Islam - Its Meaning for Modern Man — Page 16
16 outside Arabia also. A certain amount of sericulture was carried on in Yemen and other parts of the peninsula, and silk cloth and stuffs were manufactured. The political situation was confused and unstable. At the time of the birth of the Prophet, control over Yemen was exercised by Ethiopia, from across the Red Sea. Only that year ⎯ A. D. 570 ⎯ Abraha, Ethiopia’s Viceroy in Yemen, had led an expedition against Mecca, with the declared intention of destroying the Ka’aba. The expedition proved an utter failure. Abraha’s forces, which included an elephant, were struck by a virulent epidemic that destroyed large numbers of them during their encampment in a valley a few miles outside Mecca. The remainder of the group retired in confusion and terror. The year of that expedition is still known as the Year of the Elephant. The event is the subject matter of a brief chapter in the Quran (Ch. 105). Some years later Yemen appears to have passed under the suzerainty of Iran. It was the Iranian Viceroy of Yemen who was directed by the then Emperor of Iran to arrest the Prophet (who by then had migrated to Medina) and to forward him under guard to the Emperor. For this purpose the Viceroy sent emissaries to Medina. When the Prophet was apprised of their mission, he ⎯ wishing time for prayer and reflection ⎯ asked them to wait a day or two.