The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 5) — Page 550
CH. 105 PT. 30 (Al-Fil) 1. "In the name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful. 7 سُورَةُ الْفِيلِ مَكْتَةً ١٠٥ بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ ألَمْ تَرَ كَيْفَ فَعَلَ رَبُّكَ بِأَصْحُبِ الفِيلِ أَلَمْ يَجْعَلْ كَيْدَهُمْ فِي تَضْلِيلٍ وَأَرْسَلَ عَلَيْهِمْ طَيْرًا أَبَابِيْلَ 2. Hast thou not seen how thy Lord dealt with the People of the Elephant?4842 b 3. Did He not cause their plan to miscarry?4843 4. And He sent against them swarms of birds, 4844 4842. Commentary: "See 1:1. 27: 51-52. This verse refers to Abraha, who marched on Mecca with a large army in 570 A. D. , the year of the Holy Prophet's birth, in order to destroy the Ka'bah. The Holy Prophet's birth taking place in the year of Abraha's attack on the Ka'bah and the utter destruction of his army implied a Divine hint that because the great Prophet for whose sake the Ka'bah had been built and who was to preach the Last Heavenly Message from there was about to be born, it militated against God's eternal plan that it should suffer destruction at the hands of an arch-infidel. Abraha had a number of elephants with him. They were destroyed by a plague or epidemic, of the nature of smallpox, and their rotting bodies were eaten up by swarms of birds. For a detailed account of this incident Introduction. see The expression refers more to the dreadfulness of the scourge which destroyed Abraha's army than to the manner of their destruction. 4843. Commentary: How Abraha was foiled in his design is writ large on the pages of history. 4844. Important Words: Ju (swarms): the word is said to have no singular. According to some its singular is which means, a separate or distinct portion of a number of birds or horses or camels following one another. signifies, according to some, a company in a state of dispersion, or dispersed companies following one another, or distinct or separate companies like camels. They say i. e. thy camels came in distinct or separate companies. means, birds in separate flocks or bevies, or birds in companies from this or that quarter, or following one another, flock after flock (Lane & Aqrab). 3446