House, the Kaʿbah. They believed themselves to be the descendants of Abraham and Ishmael who built the House. For them, this fact was a source of pride in line with their tradition of taking pride in their forefathers. The whole idea of directing their affection and respect towards this new church built by an ordinary army commander who followed a religion which they considered inferior to theirs was totally absurd. Abrahah’s whole enterprise was a subject of ridicule among them. One of them went so far as to use the most splendid spot in that church for doing his toilet, to emphasize the contempt with which the Arabs viewed Abrahah’s idea.11
When Abrahah was informed of this, he decided to pull down the Kaʿbah in order to achieve his objective of turning the Arabs away from it. He therefore marched at the head of a great army, equipped with elephants. At the front was a very big elephant which enjoyed special fame among Abrahah’s men. The news of Abrahah’s march and his objective spread throughout the Arab land and among the Arabs very strong feelings arose against the destruction of their sacred House. A nobleman of the royal family of Yemen, Dhū Nafar, tried to stop the Abyssinian governor, calling on his people and other Arabs to fight Abrahah and defend the Kaʿbah. Some Arab tribes joined him in a battle against Abrahah which Dhū Nafar lost, and he was then taken prisoner. Later, as Abrahah travelled on, he was attacked by Nufayl ibn Ḥabīb al-Khathʿamī, who had mobilized two Arab tribes as well as troops from other supporting tribes, but Abrahah won the battle again and captured Nufayl. Nufayl then agreed to act as guide to show Abrahah his way in the Arab land. When the Abyssinian governor approached Ṭā’if, a number of its leaders went to him to say that the House he wanted to pull down was in Makkah, not at Ṭā’if. They did this so that he would not destroy the house they had built for their idol, al-Lāt. They also provided him with a guide to show him the way to the Kaʿbah.12
On arrival at al-Mughammas (a valley midway between Ṭā’if and Makkah) Abrahah dispatched one of his commanders to Makkah where he looted some possessions from the Quraysh and other Arabs, including 200 camels which belonged to ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib. The Quraysh, Kinānah, Hudhayl and neighbouring Arab tribes gathered to fight Abrahah, but realized that they stood no chance of winning, so they did not proceed. Then Abrahah sent a messenger to Makkah to meet its chief and convey to him that the governor of Yemen had come not to fight the Makkans but simply to pull down the House; if they left him to accomplish his purpose, he would be pleased not to cause any bloodshed. Abrahah also ordered his messenger to bring with him the Makkan chief if the latter did not propose to fight. When the messenger communicated his master’s message to ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib, the latter said: “By God, we do not want to fight him, and we have no power to resist him. This is God’s sacred House, built by His chosen friend, Abraham. If He protects it against him, it is because the House is His, and if He leaves it to him to destroy, we cannot defend it.” ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib then went with the messenger to Abrahah.
Despite his very advanced age, ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib was a most handsome, charming and attractive person. When Abrahah saw him he felt much respect for him. He felt that ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib was too noble to sit beneath his royal couch, but at the same time Abrahah did not wish to be seen by the Abyssinians sitting with him on his couch, so he came down and sat with ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib on the carpet. Then Abrahah ordered his interpreter to ask his guest what he wanted. ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib said he wanted to request ‘the king’ to give him back his two hundred camels which had been looted by his commander. Abrahah ordered his interpreter to tell ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib on his behalf: “I admired you when I first saw you, but when I spoke to you I was disappointed. Do you come to talk to me about two hundred looted camels and forget about the House which is the embodiment of the religion in which you believe, as did your forefathers, and which I have come to destroy? You did not even say a word to persuade me to spare it.”
ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib replied: “I am only the master of my camels, but the House has its own Lord who is sure to protect it.” Abrahah snapped: “It cannot be defended against me.” The Makkan chief said: “You take your chance!” Abrahah returned his camels.
One report suggests that a number of Arab chiefs went with ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib to meet Abrahah. They offered to give the Abyssinian commander one-third of all the revenue of their land if he would go back without destroying the Kaʿbah. He refused their proposal. ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib went back to the Quraysh and told them of his encounter with Abrahah. He ordered them to leave Makkah and seek shelter in the surrounding mountains. Then he went with a few important members of the Quraysh to the Kaʿbah, where they all prayed hard to God for His help and protection for the House. ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib is reported to have held the door ring in his hand in a gesture of a most earnest plea. He is said to have recited the following lines of poetry in his prayers:
Our Lord, a creature protects his property, so protect Yours. Let not their cross and their might ever overcome Your might. If You are leaving them to destroy our House of worship, then You surely have something in mind.
In the morning, Abrahah gave orders to his army to prepare to march with the elephants to complete their mission. While they were making their preparations, Nufayl went to the elephant and whispered in his ear: “Sit down, elephant, or go back where you came from. This is God’s sacred city.” The big elephant sat down when the army was just outside Makkah, and refused to go any further. The soldiers exerted every effort to persuade the elephant to enter the city, but their efforts were in vain. This particular incident is a fact acknowledged by the Prophet. When his she-camel, al-Qaṣwā’, sat down some distance away from Makkah, on the day when the al-Ḥudaybiyah peace agreement was concluded, the Prophet said to those of his companions who claimed that she had become mulish, that she had not, and that mulishness was not in her nature. “But”, the Prophet added, “she has been prevented by the same will which debarred the elephant from entering Makkah.” (Related by al-Bukhārī.)
Then God’s will to destroy the Abyssinian army and its commander was fulfilled. He sent flights of birds to bombard the attackers with stones of sand and clay, leaving them like dry and torn leaves, as the Qur’ān tells. The majority – but not all – of the soldiers were hit by these stones. Whoever was hit was sure to die quickly. Abrahah suffered physical injuries. Those of his soldiers who were spared carried him back to Yemen, but his limbs began to separate from the rest of his body, and he started to lose one finger after another, until he arrived at Ṣanʿā’. According to various reports, Abrahah died after his chest was broken apart.
Thus God foiled Abrahah’s scheme to destroy the Kaʿbah. In their way, the Arabs were very thankful to God for saving His House from destruction at Abrahah’s hands. When God sent His Messenger with His final message, He reminded the Arabs of this event in a short sūrah in the Qur’ān which carries the title ‘The Elephant’, by way of recounting aspects of His favours to the Arabs. This sūrah was revealed as an endorsement of the Prophet’s call to the Arabs to accept Islam. It says: “Have you not seen how your Lord dealt with the people of the Elephant? Did He not cause their treacherous plan to be futile, and sent against them flights of birds, which pelted them with stones of sand and clay? Thus He made them like devoured dry leaves.”13
NOTES
1. Ismāʿīl ibn Kathīr, al-Bidāyah wal-Nihāyah, Maktabat al-Maʿārif, Beirut, Vol. 1, pp. 153-167. [All the details of Abraham’s family history given here are based on Ibn Kathīr’s account.]
2. ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Hishām, al-Sīrah al-Nabawiyyah, Dār al-Qalam, Beirut, Vol. 1, pp. 116-118.
3. Ibid., pp. 119-123 and 130-137.
4. Ibid., pp. 123-124.
5. Ibid., pp. 138-140.
6. Ibid.
7. Ibid., pp. 150-153.
8.
