بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
أَلَمْ تَرَ كَيْفَ فَعَلَ رَبُّكَ بِأَصْحَابِ ٱلْفِيلِ
105:1 Aren’t you seeing how your Sustainer/Lord dealt with the Army of the Elephant?
Basmala for this Surah indicates By The Power of Allah … the Elephant Army was destroyed. And again by the Power of Allah the information regarding it has been preserved. And again by The Power of Allah they were destroyed around Muhammad’s birth to protect him and Ka’ba.
‘Alam Tara: Aren’t you seeing. This is a standing phrase of the Arab which renders astonishment! The Prophet is under duress physically and mentally and people around him find no support for him, and then this is revealed and thus the Prophet is amazed at the fact that the Elephant Army was destroyed to aid him and his new religion around the time of his birth! What could be more support?!
لسان العرب
رأي
وقد تكرر في الحديث: أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلى فلان، وأَلَمْ تَرَ إِلى كذا، وهي كلمة تقولها العربُ عند التَّعَجُّب من الشيء وعند تَنْبِيهِ المخاطب كقوله تعالى: أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلى الذينَ خَرجُوا من دِيارِهْم، أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلى الذين أُوتوا نَصِيباً من الكتاب؛ أَي أَلَمْ تَعْجَبْ لِفِعْلِهِم، وأَلَمْ يَنْتَه شأْنُهُم إِليك.
Tara: Seeing both with the eyes and with the heart. Optical seeing with eyes when the sentence has single object. Seeing with heart with the sentence has 2 objects.
لسان العرب
رأي
الرُّؤيَة بالعَيْن تَتَعدَّى إلى مفعول واحد، وبمعنى العِلْم تتعدَّى إلى مفعولين؛ يقال: رأَى زيداً عالماً ورَأَى رَأْياً ورُؤْيَةً ورَاءَةً مثل راعَة. وقال ابن سيده: الرُّؤيَةُ النَّظَرُ بالعَيْن والقَلْب.
In this verse Tara (Seeing) operates upon two objects:
- Rabb-u-Ka (Your Lord)
- Kaif-a Fa’al-a (How (IT/He) dealt with)
(See Al-Bayan Fi ‘Irab Gharib Al-Qur’an, by Al-Anbari)
Issue 1: Why “HOW(Kaif-a) your Lord dealt with” vs. “What(Ma) your Lord did to”?
ألم تر ما فعل ربك؟
Answer: What-ness of an event happened in the past, stopped in the past and does not continue to present. Something happened once and what it did finished. How-ness on the other hand continues to present time, subject to mental cogitations, refinement of understanding (Razi).
50:6 Do they not look at the sky above them – HOW (Kaif-a) We have built it and made it beautiful and free of all faults?
أَفَلَمْ يَنظُرُواْ إِلَى ٱلسَّمَاء فَوْقَهُمْ كَيْفَ بَنَيْنَـٰهَا
Allah created the cosmos, not much more to be said about this event. HOW Allah created the cosmos is a vast science and human endeavour spanning thousands of years.
تفسير مفاتيح الغيب ، التفسير الكبير/ الرازي (ت 606 هـ)
السؤال الثاني: لم قال: { أَلَمْ تَرَ كَيْفَ فَعَلَ رَبُّكَ } ولم يقل: ألم تر ما فعل ربك؟ الجواب: لأن الأشياء لها ذوات، ولها كيفيات باعتبارها يدل على مداومتها وهذه الكيفية هي التي يسميها المتكلمون وجه الدليل، واستحقاق المدح إنما يحصل برؤية هذه الكيفيات لا برؤية الذوات ولهذا قال:
{ أَفَلَمْ يَنظُرُواْ إِلَى ٱلسَّمَاء فَوْقَهُمْ كَيْفَ بَنَيْنَـٰهَا }
Issue 2: Why Rabb-u-Ka (Your Lord) not just Lord (Rabb-u)?
