سورة الفيل

Al-Fil

The Elephant

5 ayahs · Meccan · page 601

بِسۡمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

105:1

أَلَمۡ تَرَ كَيۡفَ فَعَلَ رَبُّكَ بِأَصۡحَٰبِ ٱلۡفِيلِ ١

Have you not considered, [O Muḥammad], how your Lord dealt with the companions of the elephant?¹

1 translator’s note

i.e., the army under the command of Abrahah al-Ashram which was accompanied by a huge elephant and came with the intention of destroying the Kaʿbah at Makkah. ↩

أَلَمۡ يَجۡعَلۡ كَيۡدَهُمۡ فِي تَضۡلِيلٖ ٢

Did He not make their plan into misguidance?¹

1 translator’s note

وَأَرۡسَلَ عَلَيۡهِمۡ طَيۡرًا أَبَابِيلَ ٣

And He sent against them birds in flocks,

تَرۡمِيهِم بِحِجَارَةٖ مِّن سِجِّيلٖ ٤

Striking them with stones of hard clay,

فَجَعَلَهُمۡ كَعَصۡفٖ مَّأۡكُولِۭ ٥

And He made them like eaten straw.¹

1 translator’s note

i.e., husks which have been chewed by cattle. This event took place in the year of the Prophet's birth. ↩