Kamal F. Ishak

Sura 105 True Exegesis.

 

New and true Commentary (TAFSIR) of Sura CV (105) of the Koran “Al-FIL” (The Elephant).

 

(Sura CV) “Have you (Oh Muhammad)  not seen how your Lord dealt with the Owners of the Elephant?(1) Did He not make their plot go astray? (2) And sent against them birds, ABABIL, (3) Striking them with stones of SIJ’JIL, (4) And made them like an eaten ‘US’F (5)”.

 

The words ABABIL / SIJ’JIL / ‘USF are not Arabic words.

 

We read from Muslim exegesis of the Koran.

 

(FARR’A) I did not hear from the Arabs anything about the singular of ABABIL. Abu JA’AFAR claimed that one of them is called IBALA. KASA'I said: I heard some of the grammarians saying, “The singular of ABABIL is “IBIL”, and others say it is “IBUL”.

It is clear that the word is not Arabic word.

 

It is said that ABABIL are the groups, in flocks. ibn-‘Abbas and DAH’HAK both said: ABABIL means some of them following after others. Al-HASSAN and QATADA, both said: ABABIL means many.' MUJAHID said: ABABIL means in various, successive groups. ibn-ZAYD said: ABABIL means different, coming from here and there. They came upon them from everywhere.

 

As for SIJ’JIL, it was said that according to some Arabs, it means something hard and solid. Some of the commentators have mentioned that it is actually two Persian words that the Arabs have made into one word, meaning stones, and clay. ibn-Abbas said: clay in stone.

(Mousa ibn-Abu Aisha) SIJ’JIL were stones bigger than lens and smaller than the chickpea.

(ibn-ZAYD) The nearest Heaven is called SIJ’JIL, so the stones were from Heaven!

 

As for ‘USF , ibn-Jubayr said: ‘USF is straw, the leaves of wheat, and Al-MA'KUL refers to the fodder that is cut for animals. ibn-‘Abbas said: ‘USF is the shell of the grain, just like the covering of wheat. ibn-ZAYD said: ‘USF are the leaves of vegetation and produce. When the cattle eat it they defecate it out and it becomes dung.

The word MA'AKOUL means “Eaten”.

In English translation of the Koran ABABIL is translated as “flocks”, SIJ’JIL as “hard clay”, while ‘US’F is translated as “field of stalks and straw”, and they changed the word “eaten” in “empty”.

We will give the correct interpretation afterwards.

 

Description of “Birds:

ibn-ZAYD said that these were sea birds.

Somebody said they were white colored. Others said that they were black. Others said that they were green.

(ibn-Abbas) The birds had peak, and palms like paws of dogs!

(IKREMA) These birds had the heads similar to lion’s heads.

(Ubayd ibn-Umayr) Birds were black sea birds, carrying stones in their beaks and claws.

 

According to all the commentators of the Koran, the Abyssinian King ABRAHA built a huge church in Yemen. The Arabs called it Qullays. Then ABRAHA decided to force the Arabs to make their pilgrimage to this magnificent church, just as they had performed pilgrimage to the Ka’ba in Mecca. The people of Mecca were infuriated by it; so much so that one of them journeyed to the church, then relieved himself (defecated) inside it and escaped. Upon hearing this, ABRAHA swore to march to the House of Mecca and destroy it stone by stone.  He took along a great, powerful elephant that had a huge body. This elephant was called Mahmoud. It has also been said that he had eight other elephants with him; their number was also reported to be twelve, plus the large one, Mahmoud.  The army continued on its way … ABRAHA prepared to enter the “sacred city”, Mecca. He mobilized his army, and they turned the elephant towards the Ka’ba. At that moment, a man called Nufayl approached the elephant, and taking to it, he said: Kneel, Mahmoud, then turn around and return directly to whence you came, you are in the Sacred City of Allah! Thereupon the elephant knelt. In an attempt to make it rise, the ABRAHA's men beat it on its head with axes and used hooked staffs to pull it out of its resistance and make it stand, but it refused. So they turned him towards Yemen, and it rose and walked quickly. Then they turned him towards Syria and towards the east, and it did likewise. When they turned him towards Mecca and it knelt down again. Then Allah sent against the members of the army the birds from the sea, like swallows and herons. Each bird carried three stones having the size of chickpeas and lentils, one in each claw and one in its beak. They came until they gathered in rows over their heads. Then they gave a loud cry and threw what was in their claws and beaks. Everyone who was hit by them was destroyed. Then Allah sent a severe wind that struck the stones and increased them in force. Thus, they were all destroyed. They fled in panic along the road back to Yemen. Rather some of them were destroyed immediately, while others were gradually broken down limb by limb while trying to escape. ABRAHA's body was afflicted by the pestilence of the stones and his army carried him away with them as he was falling apart piece by piece, until they arrived back in Yemen. When they arrived there he was but like the baby chick of a bird. And he did not die until his heart fell out of his chest.

