أَلَمْ تَرَ كَيْفَ فَعَلَ رَبُّكَ بِأَصْحَابِ الْفِيلِ
ART THOU NOT aware of how thy Sustainer dealt with the Army of the Elephant? (1)
أَلَمْ يَجْعَلْ كَيْدَهُمْ فِي تَضْلِيلٍ
Did He not utterly confound their artful planning? (2)
وَأَرْسَلَ عَلَيْهِمْ طَيْرًا أَبَابِيلَ
Thus, He let loose upon them great swarms of flying creatures (3)
تَرْمِيهِمْ بِحِجَارَةٍ مِنْ سِجِّيلٍ
which smote them with stone-hard blows of chastisement pre-ordained, (4)
فَجَعَلَهُمْ كَعَصْفٍ مَأْكُولٍ
and caused them to become like a field of grain that has been eaten down to stubble (5)
- which smote them with stone-hard blows of chastisement pre-ordained,2
- 2 Lit., "with stones of sijjil". As explained in note 114 on 11:82, this latter term is synonymous with sijjil, which signifies "a writing" and, tropically, "something that has been decreed by God]": hence, the phrase hijarah min sijjil is a metaphor for "stone-hard blows of chastisement pre-ordained", i.e., in God's decree (Zamakhshari and Razi, with analogous comments on the same expression in 11:82). As already mentioned in the introductory note, the particular chastisement to which the above verse alludes seems to have been a sudden epidemic of extreme virulence: according to Waqidi and Muhammad ibn Ishaq - the latter as quoted by Ibn Hisham and Ibn Kathir - "this was the first time that spotted fever (hasbah) and smallpox (judari) appeared in the land of the Arabs". It is interesting to note that the word hasbah - which, according to some authorities, siignifies also typhus - primarily means "pelting [or smiting"] with stones" (Qamus). - As regards the noun ta'ir (of which tayr is the plural), we ought to remember that it denotes any "flying creature", whether bird or insect (Taj al-Arus). Neither the Qur'an nor any authentic Tradition offers us any evidence as to the nature of the "flying creatures" mentioned in the above verse; and since, on the other hand, all the "descriptions" indulged in by the commentators are purely imaginary, they need not he seriously considered. If the hypothesis of an epidemic is correct, the "flying creatures" - whether birds or insects - may well have been the carriers of the infection. One thing, however, is clear: whatever the nature of the doom that overtook the invading force, it was certainly miraculous in the true sense of this word - namely, in the sudden, totally unexpected rescue which it brought to the distressed people of Mecca.
- Striking them with stones6273 of baked clay.
- 6273 Sijjil: See n. 1579 to 11:82. The word also occurs at 15:74. Stones of baked clay, or hard as baked clay, are part of the miracle in the story.
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Striking them with stones of baked clay.
— Abdullah Yusuf Ali -
Which pelted them with stones of baked clay,
— Marmaduke Pickthall -
Casting against them stones of baked clay,
— M. Habib Shakir -
Striking them with stones of Sijjil.
— Taqiuddin Hilali and M. Mohsin Khan -
They hurled upon them stones of baked clay;
— Abdul-Majid Daryabadi -
pelting them with stones of baked clay,
— Hasan Qaribullah and Ahmed Darwish -
which pelted them with stones of baked clay,
— Ayub Khan -
Which ate their dead bodies, striking them against stones of clay.
— Sher Ali -
which smote them with stone-hard blows of chastisement pre-ordained,
— Muhammad Asad -
hurling against them stones of baked clay
— Arthur Arberry -
which smote them with stones of baked clay,{{6}}
— Abu'l Ala Maududi