Surah Al Fil ayat 1 Tafsir Quran 105:1

﴿أَلَمْ تَرَ كَيْفَ فَعَلَ رَبُّكَ بِأَصْحَابِ الْفِيلِ﴾
[ الفيل: 1]

105:1 Have you not considered, [O Muhammad], how your Lord dealt with the companions of the elephant?

Have you not considered an interrogative meant to provoke marvel in other words ‘marvel at’ the way in which your Lord dealt with the Men of the Elephant? who was named Mahmūd and the men were Abraha King of Yemen and his troops. He had built a church in San‘ā’ in order to divert pilgrims away from Mecca to it. A man from among the Banū Kināna defecated in it and stained its prayer niche with a deflowered virgin’s blood in contempt of it. Abraha then swore that he would knock down the Ka‘ba. So he approached Mecca with his troops riding Yemeni elephants with Mahmūd at the vanguard. But when they turned to destroy the Ka‘ba God unleashed upon them what He relates in His words

Did you not see into or ponder O Muhammad how Allah your Creator, dealt with the expedition which included the elephant in their train

(105:1) Have you not seen *1 how your Lord dealt with the people of the elephants? *2

Have you not considered, [O Muhammad], how meaning

*1) Though the address apparently is directed to the Holy Prophet ( upon whom be peace ), its real addressees are not only the Quraish but all the people of Arabia, who were well aware of the event.
At many places in the Qur'an the words alam tara ( have you not seen? ) have been used, and they are meant not to address the Holy Prophet but the people in general.
( For example, see Ibrahim: 19, AI-Hajj: 18, 65, An-Nur: 43, Luqman: 29, 31, Fatir: 27, Az-Zumar: 21 ).
Thee, the word 'seeing' has been used here to signify that in and around Makkah and in the vast country of Arabia, from Makkah to Yaman, there were many such people still living, who had witnessed with their own eyes the event of the destruction of the people of the elephant, for it had occurred only about forty to forty-five years earlier, and the people of Arabia had continually heard it described by the eye-witnesses themselves so that they had become so certain of it as though they had seen it with their own eyes.

*2) Here, Allah has not given any detail as to who were the people of the elephant, wherefrom they had come and what was the object of their march, for aII these things were well known among the people.

 

And from his narration on the authority of Ibn ’Abbas that he said about the interpretation of Allah’s saying ( Hast thou not seen ): ’( Hast thou not seen ) i.e. have you not been informed, O Muhammad, in the Qur’an ( how thy Lord dealt with ) how your Lord punished and destroyed ( the owners of the Elephant ) the people of the Negus who intended to destroy the House of Allah?

Have you (O Muhammad (Peace be upon him)) not seen how your Lord dealt with the Owners of the Elephant? [The elephant army which came from Yemen under the command of Abrahah Al-Ashram intending to destroy the Ka'bah at Makkah].

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