:salam2:
Surah 105
al Feel
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful!
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 send against them flights of birds, which pelted them with stones of sand and clay? Thus He made them like devoured dry leaves.
Abrahah, built a superbly luxurious church in his area giving it the name of the Abyssinian emperor at the time. He did this after he had witnessed the love and enthusiasm of Yemeni Arabs - which were the same as those felt all over the Arab land - to the Ka'ba, the Holy Mosque at Makka; with the aim of making them forsake their attachment to the Mosque of Makka and turn instead to his new luxurious church.
But the Arabs did not turn away from their Holy House. 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. Besides, vain and hollow as they were, their beliefs were, in their eyes, better and more profound than those of the people of earlier revelations (Jews and Christians). They knew how the latter beliefs were conflicting and futile.
As a result, Abrahah made up his mind to pull down the Ka'ba 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. In the front was a very big elephant which enjoyed special fame among Abrahah's men. The news of Abrahah's march and his objective travelled in the Arab land and there spread among the Arabs very strong feelings against the destruction of their Holy House. A nobleman of the royal family of Yemen, called Thu Nafar, tried to stop the Abyssinian governor, calling on his people and other Arabs to fight Abrahah and defend the Holy House. Some Arab tribes joined him in a battle against Abrahah which Thu Nafar lost before he was taken prisoner. Later, while Abrahah was on his way, he was attacked by Nafeel ibn Habab Al Khath'ami, who had mobilised two Arab tribes as well as troops from other supporting tribes, but Abrahah won the battle again and captured Nafeel. Nafeel then agreed to act as a guide for Abrahah to show him the way in the Arab land. When the Abyssinian governor approached Ta'if,' a number of its leaders went to him to say that the House he wanted to pull down was in Makka and not at Ta'if. They did this in order that he would not destroy the house they had built for their idol "Al-Lat". They also provided him with a guide to show him the way to the Ka'ba.
Then on arrival at Al-Mughammas (a valley mid-way between Ta'if and Makka), Abrahah despatched one of his commanders to Makka where he looted some belongings of the Quraish and other Arabs, including two hundred camels which belonged to Abdulmuttalib ibn Hashim, the chief of Makka and the Prophet's grandfather. Quraish, Kinana, Huthail and neighbouring Arab tribes gathered to fight Abrahah but then they realised that they stood no chance of winning, so they did not proceed. Then Abrahah sent a messenger to Makka to meet its chief and convey to him that the governor of Yemen did not come to fight the Makkans but to pull down the House; if they left him to accomplish what he had come for, 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 Abdulmuttalib, 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.