Lesson Fifteen
Fortress of the Elephant
(Al-Fil Surah )
In the Name of God, the All-Compassionate, the All-Merciful
1. "Have you not seen how your Provider dealt with the army of the elephant?"
2. "Did He not make their plot go astray?"
3. "He sent against them birds, in flocks,"
4. "pelting them with stones in accordance with their registered deeds,"
5. "Thus He made them like a chaff which is surely to be eaten."
This comes after the ‘Quraish’ Fortress has clarified to us the discipline of this wonderful universe and its coordination, harmony, and regulation, and has acquainted us with our Great Creator and how Clement and Merciful He is with humanity.
This Fortress came to warn us against disobeying Him, the Almighty.
It reveals to us that His Punishment is stern and harrowing, and that nothing in this universe disables Him.
Therefore, if humanity does not appreciate the Charity of the Charitable Provider and does not follow the way He ordered us to follow and acquainted us with, let us then wait for some affliction, and let us remember what happened to the owners of the Elephant. God says:
Verse no. 1
56. "Have you not seen how your Provider dealt with the owners of the Elephant?"
The address here does not come in the interrogative tense, but comes by way of reminding us and establishing the facts so as to settle the event in our minds. Thus, the speech becomes more effective for the spirit, and the admonition and warning will impress us all the more.
Therefore the verse: ―Have you not seen how your Provider dealt with the owners of the Elephant?" means: have you, human, not heard what your Creator and Provider sent forth against those oppressors? Have you not seen what your Provider did with those who deviated from the right path, and turned away from the way of humanity? They came to destroy al-Ka’ba in order to turn people towards another Ka’ba which they had built in Yemen, wishing for the monetary profit that they would gain from the pilgrimage.
Then the Almighty explained what had happened to those aggressors,
So that this would be a lesson to anyone whose tendency to the worldly life may cause them to deviate from what is right. He says:
Verse no. 2
57. "Did He not make their plot go astray?"
"Plot" here refers to the desire to cause evil for others, doing what will vex them.
The efforts of these aggressors came to nothing and their plot ended in their own failure and destruction. This will also be the end result for any person who opposes what is right and is in breach of the Order of God.
The Almighty revealed that their destruction had been accomplished by means of the simplest thing and the wickedest of creatures, in spite of their great power and force. He says:
Verse no. 3
58. "And He sent against them birds, in flocks,"
The word "in flocks" indicates weakness, because it is only the weak birds which fly in flocks together, whereas the predatory and rapacious birds do not fly together in this way.
Thus the phrase "birds in flocks" suggests the weaker creatures which are unable to oppose their enemies or carry out great actions.
That was what your Provider sent forth to use as the means to cause the destruction of these oppressive aggressors.
Here, the Almighty showed His Justice towards His creatures, and demonstrated that the deed of every oppressor is listed against them. When the time comes, each person will get what they have rendered and will receive what has been written down and listed. God says:
Verse no. 4
59. "Which pelted them with stones in accordance with their registered deeds,"
The stones hit them because of what they had done and what had been registered against them.
The Almighty God described their state at the moment of their destruction. He says:
Verse no. 5
60. "Thus He made them like an eaten chaff"
"Chaff" is the straw and dry leaves which have no body and no resistance, which the wind blows away and the cattle eat.
When these people met with their destruction, they became like the chaff which the cattle want to eat: it cannot save itself from them and will undoubtedly enter their jaws, and will undoubtedly find itself chewed up by their molar teeth.
That was the end of these people, and it will be the same for each and every oppressor to wrong themselves and break the Commands of their Provider.