِ الْفِيلِ
Pronunciation
Alam
tara kayfa faAAala rabbuka bi-as-habialfeel
Pronunciationa
Have
you not considered, [O Muhammad], how your Lord dealt with the companions of
the elephant?
Tafsir al-Jalalayn
Have
you not considered (an interrogative meant to provoke marvel, in other words,
‘marvel at’) the way in which your Lord dealt with the Men of the Elephant?,
who was named Mahmūd, and the men were Abraha, King of Yemen and his troops. He
had built a church in San‘ā’ in order to divert pilgrims away from Mecca to it.
A man from among the Banū Kināna defecated in it and stained its prayer niche
with a deflowered virgin’s blood, in contempt of it. Abraha then swore that he
would knock down the Ka‘ba. So he approached Mecca with his troops riding
Yemeni elephants with Mahmūd at the vanguard. But when they turned to destroy
the Ka‘ba, God unleashed upon them what He relates in His words:
أَلَمْ يَجْعَلْ
كَيْدَهُمْ فِي تَضْلِيلٍ
Pronunciation
Alam
yajAAal kaydahum fee tadleel
Pronunciationa
Did
He not make their plan into misguidance?
Tafsir al-Jalalayn
Did
He not make — that is to say, He did [indeed] make — their stratagem, to
destroy the Ka‘ba, go astray, [ending up] in failure and destruction,
وَأَرْسَلَ
عَلَيْهِمْ طَيْرًا أَبَابِيلَ
Pronunciation
Waarsala
AAalayhim tayran ababeel
Pronunciationa
And
He sent against them birds in flocks,
Tafsir al-Jalalayn
and
unleashed upon them swarms of birds, [birds] in droves, one following the next
(it is said there is no singular form for it [abābīl], like asātīr; but some
say that the singular is abūl or ibāl or ibbīl, similar [in constructed
pattern] to ‘ajūl, miftāh and sikkīn),
تَرْمِيهِم
بِحِجَارَةٍ مِّن سِجِّيلٍ
Pronunciation
Tarmeehim
bihijaratin minsijjeel
Pronunciationa
Striking
them with stones of hard clay,
Tafsir al-Jalalayn
pelting
them with stones of baked clay,
فَجَعَلَهُمْ
كَعَصْفٍ مَّأْكُولٍ
Pronunciation
FajaAAalahum
kaAAasfin ma/kool
Pronunciationa
And
He made them like eaten straw.
Tafsir al-Jalalayn
thus
making them like devoured blades?, like the leaves of crops which have been
consumed, trampled and destroyed by animals. God destroyed each one of them
with his own stone, inscribed with his name, larger than a lentil [in size] but
smaller than a chick-pea, able to pierce through an egg, a man, or an elephant
and go through the ground. This took place in the year of the Prophet’s birth (s).
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