Life History of Prophet Muhammad PBUH : The Beginning (Attack on Kaaba & The Year of Elephants)

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِیْمِ

In the name of Allah the most beneficent, the most merciful.

Dear Brothers & Sisters, 

"السلام عليكم ورحمتہ اللہ وبرکاتہ"Assalamu Alaikum 

(May the blessings of Almighty and peace be upon you) 

The Beginning (Attack on Kaaba & The Year of Elephants)

During the period when Abd ul Muttalib was the leader of Makkah, the world witnessed two super powers, Rome and France. At the same time in Himyar, (a place at southern part of Yemen) there was a king named Abu Nawas or Dhu Nawas. Abu Nawas was  a Jew and he massacred thousands of followers of Islam (the followers of Hazrat Ismail (A.S) & Christians in Najran. Abu Nawas dug deep pits and put all the believers in the pit and then burned them for not accepting or converting to Judaism, also it is said by some scholars that, Abu Nawas proclaimed himself as God and asked the people of Najran to accept him as God which many of the believers in those times did not accept and for which Abu Nawas or Dhu Nawas massacred thousands of people.

One man named Daaus somehow managed to flee from Najran and came to Hirakal, a Byzantine Emperor (Istanbul of today) who was a Christian King, Daaus narrated the entire happenings of his people in Najran by Abu Nawas and pleaded Hirakal to help his people in Najran. When Hirakal learned this, he sent a letter to Ceaser of Rome for help. Accoringly, Ceaser ordered King of Habashah (Aksum) Najashi to take 100,000 to 70,000 troops with him and wage war against Abu Nawas. The King of Habashah (Aksum) appointed Abraha as his viceroy and governor and directed him to wage war against Dhu Nawas. Abraha led this army to crush all resistance of the Yemeni army and captured the place, it is said by many scholars that Dhu Nawas when he learnt that his troops are being decimated, killed himself by drowning in sea. After the suicide of Dhu Nawas, Abraha established himself at Sanaa (a place near Yemen). Abraha aroused the wrath of Kaleb, the King of  Habashah (Aksum) for withholding tribute. Kaleb sent his general Ariat to take over the governorship of Yemen from Abraha. When Ariat came to Sanaa with his forces, Abraha said to Ariat that our forces belong to the same king, better if we fight with each other in a duel and let the winner be the governor, it would be a better option rather than destroying our own troops. Ariat accepted it and Abraha killed Ariat in this duel. Abraha also sustained injuries with his nose cut down leaving him a scar on his face, which later on earned him the sobriquet of Abraha Al-Asrhram, “Abraha the scar-face”.

When the brutality of Abraha was known to Ceaser, he declared that he will not spare Abraha for this act and he will personally go down to Yemen to crush him down. When Abraha learnt this, he tonsured and put his hairs along with the soil of Yemen in a case and sent it to Ceaser with a letter stating that “Abraha is always your servant and  your promise of bringing down my head and burying it in Yemen soil is fulfilled as I (Abraha) sending you my head hairs buried in the soil of Yemen”. Abraha with this act of his cunningness, earned respect from Ceaser and Ceaser spared his life and allowed him to rule at Sanaa. In the process of pleasing Ceaser, Abraha built Qullays (Ekklesia) as a replacement of Kaaba. Abraha decorated Qullays with many precious materials and once when it was completed he asked Ceaser to make it known to the people that there is a new Kaaba named Qullays and people from around the world can visit and worship in this place instead of the original Kaaba. This would also generate revenue for the King and will also attract people to follow their religion.

The priests of Kaaba (people from the tribe Naseeh) learnt that Habashah has made Qullays in competition of Kaaba, they came down to this place secretly and they defaced and soiled the walls of Qullays and went back. When Abraha came to know this, he enquired upon and came to know that it was the priests of Kaaba who had soiled the walls of Qullays, Abraha decided to destroy Kaaba and also the people of Makkah for this act and also he decided if there is no Kaaba then it will be only Qullays where the whole world will come and worship and as time passes by people will forget about Kaaba. With these evil thoughts, Abraha started his journey with his forces comprising chiefly of mighty elephants, those elephants were called as Mahmud elephant as they had large tusks and were very powerful when compared to normal elephants. Unais was the rider of Mahmud elephant, which Abraha rode and Unais was regarded very high as he rode one of the best of the beasts along with his King. When the robust army of Abraha started moving towards Makkah, people from nearby places came to know about the evil intentions of destroying Kaaba by Abraha and they defended along with their people, however none of them withstood against the power of the army and also against the wrath of the mighty elephants. Whosoever came across was either killed or captured and made slave. 