أَلَمْ تَرَ كَيْفَ فَعَلَ رَبُّ بِأَصْحَابِ ٱلْفِيلِ
Answer: The Arab of the time saw the destruction of the Elephant Army and simply turned back and continued idol worshiping in Ka’ba. The event served them no admonishment, because it was not for them. The event was intended for Muhammad not for others, hence Rabb-u-Ka (Your Lord). (Razi)
تفسير مفاتيح الغيب ، التفسير الكبير/ الرازي (ت 606 هـ)
السؤال الرابع: لما قال: { ربك } ، ولم يقل: الرب؟ الجواب: من وجوه أحدها: كأنه تعالى قال: إنهم لما شاهدوا هذا الانتقام ثم لم يتركوا عبادة الأوثان، وأنت يا محمد ما شاهدته ثم اعترفت بالشكر والطاعة، فكأنك أنت الذي رأيت ذلك الانتقام، فلا جرم تبرأت عنهم واخترتك من الكل، فأقول: ربك، أي أنا لك ولست لهم بل عليهم وثانيها: كأنه تعالى قال: إنما فعلت بأصحاب الفيل ذلك تعظيماً لك وتشريفاً لمقدمك، فأنا كنت مربياً لك قبل قومك، فكيف أترك تربيتك بعد ظهورك، ففيه بشارة له عليه السلام بأنه سيظفر.
Irfan1 (Gnosis): Ka (you) is a residual spiritual presence of Aulia’ (Close Friends) of Allah. In this context Rabb-u-Ka (Your Lord) talks not about the bio-psychological Muhammad but the extended residual presence of Muhammad.
Muhammad peace be upon him had no choice but seeing the events surrounding the destruction of Elephant Army and even after his bio-psychological cessation an extant residual presence sees the said event and we by reciting the words including Ka (you, yours) could spectate the drama.
The Elephant Army was assembled to destroy the Ka’ba so the pilgrims would be diverted to another part of Arabia where there was another temple erected for pilgrimage. The exact details are of little importance. But the leader of the Elephant Army was using excuses to destroy Ka’ba, but his real objective was to divert the flow of pilgrims to his temple. Allah destroyed his trickery, Allah restored the Ka’ba under a new Chieftain and Prophet.
105:3 Thus, (Allah) sent them swarms of winged flying creatures
وَأَرْسَلَ عَلَيْهِمْ طَيْراً أَبَابِيلَ
Tair is any winged creature that flies e.g. bird or insect or mammal (bat)
لسان العرب
طير
الطَّيَرانُ: حركةُ ذي الجَناج في الهواء بِجَنَاحِهِ، طارَ الطائرُ يَطِيرُ طَيْراً وطَيراناً وطَيْرورة؛
Issue 1: Why Tair (Bird) is in indefinite form with ending Nunation (Tanwin)?
Answer: To render the insignificance of the bird itself. It was not a mighty creature at all.
تفسير مفاتيح الغيب ، التفسير الكبير/ الرازي (ت 606 هـ)
السؤال الأول: لم قال: { طَيْراً } على التنكير؟ والجواب: إما للتحقير فإنه مهما كان أحقر كان صنع الله أعجب وأكبر، أو للتفخيم كأنه يقول: طيراً وأي طير ترمى بحجارة صغيرة فلا تخطىء المقتل
Issue 2: What is Ababil?
Answer: An ensemble comprised of disjoint swarms, fluttering from here and there.
تفسير مفاتيح الغيب ، التفسير الكبير/ الرازي (ت 606 هـ)
السؤال الثاني: ما الأبابيل الجواب: أما أهل اللغة قال أبو عبيدة: أبابيل جماعة في تفرقة، يقال: جاءت الخيل أبابيل أبابيل من ههنا وههنا
105:4 Smiting them with stones from (made from) Sijjil
تَرْمِيهِم بِحِجَارَةٍ مِّن سِجِّيلٍ
There are two readings for the Smiting or casting or throwing:
- Tarmi-him, gendered female referring to flying creatures throwing
- Yarmi-him, gendered male referring to Allah throwing and smiting
Remark 1. In the language of the Arab to recite or script phrases in multiple ways, yet indicating a single writ, is permissible and encouraged. For English speakers and college educated with absolutist views of language and scripture this might be a difficult issue. This multiple phrasing is an important part of Qur’an’s linguistics.
