| ٱلفِيل Al-Fīl The Elephant | |
|---|---|
| Classification | Meccan |
| Position | Juzʼ 30 |
| No. ofverses | 5 |
| No. ofSajdahs | 0 |
| No. of words | 23 |
| No. of letters | 96 |
| Quran |
|---|
Al-Fīl (Arabic:الفيل, "TheElephant") is the 105th chapter (surah) of theQuran. It is aMeccan sura consisting of 5verses. The surah is written in theinterrogative form.
بِسْمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحْمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
Bismi l-lāhi r-raḥmāni r-raḥīm(i)
أَلَمْ تَرَ كَيْفَ فَعَلَ رَبُّكَ بِأَصْحَـٰبِ ٱلْفِيلِ ١
¹’alam tara kayfa fa‘ala rab-buka bi’aṣḥābi l-fīl(i)
أَلَمْ يَجْعَلْ كَيْدَهُمْ فِى تَضْلِيلٍ ٢
²’alam yaj’al kaydahum fī taḍlīl(in)
وَأَرْسَلَ عَلَيْهِمْ طَيْرًا أَبَابِيلَ ٣
³Wa’arsala ‘alayhim ṭayran ’ababīl(a)
تَرْمِيهِم بِحِجَارَةٍ مِّن سِجِّيلٍ ٤
⁴Tarmīhim biḥijārati m-min sij-jīl(in)
فَجَعَلَهُمْ كَعَصْفٍ مَّأْكُولٍۭ ٥
⁵Faja‘alahum ka‘aṣfi m-ma’kūl(in)
بِسۡمِ اِ۬للَّهِ اِ۬لرَّحۡمَـٰنِ اِ۬لرَّحِيمِ
Bismi l-lāhi r-raḥmāni r-raḥīm(i)
أَلَمۡ تَرَ كَيۡفَ فَعَلَ رَبُّكَ بِأَصۡحَـٰبِ اِ۬لۡفِيلِ ١
¹’alam tara kayfa fa‘ala rab-buka bi’aṣḥābi l-fīl(i)
أَلَمۡ يَجۡعَلۡ كَيۡدَهُمۡ فِے تَضۡلِيلٍ ٢
²’alam yaj’al kaydahum fī taḍlīl(in)
وَأَرۡسَلَ عَلَيۡهِمۡ طَيۡرًا اَبَابِيلَ ٣
³Wa’arsala ‘alayhim ṭayran ababīl(a)
تَرۡمِيهِم بِحِجَارَةٍ مِّن سِجِّيلٍ ٤
⁴Tarmīhim biḥijārati m-min sij-jīl(in)
فَجَعَلَهُمۡ كَعَصۡفٍ مَّاكُولٍۭ ٥
⁵Faja‘alahum ka‘aṣfi m-mākūl(in)
1Have you (OMuhammad (Peace be upon him)) not seen how your Lord dealt with the Owners of the Elephant? [The elephant army which came fromYemen under the command ofAbrahah Al-Ashram intending to destroy theKaaba atMecca].
2Did He not make their plot go astray?
3And sent against them birds, in flocks,
4Striking them with stones of Sijjil.
5And made them like an empty field of stalks (of which the corn has been eaten up by cattle).
1Have you not considered, [O Muhammad], how your Lord dealt with the companions of the elephant?
2Did He not make their plan into misguidance?
3And He sent against them birds in flocks,
4Striking them with stones of hard clay,
5And He made them like eaten straw.
1Seest thou not how thy Lord dealt with the Companions of the Elephant?
2Did He not make their treacherous plan go astray?
3And He sent against them Flights of Birds,
4Striking them with stones of baked clay.
5Then did He make them like an empty field of stalks and straw, (of which the corn) has been eaten up.
1Hast thou not seen how thy Lord dealt with the owners of the Elephant?
2Did He not bring their stratagem to naught,
3And send against them swarms of flying creatures,
4Which pelted them with stones of baked clay,
5And made them like green crops devoured (by cattle)?
