Today's verse

بِسْمِ اللّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيْم

ﺳﻮﺭﺓ ﺍﻟﻔﻴﻞ

Sūrat Al-Fil - Chapter 105

English: The Elephant

Verse 3

Arabic

ﻭَﺃَﺭْﺳَﻞَ ﻋَﻠَﻴْﻬِﻢْ ﻃَﻴْﺮًﺍ ﺃَﺑَﺎﺑِﻴﻞ

Transliteration:

Wa arsala 'alaehim taeran abaabeel

Meaning:

3. And He sent against them birds, in flocks (Ababil).
Tafsir

[Continuation]

Then Allah sent against them the birds from the sky, like swallows and herons. Each bird carried three stones the size of chickpeas and lentils, one in each claw and one in its
beak. Everyone who was hit by them was destroyed, though
not all of them were hit. They fled in panic along the road asking about the whereabouts of Nufayl that he might point
out to them the way home. Nufayl, however, was at the top of the mountain with the Quraysh and the Arabs of the Hijaz observing the wrath which Allah had caused to descend on
the people of the elephant. Nufayl then began to say,

"Where will they flee when the One True God is the Pursuer? For Al-Ashram is defeated and not the victor.

Ibn Ishaq reported that Nufayl said these lines of poetry at that time,

"Didn't you live with continued support? We favored you all with a revolving eye in the morning (i.e., a guide along the way). If you saw, but you did not see it at the side of the rock covered mountain that which we saw. Then you will excuse me and praise my affair, and do not grieve over what is lost between us. I praised Allah when I saw the
birds, and I feared that the stones might be thrown down upon us. So all the people are asking about the whereabouts of Nufayl, as if I have some debt that I owe the
Abyssinians.''

`Ata' bin Yasar and others have said that all of them were not struck by the torment at this hour of
retribution. Rather some of them were destroyed
immediately, while others were gradually broken down limb by limb while trying to escape. Abrahah was of those who was broken down limb by limb until he eventually died in the land of Khath`am. Ibn Ishaq said that they left (Makkah) being struck down and destroyed along every path and at
every water spring.

Abrahah'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 San`a'. 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 they claim.

Ibn Ishaq said that
when Allah sent Muhammad with the prophethood, among
the things that he used to recount to the Quraysh as
blessings that Allah had favored them with of His bounties, was His defending them from the attack of the Abyssinians.
Due to this they (the Quraysh) were allowed to remain (safely in Makkah) for a period of time.

(To be continued)