Holy Qur'an, Chapter 105
2. Have you not seen how your Lord dealt
with the companions (i.e., owners) of the elephant?
3. Did He not make their treacherous plan
go astray?
4. And He sent against them Birds in
flocks,
5. Striking them with stones of hard-baked
clay.
6. Then did He make them like an empty
field of stalks and straw, (of which the crops) has been eaten up.
This Surah was revealed at Mecca in the
early days of the prophethood of Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh). It speaks about the event that took place
in the year of the birth of the Holy Prophet (saws), around the year 570 of the
Christian calendar. Yemen
at that time was under the control of the Abyssinians who were Christians and
the latter had driven out the Jewish government that was in power at that time.
Abraha Al-Ashram was the governor or Viceroy of Abyssinia. The thirst for power
led him to self-proclaim himself king. With a desire to finish Iman (faith),
he had walked towards Mecca with his army to attack and destroy the Ka'aba. He
had several elephants in his army. But Allah (swt) demonstrated His miracle and
sent His curse and wrath upon this army. Those who guarded the Ka'aba were very
frightened because the Abyssinian army was very strong, but Allah (swt) sent a
rain of rocks over them through birds that destroyed this great army. These
rocks opened their flesh and this triggered an epidemic like plague among the
entire army and destroyed them all.
This is a lesson for man, teaching him never to be tempted by the power of this
temporal world and not to believe that he is superior in authority to other
people and he should not also think that he can do all that he wants, even to
the extent of going against faith and the will of Allah, for never will Allah
allow these kinds of people to live if they try to hurt His honour and go
against His will.
The attack that Abraha had made against
the Ka'aba, the sacred house of humanity that Allah built for Himself so that
mankind finds faith, peace and Allah Himself through rites which Allah has
taught them; This attack has itself turned against that very ignorant one (i.e.
Abraha and his army) and he had paid dearly for his evil deed by death and the
penance of the hellfire. This Surah shows that Allah is All-Seeing and
All-Hearing and He manifests His power when it is necessary and can destroy an
army when man believes that He is the most powerful and thinks that he is god
on earth. This Surah shows that man is weak and when Allah catches him for his
sins, well He catches him indeed very firmly. Allah has made us understand this
very well in the Holy Quran.
“Sanas tadrijuhum min haysu laa
ya-lamuun” - We
shall gradually (step by step) seize them with punishment in ways they perceive
not. (7: 183).
“Wa ‘umlii lahum : inna kaydii
matiin” - And
I will grant them a respite. Verily, My Plan is powerful. (68: 46).
Therefore man shall never be able to go
against the will and decree of Allah and if he persists in his ignorance and
thus defies Allah in this matter, then his consequence will be very serious and
Allah will exterminate such a person on earth whether physically or spiritually
and He shall make this person and other people as well see the punishment He
has reserved for the impudent in this very life. The miracle of Allah comes in
situations of distress and Allah shows to the pious and intelligent people all
that He can do. He protects whom He wants and destroys whom He wants. He
destroys especially those who defy Him and His laws that He has established
since the creation of the earth.
In the SURAH AL-FIL which
I have recited before you, Allah says:
Verse 2 : ‘Alam tara kayfa fa-‘ala Rabbuka
bi-‘As-haabil-FIIL? - Have
you not seen how your Lord dealt with the companions (i.e., owners) of the
elephant?
(a) “Have you not seen?”, that
is, the mental ability to see. This incident happened before the advent of
Islam and in the year of the birth of the Holy Prophet (pbuh). The Holy Prophet
(pbuh) did not witness this event, but this event marked history and there is a
moral behind it and Allah makes His Messenger understand that this too is a
sign and a miracle of Allah because Allah teaches him things that happened
before, things which he did not know, and Allah makes him understand that this
event has marked history and will remain engraved for eternity in the Quran.
Moreover, there is therein food for thought, so that people meditate on all
that has happened in the past and learn from it that they must never rise
against the will of Allah and, If they stand up against the will of Allah, then
it is like they have rebelled against Allah Himself.
Verse 3 : ‘Alam yaj-‘al kaydahum fii tadliil?
- Did He not make their
treacherous plan go astray?
The people of the Elephant were the troops
of Abraha's army, that Abyssinian chief who sought to invade Mecca with his
army and came with elephants who were present in that army.
Verse 4 : Wa ‘arsala ‘alayhim tayran ‘abaabiil;
- And He sent against them
Birds in flocks;
The miracle that was manifest was that
Allah had sent birds that had in their possessions rocks (or bricks) that they
had cast in large numbers on this "so-called" powerful army and this
triggered an epidemic that had ravaged and destroyed the whole army.