Taking its name from the mention of the "Army of the Elephant" in the first verse, this surah alludes to theAbyssinian campaign againstMecca possibly in the year 570 CE.Abraha, the Christian viceroy of theYemen (which at that time was ruled by the Abyssinians), erected a greatcathedral atSana'a, hoping thus to divert the annual Arabian pilgrimage from the Meccan sanctuary, theKabah, to the new church. When this hope remained unfulfilled, he was determined to destroy the Kabah; and so he set out against Mecca at the head of a large army, which included severalwar elephants as well, and thus represented something hitherto unknown and utterly astounding to the Arabs: hence the designation of that year, by contemporaries as well as historians of later generations, as "theYear of the Elephant". Abrahah's army was destroyed on its march[8][9] - by an extremely huge flock ofmartin swallow birds (ababil) that dropped tiny stones onto them and turned them to ashes.[10] - and Abrahah himself died on his return to Sana.[11]
The Arabs[who?] describe the year in which this event took place as the Year of the Elephant, and in the same year, Muhammad was born. The traditionists and historians almost unanimously state that the event of the people of the elephant had occurred inMuharram and Muhammad was born inRabi' al-awwal. A majority of them states that he took birth 50 days after the event of the elephant.[12]
Surahs in theQur'an are not arranged in thechronological order of revelation.[13] Muhammad toldhis followers the placement in Quranic order of everyWahy revealed along with the original text of the Quran.[14]Wm Theodore de Bary, anEast Asian studies expert, describes that "The final process of collection and codification of the Quran text was guided by one over-arching principle: God's words must not in any way be distorted or sullied by human intervention. For this reason, no serious attempt, apparently, was made to edit the numerous revelations, organize them into thematic units, or present them in chronological order ...".[15][16]Al-Fil is aMeccan sura[17] and Meccan suras are chronologically earliersuras that were revealed toMuhammad atMecca before thehijrah toMedina in 622CE. They are typically shorter, with relatively shortayat, and mostly come near the end of the Qur'an's 114 surahs.[citation needed] Most of the surahs containingmuqatta'at are Meccan. Henceforth apart from traditions, this surah qualifies to be Meccan typically. Most of themufassirun[18] say that this isunanimously[19] aMeccan sura; and if it is studied against itshistorical background it appears that it must have been sent down in the very earliest stage atMakkah.[20]
The principal subject of the surah is a specific historic event. The year ofMuhammad's birth is identified as 'the Year of the Elephant', whenMecca was attacked byAbraha accompanied by an elephant. Quranic exegetes interpreted that God saved the Meccans from this force by sending a swarm of birds that pelted the invaders with clay stones and destroyed them.[21][22] The army of Abraha destroyed for attacking theKaabah[23] is a reminder and an example that Allah can save His house (Al-Ka'bah) by destroying an army of 60,000 with elephants, through a flock of birds.[24][25] The origin of the wordsijjīl (i.e.Lava stone from Volcanic eruption) in verse 4 has the etymology proposed as Persiansang andgil ('stone' and 'clay'), or Aramaicsgyl ('smooth altar stone').[26] In the Quran'sijjīl' occurs in two other verses: 11:82 and 15:74.
There are almost 7 divisions in the entire Qur'an according to Themes.[27][28] The final of these 7 sections starts from surahAl-Mulk [surah number 67] to surahAl-Nas [surah number 114].[29] This final part [last 7th of the Quran] focuses on; sources of Reflection, People, their final scenes they will face onJudgment Day andHellfire andParadise in general[30] and Admonition to theQuraysh about their fate in the Herein and theHereafter if they denyMuhammad, specifically.[31] In thisSurah, God's punishment which was inflicted on the people of the elephant is referred to and described very briefly because it was an event of recent occurrence, and everyone inMakkah and Arabia was fully aware of it. That is why the Arabs believed that the Ka'bah was protected in this invasion, not by any god or goddess, but by God Almighty Himself. Then God alone was invoked by the Quraysh chiefs for help, and for quite a few years the people of Quraysh, having been impressed by this event, had worshiped none but God. Therefore, there was no need to mention the details in Surah Al-Feel, but only a reference to it was enough.[32]Javed Ahmad Ghamidi (b. 1951), a well-knownPakistaniMuslim theologian, Quran scholar and exegete, and educationist, explains the theme of Surah Al-Fil is to inform theQuraysh that theGod – Who routed His enemies in this manner before them – will also not spare them now that they too have shown enmity to Him. They will also be devastated in a similar manner.[33]
The idea of textual relation between the verses of a chapter has been discussed under various titles such asnazm andmunasabah in non-English literature andcoherence,text relations,intertextuality, andunity in English literature.Hamiduddin Farahi, anIslamic scholar of theIndian subcontinent, is known for his work on the concept of nazm, or coherence, in the Quran.Fakhruddin al-Razi (died 1209 CE),Zarkashi (died 1392) and several other classical as well as contemporary Quranic scholars have contributed to the studies.[34][35][36]
In surahsAl-Qaria (No. 101) toAl-Humaza (No. 104), it is pointed to theQuraysh that they have remained so possessed with the love of wealth and children that they have grossly failed to fulfill the rights of God as well as their fellow beings. Despite this, they still claim to be the heirs ofAbraham andIshmael and the custodians of theBaytullah (House of God) built by them.[37]
This Surah Al-Fil and the next one, Quraysh, form a pair in subject matter according to most Quranic scholars.[38][39][40] The former of the pair warns the Quraysh about the Incident of the Elephant to inspire fear in God, while the latter surah urges them to keep in mind the favors they enjoy, because of the Baytullah and consequently to give up rebelliousness against God and worship Him alone. They are cautioned that they have been blessed with peace and sustenance, not because of their efforts or because they were entitled to them, but because of the Prophet Abraham's invocation and the blessings of the House which he built. Therefore, instead of showing vanity, it is their obligation to worship the Lord of this House, who fed them in hunger and secured them against every kind of danger.[41]
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain.
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