THE BEAUTIFUL STORY OF THE PEOPLE OF THE ELEPHANTS: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Abraha As-Sabah Al-Habashi, the Abyssinian (Ethiopian) king in Yemen. He had seen that the Arabs made their pilgrimage to Al-Ka‘bah so he built a large church[Al-Qullays],the like of which had never at that time been seen on earth before, in San‘a,Yemen in order to attract the Arab pilgrims to it to the exclusion of Makkah. A man from Kinana tribe understood this move, therefore he entered the church stealthily at night and besmeared its front wall with excrement. When Abraha knew of that, he got very angry and led a great army – of 60,000 warriors – to demolish Al-Ka‘bah .His army included 9 or 13 elephants.He chose the biggest elephant[Mahmud] for himself. One of the kings of Himyar, Dhu Nafar summoned his people and those Arabs who would support him to do battle with Abraha and prevent his destruction of the Al-Ka‘bah.Dhu Nafr and his supporters were vanquished and he himself was taken prisoner and brought before Abraha.When about to be killed, Dhu Nafar said,O King! do not kill me ,for keeping me alive[to help you] is better for you than killing me. So Abraha kept him prisoner, in chains. Abraha continued ahead to meet further adversaries and in the area of Khatham came up against Nufayl ibn Habeeb al-Khathami,some Yemen tribes that support him and two allied tribes of Shahran and Nahis.They did battle, Abraha won, and took Nufayl prisoner.When Abraha was about to execute him,Nufayl said,O king,I am very knowledgeable about the land of Arabs,so do not kill me.Here are my two hands ,which I use to pledge to you complete obedience from my people.So Abraha released him and went on ahead, with Nnfayl acting as guide. When the army reached Taaif, Abraha was met by Masoud bin Muattib along with the warriors of Thaqif tribe.Masoud said,0 king, we are your slaves, fully obedient to you; we have no dispute with you and this temple of ours [The temple of Al-Lat] is not the one you want.What you want is nothing other than the House that is in Makkah.We will send with you one who will guide you to it.So Thaqif sent with Abraha, Abu Rughaal as guide to Mecca.But Abu Rughaal ended up being of no use to Abraha ,for he died along the way to Al-Maghmas.His grave is known ,and has long been a place where people go in order to spelt it with stones. From Al-Maghmas,Abraha sent on ahead to Makkah, a man[Ethiopian] named al-Aswad bin Maqsoud with some cavalry. He brought to him the possessions of the people of Tihama, from Quraysh and others; this included 200 camels belonging to ‘Abdul-Muttalib who was at that time the leader and elder of Quraysh. As a result,Quraysh, Kinana, and Hudhayl, and all those venerating the Al-Ka‘bah decided to do battle with Abraha but abandoned this idea when they learned they had insufficient power to match him. Abraha then sent Hunaatah Al-Humairee to Mecca with the following order:Find the leader and the most noble of these people. Then tell him that the king says, I have not come to war upon you, but only to destroy that building (the kaaba). If you do not engage in warfare to prevent our access to it, then I shall have no need for your blood. If he does not want war, bring him to me with you. When Hunaatah entered Mecca he asked after the leader of Quraysh. He was directed to ‘Abdul-Muttalib and so passed on Abrahas message to him. ‘Abdul-Muttalib replied, By God, we do not want war with him and have not the power for it; this house is Gods sacred house and that of His true follower Abraham, upon whom he peace. He was saying in effect, If God does protect it from Abraha, then it is because it is His holy sanctuary and His house.If he abandons it to him, then, by God, theres no way for us to defend it..Hunaatah then told ‘Abdul-Muttalib that he must accompany him to Abraha in accord with his orders. So ‘Abdul-Muttalib accompanied Hunaatah back to the encampatment of Abrahas army.he asked to see Dhu Nafar who was a friend of his. When he met Dhu Nafar, still in confinement,he asked him, O Dhu Nafar,Is there anything you can do to help us in this [affliction] that has descended upon us?. Dhu Nafar replied, How can a man have a solution when he is a kings prisoner and is expecting to be killed at any time during morning or evening? I have no advice to give you, except to say that Unays[Anees], the elephant keeper, is a friend of mine. I will send him a message strongly commending you[elevating your status] and ask him to seek permission for you to address the king. Speak to