 Abraha’s powerful army started to move towards Makkah to destroy Kaaba. the tribes of Arab on the way started attacking Abraha forces but they could not win over and Zun Nafar one of the leader of the tribes of Arab was captured. Zun Nafar was known for his bravery and when he was captured, the entire Arab community were of the fear that they may not be able to face the army of Abraha in battle.  When Abraha reached Taaif, a tribe named Banu Sakeef discussed with their people that when Zun Nafar was captured and other tribes were also not able to win over the army of Abraha, it would not be wise to attack him as they may not be able to stop Abraha, therefore, they decided that they would allow Abraha to cross Taaif without any attacks from their side. Accordingly, the people of Banu Sakeef sent message to Abraha that, they will not stop his army but sought safety and peace of their people in Taaif. Abraha agreed to this but demanded a proof from the people of Banu Sakeef as a mark of keeping the promise of not attacking his army by Banu Sakeef.

Banu Sakeef sent a person named Abu Ragaal to Abraha as a proof and also informed Abraha that Abu Ragaal is a person who is well aware of the routes of Taaif and Makkah, hence he would help his army to reach Makkah and this would be their proof of having peace with Abraha. The people of Banu Sakeef thought that Abu Ragaal, who was well aware of the routes would guide the forces of Abraha to some other direction rather than Makkah. However, Abu Ragaal did not guide the army of Abraha to any other place, rather, he guided them to Makkah from a shorter distance. Abu Ragaal did not survive when the army reached Makkah and lost his life on the way to Makkah. When the forces came near to Makkah they encamped near Mina and Abraha ordered his troops to capture caravans, camels, animals etc from the people of Makkah so he can put pressure on the leadership of Makkah. In this process of capturing, 200 camels of Abd ul Muttalib were also captured by Abraha. 

Abd ul Mutallib was the grand father of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ PBUH. He was very handsome and a very magnanimous leader, when his camels were captured he came down to the encamped place of Abraha and found that Zun Nafar is held captive. Abd ul Muttalib approached Zun Nafar and asked if he can arrange a meeting with Abraha, Zun Nafar said if he had good relations with Abraha, then why would he be held captive, however Zun Nafar said can seek help from the rider of Abraha’s elephant Unais, as he had established good relations with him during his captivity, It can be noted that the person who rides the elephant of the King is very close to King and hence when Unais intimated Abraha that the leader of Makkah wants to meet him, Abraha agreed. When Abd ul Muttalib came to meet Abraha, on the first look at Abd ul Muttalib, Abraha was very much adorned by his persona and the illuminated face of Abd ul Muttalib. Abraha could not decide how to receive such a powerful personality and he stood up and welcomed Abd ul Muttalib as a gesture of respect. Abraha thought Abd ul Muttalib, the leader of the people of Makkah has come down to discuss peace for his people and about his intentions of destroying Kaaba. When Abraha asked Abd ul Muttalib his purpose of visiting, Abd ul Muttalib informed him that he has come down to seek release of his 200 camels which were captured by his army. 

Abraha was taken aback when he learnt that Abd ul Muttalib has come to rescue his camels which were captured and not to request Abraha to spare the Kaaba from being destroyed. Abraha informed Abd ul Muttalib that he was of the impression that Abd ul Muttalib has come to discuss peace for his people and also save Kaaba but now when he learnt that he had come for his camels his impression of a great leader diminished.  Abd ul Muttalib, informed Abraha that he is the owner of his camels and the owner of the Kaaba is Allah (swt) and he is no one to take care of Kaaba, the almighty will protect his house from any invasion. Abraha informed Abd ul Muttalib that he will spare the people of Makkah if they do not attack his army in the process of destruction of Kaaba as his sole intention is to destroy Kaaba. Abraha agreed to give away 200 camels of Abd ul Muttalib and Abd ul Muttalib came back to Makkah and informed the people of Makkah to go up to the hills of Makkah and seek refuge there and do not indulge themselves in battle with the army of Abraha. He offered prayers inside Kaaba and sought help from the almighty to protect his house from being destroyed by the army of Abraha. 