تفسير الجامع لاحكام القرآن/ القرطبي (ت 671 هـ)
. وقراءة العامة { تَرْمِيهِم } بالتاء، لتأنيث جماعة الطير. وقرأ الأعرج وطلحة «يَرْمِيهم» بالياء؛ أي يرميهم الله؛ دليله قوله تعالى:
{ وَلَـٰكِنَّ ٱللَّهَ رَمَىٰ }
[الأنفال: 17] ويجوز أن يكون راجعاً إلى الطير، لخلوّها من علامات التأنيث، ولأن تأنيثها غير حقيقيّ.
Sijjil :
- One of the names of the sky
- Intensely difficult and painful
Birds are known for throwing objects from sky e.g. crows are reported dropping rocks on people. Some birds of prey drop shells on the rocks to crack open. Some of these birds are quite large and powerful and could drop heavy weights.
Some reported that the rocks were small and after their impact the troops broke out with smallpox, likes of which no one had seen before.
This might surprise you:
Stepher Goff of Columbia University edited the study for mBio. He says the numbers of proviruses the researchers found in bird genomes might surprise some people: the zebrafinch genome contained the most proviruses (1221), while the chicken (492) and turkey (150) carried fewer. “These are large numbers,” says Goff, “but they’re in accord with what we’ve seen in mammals.”
What’s more surprising, says Goff, is that many of these proviruses appear to be active.
Source: Virus DNA in Birds: A Surprising Number of Viral Sequences are Expressed
تفسير الجامع لاحكام القرآن/ القرطبي (ت 671 هـ)
قال عِكرمة: كانت ترميهم بحجارة معها، فإذا أصاب أحدَهم حجر منها خرج به الجُدَرِيّ لم يُر قبلَ ذلك اليوم. وكان الحجر كالحِمصَّة وفوق العدسة. وقال ابن عباس: كان الحجر إذا وقع على أحدهم نَفِط جلده، فكان ذلك أوّل الجُدرِيّ.
Ishara: The rock and the bird were one and the same, rock from the Biomineralization by the bird.
The Surat (Shape, Form) of the Sijjil was the bird and the rock (as if one), Imam Ahmad Bin Umar, Tafsir Ishari Najmiyya.
Ishara deploys the understanding of what we know of our surroundings and point at the Divine Words. Reversely, Interpretation uses the understanding the Divine Words and explains our surroundings, or points at our surroundings.
These birds did not land on the earth to pick up rocks and then fly high to drop them on troops. The putative rocks were synthesized by the birds as they biomineralize their beaks and bones and feathers. Or as the snails biomineralize their shells, similarly turtles .
Within the rocks there were traces of the many active viruses from the avian genome which spread disease amongst the troops. They did not die by the crushing force of the rocks (since attackers were not mighty birds), they died by the microbial death within the biomineralized rocks. The True knowledge of this is with Allah.
تفسير التأويلات النجمية في التفسير الإشاري الصوفي/ الإمام أحمد بن عمر (ت618 هـ)
بحجارة حاصلة من النفي الذي هو مودع في حرف (لا)؛ لأن الله تعالى يكيدهم بما كادوا، فجعل ما كادوا من خاصة طين قالبهم وحجارة معدن طبيعتهم؛ ليخربوا كعبة القلب، فأمر الله تعالى طير الذكر ليجعل { كَيْدَهُمْ فِي تَضْلِيلٍ } [الفيل: 2] برد كيدهم ونفي مكرهم في صورة السجيل؛ وهو الطير والحجارة.
105:5 Fa (as a consequence) (Allah) cause them to become like broken straw or chaff (wind blowing them loose here and there)
فَجَعَلَهُمْ كَعَصْفٍ مَّأْكُولٍ
By the advent of Muhammad’s prophethood, winds blew their remains to oblivion, today we safely perform Hajj and no mention of that king nor his Elephant Army nor of his temple!
The nature of their destruction amazes us to this date, amazement and the consequent admonishment lasted way beyond the lifespan of the Elephant Army.
© 2017, Dara O. Shayda
Imagine the subject matter of moon.