So it is claimed. 

 

Our comment.

 

The Islamic story makes no sense for many reasons.

 

A) From Historical point of view.

 

1- ibn-IS’HAQ is the only reference for the story as believed by Muslims. No other evidence authenticates the events described in the exegesis of the Sura CV.

 

2 - Procopius, the contemporary historian, detailed the history of the reign of ABRAHA in Yemen: how ABRAHA seized control of Yemen from Esimiphaeus, the Christian Himyarite viceroy. No mention of his crossing the desert with elephants to attack Mecca, or of his death after being blitzed by Muhammad's magical birds.

It was thought that ABRAHA’s wars occurred about 530 A.D. 

After discovering the Ry 506 inscription, this event was postponed to about 543 A.D.

 

3- Engravings found at Yemen's Dam of MA’RIB, The inscription Ry 506, found by the expedition of Professor Ryckmans, gives details and the date of ABRAHA's campaign. 

We quote:

By the power of the Merciful One and His Messiah, the king ABRAHA wrote this inscription when he had raided south Yemen, in a blitz during the spring season, in the month ... when all the Arabic tribe ‘Amir had revolted. …. So ABRAHA returned victorious from the site Haliban by the power of the Merciful One in the year 662 of the Sabaean era (i.e. around 553 A.D.). (unquote).

Vital repairs were done to the dam later in the same year.

So, the date of the campaign has been postulated by Ryckmans, as late as 543 A.D. 

None of inscription mention his cathedral or any attack against Mecca.

 

No reliable information exists about the exact date of ABRAHA's death. It is dated after this expedition. So ABRAHA died about 555 A.D. 

 

4 - Being killed by a magical bird attack is unbelievable. Similar event would have been noted in all historical records, but is no mention of such an event. There is no record in ancient Ethiopian history relating an attack against Mecca. 

The Persians invaded Yemen about 570 A.D. and defeated the Ethiopian, yet, there is no mention of such a legend in Persian History.  

 

5- Abyssinians never used elephants in their wars. In that time, only the Persians made use of the Asian elephants in military operations.

 

B) Logical reasons.

 

1- The pilgrimage to a holy location is a Muslim and not a Christian concept. Visiting revered historical sites is not precept for Christians.

Christians also never tried to encourage non-Christians to visit their revered historical sites. The idea that ABRAHA would build a Church to attract pagan pilgrims is not acceptable at all.

 

2- Muslim scholars claim that all the Arabs made pilgrimages to Mecca and its Ka’ba. It is not true. Some Arabs made pilgrimage to ‘Arafa mount, near Mecca. Muhammad Himself said that “pilgrimage is visiting ‘Arafa”.

As for the Ka’ba, at least 21 regional cities had temples called ka’ba’s visited by people for religious practices.

The Greek historian Diodorus indicated a location near Tabuk, northern of Arabic Penisula, as being where "all the Arabs came for pilgrimage". 

 

3 - Muslim historians deliberately forged such a legend concerning ABRAHA because “the Koran says so”. They believe that the Ka’ba was built by Allah or by Adam and restored by ABRAHAM! 

Hardly, no Muslim examine the truthfulness of the Koran.

 

4 - Logically, an Ethiopian army with elephants could not venture into the Arabian Peninsula to invade Mecca, for several reasons. The African elephant has never been tamed, while the Indian elephants yes. ABRAHA could not import a large number of elephants from India, because their numbers were limited even in India itself. If we take as true the impossible, nobody can use elephants in a military campaign in the arid Arabian Peninsula, because an elephant requires large amounts of grass for his daily diet, as well as a huge amount of water to drink.