Abraha finally decided to move his army from the place encamped near Mina in Makkah to destroy Kaaba. When Zun Nafar saw the army moving to destroy Kaaba, he decided to  give a last try in protecting Kaaba, he somehow managed to come near the mahmud elephant and cling himself to one of the ears of the elephant and whispered in the ears of the elephant, sit down and do not move, you are marching towards the house of Alllah (swt), all of a sudden, the elephant sat down. When Abraha saw Mahmud elephant not marching ahead, he ordered Unias, the rider of the Mahmud elephant to move his elephant to march towards Kaaba, the elephant restrained and did not move an inch towards Kaaba, when the elephant was turned back towards Yemen, it started moving. Abraha was surprised on seeing that the elephants moved when they were turned back to Yemen but do not move an inch when they are marched towards Kaaba. Abraha asked Unais to circle around from the path of Yemen and give a try to make the elephants march towards Kaaba, but sheer luck none of them moved an inch forward. All of a sudden, the entire army of Abraha witnessed swarm of small birds emanating from Kaaba encircling the sky upon them, those small birds were Abaabil birds which carried small stones of baked clay in their beaks, and jaws . These birds were sent by Allah (swt) to protect his house and the stones which they carried were from the hell. Abaabil birds dropped the stones on the troops of Abraha and the troops were engulfed by the stones pelted upon them by those birds, the entire army of Abraha was destroyed like the crops devoured by cattle in minutes and there was no sign of his army. When Abraha saw all of his troops was destroyed by Abaabil birds he fled from this place and it is said by many scholars that he died on his way to Yemen, some say that he also died along with his army. The Arabic scholars term this year as the year of Elephants and it is also brought out by many scholars that in this same year Prophet Muhammad ﷺ PBUH was born.

Continued………/-

What we learnt/ Guidance:

1. When Tubba brought with him Jewish scholars from Medina to Yemen, Judaism started to spread in Yemen, the area of Najran, Rome and France witnessed Christians, Idol worship was evident in Makkah and the religion of Hazrat Ismail (A.S) started to fade from all over the places around the world, as Judaism and Christianity also identified themselves as two different religions. Though, the Judaism and Christianity were from the messengers of Allah (swt), constructed stories by many scholars and also by changing the original text of Torah and Injeel (Bible), both identified themselves as two different religions.

2. Allah (swt) verily says in Quran Chapter 105 that “1. Have you not seen how your Lord dealt with the Masters of Elephant? 2. Did He not fail their stratagem, 3. And send against them a swarm of birds (Abaabil) 4. Which pelted them with stones of baked clay, 5. And make them like green crops devoured (by cattle).  From this, we learn that we should not invite the wrath of Allah (swt), as Allah (swt) is capable of bringing any disaster to destroy the people who disregard his house of worship and also to those who go against Allah (swt).

3. Abd ul Muttalib had such an illuminated face, that anyone who would see him was attracted to his personality, and why not he would be as he is the grand father of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ PBUH. The entire happenings of protecting of Kaaba by Allah (swt) from Abraha, and involve Abd ul Muttalib in this cause is not just an event which has passed by, it is like as if the events are being unfolded and the involvement of Ibn Hishaam was designed in such a way, so that the credit of it is bestowed upon the lineage of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ PBUH as the discovery of zamzam water was also bestowed upon the house of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ PBUH.

4. Abd ul Muttalib did not ask Abraha to spare Kaaba from destruction, from this it is learnt that when things are not in our ability and approach to defend the rights of Allah (swt), one has to leave it to Allah (swt) and seek refuge from Allah (swt). It is also to be understood here, that if we are capable enough, we must spread the word of Allah (swt) and the teachings of beloved Prophet Muhammad ﷺ PBUH.