The Elephant al-Fīl ( الفيل )

 5 verses • revealed at Meccan
»The surah that tells of the destruction of the armed force that came to be known as the company of The Elephant, after the animal they intended to use to destroy the Kaʿbah, in the generation before the advent of Islam. This surah is a reference to events that happened in 570 CE, the year of the Prophet Muḥammads birth. It takes its name from “the elephant” (al-fīl) mentioned in

, which refers to the force dispatched by Abrahah (a Christian ruler of Yemen) to Mecca, that is “the men of the elephant” (aṣḥāb al-fīl). The destruction of this army is cited here to encourage the believers and warn the disbelievers.«

بِسمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحمٰنِ الرَّحيمِ

Transliteration: bi-smi llāhi r-raḥmāni r-raḥīmⁱ

Translation: In the Name of Allah, the All-beneficent, the All-merciful.

1

أَلَم تَرَ كَيفَ فَعَلَ رَبُّكَ بِأَصحابِ الفيلِ

Transliteration

ʾa-lam tara kayfa faʿala rabbuka bi-ʾaṣḥābi l-fīlⁱ

Translation

Have you not regarded how your Lord dealt with the Men of the Elephant?

2

أَلَم يَجعَل كَيدَهُم في تَضليلٍ

Transliteration

ʾa-lam yajʿal kaydahum fī taḍlīlⁱⁿ

Translation

Did He not make their stratagems go awry,

3

وَأَرسَلَ عَلَيهِم طَيرًا أَبابيلَ

Transliteration

wa-ʾarsala ʿalayhim ṭayran ʾabābīl^a

Translation

and send against them flocks of birds

4

تَرميهِم بِحِجارَةٍ مِن سِجّيلٍ

Transliteration

tarmīhim bi-ḥijāratin min sijjīlⁱⁿ

Translation

pelting them with stones of shale,

5

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فَجَعَلَهُم كَعَصفٍ مَأكولٍ

Transliteration

fa-jaʿalahum ka-ʿaṣfin maʾkūlⁱⁿ

Translation

thus making them like chewed-up straw?