Quran Universe

Companions of the Elephant

Nation of the Quran

Nation of the Quran

Companions of the Elephantأصحاب الفيل

Traditional date, disputedNear Makkah

Abraha, the Aksumite ruler of Yemen, built a great church in San'a and marched on Makkah with an elephant to destroy the Kaaba. Abd al-Muttalib told him the House had a Lord who would protect it. The elephant knelt and would not move towards Makkah.

What does the Quran say?

Have you not considered, [O Muhammad], how your Lord dealt with the companions of the elephant?

Quran 105:1

105:1-5

How did they end?

Allah sent flocks of birds that pelted the army with stones of hard clay, leaving them like eaten straw (105:3-5).

What do historians say?

Abraha is a historical figure: his inscriptions at Ma'rib (548) and Murayghan (552) survive, the second recording a campaign into central Arabia. Whether that campaign was the Elephant, and whether the attack was in 570 or earlier, is debated.

The lesson

Allah protects His House, and no army can overrule Him.

Who else is linked?

Muhammad ﷺAksum (Abyssinia)Abd al-MuttalibAbrahaHimyar (Yemen)MakkahSana'a

Everyone and everything in the timeline

People named in the Quran and the hadith, the Prophet's ﷺ family and Companions, scholars, rulers, the nations of the Quran, the world's empires and the places where it all happened. Where scholars differ, each entry says so.

Nations of the Quran