How is it then advance into the desert with a large number of elephants?

 

5- Usually, the Koran transforms myths and legends in history, obviously not documented. It is inconceivable that the stories of the Koran may contradict the classic story and the discipline of archeology. 

But history cannot be changed.

 

Thus, this Islamic myth is demolished.

 

Mecca as a famous religious center, and the campaign of ABRAHA to destroy the Ka’ba because it provided competition to his church in Yemen is nothing more than Muslim fiction.

 

We have to ask, how this Islamic fantastic story was originated?

This Islamic myth started from a tradition of Muhammad.

(Abu Huraira) When Allah granted “His Messenger” victory over Mecca, he stood before people and praised and extolled Allah and then said: Verily Allah held back the elephants from Mecca and gave the domination of it to His Messenger and believers. And indeed its sacredness has returned just as it was sacred yesterday. So, let those who are present inform those who are absent. (Sahih Muslim, Book 7, n. 3142) - (Bukhari).

 

Anyhow, the Arabs, just after Muhammad expressed the truth. Let’s have a glance on the poem of ibn-ASLAT, follower of Muhammad from Medina, who said:

His act it was on the day of the Abyssinian elephant.

Whenever they urged it forward it held its ground,

(They drove) their hooks beneath its flanks,

They split its nose and it was torn.

They used a knife as a whip.

When they applied it to its back it made a wound.

It turned and faced the way it had come.

Those there bore the burden of their injustice.

Allah sent a wind bringing pebbles from above them

And they huddled together like lambs.

Their Rabbi’s urged them to endure,

But they bleated like sheep. (The Beginning and the End, n. 0.3).

 

We can understand that, according to the early Islamic thought of the legend, the disaster that befell upon “the owners of the Elephant” was double; a windstorm blew on them, and the outbreak of the epidemic in them. The poisoned wind carried the epidemic among the soldiers. Indicative is the word (Rabbi’s) in the last rhyme, as the Ethiopians were not Jews, and this shows that these verses artificial, not of the pre-Islamic times. The purpose of the poem was to claim that the Ka’ba is guarded by Allah.

 

Somethihg really happened?

We have to distinguish between legends and history.

 

In the year 570 A.D., on demand of a pro-Persian Arabic group, the Persians king Khosrau I sent troops under the command of Wahriz, who helped the semi-legendary Sayf ibn-Dhi Yazan to drive out the Aksumites from Yemen and Southern Arabia, which became a Persian dominion under a Yemenite vassal within the sphere of influence of the Sassanian empire. 

It is said that an elephant was embedded within the Persian troop.

It was the year of the elephant for the Arabs.

This confirms the story of birth of the Prophet Muhammad on the “year of elephant”, the year 570 A.D.

 

From the history of Procopius, the Byzantine Minister, we know that the smallpox epidemic scattered in south Arabia the year 569 AD. The Arabs bound this fact with Persian campaign in Yemen.

This epidemic is confirmed also by some Islamic sources.

(The son of IS'HAQ) The measles and smallpox were seen in the land of the Arabs in that year (of elephant). (Biography of Muhammad, Ibn-Hisham, p. 54).

This confirms the historical truth, not the narration of the Koran.

There is no mention of supernatural phenomena such as to nullify a military campaign.

 

In relation of the Persian campaign the pre-Islamic Arab legend was created.

We have proofs from Arabic literature.

1- We recall here a pre-Islamic poetry of Ibn-AJAJ, which was imbedded in the Koran. He said:

They were touched and the elephant owners had been touched * Were stroked with stones of SIJ’JIL * they were yoked birds, ABABIL ….

Some commentators said they two strange words are Persian terms.

The poet continued: And they were made like an eaten ‘US’F. (Biography of Muhammad, by of ibn-Hisham, Section I, p. 55).

Compare the poem with the Koran!

 

2- UMAYA ibn-Abu SALT, a poet predecessor of Muhammad said:

The signs of our Lord are evident, no one abnegate but unbeliever …

Retained the elephant in steep, until it became creeping, as if injured,

From around its throat towed from bottom of a deep bit,

They were dispersed leaving it with broken leg bone,

In the Day of Resurrection every religion will vanish, except the HANIF.

