الحمد لله و الصلاة و السلام على رسول الله و على آله و صحبه أجمعين.
Allah says, in chapter 105 (Surah Al-Feel):
In The Name of Allah, The Most Gracious, The Most Merciful.
Have you not considered, [O Muhammad], how your Lord dealt with the companions of the elephant?
Did He not make their plan into misguidance?
And He sent against them birds in flocks,
Striking them with stones of hard clay,
And He made them like eaten straw. (Verses 1-5)
[Arabic recitation: https://youtu.be/b5YWlWaZEvg ]
Background of Surah Al-Feel:
Abraha , The Christian Governor of Yemen, came with an army of elephants to destroy the Ka’bah. The people of Makkah were literally helpless against Abraha’s military might. But Allah has His Ways! Allah sent a flock of birds called Ababeel with three pebbles of clay who dropped them on his army and destroyed them. This happened approximately fifty or fifty five days before the birth of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. This year is called the Aam-ul-Feel . This is the story referred to in the Surah Al-Feel of The Quran.
Reflections:
I would always previously ponder as to why this Surah is in the Quran. As in ‘How will knowing Abraha’s destruction improve me as a Muslim?’
Yet I’d just believe that ‘Allah put it in there so it must be having a great wisdom behind it.’
Now, after the Uighur episode of oppression and the new Ababeel (coronavirus)- I know why Surah Al-Feel is significant.
Reading it now gives me goosebumps and a surge of Imaan. Allahu Akbar. Allah doesn’t need mighty kings to humble arrogant nations, His forces are vast and if He Wills and Wishes will devastate the tyrant oppressors!
A Hadith in this context:
أتاني جبريلُ بالحُمَّى ، والطاعونِ ، فأمسَكتُ الحُمَّى بالمدينةِ ، وأرسَلتُ الطاعونَ إلى الشامِ ، والطاعونُ شهادةٌ لأُمَّتي ، ورحمةٌ لهم ، ورِجزٌ على الكافرِ
The Prophet ﷺ said: Jibreel came to me with fever and plague, I opted fever for Madinah and sent the plague to Shaam (greater syria). And plague is (a source of) martyrdom for my Ummah and a mercy for them.And (the plague is) a punishment for the disbelievers.
Musnad Ahmad (5/81 ||20786). Shaikh Al-Albani declared it Sahih in Sahih At-Targheeb wat-Tarheeb. Imam Al-Busiri said that the chain of this narration is Sahih in Ithaaf Al-Kheerah Al-Mihrah 2/425.
May Allah guide all of us to study reflect and ponder over The Quran and The Sunnah. Aameen.
Saheehus-Seerah 