Essence of the Holy Qur’an — Page 161
Al-F ī l 161 distemper,' says Muir, 'had shown itself in the camp of Abrahah. It broke out with deadly pustules and blains which was probably an aggravated form of smallpox. In confusion and dismay his army commenced retreat. Abandoned by their guides, they perished among the valleys, and a flood swept multitudes into the sea. Scarcely anyone recovered who had once been smitten by it. And Abrahah himself, a mass of malignant and putrid sores, died miserably on his return to San‘ a ’. ' It is particularly to this incident that the S u rah refers. The fact that the disease which destroyed Abrahah’s army was smallpox in a virulently epidemic form is supported by the great historian Ibn Is ha q. He quotes ‘ A ’ishah, the Holy Prophet’s very noble and talented wife, as saying that she saw two blind beggars in Mecca and on enquiring who they were, she was told that they were the drivers of Abrahah’s elephants (Manth u r).