him as you see fit, and Unays will intercede on your behalf as well as he can. ‘Abdul-Muttalib agreed and Dhu Nafar sent Unays the following message: ‘Abdul-Muttalib is a chief of Quraysh and custodian of the well[zamzam] of Mecca;he feeds both men in the plains and wild animals on the mountains. The king seized 200 of his camels.So seek permission for him to see the king and intercede for him as best you can. Unays responded that he would.Unays then spoke to Abraha, saying, 0 king, here at your door seeking audience is the Chief of Quraysh and keeper of the well of Mecca; he feeds both men in the plains and the wild beasts in the mountains. to discuss a matter with you. Abraha let him in.Allow him in to see you. Abdul Muttalib was very handsome,dignified, and when seen by Abraha, Abraha showed great respect and was highly impressed. So, he refused to make him sit lowly in front of him, and also disliked to let the Abyssinians see him allowing him to sit on his own chair (throne). Consequently, he descended from above his chair and sat besides him on the rich carpet. Then, he said to his interpreter: Ask him what does he want? Abdul Muttalib said,What I want is for the king to return the 200 camels he took from me as compensation. Hearing this, the king told his translator to reply as follows:You impressed me when I saw you, but you displeased me when you spoke. You want to talk to me about 200 camels I took from you in compensation, but not about the building which is your religion and your ancestors religion that I have come to destroy?.Abdul Muttalib replied,I am the master of the camels, whereas the Kabah house of worship has its lord to defend it. Abraha said: No one can defend it from me. Abdul Muttalib said: You are on your own! Finally, Abraha gave him the camels back. When they left Abraha, Abdul Muttalib went to report to Quraysh and told them to retreat from Mecca to defensive positions in the mountains.Then Abdul Muttalib took hold of the metal door knocker of the Al-Ka‘bah and stood there with a group of men from Quraysh praying to God and asking His help against Abraha and his troops. As he stood holding the Al-Ka‘bah,door knocker, Abdul Muttalib recited the verses:0 God, Your worshippers protect their homes, so protect Your building,Let not their cross and their power vanquish Yours tomorrow If You should leave them free with our qibla then that is what You will.Ibn Hishm said that these were what he found to be the authentic verses of this poem. then, Abdul Muttalib let the doors ring and set out with his companions to the mountains seeking shelter and awaiting for what would happen next. In the morning, Abraha got prepared to enter Mecca, and got his elephant and troops prepared. The elephants name was Mahmoud.When he reached Muhassar Valley, between Muzdalifah and Mina, the elephant knelt down and refused to go forward. Whenever they directed it northwards, southwards or eastwards, the elephant moved quickly but when directed westwards towards Al-Ka‘bah, it knelt down. The Abyssinians beat the elephant forcing him to stand up to his feet, but he refused. Meanwhile, Allâh loosed upon them birds in flights, hurling against them stones of baked clay and made them like green blades devoured. These birds were very much like swallows and sparrows, each carrying three stones; one in its peak and two in its claws. The stones hit Abraha’s men and cut their limbs and killed them. A large number of Abraha’s soldiers were killed in this way and the others fled at random and died everywhere. Abraha himself had an infection that had his fingertips amputated. When he reached San‘a he was in a miserable state and died soon after. Allah said, Have you (O Muhammad (Peace be upon him)) not seen how your Lord dealt with the Owners of the Elephant? [The elephant army which came from Yemen under the command of Abrahah Al-Ashram intending to destroy the Kabah at Makkah]. Did He not make their plot go astray? And sent against them birds, in flocks,Striking them with stones of Sijjîl.And made them like an empty field of stalks (of which the corn has been eaten up by cattle). [Quran,105:1-5] *Refer Al-Raheeq Al-Makhtoum[The sealed nectar] by Safiur Rahman Mubarakpuri;Al-Sirah An-nabawiyyah,[THE LIFE OF THE PROPHET MUHAMMAD] By Ibn Katheer;The noble life of the prophet[P.B.U.H] By Dr. Ali Muhammad As-Sallaabee. ****** AND ALLAH KNOWS BEST *************** ____________________________________________________
Posted on: Fri, 28 Mar 2014 03:09:13 +0000
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