 

This confirms the existing of the Arabic Myth, adopted by Islam.

 

Muhammad adopted the Arabic myth, making it in relation with his Ka’ba. 

Usually, the Koran transforms myths and legends in "history", obviously not documented. It is inconceivable that the stories of the Koran may contradict the classic story and the discipline of archeology. 

But history cannot be changed.

 

Muslim scholars have argued the story must be accurate because we have no evidence of people of Mecca contradicting Muhammad when he first recited it as revelation from Allah. But the fact is that it was an Arabic myth, which had no connection with Mecca, as understood from the pseudo-Koran poem. Even the Koran did not mention Mecca within the Sura CV. This story was narrated only by the exegetes of the Koran, may be to confirm a short tradition of the Prophet dated after the conquest of Mecca, when no contradiction of Muhammad was allowed at all.

 

We have to note that the name given to the alleged ABRAHA’s elephant is MAHMOUD, which is a post-Islamic name. 

 

 

New studies of Koran oldest manuscripts, which are written in Syriac alphabet, explain the above Sura.

(Gabriel SAWMA, of Syriac mother tongue) As for verse 4, Muslim commentators render the following interpretations: 

The miracle consisted in the birds coming in large flights and flinging stones at the army, which caused a great pestilence to arise and destroy the whole of ABRAHA's army.

Verse 4 contains the following words: 

- Wa arsala, trans. erroneously as 'sent'. Syriac "rshal" meaning 'feeble or disabled', in the Semitic languages, there is an interchange between the letters Isl and Ish!; 

- 'Alayhem, translated erroneously as 'against them'. Syriac " 'layhen" upon them;

- Tayran, translated 'birds'. Syriac "tyoro" means 'surrounded, enclosed';

- Ababila, translated erroneously as 'swarm, flights'. Akkadian "abalu" meaning 'mourn, lament', while Aramaic "abl" mourn (Gen. 37: 34), Syriac "abilo" lamenting. It is unfortunate that Muslim commentators are unable to interpret the Qur'an intelligently. Do they really believe that birds were throwing stones? 

The Qur'anic verse is talking about a totally different subject.

The correct interpretation is: 'He disabled them, and surrounded them, and left them to mourn'.

This Qur'anic verse is not talking about miracles, the commentator's inability to interpret Aramaic Qur'anic phrases made him believe that this is a miracle. 

The verse (5) does not mention 'stones, it contains the following words: 

- Tarmeehim, translated erroneously as 'strike them'. Aramaic root "rmh" meaning 'betray, deceit' (Mic. 6: 12); 

- Bihijaaraten, translated erroneously as 'with stones'. Syriac "hgar" means 'be crippled'; 

- min SIJ’JIL, translated erroneously as 'of clay'. Aramaic root "sgl" meaning 'valued property' (Exod. 19: 5); "sgl" treasure (1 Chr. 29: 3). 

The Qur'an is saying: 

'They are depleted of their possessions and crippled for their treachery'. 

Verse (6): None of the [muslim’s] interpretations represents the true meaning of the Qur'anic verse. How could someone become a scholar in a language he or she does not understand? The Qur'an mentions the following words:

- Faja'alahum, trans. 'He made them, He make them'. Syriac. "g'al" leave them in the hand of, commit;

- Ka 'US’Fen, translated erroneously as 'like broken straw, ..etc'. Aramic root" 'tf' meaning 'feeble' (Gen. 30: 42); " ‘tf' like wounded (Lam. 2: 12), etc.; 

- Ma'akoul, trans. 'eaten up', root "akl" eat.

The correct interpretation is:

'He made them like the wounded, to be eaten [read: Conquered]. 

(The Qur'an: Misinterpreted, Mistranslated, and Misread. The Aramaic Language of the Qur'an).

 

It is now clear.

 

Finally, if Allah protects the Ka’ba by “Storms of Birds”, why He let the catapult knock the Ka’ba itself, burning and flattened it to the ground during the reign of YAZID? And few years later, why did Allah permitted also Al-HAJ’JAJ to use the catapult one more time against the rebuilt Ka’ba, destroying it?

 

Only Allah of Muslims knows the answer.