The Life & Character of the Seal of Prophets (sa) - Volume I — Page 124
Seal of the Prophets - Volume I 124 disease by which his flesh fell off in pieces. 1 This occurrence is mentioned in the Holy Qur’ān in the following words: “Hast thou not seen how thy Lord dealt with the People of the Elephant? Did He not cause their plan to miscarry? And He sent against them swarms of birds, which would strike them against stones of clay. And thus made them like broken straw, eaten up. ” 2 This attack of Abrahah, in history, is renowned as the attack of the Aṣḥābul-Fīl , meaning, the attack of the People of the Elephant. This is because, there was one elephant, or on the basis of various narrations, many elephants in Abrahah’s army. Since the elephant was a strange and new creature to the Quraish of Makkah, and they had never seen it before, not only did they title the invaders as the Aṣḥābul-Fīl , they even named that particular year the ‘Āmul- Fīl. 3 By the destruction of the Aṣḥābul-Fīl , the honour of the Ka‘batullāh and awe of the Quraish increased significantly and the other tribes of Arabia began to look upon the Quraish with even greater reverence and respect. 4 ‘Abdullāh’s Marriage A few months preceding the occurrence of the Aṣḥābul-Fīl , ‘Abdul- Muṭṭalib married off his son ‘ Abdullāh with Āminah bint Wahb, who was an exceedingly noble girl of a respected family in the tribe of the Banū Zuhrah of the Quraish. At that time ‘Abdullāh was 25 years of age, or in light of certain 1 * As-Sīratun-Nabawiyyah, By Abū Muḥammad ‘Abdul-Malik bin Hishām, p. 57, Amrul-Fīli wa Qiṣṣatun-Nas’ati, Dārul-Kutubil-‘Ilmiyyah, Beirut, Lebanon, First Edition (2001) * Sharḥul-‘Allāmatiz-Zarqānī ‘alal-Mawāhibil-Ladunniyyah, By Muḥammad bin ‘Abdul-Bāqī Az- Zarqānī, Volume 1, p. 165, Bābu ‘Āmil-Fīli wa Qiṣṣatu Abrahah, Dārul-Kutubil-‘Ilmiyyah, Beirut, Lebanon, First Edition (1996) 2 Al-Fīl (105:2-6) 3 The Year of the Elephant (Publishers) 4 As-Sīratun-Nabawiyyah, By Abū Muḥammad ‘Abdul-Malik bin Hishām, p. 59, Mā Qīla fī Ṣifatil-Fīli minash-Shi‘ri, Dārul-Kutubil-‘Ilmiyyah, Beirut, Lebanon, First Edition (2001)