Verse 5 : Tarmiihim-bi-hijaaratim-min-sijjiil.
- Striking them with stones
of hard-baked clay.
The word “sijjiil” appears
in another verse of the Quran (Al-Hijr 15: 75): “Alayhim hijaar tam min sijjiil - (We) rained upon them stones of
hard clay.” It is these kinds of rocks which have been made with
terracotta (fired earth/ clay) or they are rocks that are as hard as terracotta
and these rocks form part of the miracles that history has retained.
Verse 6 : Faja-‘alahum
ka-‘asfim-ma’-kuul. - Then
did He make them like an empty field of stalks and straw, (of which the crops)
has been eaten up.
A field where people have eaten all,
leaving nothing, is a dead and useless field. Similarly, Allah has reduced
Abraha's army as a dead and useless field, where the plan they had in mind to
destroy the Ka'aba did not succeed. There is in this a double lesson to be
drawn as I mentioned at the beginning (of my sermon), where in the time of the
Holy Prophet (pbuh) it meant that all who will become the enemies of Allah and
His Messenger and make plans to destroy the Holy Prophet (pbuh) and the plans
of Allah, then Allah the Almighty will catch them and reduce them to dust as He
did to the armies of Abraha.
For other people who will come through
time, this also means that if they take themselves more superior and more
powerful than Allah and they seek to destroy the things that Allah has ordained
a perpetual existence, be it on earth, or spiritually, and they seek to thwart
the holy plans of Allah, Allah will seize them severely and destroy them.
Today you are living in a time when Allah has sent one of His chosen servants
to preach His Message (to warn and to give the good news too). There are people
and countries such as America who take themselves as gods on earth and they
intend to annihilate Islam as in previous eras. But today we see how Allah is
destroying them little by little until the great destruction strikes them and
when it comes, there will be no one in the world who will have the capacity to stop
this destruction. Verily Allah knows who are those who work for His plan and
who are those who work against His plan. Surely the plan of criminals will
never materialize.
I thus conclude (this sermon) with these
verses of the Holy Quran and some advices:
“Fazakkir, innamaaa anta Muzakkir”
So
remind them; you are only a reminder.
“Lasta alayhim-bi-Musaytir”
You
are not in any way a dominator over them,
“Illaa man-tawallaa wa kafar”
However,
he who turns away and disbelieves,
“Fayu azzibu-hullaahul Azaabal-Akbar”
Allah will punish him with the greatest punishment.
---(88:22-25)
May Allah preserve you all so that you
never turn your back to His messages and His messenger in this century, and
also for all peoples who will come after, any time Allah will send among you a
man (a person) with the Ruh-il-Quddus (The Holy Spirit,
the Divine Revelation) as His Chosen One to revive the Quran and preach Islam,
to bring you back to Sahih al Islam, then you must not be
arrogant and try to put obstacles in the path of the Elect of Allah and the
sincere people because they are the ones who will have victory through the
victory of Allah.
Today, it is in an exceptional century
that you are all living, a century when a Chosen One of Allah is alive and is
present before you to lead/ direct you to Him. Whoever profits/ benefits these
blessings fully, then they will be blessed. But as for their children and the
children of their children who will be born later, I warn them against defying
the divine laws. You have the task of keeping alive the Sahih al
Islam, Islam in its authenticity, the true teachings of Allah, the
true teachings of the noble prophet Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) that this humble
servant who is present before you has come to revive.
Then, tomorrow after me, it is you who
will have the duty to keep these teachings alive and with humility, because the
boasters/ arrogant/ those who are filled with vanity, Allah will not accept
them. Allah loves those who have pure hearts, who are honest and sincere to His
cause and who are humble and good and who are not thirsty for the power and
wealth of this world. Insha-Allah, it is my desire and prayer (to
Allah) that the Jamaat Ul Sahih Al Islam and the true followers of this humble
servant of Allah who is present before you today you remain spiritually alive
until the last day of Judgement and Insha-Allah, with your
devotion, we will succeed with the immense help of Allah to bring back
the Ummat-e-Wahida (Only one community of believers)
only for the pleasure of Allah, to re-establish the Izzat (honour)
of Allah and His Tawhid (Oneness) on earth. Insha-Allah,
Ameen.
----Friday Sermon of 18 August 2017~25 Dhul Qaddah 1438 AH delivered by Hazrat Khalifatullah Munir Ahmad Azim (aba) of Mauritius.